Page 19 - ARUBA TODAY

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SPORTS Thursday 1 augusT 2019
Astros ace Greinke deal; 2

dozen trades on deadline day

By BEN WALKER wait," Cubs manager Joe after the season."
AP Baseball Writer Maddon said. "You've got Atlanta concentrated its
Out of nowhere, the Hous- to wait until the very end effort on padding its bull-
ton Astros got a huge head and it plays itself out. The pen.
start on October. 11th hour is the most pow- A day after getting reliever
On a dizzying day that fea- erful hour there is. To get Chris Martin from Texas, the
tured two dozen trades, the things done before that, Braves got Greene from
Astros pulled off the biggest it normally doesn't work to Detroit and Melancon from
and most startling deal, get what you want. There's the Giants.
adding ace Zack Greinke the 11th hour at work." "We engaged everything
to an imposing rotation al- Several players whose — position players, start- Arizona Diamondbacks' Zack Greinke delivers a pitch during
the first inning of a baseball game against the New York Yan-
ready loaded with All-Stars names swirled in the ing pitchers, the bullpen — kees Wednesday, July 31, 2019, in New York.
Justin Verlander and Gerrit tradewinds stayed put. right up until the end," gen- Associated Press
Cole. Giants ace Madison eral manager Alex Antho-
Plenty of familiar names Bumgarner, Mets starters poulos said. "At the end of a deal that made sense to was just 17 for 25 in save
were on the go Wednes- Noah Syndergaard and the day, where we thought our organization." chances.
day — Shane Greene and Zack Wheeler and Pirates there were deals that made The 30-year-old Greene has "They're excited, I'm ex-
Mark Melancon boosted closer Felipe Vázquez re- sense for us and what we 22 saves and 1.18 ERA and cited," Greene said in
the Braves' bullpen, with mained in place. So did had to give up and so on, was an All-Star this season. Anaheim, where the Tigers
Scooter Gennett, Jesús Mets closer Edwin Díaz and the bullpen made the most He's likely to take over the played the Los Angeles
Aguilar, Mike Leake and Texas starter Mike Minor. sense. But we definitely closer's role — Luke Jack- Angels. "I'm starting a new
Tanner Roark among those "Nothing changed for me. tried some other areas. We son had been the latest chapter and going to a
also moving. I never expected to be just couldn't wind up with to try it for the Braves, and contender."q
But it was the Astros' acqui- somewhere else until that
sition of Greinke from Ari- happened," Bumgarner
zona for four minor leagu- said. "I just have a job to
ers that quickly became do and I'm going to do it.
the talk of baseball. The We're going to miss a few
deal came right before guys we got rid of. That's
the deadline for swapping going to be tough."
players to still have them Major League Baseball
eligible for the postseason. made July 31 a hard dead-
"We had him high on our line this year for trades.
list and we didn't know this Now, no deals can be
was even remotely possible made until after the World
and it really wasn't until the Series.
last 48 hours and really the "This was a unique dead-
last 24 hours that we start- line, it felt," said Yankees
ed to get traction on some- general manager Brian
thing," Houston general Cashman, whose AL East-
manager Jeff Luhnow said. leading team didn't make
The AL West leaders and any significant moves.
2017 World Series champi- Pitchers Marcus Stroman,
ons added two other pitch- Andrew Cashner, Homer
ers, too, getting starter Aar- Bailey and Jason Vargas
on Sanchez and reliever were among the players
Joe Biagini from Toronto. who were traded in recent
"Houston made some big weeks.
deals. They're really good. And on Tuesday night, the
They were good before," Cleveland Indians agreed
Red Sox President of Base- to send pitcher Trevor Bau-
ball Operations Dave Dom- er to Cincinnati in a three-
browski said. team swap that brought
A lot of contenders were back outfielder Yasiel Puig.
busy. That trade became official
The Chicago Cubs added Wednesday, setting off a
Detroit's Nicholas Castel- full morning and afternoon
lanos to their lineup, the of swaps.
Phillies got outfielder Corey Wheeler heard the specu-
Dickerson from Pittsburgh lation involving him.
and the Washington Na- "It's almost happened sev-
tionals acquired relievers eral times and never did. I'm
Daniel Hudson, Roenis Elías happy to be here and I'm
and Hunter Strickland. concentrating on produc-
In most cases, major leagu- ing and doing well here,"
ers were swapped for mi- he said. "It was all there for
nor leaguers. it to happen and just didn't.
"When it comes to trades, I was ready for it, especially
one thing I've learned is, just with me being a free agent