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The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired starting pitcher Jack Flaherty, San Diego added All-Star closer Tanner Scott and Arizona, Baltimore and Pittsburgh made significant deals for the stretch run ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline.
Many top stars mentioned as trade targets stayed with their teams, including Toronto slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr., San Francisco Giants pitcher Blake Snell and Chicago White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet. Still, there were 30 trades finalized Tuesday, according to Major League Baseball, with the Marlins leading the way with six moves.
With two full months of baseball to play before the 2024 MLB postseason, let’s examine the clubs who walked away from this year’s trade deadline feeling good about their acquisitions and which teams might be receiving the loser branding Wednesday morning in the aftermath — but could be sitting pretty in years to come.
Winners: NL West teams
The Dodgers, Padres and Diamondbacks all saved their deals for Tuesday, but a series of them added talent to what was already arguably baseball’s strongest division.
In addition to Flaherty and Scott, Arizona plugged a hole in its lineup by adding first baseman Josh Bell, who was hitting .239 with 14 homers for the Marlins. Miami will receive cash in return.
The Diamondbacks were in need of a power hitter after first baseman Christian Walker left Monday’s game with left oblique tightness and was put on the 10-day injured list.
Arizona also acquired right-handed reliever Dylan Floro from Washington for Triple-A infielder Andrés Chaparro. Floro has a 2.06 ERA over 51 appearances this season.
For the Dodgers, adding Flaherty from Detroit cost them minor league catcher Thayron Liranzo and infielder Trey Sweeney. Flaherty is 7-5 with a 2.95 ERA and 133 strikeouts in 18 starts.
Scott gives the Padres one of the best closers in baseball. He has a 1.18 ERA and 18 saves with 53 strikeouts over 44 appearances. The Padres also added left-hander Martín Pérez from the Pirates for a prospect.
The Marlins received four prospects — left-hander Robby Snelling, right-hander Adam Mazur, infielder/outfielder Graham Pauley and infielder Jay Beshears — in the deal that also sent right-hander Bryan Hoeing to southern California for a change of scenary.
The Rockies remained quiet at the bottom the division but perhaps it was San Francisco that had the most interesting deadline of all.
Cleveland acquired right-hander Alex Cobb from the Bay Area Tuesday.
The Guardians hope the 36-year-old Cobb, an All-Star in 2023, can provide a lift over the next two months. He hasn’t pitched in the major leagues this season because of left hip surgery last October. On the verge of returning to San Francisco, he developed a blister on his right index finger last week. The Giants received left-handed pitching prospect Jacob Bresnahan and a player to be named.
The Angels acquired right-hander Mike Baumann from San Francisco for cash. The 28-year-old Baumann has already pitched for the Orioles, Mariners and Giants this season, compiling a 4.84 ERA over 36 games.
The Giants weren’t just selling though: The club added veteran outfielder Mark Canha in a deal that sent right-handed pitcher Eric Silva to the Tigers.
Winners: Yankees … and Red Sox?
One could point to the other three teams in the AL East as being even more active than these rivals but smart moves by GMs Brian Cashman and Craig Breslow bring former All-Star Jazz Chisholm to the Bronx and five new additions to Fenway Park for the stretch run.
The players Boston added — starter James Paxton, a solid depth addition to the back end of the rotation, and relievers Lucas Sims and Luis Garcia — all figure to play a key role for the club’s postseason hopes.
So, does that make Toronto, Baltimore and Tampa Bay losers?
Not necessarily. The Rays traded away a lot of top talent ahead of Tuesday’s deadline but also received prospects back in return that leave them happy going forward (sound familiar?).
Toronto was also a seller sending outfielder Kevin Kiermaier to the Dodgers, reliever Trevor Richards to the Twins and utility-man Isiah Kiner-Falefa to the Pirates. However, the Blue Jays did hold onto Guerrero Jr. — arguably the best player available at this year’s deadline and still someone Toronto covets as a franchise player.
As for Baltimore …
Loser: Orioles
The Orioles acquired left-handed starter Trevor Rogers, sending prospect Connor Norby and outfielder Kyle Stowers to the Marlins. The 26-year-old Rogers has been a dependable option for Miami most of the season and has a 4.53 ERA over 21 starts.
He also has had injury history and doesn’t warrant the “big splash” tag that many O’s fans were hoping for when asking for a new starting pitcher this deadline season.
Like their AL East counterparts in Boston, Baltimore was extremely active down to the very end. Roger was one of five additions.
The Orioles dealt for outfielder Eloy Jiménez from the White Sox, reliever Gregory Soto from the Phillies, and outfielder Austin Slater and infielder Livan Soto from the Reds.
Do any of those deals push them over the top? The AL East is a competitive division and Baltimore needed to do something to shake it up after their recent swoon. Still remains to be seen if this will be enough.
Winners: Pirates
The Pirates, in the middle of the NL wild-card race, added outfielder Bryan De La Cruz from Miami for two prospects. De La Cruz led the Marlins with 18 homers.
Pittsburgh got Kiner-Falefa for minor leaguer Charles McAdoo. Kiner-Falefa is hitting .292 with eight doubles, two triples, seven home runs and 33 RBIs in 82 games. The 29-year-old is related to Pirates Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner.
The Pirates also added left-hander Josh Walker from the Mets for minor league lefty Nicolas Carreno. Walker was at Triple-A but made 24 appearances for New York the past two seasons.
Loser: Marlins
Picking on Miami seems excessive but it’s hard to refute on Wednesday morning that they are a much worse clubhouse than they were this time last week.
White-flag waving in the middle of the summer is not new to baseball (or to baseball in South Florida, unfortunately) but there does seem something rather dreadful about the Marlins being one of a half dozen teams who sold this year — even if they were going to inevitably fall short in the NL wild card race.
Other notables
The New York Mets acquired starter Paul Blackburn from Oakland for minor league right-hander Kade Morris. Blackburn was an All-Star in 2022 but missed more than two months this season with a stress reaction in his right foot before coming off the 60-day injured list last Friday. The right-hander is 4-2 with a 4.41 ERA in nine starts and figures to slot into a rotation missing injured ace Kodai Senga and rookie Christian Scott.
The Mets also added reliever Huascar Brazobán from the Marlins and righty Tyler Zuber in a deal with the Rays.
Kansas City received right-handed reliever Lucas Erceg from Oakland for right-hander Will Klein and a pair of minor leaguers. The 29-year-old Erceg is 2-3 with three saves and a 3.68 ERA in 38 appearances. Veteran infielder Paul DeJong was traded to Kansas City from the White Sox for right-hander Jarold Rosado and could walk across the ballpark to his new team, which was in Chicago.
Philadelphia added lefty Tanner Banks, sending a minor leaguer to the White Sox.
Seattle, in a tight race with Houston for the AL West lead, reacquired right-hander JT Chargois from Miami for minor league right-hander Will Schomberg. Chargois pitched for Seattle during the first half of the 2021 season.
Chargois missed a big chunk of this season due to neck spasms, but had a 1.62 ERA in 15 games since his season debut June 12.
Reigning World Series champion Texas, in third place in the AL West, got left-handed reliever Andrew Chafin from Detroit for minor league right-handers Chase Lee and Joseph Montalvo. Chafin, in his 11th big league season, is 3-2 with a 3.16 ERA in 41 appearances and had allowed only one earned run in his last 18 games since June 8.
St. Louis added right-handed reliever Shawn Armstrong, sending outfielder Dylan Carlson and cash to the Tampa Bay Rays.