Could aggressive MLB deadline trades create new World Series favorites?
Major League Baseball’s trade deadline produced more than 50 deals in the last few days; on Thursday alone, 35 trades were made official. SAN outlined many of the potential deals leading up to the deadline, and when the dust settled, there were both winners and losers.
Which team is the clear deadline winner?
The consensus is that the Seattle Mariners are trade deadline winners by bringing in some much-needed firepower on offense. They added perhaps the top two bats on the market in Eugenio Suárez and Josh Naylor, in separate deals with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Adding Suárez and his 36 homers to Cal Raleigh’s record-setting 42-homer season would have won the deadline by itself. The Mariners became just the second team since the 1961 Yankees, featuring Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, to have two players with 35+ homers apiece in August.
The M’s were also able to pull off their deadline trades without touching any of their prized minor-league prospects. Suárez is thrilled to be back in Seattle, where he spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
“To get traded here and to see my teammates, and see everybody and see the fans ask for me in different places I went before I get traded,” he said. “A lot of Mariners fans ask for me, so it means a lot to be back and feel the love again.”
Who else made their rosters better?
The San Diego Padres were on the buying or selling fence in the week leading up to the deadline. General Manager AJ Preller went shopping, bringing in one of the game’s best closers from the Athletics, Mason Miller. Preller had to deal their top minor-league prospect for the hard-throwing righty.
The Padres also added Ryan O’Hearn and Ramón Laureano from the Orioles, and catcher Freddy Fermín from the Royals, and they are now positioned to try and run down the Dodgers in the NL West.
The Yankees did indeed “go to town,” as general manager Brian Cashman said they would. They added seven players before the deadline. Third baseman Ryan McMahon has already won the Yankees a game with a walk-off hit. Infielders Jose Caballero and Amed Rosario, along with outfielder Austin Slater, fill some holes in the lineup.
The Yankees’ greatest need, however, was in the bullpen, so Cashman got closer David Bednar from Pittsburgh and fellow relievers Jake Bird and Camilo Doval.
Who were the beneficiaries of the Twins’ fire sale?
The Phillies also patched the biggest roster holes they had by adding perhaps the best closer on the market in Twins righty Jhoan Duran. And in a separate deal, they got his Minnesota teammate Harrison Bader to play center field.
The Twins certainly blew up their roster, and there was no bigger surprise than the trade that sent slugger Carlos Correa back to the Houston Astros after three and a half years in Minnesota. The Twins didn’t get much in return for any of their deadline deals, but the ‘Stros certainly got a lot stronger, according to Astros General Manager Dana Brown.
“You’re gonna be on a team that’s winning, in first place, you have a chance to win and the fact that he’s coming back to a familiar city, I’m sure that’s very appetizing,” Brown said. “Ultimately, this guy is a warrior and a team-first guy, and we had no doubts knowing the human being and the makeup.”
Which teams chose not to make moves?
A few teams that did not help themselves out at the deadline include the Brewers, Cubs and Tigers. The three contenders added a few minor pieces, but nothing that significantly made their rosters better in the eyes of fans and pundits around the league. We shall see if standing pat at the deadline hurts them during the final two months of action.
Boston Red Sox GM Craig Breslow is getting a lot of slack for not capitalizing on a 16-6 run leading up to the deadline. Sox fans don’t want to hear “we tried,” but that’s basically what Breslow said after adding mid-level pitchers Dustin May and Steven Matz to the roster.
“It wasn’t from a lack of trying to be as aggressive as possible, from an unwillingness to get uncomfortable,” Breslow said. “But ultimately it takes two teams to line up for those trades to line up.”
With roughly 50 games left in the regular season, fans now get to grade the trades, so to speak. The teams that added big pieces now have a little more pressure to perform, but all it takes is a short winning streak or two to make a push to the top.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
