Trades In Review: A Divisional Breakdown of the NL East

For those of you that have been living under a rock for the past weeks, the non-waiver trading deadline has passed in Major League Baseball. With it, every team now hopes that their decision to buy, sell, or stand pat, will pay off in the long haul down the stretch.

The Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, and Florida Marlins headed into the trade deadline as the three contenders atop the NL East, as the Nationals and Braves struggled to stay close to .500.

The common perception was that these three contenders would each try and address their weaknesses as the deadline neared. Surprisingly, the most talked about trade did not involve any of these three teams.

The show was stolen by the Atlanta Braves, who traded star first baseman Mark Teixeira to the L.A. Angels for their starting first baseman Casey Kotchman, and a minor league pitcher.

The Braves currently sit nine games back of the leading Phillies and 7.5 back of the third place Marlins. In addition, with stars Tim Hudson and Chipper Jones on the DL, the Braves must simply look forward to next year for any possibility of contention in this division.

The Phillies made the first move by acquiring struggling right hander Joe Blanton from the Oakland A's in an attempt to help bolster their weak starting rotation.

Since his arrival in the City of Brotherly Love, Blanton has continued to struggle. In his two starts, he has gone a combined eight innings, allowing 11 hits and seven runs, while walking four and striking out two, all with a 7.88 ERA. In addition, hitters are hitting batting practice off him, posting a .333 AVG.

So far Blanton has done nothing to invoke some Brotherly Love from the fans. All he has done is give them headaches with the thought that either he or Adam Eaton has to pitch every fifth day in August and September.

The Phillies look to hold their slim one game lead over the Mets as they head to St. Louis for a three game set against the Cardinals. Which is before a six game home stand against the Marlins and Pirates.

The Marlins were believed to be the chief suitor for Manny Ramirez and were up until July 31 when the negotiations between them and the Red Sox hit a snag over Manny's contract for the remainder of the season.

Instead of getting a future Hall of Fame slugger, the Fish got a left handed reliever in Arthur Rhodes who they hope can help shut down the powerful left handed bats of their division rivals late in the game.

Rhodes has a history of being inconsistent year in and year out. However, he seems to be in the middle of a good year, posting a 2.86 ERA in 36 appearances totaling in 22 innings while holding hitters to a .227 AVG.

The Marlins will probably use Rhodes as a situational lefty, putting him in to go after lefties Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Carlos Delgado in an attempt to keep the Fish in or ahead of the game.

The Marlins look to stay in contention, currently 1.5 games back, as they begin a three game series with the Colorado Rockies tonight. They will then go on a six game road trip to Philadelphia and New York to face their division rivals.

The New York Mets were one of the bigger disappointments at the end of this past trade deadline. They were the only team in the division that did not make a trade. Yes, even the Washington Nationals were able to make a trade.

The Mets needed to strengthen their outfield, and had heavy interest in Raul Ibanez and Xavier Nady, only to see their cross town rivals the Yankees get Nady. Also, they were not willing to include premium prospects in a trade for Ibanez.

This lack of a move puts the Mets in a difficult position, as they must now await the return of Ryan Church. He has been their most consistent producer thus far and is currently on the DL due to Post Concussion Syndrome. They hope to have him back in the next week or two.

Until his return, the Mets will have to rely on Endy Chavez and Fernando Tatis to play well in order to keep their offense going to support their strong starting staff.

The Mets currently sit a game back of the Phillies and open a three game set with the Houston Astros before returning to Shea to host the lowly San Diego Padres and the Florida Marlins. They also have a makeup game with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Washington Nationals have had a horrendous season. They currently have less than 40 wins (38) and exactly 70 losses in a disappointing season. The Nats have lost three players for the season to injury all ready in Nick Johnson, Chad Cordero, and Wily Mo Pena. In addition, they have Dmitri Young, Aaron Boone, Shawn Hill, and Ryan Wagner all still on the DL since early August.

When they lost franchise player Ryan Zimmerman to a shoulder injury in late May, he continued to lead the team in RBI with 27 until mid to late June. That alone can attest to how poor the offensive production of the Nationals is. They average under four runs per game and as a team have hit just .241.

They also traded the physically intimidating Jon Rauch, who at the time was having a good year, to the Arizona Diamondbacks for second base prospect Emilio Bonifacio, who was called up today.

If the Nationals want to climb out of the cellar any time soon, they need to get some more offensive production from their lineup and need to stay healthy. As for the rest of their season, they just hope that they can get above 50 wins.

My revised prediction is that the Mets will be able to pull out the division based on the strength of their starting rotation and assuming their offense continues to support the starters.

The Marlins will stay in contention to the end possibly coming in second if they play their cards right.

The Phillies have the offense that can cripple opposing pitching staffs but their starters have no consistency and have had difficult times trying to handle the other dangerous lineups in the division, especially after their unusual hot start.

While none of the players brought to this division are capable of carrying a team on their back, they each should play a key role in their team's stretch run towards the playoffs.