Rozner: Trade deadline offers great theater, few answers

There's always a rush to judge the trade deadline, determining which teams won and lost in the moments after the hour passes.

These evaluations are not always spot on.

The White Sox were roasted in 2005 for acquiring only Geoff Blum on July 31, but the Sox believed they already had a complete team and didn't need much more.

Turns out that they were not only correct, but Blum also hit one of the most dramatic home runs in team history when he won Game 3 of the World Series in extras.

The biggest deal of 2017 took place on Aug. 31 when the Astros picked up Justin Verlander, who was huge for the champs down the stretch and in the postseason.

What's clear this year is some teams filled many needs over the last week or two, some absolutely did not, and some behaved in a manner that baffled the masses.

At least Cubs and White Sox fans know what their teams are trying to do. The plan is quite clear, and management is completely committed to the program.

The same can't be said of the New York Mets, who had an opportunity to flip the cruise liner in short order had they been willing.

Instead, they held on to all of their starting pitching and seem to have no idea what they will do next.

"All that happened today was we did not make a trade by the trade deadline," said Mets assistant GM John Ricco. "I don't think that necessarily means we've committed to one direction or another for next season."

Well, that clears that up.

"We were asked by ownership to be creative and be open to all possibilities," Ricco said. "We know the talent we have, specifically on the pitching side. While we had many offers and a lot of dialogue, we ended up not making a deal."

Two years ago, the Cardinals had an outfield that featured Tommy Pham, Randal Grichuk and Stephen Piscotty, and with Pham traded Tuesday that outfield is gone.

The Pirates haven't won a playoff series in 39 years and the only certainty is the uncertainty from year to year, as baseball wonders just what it is the Pirates have in mind.

But having won 15 of 19 going into Tuesday night, and having climbed to within 3½ games of the second National League wild card, the Pirates paid a huge price to get Chris Archer from the Rays in Austin Meadows and Tyler Glasnow.

They paid as if they were making a run at the World Series, and paid as if they were getting an ace. Archer has ace stuff but has pitched more like a No. 3 or 4 starter in the tough AL East.

Granted, he is signed through 2021 and for cheap, but what is the Pittsburgh path to the World Series during that time if ownership is unwilling to spend to get there?

The Brewers have desperately needed starting pitching for the last four months, and they have been collecting infielders for the last week.

The Giants, meanwhile, did nothing and are stuck in the middle.

Among the teams who did well and filled huge needs, the Dodgers added Manny Machado and Brian Dozier, the Diamondbacks brought in Eduardo Escobar, Brad Ziegler and Jake Diekman, and the Yankees got J.A. Happ, Zach Britton and Lance Lynn.

The Cubs may end up facing one or two of those teams and would love to have a shot at the Yankees in the World Series.

And the Cubs did about as well as they could have, given what they had to give up, getting important bullpen pieces in Brandon Kintzler and Jesse Chavez, and a lightning-bottle play in Cole Hamels.

Barring some August deals, the White Sox will have to wait until winter to further evaluate the market for some veterans with expiring contracts.

But at least the Chicago clubs know who they are what they are doing.

Not every team can say that, least of all the Mets, who admitted they have no idea what they're doing.

So, yeah, no matter how you're feeling today, things could always be worse.

brozner@dailyherald.com

• Listen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's "Hit and Run" show at WSCR 670-AM and follow him @BarryRozner on Twitter.