Post Trade Deadline, did the team get better?

[CJD]

I loved Puig just as much as the next guy, but calling him our biggest bat is a misnomer.
He was a hot bat at the time of the trade (most likely the reason we traded him, to be honest), as he was batting .290/.347/.568 in the last two months, but that was after 2 months of .226/.289/.405 baseball, so his full line for the season was only .252/.305/.473

Among relative regulars, he was our 5th or 6th best bat. Trading him for an above average starting pitcher will improve us as a team, especially since his leaving allows players like Josh Van Meter and Phillip Ervin to get more playing time. Both have only played in limited quantities, but in ~90 ABs each, JVM is batting .287/.398/.483 and Ervin is batting .333/.398/.548.

The ability to give them the remaining ~200 ABs of the season will give us some great insight into whether they are legit or if this is a flash in the pan.

While not immediately improving the team, trading Roark and Scooter served similar purposes. With Bauer coming in, Roark no longer had a rotation spot and Scooter was being pushed out by JVM and Jose Peraza, who is finally starting to hit, going from a .203/.268/.307 line in the first two months to a .284/.294/.412 line (granted he still is not walking at all).

We gave up a great prospect that may end up biting us in the ass in the long run (Trammell), but I have no doubt that we're better now than we were before the trade deadline.