Oct 19, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Cleveland Indians relief pitcher Andrew Miller (24) pitches during the seventh inning against the Toronto Blue Jays in game five of the 2016 ALCS playoff baseball series at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 19, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Cleveland Indians relief pitcher Andrew Miller (24) pitches during the seventh inning against the Toronto Blue Jays in game five of the 2016 ALCS playoff baseball series at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports /
The annual MLB non-waiver trade deadline has become a baseball holiday of sorts for fans around the league. Regardless of what the current state of you favorite team is, there’s a chance that you could wake up on trade deadline morning to the news that your team has a new player that you’ve been longing for as a fan.
Each year the non-waiver trade deadline drastically helps reshape the landscape of Major League Baseball, whether it be for a team rebuilding who acquires new prized prospects, or a team on the verge of a pennant race who acquires that potential X-Factor for their impending playoff conquest.
Last year we saw the Blue Jays push all of the chips into the middle of the table at the trade deadline when they acquired David Price and Troy Tulowitzki, propelling them into the American League Championship Series before ultimately bowing out to the Kansas City Royals. The New York Mets landed Yoenis Cespedes and completely turned their 2015 season around, culminating in a National League Pennant.
This season is no different. Trade deadline moves have shaped the way the playoffs are playing out in front of our eyes, as well as the push for the postseason leading up to these playoffs. Some work out like the aforementioned deals by the Blue Jays and Mets, some deals can potentially become regrettable.
The Rangers needed a catcher that could produce offensively. Enter Jonathan Lucroy, the veteran Milwaukee Brewers catcher who they acquired from the Brewers in return for prospects Lewis Brinson (OF) and Dillon Tate (P). The Brewers actually won this trade in a long-term sense in my opinion, receiving two solid prospects in return for a catcher who was all but gone when free agency rolls around next winter (assuming the Rangers pick up his team option for 2017), the Rangers if they fail to re-sign Lucroy will have given up the prospects for a moderately short-term rental player. That’s just the nature of the business, and the risk that you have to take when trying to make the move to fuel a deep playoff run in today’s game.
Here’s how the 2016 MLB trade deadline has most significantly impacted the postseason.
Cleveland Indians acquire Closer Andrew Miller from the New York Yankees
To this point the most substantial move made at the trade deadline was the Cleveland Indians acquisition of Andrew Miller from the New York Yankees. The Yankees broke up the best bullpen in all of baseball (Betances, Miller, Chapman) in an effort to stock pile top-tier prospects, in a very un-Yaknee like manner. The Indians were leading the American League Central, but knew that they needed help at the back-end of their bullpen, and boy did they ever get it.
Miller went 4-0 with a 1.55 ERA, 46 strike outs, just two walks and three saves over 29 innings pitched with the Indians down the stretch. Since the playoffs have begun Miller has been absolutely lights-out for the Tribe, appearing in six of the Indians eight games, posting a 1-0 record with 21 strikeouts, two walks, and five base hits allowed over a combined 11.2 scoreless innings. Yes, you read that correctly Miller has not allowed a single run this postseason.
Miller has anchored an Indians bullpen that has lifted a sleeping offense and a depleted starting rotation into their first fall classic since 1997. The icing on the cake for the Indians? Andrew Miller is under contract through the 2018 season.
Chicago Cubs acquire Closer Aroldis Chapman from the New York Yankees
Before the Yankees dealt the eventual ALCS MVP Andrew Miller to the Indians, the traded flame throwing closer Aroldis Chapman to the Chicago Cubs for a package of prospects in return. The Chicago Cubs have arguably one of, if not the most talented team in all of baseball but severely needed back-end bullpen help much like the Indians.
Chapman went 1-1 with a 1.01 ERA and 46 strike outs over 26.2 innings pitched for the Cubs down the stretch. Dazzling Cubs fans with his triple-digit fastballs on a near nightly basis, but the four-time All-Star hasn’t been quite as dominant so far this postseason. Chapman has made seven appearances and allowed three earned runs over 6.1 innings of work. Not a huge concern, and if Cubs fans are worried in the slightest, note that Chapman has struck out nine of the fourteen hitters that he has faced this postseason.
On Saturday night Chapman closed the door on the Los Angeles Dodgers in game six of the NLCS, sending the Cubs to the World Series for the first time since 1945, setting up a Miller/Chapman reunion in the World Series next week and exclaiming just how much these two moves shaped the 2016 Postseason.
The Dodgers battled injuries to their pitching staff and their outfield all season long, and addressed both issues at the trade deadline when they acquired starting pitcher Rich Hill and right-fielder Josh Reddick in a trade with the Oakland Athletics.
Bothered by a nagging blister, Rich Hill only made six starts for the Dodgers down the stretch, going 3-2 with a stellar 1.83 ERA. Hill struck out 39 hitters while walking only five with the Dodgers in 2016. He made two starts in the NLDS against the Washington Nationals, lasting just a combined seven innings and allowing five earned runs, losing one game and taking a no decision in the other. In the NLCS hill was brilliant in game three versus the Chicago Cubs as he baffled Cubs hitters with his nasty curveball for six innings, allowing no runs on just two hits.
Josh Reddick also came to the Dodgers at the deadline dealing with injury issues, appearing in just 47 games for the Dodgers in the regular season, posting a mediocre .258 batting average and hitting two home runs and driving in just nine runs over that span. Reddick has been better in the postseason for the Dodgers going 7-for-23 (.304) with a pair of RBI, and a pair of runs scored.
It was these three moves that helped shaped the MLB playoffs in 2016, and there is a pretty good chance that either Chapman or Miller will play a large roll in his team claiming World Series glory.
