With a less than impressive trade deadline nearing on Tuesday, a few key maneuvers finalized themselves, with little to no real difference being made. Perhaps the largest shock of the day was the trade of Matt Morris, a veteran pitcher for the San Francisco Giants, being thrown to the wolves with a trade to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Now normally when a good pitcher gets traded midseason, a playoff contending team usually ends up trying to solidify an already good rotation in order to go deep into the playoffs. With this trade unfortunately nothing really changes for Matt Morris, going from a struggling Giants team to an abmismal Pirates system. At least the Giants looked to be building a team around a solid rotation. Elsewhere, the Boston Red Sox shored up Eric Gagne in what had to have been a very heavily negotiated trade to link up the solid starting rotation to their closer Jonathan Papelbon. Gagne may not be the same pitcher that most remember him to be, but the impact that this has on the Red Sox race to the Pennant this year by having the threat of a healthy Gagne being a set up guy in the pen could have a pretty solid psychological effect for both Boston, as well as the opposition.
I would have to say that the Texas Rangers fueled their tanks with the most gas long term during this trading time, even if the outcome won’t immediately have sports fans rushing to the online sportsbooks to wager on them. Along with them receiving great prospects for the future, the Atlanta Braves looked for what they needed right now, giving up good prospects for Mark Teixeira and Octavio Dotel. This will probably end up being a good move for the Braves, who already have a very solid team, and are definitely in a playoff race this year. With the Rangers getting rid of both Teixeira and Gagne, this should further help Texas rebuild down the road with some added room to move money wise, which they have been in desperate need of doing. In San Diego, some good moves were made, including signing Shea Hillenbrand, Rob Mackowiak, Morgan Ensberg and Scott Hairston. They definitely needed some more offense, and we’ll just have to see if this does anything for them.
As Barry Bonds goes for tying the home run record with a series in Los Angeles, the Yankees established a home run record of their own hitting eight home runs against the Chicago White Sox. Seven different Yankees took their turn knocking one into the bleachers as the 16-3 rout was on from the 4 run first inning forward. John Lackey shut-out the Seattle Mariners, keeping them away from the four game lead held by the Angels out west. I will say one thing: Jeff Weaver is possibly the worst starting pitcher in the league. He is making over 8 million dollars a year with a 2-10 record and an ERA north of six. If you see the Mariners coming up on the betting ticket and Weaver is on it, do yourself a favor and place your online sportsbook bet on the other team. There is plenty of talk, plenty of action in Major League Baseball, so head on down to one of our best online sportsbooks here at CasinoReview.org and see what (if any) effects this year’s trade deadline has for betting on sports.
Aaron G.