What team made the best move before the July 31 trade deadline to position itself for the playoff push?
5. Yankees get Ichiro Suzuki » The future Hall of Famer is only a shell of himself, but his defense and speed are a nice addition to the power-infused Yankees lineup. But what does Ichiro have left? In 95 games with Seattle, the 38-year-old hit .261 with four homers and 28 RBIs.
4. Dodgers get Hanley Ramirez » After a stellar start to his career, Ramirez has dropped off significantly the last two seasons. Before being traded, the infielder was hitting .246 with 14 homers and 48 RBIs in 93 games with the Marlins. Still, he's only 28 and his ceiling is high -- he hit .342 with 24 homers and 106 RBIs in 2009.
3. Giants get Hunter Pence » The Phillies have had some problems offensively, but Pence has put together another nice season -- hitting .271 with 17 homers and 59 RBIs. The two-time All-Star has averaged 24 homers and 86 RBIs over his last four seasons and seems on his way to around that total this year.
2. Rangers get Ryan Dempster » To try and keep their AL West lead over the Angels, the Rangers needed to get another starting pitcher. So Texas added Dempster, whose 2.25 ERA was second in the National League. The 35-year-old is having the best season of his career, but with the Cubs' dismal offense he only managed to go 5-5. He will get much more run support in Texas.
1. Angels get Zack Greinke » The Angels, who have the third-best ERA among starters in the AL, added a former Cy Young winner who was 9-3 with a 3.44 ERA with the Brewers this year. The addition of Greinke makes the Angels the team to beat in the American League, at least on paper.
- Jeffrey Tomik