The advent of the second Wild Card in both leagues is a parity lover's best friend, but it also can doom certain contending teams who remain in neutral at the Trade Deadline whether by design or by misfortune. With that being said, here's our list of the 3 Teams That Took Themselves Out Of World Series Contention At The Deadline.
Chicago Cubs
Dan Haren remains an above-average starter at 34 years old (3.42 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 88 K to 25 BB), but his penchant for giving up the long ball will likely nip him in the bud at Wrigley. Haren is just one of ten qualified MLB starters who has given up 20 home runs or more (21), which means he may very well be terrorized by opposing pull hitters when he inevitably serves up meatballs over the heart of the plate. Tommy Hunter is a serviceable bridge reliever, but we're still a little miffed at the fact that Junior Lake is headed to Baltimore as the opposite end of that deal. In short, the Cubs swung and missed on front-line starters and chose (perhaps) not to add an impact bat -- a tact that will likely relegate them and their youth contingent to playoff contention-not-championship status, second Wild Card or not.
Minnesota Twins
We like the Twins. We really do. But, aside from landing a versatile reliever in Kevin Jepsen who can be slotted anywhere from innings six through nine and will help a bullpen currently ranked 24th in the Majors in ERA (3.97), the Twins decided to stand pat and take their chances against a bunched-up AL Wild Card field. The Twins are young and fun, but will that be enough to hold off the Terminator-regenerated Toronto Blue Jays and their new shiny cache of stars? Toronto's just two games back and has a four-game home series against Minnesota starting on Monday -- the perfect time for a standings coup. We're nervous that this will be a case of a feel-good story that ends with the team's youth hitting a wall and coughing things up in August and September.
Baltimore Orioles
This might be the most debatable of the three, considering the O's picked up one of the steals of the deadline in Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Gerardo Parra (.886 OPS, .369 OBP 9 HR, 24 doubles, 31 RBI). However, from there it feels like the Orioles front office dipped their toe in the buyers' ocean without diving headfirst towards a potential AL East championship or AL Wild Card berth. Swapping Tommy Hunter for a wait-and-see AAA outfielder (Junior Lake) is a nice boom/bust move, but the Orioles appear to be stuck in the quicksand of a Wild Card race which sports six teams within four games of the Twins for the second spot (including the O's). Missing on Ben Revere isn't the end of the world, but this deadline run is still lacking a certian something impact-wise.
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