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8/1/1905 - Falling out of first place
Not only did we fall behind the Highlanders this month, the White Sox are now just 3 1/2 games back. Over in the National League the Pirates are rolling along, but my revenge may have to wait as we need to win the AL pennant first.
With the trade deadline at the end of July, I took a chance to explore some trade options. Raul Ibanez has driven me nuts this year. His bat isn't making enough of a difference to make up for his defensive inefficiencies. He's posting another negative WAR this year, so I went looking at rebuilding teams for a defensive minded right fielder.
The price was real high across the board, and I couldn't afford to open another hole to fill a weakness. I settled on one deadline deal, shipping 1B Tony Clark and SP Carl Mays to the Washington Senators for RF Nick Swisher. While Swisher is hitting .205 this season I'm hoping a change of address will do him good, and he is rated well defensively. Swisher hit .316 in a part time role in 1903, but playing full-time only hit .216 last season. I don't know if this filled a big hole, but maybe this was more buy low.
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