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TSN Baseball Insider Steve Phillips answers several questions each week.This week's topics include rating the moves Alex Anthopoulos made ahead of the trade deadline, debating who did the best job improving their position in the American League and he discusses how hard GMs work to keep names out of the press before trades are official.

1) Prior to the deadline, the Toronto Blue Jays added Troy Tulowitzki, David Price, LaTroy Hawkins, Mark Lowe and Ben Revere; obviously a very impressive haul.  Rate the moves Alex Anthopoulos made and do you think there is still enough time for them to catch the Yankees for the division or are their eyes firmly set on a Wild Card spot?

All year long, I believed that a general manager could win the AL East with the right moves.  The teams in the division were closely matched.  They all had significant strengths but they also had glaring deficiencies.  When the season began, the Red Sox and Blue Jays lacked pitching but were good offensive clubs.  The Rays had good young pitching but a questionable offense.  The Yankees and Orioles had more balance but questions of their own.  There were health and age questions on the Yankees, while the Orioles’ starting pitching struck fear in no one and they had lost a ton of power from last season.

As this season progressed, the Yankees have found more positive answers to their questions than anyone and have played consistent baseball most of the year.  They have been able to separate from the pack a bit during July and sit atop the division by six games. 

BUT … Alex Anthopoulos and the Jays won the trade deadline and now have a legitimate chance to catch the Yankees.  The Jays’ young GM addressed every need they had.   The Jays have needed an ace since Roy Halladay was traded.  They needed bullpen help, as they are 11-22 in one-run games. They have the fewest saves and the most blown saves in the AL.   Defensively, their shortstop Jose Reyes had continued his deterioration defensively.  They also needed outfield depth.  Other than that, the Jays were perfect. 

In one week, Anthopoulos added an ace pitcher in David Price.  He addressed the bullpen with two big arms in Mark Lowe and LaTroy Hawkins.  He made a shocking acquisition of arguably the best shortstop in the game, Troy Tulowitzki - a gold glove winner for his defensive prowess.  And for good measure, the young GM added fleet-footed Ben Revere to his outfield mix.  Revere’s speed adds an important element to the offense and a spark of necessary energy for the club. 

The Jays can not only win a wild card spot but I believe they can catch the Yankees over the final 59 games of the season.  They will need some help from the Yankees to do it, but so far they seem to be obliging.  The Yankees recently placed starting pitcher Michael Pineda on the disable list and their general manager, Brian Cashman, didn’t make any significant improvements at the trade deadline. 

The final two months of the regular season are going to be exciting.  I truly believe there will be baseball played in October in Toronto in 2015.

2) While the Jays made the biggest moves at the deadline, the American League contenders around them also bolstered their teams.  The Royals added Johnny Cueto, Ben Zobrist and bullpen help; the Astros added Mike Fiers and Carlos Gomez.  The Rangers added Cole Hamels, the Yankees added depth to their outfield with Dustin Ackley.  Who do you think did the best job improving their position in the American League?

This year’s trade deadline featured quite a few winners.  The Jays certainly top the list of that group.  Other than the Jays, the AL team that made the most impactful changes is the Houston Astros.  The Astros are locked in a battle with the L.A. Angels for the AL West title.  Although we had two wild card winners that went to the World Series last year, it is not the preferred path for any team.  So the Astros and Angels desperately want to finish atop the division to avoid the one game wild card playoff. 

The Angels made a few small moves to address their lack of outfield depth and left-handed hitting.  They acquired Shane Victorino, David DeJesus and David Murphy; all of who are professional major league hitters.  None of them are impact talents but they are nice blenders in a lineup to help advance rallies.  The Angels adequately addressed their needs. 

On the other hand, the Astros impactfully addressed their needs.  They acquired Scott Kazmir, an outstanding veteran left-hander who slots in behind the AL Cy Young candidate Dallas Keuchel.  Kazmir, an all-star, is pitching extremely well, as he only gave up one run in the month of July.  The ‘Stros also made a deal sending four mid-level prospects to the Brewers for pitcher Mike Fiers and five-tool outfielder Carlos Gomez.  Fiers was the icing on the cake in the deal because he is a young pitcher with good stuff and a few controllable years left on his contract.    But the jewel in the deal was Gomez.  Although there are concerns about his sore hip, he is a unique power/speed combination that fits Houston Astros baseball.  The Astros lead the AL in homers and stolen bases.  They don’t hit for a great average as a team.  They aren’t the most patient lineup and can swing and miss as a unit.  That is exactly how I would describe Gomez’s game.  Gomez has hit 24 homers in a season in his career and has a 40 stolen base campaign to his name as well.  He is a perfect fit at 29-years old for this young athletic team. 

The Astros swept the Angels last weekend and they beat them at the trade deadline as well.  Houston is young and lacks playoff experience but they may be just young enough to not know any better.  This will be a great race to see who wins the division and avoids the challenge of being a wild card contender. 

3) One trade that seemed like it was going to happen but didn't involved the Brewers and Mets.  It was reported that Zack Wheeler had been sent to Milwaukee for Carlos Gomez and at one point we even saw Wilmer Flores, who was also heading to the Brewers, crying on the field.  After the game, the deal was off amid reports of the Mets pulling out due to a Gomez’ physical.  What goes on behind the scenes in a trade like that? How hard do GMs work to keep names out of the press before trades are official, and could this effect the Brewers and Mets working together in the future on deals?

What a painful situation the Mets/Brewers trade became.  Honestly, I wanted to hug Wilmer Flores when I saw him crying on the field devastated by the news he may be traded from the organization that helped him develop into a major leaguer and grow from a boy to a young man.  It was quite pathetic. 

But it wasn’t only Flores I wanted to hug.  I also felt the pain of Flores’ teammate, Zach Wheeler.  Wheeler underwent Tommy John surgery in April.  That rehabilitation process is tough enough.  There is the obvious physical recovery but emotionally and mentally, players suffer during the year-long process.  When you are hurt in professional sports you are invisible.  If you can’t help the organization you become an afterthought.  Plus for Wheeler, the pain has to be even deeper considering all of the other young guns on the Mets’ staff are gaining notoriety and fame.  He already felt left out and now he felt expendable.  I am sure he probably shed a tear or two as well. 

Gomez had to wonder what the problem was.  Sure his hip has bothered him some, but he had only missed one game since June 26.  As far as he could tell he was healthy.  Yet, a Mets’ team physician thought he was a risk.  He was excited to return to the team where he had started his career and then suddenly he was a leper.  I wanted to hug Gomez too, but I thought I should confer with my doctor first to make sure his sore hip wasn’t contagious. 

We can all understand the suffering of the players in this situation.  They were hurt by the notion that their teams were giving up on them for sure.  At some point they would have realized that their new team did want them.  But then they were stuck with their original teams.  How awkward. 

I also wanted to hug the general managers involved as well.  They were getting ripped by the fans yet they didn’t do anything wrong.  Doug Melvin in Milwaukee wasn’t hiding any injury for Gomez.  He was more than willing to have him evaluated by the Mets’ doctors.  Heck, the guy had been playing every day for over a month.  Then in one phone call the deal was off and his asset had been devalued significantly.  He was damaged goods. 

Sandy Alderson, the GM for the Mets, had to be shocked when his doctor came back with the concern over Gomez’s hip.  I would have been afraid that the Brewers’ doctors would have told them to back away from Wheeler considering his extensive recent surgery. 

What made matter worse was the public nature of it all.  I have had deals blow up because the doctors have had concerns about players’ health.  But nobody ever knew about it.  This was so public it made the pain widespread. 

Leaked information is the nemesis of a general manager.  It has three negative impacts:

1) It takes away a competitive advantage at a crucial time.  Knowledge is power.  I never wanted my opposition to know what I was doing because they could potentially impact my closing a deal.
2) Rumors build expectations among fans.  They hear about a deal and then if it doesn't happen it feels like a failure.
3) Players feel rejected when their team is considering trading them.  Why wouldn't they?  The bottom line is that when a club trades a player it is because they believe some other player or players are better for their organization.  When players hear rumors about themselves it can paralyze them on the field. They can become bitter and resentful.

Doug Melvin and Sandy Alderson are veteran general managers who both understand what went wrong.  In many ways it was unavoidable.  They will make deals with one another again but in the meantime, the Mets have to tend to the wounds of Wheeler and Flores.  Melvin was able to trade Gomez to the Astros but he got far less than his Mets deal. 

Leaks will forever be part of the game.  The difference today is that instead of a writer getting a story and it showing up in a newspaper now it spreads like wildfire.  Within minutes the information of the Mets/Brewers deal went from cyberspace to Citifield.  It circled the stadium like “the wave.”  It jumped from one section to another into the Mets dugout and then on to the field.  Within minutes of the report, Wilmer Flores was crying. 

Leaks drove me crazy as a general manager.  I considered it treason.  I searched cell phone records for my staff at times.  I learned to keep things closer to the vest and locked some people out of my inner circle because of trust issues.  The negative implications I mentioned above didn’t seem to matter to some people who had their own personal agendas. 

Now as a member of the media I love leaks.  Aren’t they the best?  I mean really they are.  They give us so many great things to discuss and write about. 

I am so conflicted. 

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Alex Anthopoulos did an amazing job at the deadline.  This was his arena to compete and he delivered.  General managers can’t hit or field or pitch for their teams. I used to say they can’t manage but the Marlins proved me wrong when they hired the GM Dan Jennings to run the club.  I have also said that I believe that a guy with a suit and tie could decide the division.  Anthoplous set himself up to be that guy. 

But make no mistake about it that the Jays’ young executive needs to keep his game-face on now.  Just because we have passed the non-waiver trade deadline, it doesn’t mean that clubs can’t improve themselves and still make deals. 

The Jays are known for their offense but it is defense that will be the most important aspect necessary for the Jays to win the division title. And I don’t mean catching ground balls and fly balls.

During this waiver period, players can be traded one of two ways.  The player must first completely clear waivers or he can be traded to the team that is awarded a waiver claim. 

The waiver process isn’t as complicated as it is made out to be.  Effectively, when a player is on waivers teams must decide whether they want exclusive rights to negotiate a trade for a player.  If they do, then they submit a claim on that player.  All American League players pass through the American League first and then the National League.  National League clubs have the first crack at their leagues players. If multiple teams claim the same player the club with the worst won-loss record gets the awarded the claim. So when an American League player is claimed on waivers by multiple teams in both leagues, the waiver claim is awarded to the American League team with the least record among the claimants. The National League clubs gets first shot at their leagues players, worst record to best.  If no NL team claims one of their players on waivers then the claim can be awarded to an American League; again worst record getting priority over best record. 

What is the significance of this for Anthopoulos? 

Because the Jays are six games behind the Yankees in the standings, the Jays will have priority over the Yankees for every player placed on waivers.  So if Anthopoulos claims a player it means that the Yankees can’t acquire that player.  For every player that goes past the Jays without a claim they run the risk that the Yankees can acquire that player. 

The Jays need to be very aggressive.  The Yankees opted to effectively stand pat at the deadline.  They like their team despite significant pitching depth issues.  Anthopoulos needs to make them pay for that decision.  He should not only claim any player that could help his own club but he must claim every player that could help the Yankees and the Twins for that matter. 

There was once a good old boy system where general managers had a gentlemen’s agreement that they wouldn’t claim players that they weren’t interested in acquiring.  They didn’t make claims to block.  But that has changed.  When I was general manager I claimed over 400 players on waivers one August.  I wasn’t going to let my closest competition (Atlanta) improve themselves.  The Jays are in it to win it.  They proved that at the deadline.  Alex needs to pitch a shutout in the month of August. 

He has the Yankees right where he wants them.