MLB Trade Deadline Winners & Losers

After a hectic week of trades, let's see who came out on top and who fell short...

Winner - San Diego Padres

     One could argue this Padres team is the biggest trade deadline winner ever. 

General Manager AJ Preller got the action started a day early by trading for arguably the best closer in baseball, Josh Hader, from the Milwaukee Brewers. The past couple of months have not been pretty for Hader, and if he continues at the pace he was at in that time period, this could turn into a flameout quickly. However, San Diego is wise to trust Hader’s overall body of work and have confidence that he’ll turn it around. All the while, they did this while still being able to keep their top-notch prospects. This left the baseball world in suspense knowing they were still in the Juan Soto sweepstakes after this deal. 

Then, a day later, the bomb was dropped. San Diego traded for Juan Soto and Josh Bell while sending veteran first baseman Luke Voit and top prospects MacKenzie Gore, C.J. Abrams, Robert Hassell III, James Wood, and Jarlin Susana to Washington. 

     While he has struggled in major league action so far, Abrams still has the top prospect pedigree. Wood is seen as the crown jewel of this trade as a 6’7 outfielder at 19. Susana is the potential lottery ticket of the trade, being an 18-year-old fireballer with tons of potential. A historic haul, and yet it still feels like not enough for a productive veteran first baseman in Bell and an all-worldly talent in Soto. The Padres’ farm system was decimated, but no one will really care if they win a championship or two. 

Even after the huge deals, they still weren’t done by sending Victor Acosta to Cincinnati for Brandon Drury, a versatile infielder who’s having a resurgent season. 

The Padres are going all-in this year, especially with superstar Fernando Tatis Jr. expected back from injury soon. It remains to be seen if Soto will be a part of San Diego’s long-term future with 2 big contracts in Tatis and Manny Machado already on the books, but right now the Padres are set up to win now, and they have to be commended for it.

Loser - Washington Nationals

     Yes, the Nationals got a haul of unprecedented proportions from San Diego, and are committed to entering a full rebuild. However, you can’t trade away a 23-year-old Hall of Fame talent and come out a winner, at least not immediately. 

     Juan Soto probably didn’t want to waste his twenties toiling away in a rebuild (understandably so), but at the same time, Washington didn’t really make great extension offers to sway him. At the same time, while the return Washington got for Soto and Josh Bell was historic, taking many top prospects, it still feels disappointing. That could also be partly because Soto moving on means almost the entire core of the 2019 World Series team is gone, with only an aging Anibal Sanchez, Patrick Corbin’s huge contract, and Stephen Strasburg’s mounting injuries left. 

     With potential rumbles of an ownership change, Nationals fans could have a rough few years. At the very least, the team brought in some exciting young talent that could blossom into new franchise cornerstones. That is, if they don’t get traded first.

Winner - New York Yankees

      The Yankees, led by longtime General Manager Brian Cashman, saw their needs and efficiently addressed them. The Yankees needed outfield depth, bullpen help and another high-end starter and filled all these holes at the deadline. 

     The Bronx Bombers got ahead of the outfield market by acquiring All-Star left fielder Andrew Benintendi from the Kansas City Royals, for three Single-A pitchers. They also bolstered the bullpen by getting Scott Effross from the Chicago Cubs, and while they gave up a top-10 pitching prospect, Effross has been highly effective this year and has 5 years of team control.

     There was much disappointment when the Mariners snatched Luis Castillo (more on them in a bit) before New York had a chance, but Cashman quickly changed course and acquired Oakland Athletics starter Frankie Montas, along with reliever Lou Trivino. Montas was seen as the second-best starter on the market, and the Yankees paid a fair price to get him, giving up two top-10 prospects and another arm in JP Sears who’s pitched in the big leagues, but they held on to their top 3 prospects. Montas will slide into the number 2 role in the rotation behind Gerrit Cole.

     While Trivino’s ghastly 6.47 ERA as an Athletic this season doesn’t look good initially, he was a victim of bad fielding luck behind Oakland’s below-average defense. If he can perform closer to his 3.74 FIP (fielding-independent pitching), it’ll be another victory for Matt Blake and co. They even got rid of Joey Gallo, who desperately needed a change of scenery, and got a top 10 prospect back from the Dodgers in Clayton Beeter. 

     While the Jordan Montgomery-for-Harrison Bader trade from St. Louis was a bit of a headscratcher, it gives New York a much improved defensive look in the outfield come playoff time, especially if Montgomery wasn’t going to make the playoff rotation. All in all, New York did well prepping for a deep postseason run while keeping some of their crown jewel prospects.

Loser - Colorado Rockies

     While the last loser - the Nationals - at least has a plan to rebuild and work towards the future, the same can’t be said for the Colorado Rockies. 

     29 of the 30 MLB teams made a trade before Thursday’s deadline. The one team that didn’t? The last place Rockies. It’s not like they don’t have any intriguing major league talent, as first baseman C.J. Cron was an All-Star this year. In addition to this, they decided to give 37-year-old reliever Daniel Bard a two-year extension. Bard has been very good this year in Colorado, and it’s good to see Bard get one last payday in his late thirties, but it made no sense from an organizational standpoint when the Rockies don’t project to be competing for the next few years. Bard definitely could have netted a nice return given many teams were looking for win-now bullpen help, but the Rockies decided to keep him for two more years.

     Colorado seems to be in a perpetual state of not knowing if they want to compete or enter a rebuild. A shining example of this was the 7-year, $182 million dollar deal they gave to Kris Bryant in free agency, and he’s been good while healthy. The problem is that hasn’t happened a lot this year. It was evident to see the Rockies’ organizational dysfunction last year when they opted not to trade Trevor Story at the deadline, instead letting him walk in free agency, then turning around and signing Bryant. 

The Rockies as they stand right now are a directionless franchise that keeps making middling moves that don’t make them a contender while refusing to enter a full teardown rebuild. Quite confusing, indeed.

Winner - Minnesota Twins

     Apparently, the AL Central is still up for grabs. The Twins got that memo, but it doesn’t seem like the White Sox or Guardians did. 

     Alas, the Twins made a flurry of deadline day moves to shore up some of their weaknesses. They really attacked the pitching market hard, adding All-Star closer Jorge Lopez from Baltimore, starter Tyler Mahle from the Reds, and Michael Fulmer, a Rookie of the Year starter turned reliever in Detroit. They identified a need in the pitching department and attacked it. With Chris Paddack and Kenta Maeda on the shelf, they got an underrated option in Mahle who had been stuck in Cincinnati to shore up the rotation. 

     The bullpen was another need as aside from Jhoan Duran, it’s been a group that has struggled. Fulmer has been a solid option for years, and Lopez broke out as a failed-starter-turned-reliever success story playing for the Orioles. Lopez also has 2 more years of club control, and with a 1.64 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 49 innings, they project him to be a dominant force for the next few years. 

Locked in a tight division race, the Twins decided to try to separate themselves, and the moves they made go a long way in doing so. 

Loser - Chicago Cubs

     After last year’s sell-off at the deadline that featured Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and Javier Baez going elsewhere in the final year of their contracts, many expected the same this year as they held key win-now pieces in reliever David Robertson, catcher Willson Contreras, and outfielder Ian Happ. Of the three, only Robertson was shipped off, as Happ and Contreras were ready to say their goodbyes to Wrigley Field but nothing came to be. 

     The bullpen also took a couple of other hits to New York with Mychal Givens going to the Mets and standout rookie Scott Effross to the Yankees. Getting a top 10 prospect in Hayden Wesneski from the Yankees for a relief pitcher is nothing to scoff at though. Contreras has been once again one of the best catchers in baseball this year, ranking 6th in catchers in Fangraphs WAR. Contreras’ contract expires at the end of this year, and teams like the Guardians, Rays, and Mets had holes in the catcher spot and had the prospect capital to pay, but Contreras is still a Cub today. 

     Obviously, the fans win because they still get to go out to the ballpark and watch franchise cornerstones continue to play for the team. However, at the same time, they probably expected some investment in the future by gaining some prospects for a rental. Either way, the Cubs are entering a rebuild that will hopefully usher in a new era like the early 2010s.

Winner - Seattle Mariners

     When a team hasn’t made the playoffs in over 20 years, they start to get a bit desperate when they’re getting closer. I wouldn’t call the Mariners “desperate”, but they’re admirably making some big moves to finally become contenders. 

     It started in the offseason by acquiring Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suarez from the Cincinnati fire sale, and it continued into the trade deadline as they seemingly came out of nowhere to acquire All-Star starter Luis Castillo from the Reds. They paid a hefty price to get him, sending 3 top 5 prospects including their top-ranked prospect in shortstop Noelvi Marte. It may seem too high of a price for Castillo, but when you’re a young hopeful contender, there are not many prices that are too high to add a top-flight starter. Seattle President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto has never been one to shy away from a wild move, and the

Mariners look built to fight for a postseason spot. 

     The Mariners now possess one of the most feared 1-2-3 rotations in the American League, with Castillo taking over the top spot, followed by last year’s AL Cy Young winner Robbie Ray, and young stud Logan Gilbert. George Kirby slots in behind them as another young gun who’s showed out this year. Seattle made some other minor moves grabbing lefty Matthew Boyd and catcher Curt Casali. But the biggest fish in the market is headed to Seattle, and the Mariners are ready to compete. Watch out for them come October.

Loser - Milwaukee Brewers

     If you just started watching baseball in the past 3 weeks, you’d say “This Josh Hader guy got that much of a return?! He stinks!”, and if you had in fact only started watching baseball in the last 3 weeks, it would be a valid statement. Alas, baseball did not in fact start 3 weeks ago, so Josh Hader did in fact result in a large return. Even then, it felt like they could’ve done better. Not just with Hader, but with the deadline as a whole. 

     For Hader, they received closer Taylor Rogers, starter/reliever Dinelson Lamet, and prospects Robert Gasser and Esteury Ruiz. It feels slightly underwhelming, especially since a divorce between Hader and the Brewers had been swirling around baseball circles for a long time now. A trade does make sense since Hader will enter an extremely expensive arbitration, and the Brewers wanted to get ahead of it. Milwaukee will replace Hader with Rogers, although Devin Williams will likely slide into the closer role and Rogers will take Williams’ spot as the set-up man, as Rogers has struggled at times to close games for San Diego this year. Lamet is an intriguing option as he’s shown to be an effective starter when healthy, but was pushed to the bullpen in San Diego. He likely would’ve been a reliever in Milwaukee since their rotation is mostly set. The possibilities for him were interesting to think about… until the Brewers designated him for assignment two days after the trade. Reportedly it was to make room to keep Jake McGee, until he was also designated for assignment. Lamet being DFA’d really makes you wonder if this was the best Milwaukee could’ve done for Hader, a consensus top closer, and is a head-scratching move as Lamet never pitched for the Brewers. 

Past the Hader trade, the one knock on Milwaukee the past few years has been their offense’s inability to translate to the playoffs. While they have talented players to step up, they could’ve made a splash by acquiring someone via trade. The only other deals they made were trading for relievers Trevor Rosenthal and Matt Bush. Meh. With St. Louis rapidly gaining ground and taking the lead in the NL Central, the Brewers had a chance to make a big upgrade to prepare for a deep playoff run. Instead, they downgraded in one of their strengths and didn’t build on their weakness.

Winner - Cincinnati Reds

     When the Reds tore it all down this winter, shipping off Winker, Suarez, Sonny Gray, Tucker Barnhart, and others. The baseball world let out a collective groan as another team fighting to contend just gave up on competing and are entering a complete rebuild. 

     Fortunately for the Cincinnati faithful, the rebuild just got a whole lot more exciting. As mentioned before, the Reds got a haul from Seattle in dealing Luis Castillo and from Minnesota in dealing Tyler Mahle. They added five prospects to their top 20 from those two trades, and another in the Acosta-for-Drury swap. The Reds’ farm system wasn’t pretty a few weeks ago, but now has a young nucleus to get excited for when each prospect gets better and better. The crown jewel of them all was shortstop Noelvi Marte, Seattle’s top-ranked prospect. 

     Marte is currently ranked as the 17th best prospect in all of baseball, with his raw power in High-A ball jumping off the page. They also acquired infielders Edwin Arroyo and Spencer Steer from Seattle and Minnesota, respectively. The other interesting piece in the Mahle trade was infielder Christian Encarnacion-Strand, who the Twins reportedly really did not want to give up. Even past the new guys, infielders Elly De La Cruz and Matt McClain round out an infield prospect core that should put a spark in Cincinnati soon. 

     The Reds’ farm system desperately needed a boost if they wanted to fully commit to a rebuild, and the front office squeezed all of the worth they could have for the players they shipped off. It’s never really a good thing to see an MLB team selling off piece after piece, but it’s easy to see a vision of excitement in the future, as the stock in Cincinnati’s farm system is skyrocketing. They won’t compete in the next couple of years, but when these prospects are ready to go, look out for another Big Red Machine. 

Loser - Baltimore Orioles

     Just because they acted on a process that made sense from a practical standpoint, doesn’t mean I necessarily have to like the moves the Orioles made at this deadline. 

     Previously the doormat of the entire MLB, the O’s started out much of the same this year. As the summer hit, they went on a hot streak that included 10 straight wins. In the week leading up to the deadline, Baltimore was within striking distance of the new third wild card spot. So what did they decide to do? Send off their All-Star closer and team leader of course! We discussed the Jorge Lopez deal in the Twins section, as with 2 years of control left the Twins made out well by grabbing Lopez to shore up their bullpen. 

     Baltimore’s biggest surprise this year being the bullpen, they have some exciting reinforcements to take Lopez’s place, like young fireballer Felix Bautista. The Mancini trade, which makes a bit more sense from a roster-building perspective, arguably was worse from a personal perspective. Mancini was the heart and soul of these Orioles, from being the team leader to surviving Stage 3 colon cancer. He was shipped off to Houston in a 3-team trade with the Astros and Rays. In return for Mancini, the Orioles received 2 A-level pitchers, with one of them about to have Tommy John surgery. On the surface it seems… not great.

     However, Seth Johnson (about to have Tommy John surgery) has high upside as a late developmental pitcher after playing shortstop in college. Unfortunately, it was only a matter of time before Mancini moved on. Camden Yards moving the right field wall farther back hurt Mancini the most, being a right-handed pull hitter. Moving from that to the Crawford Boxes at Minute Maid Park will feel like a breath of fresh air (and is already showing massive dividends). Mancini just never really fit the timeline of these Orioles, as they’re set to contend towards 2024, and Mancini will want to get his payday now at 30 after this season (he has a mutual option but those are rarely exercised). 

     The immediate aftermath of the deal left a somber mood in the Oriole clubhouse, with many players reminiscing on Mancini being a great leader and presence and how much they’ll miss him. Like I said, the Orioles’ deadline moves made sense from a practical standpoint, but from an emotional standpoint, it stinks to see the Orioles mini-sell when they’re finally taking a big step towards contention.

Winner - Philadelphia Phillies

     Much like the Yankees, the Phillies saw needs in the pitching and outfield department and quickly addressed them on deadline day. They made a less noteworthy trade by sending middling reliever JoJo Romero to St. Louis for young shortstop Edmundo Sosa, who looks to add some speed and defense to the middle infield. Some consistency would be welcomed with open arms, with Didi Gregorious struggling (before getting released over the weekend) and Bryson Stott still getting acclimated to the bigs. 

     On deadline day, President of Baseball Ops Dave Dombrowski got a bit busier. With Zach Eflin on the shelf until September, the Phillies went out and got Noah Syndergaard from the Angels, finally ending the Mickey Moniak experience by moving him and young outfielder Jadiel Sanchez back to LA. Syndergaard has been effective playing on a one-year deal, and he’ll definitely have a little more fire in him competing directly against his former team, the Mets. They made another trade with the Angels, acquiring centerfielder Brandon Marsh for rising catching prospect Logan O’Hoppe. This led to Philly releasing longtime starter in center Obdubel Hererra, and Marsh will slide in nicely as an upgrade defensively and hopefully at the plate. 

     In order to shore up their seemingly endless bullpen issues, they made the aforementioned David Robertson deal. In theory, they have a strong quartet of potential closers in Robertson, Brad Hand, Seranthony Dominguez, and Corey Knebel. Of course, this is the Phillies, so it could come crashing down. Robertson has been good wherever he goes when healthy (minus an injury-riddled 2019 season with Philadelphia), so he’s a good piece to add to make a postseason push. The Phillies attacked their needs and combined young talent with grisled veterans to go all-in.