On Saturday, a flurry of trades were completed. Doug Fister and David Pauley went from Seattle to Detroit in a six-player swap. Jerry Hairston was sent from Washington to Milwaukee for a minor league outfielder. Koji Uehera, who has had a very good year in Baltimore’s bullpen, was traded to Texas for Chris Davis, who has stalled a bit at Triple-A, and reliever Tommy Hunter.
The big prize, Ubaldo Jimenez, was won by Cleveland, who parted with prized pitching prospects Alex White and Drew Pomeranz, along with two other minor leaguers, to land the pitcher. The deal appeared to be completed prior to Colorado’s game, but apparently wasn’t finalized as the game neared and Jimenez was sent to the mound in the first inning, where he promptly surrendered four runs. He was then lifted, as the trade had been completed. Cleveland wasn’t finished, as they swapped Orlando Cabrera to San Francisco for minor league outfielder Thomas Neal, who projects as a reasonable fourth outfielder.
St. Louis continued to keep their eye on the prize in 2011, possibly the last year for Pujols, as they acquired Rafael Furcal for a minor league outfielder who is known to not be on the team’s 40-man roster. The Red Sox also improved, landing Canadian Rich Harden for first base prospect Lars Anderson, who has lost some his shine over the past two seasons, and a PTBNL. The Red Sox also picked up Mike Aviles from Kansas City for Yamaico Navarro and a minor leaguer.
Finally, the impossible-to-root-against Pirates acquired Derrek Lee from Baltimore, pushing an underperforming Lyle Overbay to the bench, for a minor league first baseman.
