Not sure you could even draw up a better series. Hopefully it gives us an edge to somehow take the series in Cleveland - if so, hype train will really be geared up. With where we are in the race, pretty much any series loss is going to be hard to swallow, but the sweep gives us cover to lose in Cleveland and still be 4-2 after the break.
Nova and Dickerson both present interesting situations at the deadline. Both trending up, still some control left so not irrelevant to making a push next year, but also both have younger, cheaper players behind them. I think it probably makes sense to just stand pat on both, as it's hard to see how any trade would move the needle that much.
The only trades that I'd irrationally want NH to get involved in are on the one hand, Britton or another impact RP, and on the other hand, a better SP. If we could move for Britton and give up a younger prospect or two with a high ceiling, like Mitchell or Sanchez + a C pitching prospect, then that's a calculated risk that's unequivocally bad in the medium to long term, but is the type of conservativism that has really plagued NH. Now if that asking price is Meadows or Keller, obviously it's a nonstarter, but it's hard to believe the bidding for Britton could get that extreme, and we have some pieces to play with further down the line (I single those two out specifically because we have relative OF depth, given the major league situation plus other prospects).
At SP, I think it's somewhat dicier, since the available players are either out of a price range or might not move the needle enough. For instance, it would be great on paper to acquire Fulmer and have Taillon, Musgrove, Fulmer, and Kingham as the core SPs going forward. But will any one of those guys really shoulder the impact starter role you need to be a threat in the playoffs?
Whatever highly unlikely thought experiment you want to spin out, the fact rmains that we are not really committed to a specific time frame. I'm hoping we'll be willing to use some bullets to try an augment the immediate and near future, if only because at the end of the day, I don't think we can hope for much other than being involved in the WC race to some extent year after year, and hoping for the best with the rest. If that's right, then it makes sense to try and take some risks wherever you can. Another high end bullpen arm suddenly makes the pitching situation look very good if these starters keep turning in 6 good innings.
