Dodgers go all in, Yankees come up short as MLB trade deadline passes
Bob Nightengale breaks down why the Dodgers won the MLB trade deadline after landing Tarik Skubal, plus other winners and losers.
Sports Pulse
It was a dizzying day of activity, and when the smoke cleared after the Major League Baseball trade deadline, we learned who’s actually serious about challenging the Los Angeles Dodgers, and which teams are the pretenders.
We found that Craig Breslow, president of baseball operations for the Boston Red Sox, maybe isn’t so hell-bent on analytics after all, showing his guts by trading away his prized prospects for Baltimore Orioles All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman.
We discovered that the Cleveland Guardians aren’t going to just sit back and let the Chicago White Sox dream season continue without putting up a fight with their surprising show of aggressiveness, not only grabbing much-needed offensive help, but bolstering their rotation.
We now know that Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno has found his permanent GM by permitting John Mozeliak to make as many trades as he desired, overhauling the farm system in a matter of six hours.
And we learned that while the Dodgers may be that immovable force in their way of a World Series, it didn’t stop A.J. Preller of the San Diego Padres from finding a way to fortify their rotation with two front-line starters without needing to trade away a piece of their prized bullpen.
It will take years before we know whether any of the prospects will come back to haunt the men who traded them away, but only two months to know whether the risk pays off by playing deep in October.
Here are the top five winners and losers at this year’s deadline:
MLB trade deadline winners
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers not only won the MLB trade deadline, but ran away and hid from the competition.
They got the No. 1 prize in Tarik Skubal, and didn’t give up a single major-league player or anyone that will haunt them in the future. They didn’t give up any of their top five prospects, sending outfielder Zyhir Hope (25th-best prospect in MLB), right-handed pitcher River Ryan (No. 68) and right-hander Brady Smith.
They struck gold, once again.
Just to rub it in, they even grabbd left-handed former All-Star starter Kris Bubic, who’s on the 60-day injured list, stashing him away for good measure. They even grabbed catching depth by bringing back Ben Rortvedt and Hunter Feduccia from the Tampa Bay Rays
Their biggest concern the rest of the season is planning the World Series parade route.
“We were of the mind to be aggressive for one player this deadline,” said Andrew Friedman, Dodgers president of baseball operations, “and fortunately we were able to line up.”
The Dodgers now have a starting rotation of Skubal, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Justin Wrobleski, Roki Sasaki, Tyler Glasnow and Emmet Sheehan.
“I think it’s arguably the best rotation of all time,” Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing gushed.
So, are the Dodgers really ruining baseball with their latest heist?
“Passionately disagree,” Friedman said at the Dodgers’ press conference following the Skubal trade. “Again, this is about the partnership that we have with our fans who come out 50,000 large and the passion that they have for this team (and) the guys in that clubhouse who are doing everything they can to put us in position to win a World Series.”
Indeed, they have.
Boston Red Sox
Say hello to the new American League pennant favorite.
They could have stopped when they traded starter Connelly Early for Curtis Mead last week, only to see Mead break his wrist in his second at-bat.
Instead, they still went for the jugular, and traded for Baltimore Orioles three-time All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman, the No. 1 pick in 2019, along with backup catcher Jake Rogers. They also acquired Giants left-handed reliever Erik Miller for former first-round pick Marcelo Mayer, and outfielder Eli White from Atlanta.
Not bad for the hottest team on the planet, who just swept the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.
Rutschman, who made the All-Star team this year, is hitting .251 with eight homers, but has been on the injured list since July 18 with wrist inflammation. Still, he’s expected to return within a couple of weeks and provides a massive upgrade behind the plate. Certainly, the Red Sox needed catching help, hitting an MLB-low four home runs with the sixth-worst OPS from the catcher’s position.
It was a steep, steep price, which stunned rival executives that the Red Sox were willing to include them in the deal:
Right-handed pitcher Anthony Eyanson, their second-best prospect; right-handed pitcher Kyson Witherspoon, their fourth-best prospect; outfielder Enddy Azocar, their fifth-best prospect; a player to be named later; and catcher Carlos Narvaez.
Hey, with the way the Red Sox are playing, why not go for it?
They have now won 23 of their last 26 games, and are 28-5 since June 25.
Whether they win the AL East or not, they should be the team to beat in the American League, and face the Dodgers in the World Series, with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts acknowledging Sunday he may have not seen the last of them.
“Really good ballclub,” Roberts says. “Really fundamentally sound. It’s a younger group as far as service time. They’re hungry. Seems like they play well together. They can really defend. They’re athletic. Remind me a lot of the Brewers. They can really pitch. They don’t beat themselves. Dynamic.”
They went into the trade deadline looking for a right-handed hitting outfielder.
They ended up with a left-handed hitting infielder, who just happened to be the finest contact hitter in the game:
Luis Arraez, the three-time batting champion, was hitting .324 this season for the San Francisco Giants with only 21 strikeouts in 464 plate appearances.
It required the Phillies to send No. 4 prospect Ramon Marquez to San Francisco along with reliever Marty Gair, but the Phillies also received right-handed reliever Caleb Kilian. The biggest gamble is that the Phillies have to re-arrange virtually their entire infield while sending first baseman Bryce Harper back to right field for the first time in two years.
Second baseman Bryson Stott is moving to third base. Third baseman Alec Bohm is moving to first base. And Harper is moving to right field.
It will be fascinating to see it work, but the Phillies knew they had to shake things up, and it’s a shrewd gamble.
They also shored up their bullpen by acquiring Mets’ lefty Brooks Raley, too, after losing setup man Mitch Keller for the season.
San Diego Padres
The Padres, who a week ago were listening to offers for closer Mason Miller and setup man Adrian Morejon, not only shut down all conversations, but acquired veteran Robbie Ray from the Giants and Casey Mize and utilityman Gage Workman from the Tigers.
Oh, were you really going to believe A.J. Preller was going to punt on a season?
“We’re trying to win,” Preller said. “We don’t apologize for it. We’re trying to win championships. We’re trying to get to the postseason and do it year after year.’’
Ray, the former Cy Young winner and two-time All-Star is pitching just about better than anyone in baseball these days. He’s 6-0 with an MLB-best 1.09 ERA in his last eight games (seven starts) since June 16, striking out 41 batters 49 ⅓ innings. Only once during this stretch has he permitted more than one run.
Casey Mize is healthy, and dominating. He is 2-1 with a 2.20 ERA over his last five starts, giving up just 19 hits and striking out 27 in 28 ⅔ innings.
The Padres knew they couldn’t go all year with just two starters, having already moved three of their starting pitchers for 11-man bullpen, with Michael King and Walker Buehler as their only traditional starters.
Now, they have added two frontline starters, and two more that could join them late this month in Joe Musgrove and Nick Pivetta, who are beginning rehab assignments Tuesday. They’ll likely be back in the postseason, winners of a wild-card berth, and will take their chances with the nastiest bullpen in the land.
Los Angeles Angels
John Mozeliak not only orchestrated the most aggressive trade deadline in recent Angels’ history, he just earned the right to stay as their permanent GM.
Scrub the interim title. It will become permanent.
Clearly, Mozeliak has earned the trust of Angels owner Arte Moreno, earning the right to make any trade he wanted outside of moving Mike Trout.
The Angels were one of the busiest teams at the deadline, making five trades across the landscape, including three controllable players. They traded right-handed starter Jose Soriano to the Toronto Blue Jays, outfielder Jo Adell to the Cleveland Guardians, reliever Ryan Zeferjahn to the Chicago Cubs, and veteran relievers Brent Suter to Atlanta and Kirby Yates to Pittsburgh.
They received nine prospects in return, highlighted by prized shortstop Arjun Nimmala from Toronto, who’s ranked as MLB Pipeline’s 43rd-overall prospect. Mozeliak even listened on shortstop Zach Neto and starter Reid Detmers, but “wasn’t comfortable,’’ with any of the offers.
Trout, who had no interest in waiving his no-trade clause, was not talked about during the day.
MLB trade deadline losers
Detroit Tigers
This was a team that was supposed to be in the World Series this year, maybe even ending their 42-year drought.
They spent a franchise-record with their $220 million payroll. They signed Framber Valdez to a free-agent contract. And they kept two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal.
Now, just 2 ½ games out of a wild-card spot, they panicked. And surrendered.
They dumped Skubal.
They got three nice prospects, but none of the Dodgers’ top five prospects.
Rival executives were surprised that the Tigers didn’t wait until the last hours, seeing if the Brewers would increase their offer, or someone else would jump in.
They instead took the Dodgers’ offer 48 hours before the deadline. Why so early? Why not create a bidding war?
Yet, instead of continuing to dump, they went halfway.
They traded starter Casey Mize at the buzzer. But they kept infielder Gleyber Torres. And reliever Kyle Finnegan. And closer Kenley Jansen.
So they can tell their fans they’re still kind of going for it, even though they just gave away the best pitcher in the American League.
Make it make sense.
New York Yankees
The Yankees told the world they badly wanted a catcher, desperately sought a back-end reliever, and offensive help.
Well, after acquiring infielder/outfielder Luis Garcia Jr. from the Washington Nationals on Sunday, they traded for defensively-challenged outfielder Heliot Ramos from the San Francisco Giants.
And, believe it or not, that was it.
Oh, they talked to the Orioles about Adley Rutschman. They tried to pry catcher Ryan Jeffers from Minnesota. They were in plenty of conversations about another late reliever.
And came away empty-handed.
The Yankees are going to have to hang onto dear life just to make the playoffs. They’re not going to catch the Tampa Bay Rays. They’re probably going to get caught by the Boston Red Sox.
They are praying on a return to health from Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Cody Bellinger.
Privately, the Yankees will tell you they are much more concerned than they’re conveying publicly about Judge, and are terrified that he might not be able to return this year from his fractured rib.
And if Judge doesn’t come back, well, then maybe it doesn’t really matter that the Yankees didn’t do much.
The Diamondbacks, who have surged into the second wild-card spot, told everyone they hoped to be aggressive at the trade deadline. They wanted at least one starter, a big bat, and another late-inning reliever.
The only bat they received was St. Louis Cardinals left-handed hitting outfielder Lars Nootbaar. He happens to be hitting .234 with three homers and 16 RBIs.
That was it.
The Diamondbacks got Nootbaar, but look at what the three teams did who they’re battling for a wild-card berth:
Let’s see, the Phillies traded for a three-time batting champion. The Padres grabbed two front-line starters. And the Cubs acquired multple starters and relievers.
The Diamondbacks just might be going into this wild-card war with a squirt gun.
They may be considered a loser at the trade deadline, but come on, you know they’ll get the last laugh.
They always do.
The Brewers, who have the best farm system in baseball, bid on Tarik Skubal, but fell short when they refused to include their top prospects.
They could have jumped on the top starters available, or some of the relievers, but instead settled on Colorado Rockies reliever Antonio Senzatela, St. Louis Cardinals starter Dustin May and left-handed reliever JoJo Romero.
Senzatela, 9-2, 3.61 ERA, has been one of the best right-handed relievers this year. May has been wildly erratic, but has talent, and was yielding a 2.54 ERA and averaging 6.19 innings during a 12-start stretch. Romero was considered the top left-handed setup man last year with a 2.07 ERA, but is now on the injured list after undergoing an emergency appendectomy in mid-July.
When the trade deadline ended, you figured the Brewers would certainly do more, particularly considering the rival Cubs went out and were one of the day’s most aggressive buyers.
Oh, the Brewers could still win the most games in baseball. They might even be able to hold off the Cubs in the NL Central. But come on, how are they ever going to knock off the Dodgers?
Atlanta
See the Brewers.
No one expected them to go out and trade for Tarik Skubal, although man, can you imagine him and Chris Sale together?
Still, folks still expected them to grab another top starter on the market.What do they do?
They acquired starter Tyler Mahle (3-9, 5.13 ERA) from the Giants and veteran Brent Suter (1-2,4.12 ERA) from the Angels, and right-handed reliever Tyler Uberstine from the Red Sox, who spent most of the season in the minors.
That was it.
And no one was more thankful than the Phillies, who are trying to chase them down.
See ya next year.
Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale