Trade tracker 2012: Deadline deals and analysis

Yahoo! Sports national baseball writer Jeff Passan will break down all the trades completed before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. Notable deals dating back to June 25 are included.

TEXAS	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	CHICAGO
	Ryan Dempster		Kyle Hendricks Christian Villanueva

ANALYSIS: In swooped Jon Daniels, wearing all black, wielding his nunchakus and throwing stars, primed to steal away hope across baseball that he wasn't going to do anything. C'mon. Jon Daniels always does something, and in this case it was poach the best player left on the trade market and the starter the Rangers desperately needed within the final minutes of the deadline. The price wasn't exorbitant, though Villanueva, a young third baseman, and Hendricks, a command-and-control right-hander from Dartmouth, are more than organizational pieces. They're part of the puzzle that Theo Epstein is constructing on the fly, and with deft skill at that.

CINCINNATI	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	KANSAS CITY
	Jonathan Broxton		Donnie Joseph J.C. Sulbaran

ANALYSIS: The best bullpen in baseball gets better. The Reds had plenty bigger needs (like a leadoff hitter) but chose to go the cheap route and complement Aroldis Chapman, Sean Marshall, Alfredo Simon, Jose Arredondo and Logan Ondrusek. With an inconsistent rotation, it was a savvy play by GM Walt Jocketty. The Royals got an excellent return, too. Following a dreadful 2011, Joseph is back as one of the best relievers in the minor leagues. And Sulbaran is the sort of second-tier pitching prospect that can grow into a back-end starter with a little more command.

NEW YORK	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	PITTSBURGH
	Casey McGehee		Chad Qualls

ANALYSIS: Eric Chavez as the Yankees' everyday third baseman until Alex Rodriguez's return simply wasn't going to work, and so the Yankees' big splash is the .230/.297/.377-hitting McGehee. It's not like they gave up anything for him, of course. The Phillies dumped Qualls on the Yankees less than a month ago, and his eight appearances and 6.14 ERA haven't exactly merited the player to be named later they proffered. This is the epitome of a need-for-need deal – or, more accurate, a cringe-for-cringe pact.

BOSTON	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	ARIZONA
	Craig Breslow		Matt Albers Scott Podsednik

ANALYSIS: Bobby Valentine needs a friend in the Red Sox's clubhouse, and he literally got one in Breslow, a fellow Connecticut native. As a pitcher he's all right, too: low walks, high strikeouts, a decent ground-ball rate and a large enough array of pitches that some have floated the idea of starting him. Albers actually has better stuff and a better ERA than Breslow, though his elevated home run rate and cratering strikeout rate make him a heavy regression candidate. Podsednik is insurance, as he has little chance of cracking an outfield that's already a solid four-deep.

PITTSBURGH	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	MIAMI
	Gaby Sanchez Kyle Kaminska		Gorkys Hernandez Competitive balance pick

ANALYSIS: Gaby Sanchez was an All-Star a year ago, and while that doesn't mean what it used to, it's enough to say he wasn't dreadful. For the second time in two days, Pirates GM Neil Huntington has swooped in and bought low, much as he did with A.J. Burnett, and finished out a pretty dandy deadline season. Sanchez, 28, crushes left-handed pitching (.298/.390/.488 for his career) and can play the perfect platoon partner to Garrett Jones at first base. Hernandez is a glove-only center fielder, though that glove is spectacular and, with the vast expanse that is Marlins Park, a necessity. If he can hit at all – and there's no indication he can – this should be a worthwhile trade for both sides.

ST. LOUIS	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	MIAMI
	Edward Mujica		Zack Cox

ANALYSIS: No Colby Rasmus-sized trade this year, even if the Cardinals need some assistance to get past the more aggressive Pirates and the superior Reds. Mujica is usually a strikethrower nonpareil, though he isn't throwing nearly as many this year, and his strikeout rate is way down as well. He's a middling-at-best upgrade. Cox was supposed to be a fast mover whose lack of power and patience caught up with him at Triple-A. When he makes it to Miami – it's not like they've got a better option at third base – cavernous Marlins Park will make those home runs even more elusive.

SAN FRANCISCO	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	PHILADELPHIA
	Hunter Pence		Nate Schierholtz Tommy Joseph Seth Rosin

ANALYSIS: Anything you can do, Ned Colletti, I can do better, says Brian Sabean, Giants general manager and Colletti's former boss. The race for supremacy in the NL West is now a game of one-upsmanship after the Giants fortified their offense with Pence, who joins Buster Posey, Melky Cabrera and Pablo Sandoval to form a far more formidable crew than the championship roster of 2010. While Pence is having a down year, he's an upgrade over Schierholtz, who joins a brand-new outfield in Philadelphia. Joseph is a nice prospect, a 21-year-old in Double-A who should take over at catcher if Carlos Ruiz leaves after next season, and Rosin is a 6-foot-6, 250-pound beast who pitched well in the Cal League after the Giants moved him from the bullpen to starter a month ago. Most important for the Phillies: They save about $14 million in salary for Pence next season.

LOS ANGELES	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	PHILADELPHIA
	Shane Victorino		Josh Lindblom Ethan Martin

ANALYSIS: Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti continues his feeding frenzy by filling a cavernous left field – both in size and lack of production – with Victorino, whose bat doesn't profile in a corner. He's a center fielder, and a pretty good one with the glove, whereas Matt Kemp's inconsistencies there make him the better candidate to move to left. That, of course, isn't happening because of the size of his contract and ego to placate, so the Dodgers' upgrade isn't as lofty as it could be. Lindblom is a monster right-handed reliever with fly-ball tendencies that don't fit at Citizens Bank Park but whose four-pitch mix could conceivably allow a transition back to starter. Martin is a Double-A starter with big stuff and not enough of an idea where the ball is going to rate as much more than a project.

TORONTO	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	SEATTLE
	Steve Delabar		Eric Thames

ANALYSIS: Opposing hitters don't touch Delabar much. They're hitting .177 off him. Problem is, he has allowed almost as many home runs (nine) as he has singles (10). His upper-90s heat should help the Toronto bullpen for years. Whether Thames, a fourth-outfielder type, can do the same in spacious Safeco Field is far more dubious. Even his pronounced platoon split crushing right-handers last year disappeared this season.

LOS ANGELES	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	SEATTLE
	Brandon League		Leon Landry Logan Bawcom

ANALYSIS: Chances are this doesn't turn into a Ned Colletti special whereby he gives away a Carlos Santana or James McDonald for a marginal upgrade at the trade deadline. Still, with League's trademark sinker getting pummeled – batters have hit line drives off it half as often as they've hit ground balls – tapping him as a late-inning answer isn't altogether safe. While Bawcom has closed effectively in the minor leagues, Landry is the potential impact piece, depending on just how much of his .328/.358/.559 slash line is a California League mirage.

PITTSBURGH	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	TORONTO
	Travis Snider		Brad Lincoln

ANALYSIS: Snider is still just 24 years old, amazing considering he has been bouncing between the major leagues and Triple-A for five seasons now. We know he can destroy Triple-A pitching. Seeing if a change of scenery helps him do the same in the major leagues was a stroke of brilliance for Pirates GM Neil Huntington. He did have to give up a valuable piece of his excellent bullpen, Lincoln, who is throwing harder than ever. Since his switch to relief, where manager John Farrell expects to keep Lincoln, his fastball topped out at 96 mph, sat close to 94 mph and made him into a great two-pitch right-hander.

TEXAS	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	CHICAGO
	Geovany Soto		Jake Brigham

ANALYSIS: Soto's de-evolution into a below-average offensive catcher has been more than a half decade in the making. His Rookie of the Year award is but a relic, collecting cobwebs as he tries to remember what, exactly, happened. This is what: .195/.278/.345. The Cubs preferred not to pay Soto through arbitration this offseason and shipped him to Texas, which may need a catcher this winter if Mike Napoli leaves. Brigham, the return, profiles as an organizational arm sent along because giving away Soto just wouldn't look great.

ATLANTA	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	CHICAGO
	Reed Johnson Paul Maholm		Arodys Vizcaino Jaye Chapman

ANALYSIS: This is the mutually beneficial deal with wildly different potential outcomes. For the Braves, it's a low-risk proposition. They get a guy pitching like an ace (a 1.00 ERA over his last five starts) in Maholm and a platoon bat to replace the injured Matt Diaz in Johnson. Chapman is just a piece. Vizcaino, however, has touched triple digits with his fastball and has one of the minor leagues' quicker arms. One snag: He's currently sitting out after Tommy John surgery. That's the only thing that made him expendable, as the Braves would've held on without the injury and the Cubs would've sought a different package.

ARIZONA	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	HOUSTON
	Chris Johnson		Bobby Borchering Marc Krauss

ANALYSIS: The Diamondbacks are vacillating between buyers and sellers. Ryan Roberts? Out for a minor-league infielder. Johnson? In for a pair of prospects. With Johnson likely to hit arbitration this offseason as a Super 2, the Astros continued stripping their team like they were foreclosing on it. Krauss is a big-bodied outfielder who turns 25 this offseason and has put up big numbers almost everywhere he has gone. Borchering, a former first-round pick, has been dreadful since a promotion out of the Cal League.

OAKLAND	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	MILWAUKEE
	George Kottaras		Fautino De Los Santos

ANALYSIS: Whether Oakland sticks Kottaras in a platoon with Kurt Suzuki or trades Suzuki and uses Derek Norris instead, Kottaras is likely to be in a time-share situation. Kottaras will face righties, against whom he has walked 23 times in 100 plate appearances. De Los Santos is a huge arm, and that's about it. The next pitching coach to wrangle him and teach him command will be the first.

CHICAGO	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	MINNESOTA
	Francisco Liriano		Eduardo Escobar Pedro Hernandez

ANALYSIS: As Tim Brown said, Kenny Williams wields his Rolodex like a rocket launcher. Intradivision trade? Scarface Kenny will do whatever it takes to win. Which, in this case, meant a worthwhile gamble for a left-handed pitcher who has resuscitated his slider into a knockout pitch. Over the last month, Liriano has by far the highest swing-and-miss rate in baseball: 35.4 percent. He's also liable to go on tears where he's among the worst pitchers in baseball. Escobar is a utility infielder without much of a stick, and Hernandez, a short lefty, should end up as a bullpen arm – not much of a return for two months of Liriano, no matter his inconsistencies.

SAN FRANCISCO	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	COLORADO
	Marco Scutaro		Charlie Culberson

ANALYSIS: This time of year, Giants GM Brian Sabean rekindles his old-guy fetish and makes a couple trades for players well past their prime. The first this year: Scutaro, who can play all around the infield – third base for now while Pablo Sandoval is out, and perhaps shortstop instead of Brandon Crawford or second base in lieu of Ryan Theriot once Panda returns. At one point Culberson was a prospect, though he has plateaued at higher levels. Especially troublesome is his .283 on-base percentage.

LOS ANGELES	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	MILWAUKEE
	Zack Greinke		Jean Segura Johnny Hellweg Ariel Pena

ANALYSIS: The deadline's biggest haul is a tossup between Florida's return for the Anibal Sanchez deal and the Brewers' for Greinke. If Segura can stick at shortstop – plenty of scouts have him a second baseman – this is a win for Milwaukee. Especially if either Hellweg or Pena, two big, hard-throwing right-handers, figures out how to throw a strike. The Angels, on the other hand, become perhaps the most dangerous team in baseball on account of their depth at starting pitching and in their lineup. It's rough enough facing a rotation with Jered Weaver, C.J. Wilson and Dan Haren. Greinke as the Angels' No. 3, maybe No. 4 starter? Yes, please.

LOS ANGELES	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	MIAMI
	Hanley Ramirez Randy Choate		Nathan Eovaldi Scott McGough

ANALYSIS: The Marlins' conflagration continues with their blind dump of Ramirez to the team most willing to eat the entirety of his contract, the Dodgers. Los Angeles gets … well, it's not entirely evident if there's an MVP-caliber sort left inside Ramirez's 28-year-old body or if he's the sad-sack loafer who for two full years now has been little more than mediocre. In return, the Marlins receive Eovaldi, a back-end starter, and McGough, who may crack their bullpen at some point. More important, they get the sweet satisfaction of knowing this new Marlins era didn't even last four months. Go Fish! More: Worthy gamble for Dodgers?

TAMPA BAY	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	ARIZONA
	Ryan Roberts		Tyler Bortnick

ANALYSIS: The Rays pick up the sort of player they covet, one who can play a variety of positions, in the 32-year-old Roberts. For now he should fill in at third base for Evan Longoria, who still has yet to head out on a rehab assignment for his torn hamstring. Bortnick is a grinder at second base who brings fantastic plate discipline, plus speed and a serviceable glove. At 25, he's not really a prospect, but he could find himself as a 25th man who can steal a few bases and pinch hit for the pitcher.

PITTSBURGH	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	HOUSTON
	Wandy Rodriguez		Robbie Grossman Rudy Owens Colton Cain

ANALYSIS: The concern among opposing scouts about Rodriguez always has been quite simple: They worry his stuff won't play outside the NL Central. Well, that's not an issue here, as the Pirates passed on the marquee names and chose instead the successful if overpaid left-hander. Pittsburgh is better today on account of the deal, and with a talented St. Louis team in chase mode, the Pirates needed to improve. The price was hefty. Grossman is a walk-drawing machine who will hit atop the Astros lineup within the next year or two, Owens could plug into Houston's rotation right now as a finesse lefty and Cain is a high-upside left-hander whom the Pirates gave $1.125 million out of high school. He and Grossman were two of the Pirates' over-slot signings, and while Pittsburgh envisioned them paying dividends in a Pirates uniform, their presence instead ensured Rodriguez would wear one.

CLEVELAND	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	BOSTON
	Brent Lillibridge		Jose De La Torre

ANALYSIS: Boston parlays one piece of its Kevin Youkilis return into a hard-throwing prospect. Cleveland splurges for a utilityman hitting .165/.212/.177. Nothing to see here.

NEW YORK	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	SEATTLE
	Ichiro Suzuki		D.J. Mitchell Danny Farquhar

ANALYSIS: While Ichiro's reputation far exceeds his abilities these days, his departure from Seattle was nevertheless the shocker of deadline season – and a sly pickup for the Yankees. As a cog instead of the drive shaft, Ichiro can do what he does well – run and catch the ball – without the pressure to rake in a lineup that won't rely on him as a run producer. This was a pure dump for Seattle, with neither Mitchell nor Farquhar grading out as a prospect. If they make it, that's more an indictment on Seattle's pitching staff than their talent.

DETROIT	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	MIAMI
	Anibal Sanchez Omar Infante No. 37 pick in 2013 draft		Jacob Turner Rob Brantly Brian Flynn No. 73 pick in 2013 draft

ANALYSIS: While the Ichiro deal stole the July 23 headlines, this was the day's true blockbuster, involving a top prospect, a sought-after free agent-to-be and the first draft-pick trade in baseball history. Sanchez gives the Tigers a deep and dangerous rotation, alongside Justin Verlander and Doug Fister, while Infante can shore up a Detroit infield that has been a defensive sinkhole. The downside: The Tigers won't get anything if Sanchez departs via free agency, while the Marlins pick up six years of Turner, a hard-throwing right-hander whose arm troubles this year dropped his stock a bit. Still, he's a potential frontline guy, and Brantly, a fast-moving college kid, thrived at Double-A before struggling for the last month-plus at Triple-A. Flynn is a monstrous (6-foot-8, 250 pounds) lefty who has proven hittable in the low minors but has the frame to thrive.

CHICAGO	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	HOUSTON
	Brett Myers		Matt Heidenreich Blair Walters

ANALYSIS: Chicago GM Kenny Williams always manages to coax something out of a farm system pegged annually among the game's worst, and his acquisition of Myers is no different. The right-handed veteran joins the kiddie corps in a cobbled-together bullpen. Astros GM Jeff Luhnow moved Myers there from the rotation this spring because, in part, he thought he could extract more trade value from Myers the reliever. Heidenreich is a long-and-lean command-and-control righty for whom Double-A has proven far more difficult than High-A, where he thrived earlier this year. Walters is a little more interesting: a lefty with solid velocity and a history of high strikeouts and low walks (165-to-39 in 171 1/3 innings).

TORONTO	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	HOUSTON
	J.A. Happ Brandon Lyon David Carpenter		Francisco Cordero Ben Francisco Asher Wojciechowski Carlos Perez Joe Musgrove David Rollins Player to be named later

ANALYSIS: Any deal that involves double-digit players is a threat to steal the heart of those yearning for the old-time baseball swap, whereby a couple GMs shared a few pops and traded half their rosters. This, of course, is not one of those. The Blue Jays need major-league pitching depth. The Astros need minor-league depth. Chuck Woolery couldn't have paired them better. Houston's quantity-over-quality approach is good for this sort of deal, in which it gives up a low-end starter in Happ and a reliever in Carpenter whose performance last year (29 strikeouts, six unintentional walks in 27 2/3 innings) makes this season's ugly numbers even odder, especially considering his stuff is just as good as in 2011. Of the Astros' pickins, the 19-year-old Musgrove, 21-year-old Perez and 23-year-old Wojciechowski are worth watching. Musgrove and Wojciechowski are recent first-round draft choices, the former still in rookie ball and the latter likely to moving to Double-A soon. Perez joined Houston's Cal League affiliate, Lancaster, which should boost otherwise-solid offensive numbers for a catcher. Cordero, whose velocity is down more than 3 mph from its peak, is a closer in name only.

KANSAS CITY	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	COLORADO
	Jeremy Guthrie		Jonathan Sanchez

ANALYSIS: The classic slop-for-slop deal among non-contenders. Both pitchers are free agents-to-be. Both have been disastrous. Both needed a change of scenery. Guthrie could find peace outside of Colorado, where the air never deigned to let his pitches move. The Rockies, or someone, should try Sanchez in a lefty reliever role, where the shorter stints could mitigate his control problems. Left-handers have hit .214/.310/.348 against him for his career, nearly 100 OPS points lower than against righties.

ATLANTA	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	CINCINNATI
	Paul Janish		Todd Redmond

ANALYSIS: The Braves needed a shortstop with Andrelton Simmons out for more than a month and Tyler Pastornicky banished to Doghouse Island. The Reds wanted pitching depth because you can't have enough. Voila: Contenders helping each other out. Janish has been his typical soft-hitting, good-glove self, while Redmond is back at Triple-A, his glass ready to break in case of emergency.

MIAMI	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	HOUSTON
	Carlos Lee		Matt Dominguez Rob Rasmussen

ANALYSIS: If you think the Marlins-as-contenders era was short-lived, how about the Carlos Lee-as-savior era, which lasted all of two weeks. The Marlins shipped away a former top prospect in Dominguez, who would win Gold Gloves if he could hit enough to hold down an everyday spot, and Rasmussen, a non-prospect, for a lineup boost from a guy who hasn't boosted a lineup in half a decade. Oh, well. At least they tried.

BALTIMORE	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	PHILADELPHIA
	Jim Thome		Gabriel Lino Kyle Simon

ANALYSIS: Thome has done his Thome thing: mash a few taters, draw a few walks and strike out like it's going out of style. At very least he's a threat in a lineup whose potency has receded as the season has worn on. Lino is someone to dream on: 19 years old, 6-foot-3, 225 pounds, with power and enough tools to stay at catcher. For three months of a 41-year-old DH, he was an excellent return. Simon, a big righty, is gravy, and he has excelled since the Phillies moved him to the bullpen upon his acquisition. He could be a big-league middle reliever.

CHICAGO	ACQUIRED		ACQUIRED	BOSTON
	Kevin Youkilis		Zach Stewart Brett Lillibridge

ANALYSIS: The Red Sox were in something of an untenable situation, sure: a glut at first and third base, a dreadful relationship between Youkilis and Bobby Valentine, and a veteran underperforming his contract. Still, to dump Youkilis for next to nothing – Lillibridge already is gone – looks bad in hindsight, especially with Youkilis slugging .500 and driving in runs and drawing walks and doing all the Youkish things for which Boston loved him. Stewart has controlled the ball well at Triple-A, but at less than a strikeout every two innings, he profiles as a reliever at best and more likely a AAAA guy.

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