B12 | REPORTONBUSINESS O THEGLOBEANDMAIL| THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2019
T
wo summers ago, the Houston As-
tros traded for a right-handed
pitcher born in 1983 who had once
won the American League Cy
Young Award. That pitcher, Justin Verlan-
der, carried the Astros to the World Series,
which they won for the first time.
The Astros made that deal in August
after Verlander had gotten through waiv-
ers. With no waiver-trading period this
year, the Astros had to act by Wednesday’s
deadlinetoimproveateamthatisrunning
awaywiththeALWest.Theyturnedto2017
for inspiration, sending four prospects to
the Arizona Diamondbacks for Zack
Greinke and cash.
“He’s one of the best of the generation
I’ve been around baseball,” Astros manag-
er A.J. Hinch told reporters in Cleveland,
adding later, “He’s elite across the board.”
Ofallthepitchersinmajor-leaguehisto-
ry, Greinke, 35, compares most closely with
Verlander, according to Baseball Refer-
ence. He is 197-122 with a 3.36 ERA in his
career and has earned six all-star selec-
tions, including five since 2014. He won his
CyYoungforKansasCityin2009,twoyears
before Verlander won his for Detroit.
Greinke has never pitched in the World
Series, but with Houston, he may finally
get the chance. The Astros now seem like
heavy AL favorites, especially with the
East-leadingNewYorkYankees–ateamon
Greinke’s no-trade list – adding no major-
league pieces at the deadline.
The Yankees’ starting pitching has wilt-
ed against the better AL lineups, but few
starters traded in July would have provid-
ed much of an upgrade. Besides Greinke,
the best starters were actually traded to
teams with losing records: Trevor Bauer
from Cleveland to Cincinnati and Marcus
Stroman from Toronto to the New York
Mets. Other top starters, such as the Mets’
Noah Syndergaard, Arizona’s Robbie Ray
and the San Francisco Giants’ Madison
Bumgarner, stayed put.
The Astros, then, stand out as the only
contender in either league to add a high-
impact starter. Greinke, who was 10-4 with
a2.90ERAforArizonathisseason,willjoin
Verlander, Gerrit Cole and Wade Miley in a
rotation that could be overpowering.
Only two starters in the majors this sea-
son have at least 190 strikeouts with an
ERA under 3.00 – Verlander
and Cole. The left-handed
Miley, a nine-year veteran
with a 3.06 ERA, is having his
best season.
The Astros’ bullpen,
meanwhile, has held oppo-
nents to an AL-low .227 aver-
age. General manager Jeff
Luhnow added to it on
Wednesday by acquiring a
right-hander, Joe Biagini, in
a trade with the Toronto
Blue Jays. The Astros, who
gave up outfielder Derek Fisher, also ac-
quiredstarterAaronSanchez,whohadthe
AL’sbestERAin2016butis3-14thisseason.
To acquire Greinke, the Astros sent
pitchers J.B. Bukauskas and Corbin Martin,
first baseman/outfielder Seth Beer and in-
fielder Joshua Rojas to Arizona. Only Mar-
tin has pitched in the majors, for five starts
this season before undergoing Tommy
John surgery. The Diamondbacks report-
edly included US$24-million in the deal to
help the Astros absorb the remainder of
Greinke’s six-year, US$206.5-million con-
tract, which runs through 2021.
“Trading a No. 1 starting pitcher is not
somethingthatwetooklightly,”Diamond-backs general manager Mike Hazen said.
The Diamondbacks acquired two start-
ers in other deals – Mike Leake from Seat-
tle and Zac Gallen from Miami – and were
among the more active teams on a busy
deadline day.
The top teams in the National League
Eastrevampedtheirbullpens,withAtlanta
acquiring Shane Greene from Detroit and
Mark Melancon from San Francisco, and
Washington snagging Daniel Hudson from
Toronto, and Roenis Elias and Hunter
Strickland from Seattle. The Chicago Cubs,
who are trying to win their fourth NL Cen-
tral division title in a row,
added outfielder Nicholas
Castellanos from Detroit and
second baseman/outfielder
Tony Kemp from the Astros.
But the Greinke move had
by far the most sizzle, giving
the Astros’ progressive 70-
year-old pitching coach,
Brent Strom, another star pu-
pil. The Astros, who rely
heavily on analytics, have
helped Verlander and Cole
elevate their performances
and would seem to be an ideal match for
thecerebralGreinke,whokeepshittersun-
comfortable by mixing sliders, curveballs
and change-ups with a fastball.
“The amount and information that he
takes in, in my mind, it’s impossible for me
to try to do,” Zack Godley, a Diamond-
backs’right-hander,saidinspringtraining,
adding later: “His thought process on
everything is just on a different level than
anyone else.”
Now, the Astros’ rotation is on a differ-
ent level, too, and it just might help them
win another World Series.NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICETYLER KEPNER
Greinke, who was
10-4 with a 2.90 ERA
for Arizona this
season, will join
Verlander, Gerrit Cole
and Wade Miley in a
rotation that could
be overpowering.HownewAstroGreinkecouldleadteamtoWorldSeries
The Jays don’t have any of those
any more either.
How understaffed and inexpe-
rienced are the Jays now? Justin
Smoak is the only person left on
the 25-man roster who’s played
more than a couple of seasons in
Toronto. He’s also the only re-
sponsible adult left. Trent Thorn-
ton, a rookie with an ERA over
5.00, is the de facto staff ace.
Also, you should check your
messages. It’s possible that you –
yes, you – may be coming out of
thebullpeninthenextfewgames.
Hold up. Are you good at base-
ball? Well then, forget it. The Jays
can’t make that work because it’s
too late to trade you.
The Sanchez swap looks far
worse when coupled with the
Marcus Stroman trade two days
earlier.
The Jays got two average pro-
spects for Stroman from the New
York Mets. The most charitable
spin was that the Jays had been
forced to dump Stroman in a
buyers’ market.
A few hours later, Cleveland
traded Trevor Bauer. Speaking in
broad terms, Bauer is Stroman’s
doppelganger – same age, same
pedigree and same amount of
controlability. The biggest differ-
encebetweenthetwoisthatStro-
man is having a wonderful 2019
and Bauer is the guy who tried to
chuck the ball into the centre-
field stands from the mound.
Somehow,Clevelandturnedits
equally distressed asset into Ya-
siel Puig and four other players, a
couple of whom are actually
good.
Atkins’s verdict on one versus
the other?
“We feel even better about [the
Stroman return] after having
seen what teams were willing to
do.”
I can’t even.
Maybe the Toronto Blue Jays
are becoming to Major League
Baseball what your dumb friend
Doug is to neighbourhood poker
night. Doug likes action. Any sort
of action. Coupled with a tenuous
understanding of poker and
human motivation, that makes
Doug everyone’s favourite poker
buddy.Becauseheisagold-plated
sucker.
A few years ago, the Jays were
the ones fleecing other teams.
They got someone to take on the
dead weight of Vernon Wells’s
contract. They rid themselves of
Alex Rios when he was a toxic
asset.TheygottheOaklandA’s–a
smart baseball team – to give up a
future MVP, Josh Donaldson, for
... and I’m going to start scream-
ing here ... Brett Lawrie. In most
countries, that’s an indictable fe-
lony. Now, they are reduced to
this.
The Jays have some competi-
tion in terms of being the worst
team in baseball. But as strategic
thinkers, they are clearly leading
the whole shebang in wretched-
ness.
They inherited a successful
product with a loyal customer
base and have spent most of four
years diminishing the quality of
the first and enraging the second.
In any rational market, this club
would be on its way to bankrupt-
cy.
But baseball operates in a
business fantasyland, the sort in
whichyoucansaythingslike,“We
won’t have game-changing talent
in our system until it’s doing it in
the major leagues,” which Atkins
did on Wednesday, and no one
stands up to say, “I don’t think
that sentence makes sense in En-
glish.”
If I were employed by the Blue
Jays in a non-playing capacity, I’d
be checking for dynamite around
the Rogers Centre’s pillars before
heading up to my desk on Thurs-
day morning.
Becausegiventheeventsofthe
pastfewdays,thenextlogicalstep
is blowing up the building.
Knowing this club, the evacua-
tion email will go out 10 minutes
after detonation.
However, to hear Atkins tell it,
everything is fine. The team has
“depth.” Fisher is “depth.” The
two guys they got for Stroman are
depth. The kid no one’s ever
heardof,whotheyjustflippedre-
lieverDanielHudsonfor,isdepth.
They have depth to spare.
What they don’t have is any-
where close to enough top-end
talent, and are now left with no
waytogetanybuttobuyit.Which
means they have no way to get
any.
“We’renotdone,intermsofac-
quisitions,” Atkins said.
That should be a hopeful
thought. With the current Toron-
toBlueJays,itsoundslikeathreat.Kelly:Jaysare
notablyawful
whenitcomes
tostrategy
FROM B11Freddy Galvis and rookie Bo Bichette hit
solo home runs to lead the Toronto Blue
Jays over the Kansas City Royals 4-1 on
Wednesday for a three-game sweep.
Bichette hit his first career homer to
open the eighth inning against Royals
starter Jakob Junis, a drive to left field. Gal-
vis cleared the centre-field wall with his
16th to open the seventh.
Cavan Biggio followed Bichette’s homer
with a double, ending Junis’s outing. Re-
liever Kevin McCarthy surrendered a run-
scoring double to Teoscar Hernandez.
Rookie Jacob Waguespack (2-1) went six
inningsforhissecondwininhisfourthbig-
league start. He held the Royals to three
hits and one run. Cam Gallagher barely
cleared the left-field bullpen fence for his
secondhomer,drillinga2-2pitchfromWa-
guespack to open the third inning.
Junis(6-10)wascruisingformuchofthe
game, retiring the side on eight pitches
each in the second, third and fourth in-
nings. But the Jays got even 1-1 in the sixth
as Biggio walked, stole second and scored
on Justin Smoak’s single.
Waguespack got exceptional defensive
help early. Deep outfield catches by
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in left and Randal Gri-
chuk in centre prevented extra-base hits
by Jorge Soler in the first inning and Hun-
ter Dozier in the third. Smoak speared
Ryan O’Hearn’s hot shot to start a doubleplay in the fourth and Gurriel charged in
for a shoetop grab of Nicky Lopez’s weak
liner to end the inning. Right after that
play, however, Gurriel left the game with a
sore right knee. Rookie right-hander Justin
Shafer worked a perfect ninth for his first
career save.
With the Blue Jays shedding veterans,
theyhavethesecond-youngestteaminthe
majors and manager Charlie Montoyo is
encouragingthekids,includingBiggioand
Bichette, to take leadership roles.
“What I’ve been telling Biggio and Bo
when they got here: ‘This is your club-
house,herewego.Youguyswereleadersin
theminorleagues,it’sthesamethinghere.
Just because you’re a rookie, don’t [avoid
being]aleaderinthebigleagues.Goahead
and start now,’ ”Montoyo said.THE CANADIAN PRESSBlue Jay Freddy Galvis swings against Kansas City at Kauffman Stadium on Wednesday. The designated hitter’s home run helped Toronto
win the matchup 4-1 and sweep its three-game series with the Royals.ORLIN WAGNER/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
GalvisandBichettelead
BlueJays’sweepoverRoyals
Bohitshisfirstcareerhomer
asMontoyolooksforleaders
onateamfullofrookies
DICK KAEGELKANSAS
ITY
The Los Angeles Dodgers added infielder
Jedd Gyorko, acquiring him from the St.
Louis Cardinals for left-hander Tony
Cingrani and minor-league righty Jeffry
Abreu. The Dodgers also receive interna-
tional cap space and cash considerations.
The Washington Nationals tried to
upgrade their bullpen, acquiring relievers
Roenis Elias and Hunter Strickland from
Seattle and Daniel Hudson in a trade
with Toronto. The Mariners received a
trio of minor-league pitchers from the
Nationals – left-handers Taylor Guilbeau
and Aaron Fletcher and right-hander
Elvis Alvarado. Washington sent minor-
league right-hander Kyle Johnston to
Toronto for Hudson, who can become a
free agent at the end of the season.
The playoff-contending Oakland Ath-
letics have acquired starter Tanner Roark
from the Cincinnati Reds, filling out a
rotation that also could have left-hander
Sean Manaea back soon. Oakland dealt
outfield prospect Jameson Hannah to
Cincinnati. The Reds are sending Oakland
US$2.1-million to offset much of the
US$3,225,806 remaining in Roark’s US$10-
million salary.The Cleveland Indians bulked up for
the playoff race by trading temperamen-
tal starter Trevor Bauer to Cincinnati in a
three-team deal they hope helps them
catch the Minnesota Twins. Cleveland,
which trails the AL Central by three
games, sent Bauer to the Reds for slugger
Yasiel Puig and left-hander Scott Moss.
The Indians also acquired outfielder
Franmil Reyes, lefty Logan Allen and
infield prospect Victor Nova from San
Diego. The Padres acquired outfielder
Taylor Trammel from the Reds.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESSOTHER TRADESOFNOTEAROUNDTHEMAJORLEAGUES