A year ago July 25 the Chicago Cubs acquired Aroldis Chapman from the New York Yankees. Six days later the Cleveland Indians obtained Andrew Miller from the Yankees. Left-handed relievers both, Chapman and Miller played significant roles in the 2016 World Series, justifying their teams’ decisions to trade for them.

Other teams, on the other hand, made pre-deadline deals that didn’t lead to post-season appearances. The teams making deals the past month aren’t guaranteed post-season spots either, but hopeful teams make this month perhaps the most intriguing of the season.

The deadline I refer to is July 31, the last day teams can trade players without having to obtain waivers on players they want to trade. Teams can trade players after July 31, but they have to have waivers on the players.

This July did not produce the trades of players as highly regarded as Chapman and Miller, but there have been some that could turn out to be significant.

Jose Quintana, for example, could pitch a three-hitter in the Cubs’ victory in Game 7 of the World Series, or J.D. Martinez could hit a game-winning home run for the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League wild-card game. The Washington Nationals could ride the relief pitching of Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle to the National League pennant. Could Todd Frazier regain his penchant for power hitting that he had in the previous three seasons and help power the Yankees to something more than a meaningless wild-card game? Jaime Garcia, acquired from Minnesota to replace the injured Michael Pineda in the Yankees’ starting rotation, could pitch more productively than Pineda.

The Yankees, though, know about July trades that don’t work out. In July 2014 General Manager Brian Cashman made five trades, acquiring pitchers Brandon McCarthy and Jeff Francis and infielders Chase Headley, Stephen Drew and Martin Prado.

At the time of the first of those five trades, the Yankees had a 43-43 record. They went 41-35 the rest of the season, an improvement but not enough to reach the post-season.

Headley, the only one of the five 2014 players still with the Yankees, currently as the first baseman, hit .229 in 58 games for the Yankees in 2014. Drew batted .150 in 46 games, Prado .316 in 37 games.

The month of July leading to the trade deadline has become a popular time of the baseball calendar for two reasons:

• Teams in post-season competition can find players to fill gaps in their rosters, in their starting lineups, in their pitching rotations and in their bullpens. The markets are often plentiful.
• Teams out of contention can take advantage of the market to trade off players with big contracts they no longer want to pay or players who are approaching free agency at the end of the season, and their teams would rather trade them and get something in return than lose them in two months or so and get nothing for them.

The timing, however, can create a quandary for teams caught in the middle. Are they buyers looking for players who can improve their status, or are they sellers seeking a club to take a big contract off their books or a pending free agent off their roster?

The Texas Rangers found themselves in that position the past month with Yu Darvish, their attractive starting pitcher.

The Rangers won negotiating rights to Darvish, a professional Japanese pitcher, and signed him in 2012 to a six-year, $56 million contract. This is the last year covered in the contract, and Darvish can be a free agent after the season.

The Rangers haven’t looked like a post-season contender, even for a wild-card spot. Before Monday’s game, they were fourth in the American League West, and four teams were ahead of them for the A.L.’s second wild card with three other teams tied with them. Their post-season chances don’t look too good.

Then there are the Oakland Athletics, whose head baseball man, Billy Beane, loves to trade pitchers before their time. Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson come immediately to mind. Somehow Barry Zito, who pitched with Mulder and Hudson, was retained until he was eligible for free agency. That season was 2006, and the A’s won the division title that year.

Oakland is not in position to win anything this season so Sonny Gray, the A’s 27-year-old right-hander, has been a subject of trade discussions for weeks even though he can’t be a free agent for two years. However, no one was going to be surprised if Beane traded him, though 12 hours before the trading deadline, Gray was still an Oakland pitcher.

Beane’s policy is simple. If a team wants to pay his price, he will make the trade. The price is high so interested teams will have to decide if the player is worth it. The player is usually a pitcher, and good pitchers are a highly desirable commodity.

Good pitchers have always been the most desirable commodity, and that’s why trades that have included pitchers have been the highlight of deadline trading. These July-acquired pitchers, starters and relievers, though, did not help their teams win:

Here are the notable pitching acquisitions by teams that ended up not making the post-season:

2016: Brad Ziegler and Drew Pomeranz (Red Sox), Drew Storen (Mariners), Mark Melanon (Nationals), Tyler Clippard (Yankees), Wade Miley (Orioles), Francisco Liriano and Scott Feldman (Blue Jays), Ivan Nova (Pirates), Matt Moore (Giants)

2015: Scott Kazmir (Astros), Tyler Clippard (Mets), Jonathan Papelbon (Nationals), Joakim Soria (Pirates), Mike Leake (Giants), Cole Hamels (Rangers), Ryan Cook (Red Sox), J.A. Happ (Pirates)

2014: Jason Hammel and Jeff Samardzija (Athletics), Brandon McCarthy and Jeff Francis (Yankees)

2013: Francisco Rodriguez (Orioles)

2012: Nathan Eovaldi (Marlins), Zack Greinke (Angels), Francisco Liriano (White Sox)

2011: Zack Wheeler (Mets), Ubaldo Jimenez (Indians)

2010: Dan Haren (Angels), Joe Saunders (Diamondbacks), Edwin Jackson (White Sox), Daniel Hudson (Diamondbacks), Jake Westbrook (Cardinals), Corey Kluber (Indians), Ted Lilly (Dodgers)

2009: Jake Peavy (White Sox), Clayton Richard (Padres)

2008: Kyle Farnsworth (Yankees)

2007: Octavio Dotel (Braves)

2006: Greg Maddux (Dodgers)

Just as I was beginning to write about the new Aaron Judge, the one pitchers were beginning to catch up to, the old Aaron Judge reappeared. He hit a monstrous three-run home run and drove in a fourth run with a sacrifice fly in the New York Yankees’ 5-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners last Friday night.

I didn’t see the home run, but it apparently awed those who did. Falling only a row or two rows short of exiting Safeco Field, something no ball has done in the park’s 18-year history, the home run was definitely old Judge. By old, I don’t mean age – Judge turned 25 three months ago – but the Judge who hit the season slugging.

We have not often, if ever, seen Judge’s kind of start to a rookie season, discounting the 93 times he batted late last season in a getting-to-know-you visit. Judge, in his brief visit, gave pitchers no reason to figure him out. The 6-foot-7, 282-pound right-handed hitter batted .179 and hit 4 home runs in 27 games.

Boy, did he fool them. But pitchers don’t stay fooled for too long, and in the weeks before the All-Star break, they seemed to be figuring out the Judge puzzle.

I saw a hint of that pitching progress in a five-game stretch in mid-June. Prior to that segment of the schedule, Judge had struck out more than twice in a game only twice. But then came a five-game span on the West Coast in which Judge struck out three times in three different games, one against the Angels, two against the Athletics.

He struck out three times again a few games later, continued striking out regularly and at the start of play Sunday was fourth in the majors with 123 strikeouts, six behind the leaders, Khris Davis of Oakland and Miguel Sano of Minnesota.

As is shown on the accompanying chart, which was compiled with the assistance of the Elias Sports Bureau, Judge averaged 1.21 strikeouts a game in his first 58 games of the season. In his next 34 games, though, he averaged 1.47. The increase in strikeouts contributed to a severe drop in his batting average from .344 to .256.

But then came that booming, towering home run Judge smacked in Seattle. He hit it against Andrew Moore, a right-hander, who apparently didn’t get the memo on the updated way to pitch to Judge.

“It’s not fair,” said David Robertson, whose recent trade to the Yankees excuses him from having to face Judge. “It’s like he’s playing in a little kids park. I’ve never seen a ball hit like that. His BP is unfair. I don’t know what to say.”

Just say you’re happy he’s on your side now so you don’t have to face him.

As good and as impressive as Judge has been in his rookie season, it hasn’t been all dazzling:

MY OBIT AND MY REACTIONS
BY FAY VINCENT

(Fay Vincent, the former baseball commissioner, celebrated his 79^th birthday in May)

I was packing for our annual southern migration the other day which means I was sitting helplessly while my good wife did all the work. But I noticed how few items I now need to have packed for me. Age certainly reduces one’s baggage. I wear the same LL Bean clothes I have worn for years and I hardly need anything remotely dressy anymore. I have one set of shoes because I wear sneakers all the time. My most cherished possessions are my computer, the books I am in the process of finishing and my daily medications.  Migrating birds gain weight for their long trip. Old folks get lighter and need less luggage.

Life is simple so long as I do not pay attention to the news. I am trying to persuade my wife to let me drop the New York Times subscription, but so far am unsuccessful. She reads it online before she gets out of bed.  I prefer to read it the old fashioned way– with coffee while reclining in my den chair. I fuss when the sports section ignores the baseball results of games the night before, and instead uses space to report on three tennis tournaments in China. On occasion, the Times features such new “sports” as Frisbee matches and cup stacking as it seeks new young readers.  I value the obit section now and recall my uncles calling them the “Irish funny pages.”

I never buy dress shirts anymore and I have not purchased a suit or tie or dress shoes in years. The tailor I used is long dead and I suspect my one suit awaits the trip to the funeral home for the final voyage across the River Styx. It will be way too large when that need arises but who will notice. No one will see the pants in any event.  And there are no shoes needed for the coffin.

I wonder whether the financial savants ever try to calculate the economic benefits of this aging population.  The cost of living has decreased significantly for me as I have aged, and yet there are off-sets like the medical bills I now seem to generate for all the tests and other medical expenses not covered by Medicare. I often wonder who can afford to pay the enormous costs of any major dental procedures. And who has dental insurance these days?

I do not travel much nor do I have the costs of going out to dinner or to the theatre. Nor do I go to the movies because I am dependant on a wheelchair and I prefer to stay home and watch sports. I also have not been invited to nor been to a baseball game in years and have never been invited to any of the post season games perhaps as a reflection to my persistent argument that the baseball owners could not destroy the baseball players’ union.  In 1994 I was proven correct.

Finally –and no pun intended—I received a call the other day from the New York Times to ask whether I would assist in the preparation of an update of my obituary. These days the Times interviews the putative deceased so that they can have the final words on the life just ended. I have known for decades the final cut of any film is the controlling one. I am of course confident the obit will not offend me. I had never been involved before in preparing my obituary, but the effort on my part was minimal and the writer was genial and courteous.  I hope they spell my name correctly.

If old age is a simple stage of life, it also has its trials. The computer is simply beyond my capacities and I have been known to throw mine across the room in total frustration. I still think my telephone is a method of social interaction and I have never registered with Facebook or Twitter.  I do not use a cell phone. I do not have an IPAD and I still write notes to be delivered by US Mail.  I also believe there is much to be said for the concept of Truth and I accept the idea that there is Beauty apart from the eye of the beholder.

I think the nice thing about the obit getting done is how little it will mean to me when it appears. There will be some whose only comment will be that they were certain I had died many years earlier. That will not bother me either.

Reports from the All-Star game last week bordered on giddiness. At Nelson Cruz’s request, Yadier Molina, using Cruz’s phone, took a picture of Cruz with Joe West, the home plate umpire, before Cruz batted in the sixth inning.

Molina did what? He took a picture? On the field? In the sixth inning? What kind of game were they playing?

It was unusual, to be sure. But Cruz obviously felt liberated and acted on that feeling. The All-Star game was no longer linked to the World Series with the winning league’s pennant winner getting home field advantage.

The foolish idea, a Bud Selig creation in cahoots with FOX, existed for 14 years. It was quietly laid to rest last year during the negotiations for a new labor agreement between the owners and the players.

“We didn’t think it was necessary,” said a person on the union side. “They were looking to give it up, too. It was not a subject of much debate. It wasn’t controversial.”

It certainly didn’t prevent the two sides from reaching an agreement for the fourth consecutive time without a strike or a lockout.

The gimmick was ridiculous. FOX, which pays baseball a lot of money for the rights to games, regular and post-season, complained that its ratings for the All-Star game were declining, and Selig agreed to enhance the stature of the game by making it count for something.

If home field advantage were awarded the team from the game’s winning league, it would encourage players to play harder and make for a more competitive game.

Selig and others connected to Major League Baseball spent the next dozen or so years trying to convince fans and the news media that players were playing the All-Star games with greater intensity than they did before the link. And even after the link was disabled, there was this:

“Whether it counts or not, I sense a little more intensity.”

Joe Buck, the FOX announcer, said that during the game, and Selig couldn’t have said it better.

Buck was in the ballpark and I wasn’t so maybe he had a better vantage point to discern the intensity.

Close, low-scoring games always seem more intense (1-0 vs. 10-2, for example), but that feeling is in the mind of the viewer (some fans don’t like 1-0 games; I love them).

Buck asked Joe Maddon, manager of the Chicago Cubs and the N.L. team, how it was managing in this All-Star game. “The fact that the game doesn’t count makes it easier,” he said, comparing this game to his 2009 experience. Of course, he won that game and lost this one.

I’ll take Maddon at his word, but I’m not sure about some of the writers who covered this All-Star game. It struck me in some cases of what was written that they had made up their minds before the game, approaching it with their minds already made up that the absence of the World Series link produced a different environment.

I liked Bryce Harper’s answer to a Buck question, feeling it was honest compared to some of the things that were written.

Harper, playing right field for the National League, was miked, as was George Springer of the American, and was asked if the lack of World Series implications took “any of the fun out of this, the intensity out of this.”

“No way,” Harper replied. “As baseball players, I feel like we compete every single day. It’s hard for the NFL, having them play exhibition games, that Pro Bowl. If they go full bore, they’re going to kill somebody. … It’s tough for them. But this game right here, we still go at it and get it and we want to get that ‘W.’”

One of the foolish aspects of the link was the assumption that a player, say, from the San Diego Padres would play harder than he otherwise would to get the Cubs home-field advantage for the World Series.

In the days when there were two distinct leagues with separate league offices and presidents, before interleague play obliterated the separation of the leagues, a player might have felt a touch of league pride. In those days, Warren Giles, N.L. president from 1951 to 1969, gave the N.L. players a fiery pre-game speech, stressing the importance of winning the game.

They usually did, winning 17 of 22 games during Giles’ presidency.

There are no longer league presidents to give fiery speeches and worry about which league wins the game. The focus these days is on television ratings, and they don’t paint a comforting picture.

In the days of the World Series link, ratings fell 9 times, stayed even once and rose, never by much, four times. Last year’s rating, 5.4, was the lowest ever, and the number of viewers, 8.7 million, was the lowest ever, falling below 10 million for the first time.

The final figures for this year’s game were not available by the time this column was posted, but the overnight figures were said to approximate last year’s.

As for the change of environment the game experienced with the elimination of the World Series link, you might remember an incident that was better than the Cruz photo-op.

In the 2002 games Torii Hunter robbed Barry Bonds of a home run, leaping above the center field fence and snaring Bonds’ drive. As the teams changed sides, Bonds good naturedly grabbed Hunter and picked him up, carrying him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes for several steps.

See Barry Bonds at 2002 All-Star Game

STRIKEOUTS ASCENDING

This year’s low-scoring game produced some grumbling and dissatisfaction with the game, but it might have been the forerunner of games to come.

As the accompanying chart shows, strikeouts have been on a steady rise, from 12.60 per game in the first year of the World Series link to 16.42 before the All-Star break this year. With no indication of the trend slowing, it figures to continue.

Strikeouts have also increased, according to the work of Bob Waterman of the Elias Sports Bureau.

No matter how good All-Star hitters are, the All-Star pitchers are throwing harder than ever. And in many instances they are pitching only a single inning, meaning they can let it loose and not save themselves for second or third inning as All-Star pitchers once did.

Managers are also using more relief pitchers, most of them hard throwers, and they often get one or two strikeouts in their inning of work.

More strikeouts usually mean fewer baserunners and thus fewer runs.