Losers

Toronto Blue Jays: General manager J.P. Ricciardi may look back a year-plus from now and think he should have pulled the trigger when he had the chance, because the price for Roy Halladay is only going to decrease from here. Think about it; Ricciardi had the Phillies, Dodgers, Red Sox, Rangers and Angels others all in the hunt — yet couldn't get a deal done.

What's left for Ricciardi this off-season is revisiting the possibility of dealing Halladay to a place where the ace right-hander would like to stay long-term. Otherwise, Ricciardi won't get anywhere close to the too-costly price tag he was seeking prior to the deadline. Or, there is the off chance the Jays can contend with Halladay in 2010. But it says here, that's not likely to happen. So make the Halladay deal and get on with the task of trying to build a team that eventually can challenge in the brutal AL East.

Chicago White Sox: Kenny Williams isn't afraid to make a mistake, and in this case, he's made it twice. He's dealt for an injured pitcher in Jake Peavy, who probably won't be back until late-August, and will be moving out of the National League in general and the safe-haven of Petco Park in particular, and headed to a home-run-heavy park in the better-hitting league.

Even without the injury/long-term concerns, Peavy's numbers are going to inflate. And the Sox reportedly are taking on all of the rest of his enormous contract ($52 million left after this season). This is a buyer-beware situation. He already turned down one deal to go to the south side of Chicago — although says he feels differently now. And while waiting for Peavy's return from the disabled list, the Sox have weakened their immediate rotation options by dealing Clayton Richard and Aaron Poreda, the best of the four-pitcher package.

Los Angeles Angels: What's going on in Anaheim? The Angels pitching staff is 12th in the AL in ERA — that's right, 12th; and when was the last time that happened? — yet they did nothing to upgrade their staff. Not even a reliever — although they did at least make runs at Halladay and Heath Bell. That's placing a lot of faith in unproven Kevin Jepsen and Jason Bulger — and it leaves no sure answers for Mike Scioscia, who got used to having Scot Shields and Frankie Rodriguez at the end of the games.

Chicago Cubs: General manager Jim Hendry tinkered too much with a good thing last winter — foolishly giving Milton Bradley a three-year deal, and sacrificing Mark DeRosa and Jason Marquis in the process. And now he's given up two high-velocity right-handed arms in Kevin Hart and Jose Ascanio to fill a left-handed need he failed to address previously, and received only marginal talent in return — Tom Gorzelanny and John Grabow.

Too soon to tell

Pittsburgh Pirates: The last veteran regular — that would be Freddy Sanchez — has shut the door behind him. Yep, everybody’s gone — and in fact, if you go back five years, you can fill out an entire lineup from the departed:

C Jason Kendall, 1B Adam LaRoche, 2B Freddy Sanchez, SS Jack Wilson, 3B Aramis Ramirez, LF Jason Bay, CF Nate McLouth, RF Xavier Nady, and numerous pitchers.

The problem is, there still has been no winning season, and no elite prospect has come back to the Pirates in any of their recent dealings. Even Jeff Clement — the name player in the Wilson/Ian Snell-to-the-Mariners deal — faces a position question. The Buccos will try him at first base. The three arms are in A-ball, meaning they are two-three years away minimum.

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At the press conference announcing the Wilson deal, Huntington said: “It’s not the first unpopular trade we’ve made, and it’s probably not going to be the last.’’ And a couple hours later — true to his word — Sanchez was sent to San Francisco.

The only thing we know for sure is that there is more depth in the Pirates organization. Whether that translates to big-league success in a couple years remains to be seen. And Pirates fans have waited too long to witness yet another blowing up of the big-league roster for the promise of future success.

Seattle Mariners: Raise your hand if you thought back in spring training that the Mariners really had a legitimate chance to contend this season. Thought so. So with his team eight games out and slipping, general manager Jack Zduriencik made a couple of deals that may seem to have conflicting motives, but really just are about upping the talent level throughout the organization.

Jack Wilson, in case you don’t know it, is the best defensive shortstop in the majors. He makes all the regular plays, and regularly adds in the spectacular, especially to his right. He's a nice upgrade over Ronny Cedeno, who may or may not ever be an every-day shortstop. Ian Snell was in desperate need of a change of scene, and he couldn’t have found a better place than pitcher-friendly Safeco Field.

And with Jarrod Washburn staring at a big free-agent deal or similar raise in arbitration, you have to trust that Zduriencik picked the best of a couple of offers for Washburn in landing a decent lefty in Luke French and the key to the deal, 20-year-old lefty Mauricio Robles — two arms that likely will be better than the three given up in the Wilson/Snell deal.

Cleveland Indians: No question, GM Mark Shapiro did the right dumping-payroll-for-prospects thing in dealing Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez, Rafael Betancourt and Ryan Garko in the midst of a season gone wrong.

But it's at least a bit suspicious that the Tribe was willing to accept a bunch of Phillies prospects for Lee that the Blue Jays weren't asking for in talks for Halladay, instead of insisting on Kyle Drabek or Dominick Brown. Martinez also didn't net any of the Red Sox's most-highly-regarded young arms, although Nick Hagadone was rated No. 3 in the Red Sox system by Baseball America.