FanNation | The Trade Post Blog | Transactions for July 17th

Well, we have a trade that happened recently, involving the Oakland Athletics and the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Phillies want to improve their pitching, and make a run for the NL East title.

Here is the trade: Oakland A's traded Joe Blanton to the Philadelphia Phillies for 3 minor league prospects. The minor league prospects are...pitcher Josh Outman, 2B Adrian Cardenas, and OF Matt Spencer.

I say that the A's won this trade. I'm not familiar with the three minor leaguers, but stats of them so far are this.

Outman - 3-2, 3.20 ERA with 1 save in 33 games, and 5 starts in AA.

Cardenas - He is batting .309, while having 6 triples and he has 16 stolen bases in 67 games in Single-A. He is ranked 7th in the Florida League in batting average.

Spencer - He is hitting .249 with 6 HR and 41 RBI's in 84 games for Single-A. This is his first professional season, and he has been doing well for it. His batting average will improve during time, but he has good numbers besides that.

Joe Blanton isn't pitching well this year. He is 5-12, which isn't good for him. He has a bad ERA, which is at 4.96. He has a total of 62 strikeouts this year, which isn't good considering he has pitched in 20 games, resulting in 127 IP.He has a 1.42 WHIP, which is not good. Opponents are batting .284 this year off of him. It isn't going to get any better with the Phillies.

Who got the best out of this trade? I say that the A's won this one.

The Arizona Diamondbacks signed pitcher Daniel Schlereth. He was the 26th overall draft pick of this year's draft by the D'backs. He is now in Missoula.

The D'backs also traded Tony Clark to the San Diego Padres for pitcher Evan Scribner.

In 88 at-bats this year, Tony Clark has a .239 batting average, 1 HR, and 11 RBI. He has a .374 OBP, with a .307 slugging percentage. He has scored 5 runs with 21 hits and 2 doubles. He has struck out 32 times and only walked 11 times.

Evan Scribner has has 62 strikeouts in 44 innings and has converted all of his save opportunities, which is 9. He has done this all in Single-A.

I say that the Diamondbacks won this trade. They have a good closer that will help them in 2-3 years.

The Red Sox signed Casey Kelly, and assigned him to the Red Sox in Rookie ball. He was the REd Sox top draft pick.

He hit .473 (44-93) with 13 doubles, 1 triple, 5 HR and 11 steals as a senior at his local high school. He had 77 strikeouts with 12 walks in 66 innings. He is a pitcher/infielder. He committed to playing football and baseball at Tennessee, but signed with Boston instead.

The Chicago White Sox optioned pitcher DJ Carrasco back to AAA.He was sent down to make room for Bobby Jenks.

He had the longest outing for a reliever on the White Sox since July 11th at Texas. He pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing one run and four hits.

The Cleveland Indians sent infielder Jorge Velandia to Buffalo (AAA).

The Cincinnati Reds placed infielder Jerry Hairston on the 15-day DL, activated infielder Jolbert Cabrera from the 15-day DL. Activated pitcher Bobby Livingston from the 60-day DL, and optioned him to Chatanooga (AA)

The Detroit Tigers activated Magglio Ordonez off of the 15-day DL.

The Washington Nationals agreed to terms with Destin Hood.

He signed a contract with the Nationals, and decided NOT to play college football and Alabama. As an OF, he hit .485 with with 8 HR, 32 RBI, and 17 steals as a senior at high school.

The New York Yankees agreed to terms with Richie Sexson.

Richie Sexson has a .218 BA this year with 11 HR and 30 RBI. He has a .315 OBP, with a .381 slugging percentage. Against lefties, Sexson has a .344 BA, with a .423 OBP, with a slugging percentage of .623. He has 5 HR and 12 RBI, with 9 walks, and 13 striekouts. Against righties, Sexson is batting an awesome .178, with a .281 OBP, and a .304 slugging percentage. He has 6 HR, with 18 RBI. He has 63 strikeouts, with 28 walks.

The Yankees should ONLY use him against lefties.

This was the first edition. Tell me your thoughts on it!