7 winners (the Mets!) and losers (the White Sox, obviously) from MLB's trade deadline
The trade deadline has passed and the seller's market absolutely delivered
The clock has gone past 6 p.m. ET on July 30th, do you know where your favorite player is?
Major League Baseball’s trade deadline officially passed with a flurry of action after simmering over the past few days. After seeing Randy Arozarena head to the Seattle Mariners and the Houston Astros landing Yusei Kikuchi before Tuesday, fireworks were expected and delivered.
Let’s run through the winners and losers at the deadline.
Winner: Toronto Blue Jays
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Entering Tuesday, the Blue Jays were seven games under .500 and eight games back of a Wild Card spot. They could’ve sold Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Instead they were able to hang onto their elite talent while restocking a farm system in need of new blood.
Getting Jake Bloss, Joey Loperfido, and Will Wagner (the son of Billy Wagner) from the Astros for Yusei Kikuchi’s expiring contract is a massive win.
Bloss instantly became the Toronto’s No. 3 prospect, per MLB Pipeline, while Wagner slots in at No. 21. Loperfido, who is 25-years-old, already has some experience in The Show this year and could still become an every day player. Again, not bad for a middle-of-the-rotation starter who’s set to become a free agent after October.
Loser: Chicago White Sox
Credit: Getty Images
First-year general manager Chris Getz did a phenomenal job this offseason signing Erick Fedde after a bounce-back season in South Korea and was just as smart to add Tommy Pham in spring training with eyes on flipping him this week. But all that work felt worthless after the return Getz negotiated.
The #WhiteSox, Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals have completed a three-team trade: pic.twitter.com/b1WCIW6DSX
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) July 29, 2024
The White Sox sent Pham, Fedde and cash to St. Louis and Michael Kopech to the Dodgers and the best piece Chicago got back was a 24-year-old former top prospect in Miguel Vargas who has yet to establish himself in the Majors. In exchange for Eloy Jimenez, the White Sox got salary relief — but any notion the money will be spent in the offseason is just false hope.
Orioles reliever Trey McGough is the return. https://t.co/bjh2iwbMEF
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) July 30, 2024
Getz had elite trade chips in his stack and couldn’t get even half of what the Blue Jays acquired in the Kikuchi trade. He couldn’t move his ace in Garrett Crochet or a cornerstone center fielder in Luis Robert Jr.
It’s another bad look for a very bad franchise.
Winner: Kansas City Royals
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
J. J. Picollo just quietly proved he’s an absolute force on the trade market.
While the White Sox were practically giving away anything of value in their clubhouse, the Royals GM was able to strong-arm the Oakland Athletics into moving reliever Lucas Erceg — and his five years of club control —without giving up any of their top prospects. Now a Kansas City club starting to see a World Series window open up gets a set-up man with a nasty slider it can build around for years to come.
If that were all Picollo pulled off it would be enough to call the deadline a win. Alas, he found more ways to improve the current roster on the margins, bringing in veteran Paul DeJong from the White Sox and a versatile arm in Michael Lorenzen from the Rangers. The total cost of all three immediate impact players? A couple of prospects who might reach the majors and whatever coins Picollo had under his couch.
Loser: San Francisco Giants
Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports
The Giants began the season with the 10th-highest payroll in baseball at just over $211 million. Turns out many of those contracts were tough to move as San Francisco’s season fell far below expectations.
The Giants were able to sell Alex Cobb to Cleveland for Jacob Bresnahan and a player to be named later while sending Jorge Soler and Luke Jackson back to Atlanta.
Blake Snell, meanwhile, stayed put.
The reality is this roster has a ton of more work to do before it’s ready to contend again. Namely, getting healthy. Every year now it seems like the Giants either disappoint in the offseason or the deadline. The streak continues in 2024.
Winner: San Diego Padres
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The thing about top prospects is that they can’t help you win right now. The San Diego Padres want a World Series and they want it this year. So bye-bye prospects, hello reinforcements.
General manager A.J. Preller essentially cleaned out his farm system this week, trading away five of his top eight prospects in Robby Snelling, Adam Mazur, Graham Pauley, Dylan Lesko and J.D. Gonzalez.
The return? The best closer on the market in Tanner Scott and sturdy bullpen arm in Jason Adam.
Full trade, per ESPN sources
San Diego Padres get: LHP Tanner Scott and RHP Bryan Hoeing
Miami Marlins get: LHP Robby Snelling, RHP Adam Mazur, IF Graham Pauley, IF Jay Beshears
Padres going for it. Marlins are loading up on prospects. A bonanza of a trade deadline deal.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 30, 2024
Admittedly, those deals looked a lot better before the rival Los Angeles Dodgers added Jack Flaherty and Kevin Kiermaier.
Loser: Tarik Skubal
Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
The favorite to win the American League Cy Young is going to be stuck playing mostly meaningless baseball after the Tigers were unable to find a trade partner.
Detroit is 14 games back in the AL Central and five games under .500. It just moved Flaherty to the Dodgers and doesn’t have a ton of reinforcements on the way to make the last two months of baseball any more enjoyable.
Skubal is going to have to dig deep to finish off his Cy Young campaign. It’s a shame he has to do so on a team with nothing else to play for this summer.
Winner: New York Mets
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The No. 1 rule in Queens right now boils down to “don’t [expletive] with the vibes”.
First-year president David Stearns understood the assignment, adding a frontline starter in Paul Blackburn, a reliable every day outfielder in Jesse Winker and an experienced bullpen arm in Ryne Stanek.
Winker and Stanek are both on expiring contracts and didn’t cost the Mets much at all. Blackburn is a former All-Star who won’t reach free agency until after next season.
All three will help this team right now without forcing Stearns to commit to this roster core long-term — something he’s been reluctant to do as he tries to bring the Mets their first World Series since 1986.
New York made it through the deadline without rocking the boat even while adding a few more pieces. That’s about as smartly as a GM can navigate the deadline with a fringe contender.