With the deadline fast approaching, it looks like the deals are going to start coming pretty fast over the next 10 days. Today, the Diamondbacks added Jon Rauch from the Nationals in an effort to stem the ugly slide they've been in since early May. In exchange, they're shipping second base prospect Emilio Bonifacio out to Washington.
Rauch is certainly a nice addition to the D'Backs bullpen. He's quietly been one of the better relievers in the NL with the Nats this year and has done a nice job filling in as their closer since Chad Cordero went down. Any contender would be happy to have him, so this is a plus for the D'Backs. What this move doesn't do, however, is address the team's real problem. That would be their incredibly crappy offense.
On the flip side, Bonifacio is one of those guys that you look at and think, "Well, he's a nice enough prospect, I guess." He's very fast (229 steals in the minors) and he's supposedly got a good glove at second base. Still, he's got the kind of bat that seems like it probably won't play terribly well in the majors (high average resulting in a high OBP and almost no power).
So the Diamondbacks got help where they didn't need it and the Nationals didn't get a whole lot in return for a good reliever. What spurred this trade on again?
