MLB Teams: Buyers Beware

Detroit never should have let Jair Jurrjens go.

Cliché  Alert: With the Major League Baseball trading deadline approaching on Friday, teams need to remember that sometimes the best trade you make is the one you don’t make.  What do I mean by this? Look at the Detroit Tigers for instance. You think they regret trading prospect Jair Jurrjens for veteran Edgar Renteria?

If the Tigers never made this trade, the Tigers might have the best rotation in the American League with Justin Verlander, Edwin Jackson, Jurrjens and Rick Porcello. Teams give up on prospects way too early instead of being patient with the young players. The Philadelphia Phillies are the perfect example of this right now. Toronto Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay would have been a great fit in Philadelphia, but why give up star prospect Kyle Drabek if you can get Cleveland Indians ace Cliff Lee for other prospects?

The Phillies just proved why they are the defending World Series champions and should be the favorites again this year. Look in the same division and you will see another example of a team that shouldn’t have made a deadline deal. The Atlanta Braves have a deep farm system but should have passed on the deal they made in 2007 when they acquired first baseman Mark Teixeira and reliever Ron Mahay for catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, shortstop Elvis Andrus and other prospects.  Many Braves players and fans thought this was the trade that would send Atlanta back to the World Series. If the Braves would have signed Teixeira to an extension right when they made this trade, this trade would have been a no-brainer. The Braves did not sign Teixeira to an extension and ended up trading him the following year for Casey Kotchman and prospect Steve Marek. Current MLB teams needs to be patient before they make the same mistakes the Tigers and Braves made in previous years.