Is a busy trade deadline the same thing as a good trade deadline? Because Tuesday’s deadline certainly had a lot of action — especially in the final hour or two — but compared to what it might have been, this deadline felt more like a dudline. We’ve certainly seen bigger and better in recent years. So what made this action-packed deadline feel so underwhelming in the end?
The real aces stayed put
The most eye-opening move of the deadline was probably Jack Flaherty to the Los Angeles Dodgers, but Flaherty wasn’t even close to the biggest starting pitcher who could have changed teams. He wasn’t even the biggest rotation trade chip from his own team.
The Detroit Tigers’ ace, Tarik Skubal, stayed put. So did Chicago White Sox All-Star Garrett Crochet and two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell of the San Francisco Giants. The Texas Rangers held onto both Max Scherzer and Nathan Eovaldi, and the Miami Marlins kept young lefty Jesus Luzardo. From The Athletic’s big board of trade deadline candidates, Flaherty was the only starting pitcher in the top 16 who actually changed teams. It was the second tier that moved.
For the position players, it was a slightly different story. The Tampa Bay Rays did trade All-Star third baseman Isaac Paredes (No. 3 on our big board) and electric left fielder Randy Arozarena (No. 8) but the other household names who might have risen to the level of a true blockbuster stayed put, with teams either reluctant to give up on 2024 or unwilling to part with a player who had even one extra year of team control.
The biggest buyers weren’t that big
Even without some of the biggest names being moved, the cost of pitching was high. The Orioles gave up a lot for Zach Eflin and Trevor Rogers, the San Diego Padres gave up a ton for Tanner Scott and Bryan Hoeing, and the Houston Astros gave up a surprising amount for Yusei Kikuchi. With just a few minutes to go, the Dodgers did what it took to get Flaherty.
But how many teams can say they really went all-in at the deadline? The Orioles were among the most aggressive teams (two starters, two relievers, and whatever’s left of Eloy Jimenez) but they didn’t trade from the very top of their loaded farm system. The Padres were plenty aggressive, and so were the Seattle Mariners — A.J. Preller and Jerry Dipoto don’t know any other way — but no other team seemed willing to really gut a farm system or deal a massive prospect. Not a single player from Keith Law’s updated top 60 prospects was traded.
The New York Yankees’ biggest splash was Jazz Chisholm and the Philadelphia Phillies’ biggest addition was Carlos Estévez. This wasn’t exactly the Dodgers trading for Trea Turner and Max Scherzer in 2021, the Padres trading for Juan Soto in 2022, or the Astros bringing back Justin Verlander last year.
Only two teams were in full sell mode
The Rays reached the deadline two games over .500 with the same number of losses as the in-the-hunt Mariners, yet the Rays sold as hard as anyone. Arozarena, Eflin, Paredes, Jason Adam, Amed Rosario, Aaron Civale, and Shawn Anderson were all traded at or near the deadline. They even traded Tyler Zuber, who’d pitched just two games for them.
That’s how you pick a lane, people!
Both Bryan De La Cruz and Josh Bell got out of Miami. (John Fisher/Getty Images)
Maybe it’s a Florida thing, because the only other team that seemed that committed to selling was the Marlins, who traded away Chisholm, Scott, Rogers, A.J. Puk, Josh Bell, Bryan De La Cruz, Hoeing, Huascar Brazoban, and JT Chargois (plus Luis Arraez three months ago). The worst-in-baseball White Sox were definitely sellers — Erick Fedde, Michael Kopech, Paul DeJong, Tanner Banks and even Eloy Jimenez — but they didn’t cash in their biggest trade chips of Crochett and Luis Robert.
The hopelessly buried Colorado Rockies traded only a couple of relievers (Jalen Beeks and Nick Mears) while holding onto All-Star Ryan McMahon and soon-to-be-free-agent Elias Diaz. The last-place Oakland A’s traded only reliever Lucas Erceg and starter Paul Blackburn. They kept what might have been the market’s best bat, 29-year-old DH Brent Rooker. The Los Angeles Angels — who aren’t much better than the A’s — traded their closer (Carlos Estevez) and their setup man (Luis Garcia) but everyone with additional team control, including 34-year-old starter Tyler Anderson. The Toronto Blue Jays, who are also firmly in last place, traded their mostly clearly expendable players, but didn’t go all-in with blockbusters involving Vladimir Guerrero Jr. or Bo Bichette.
Teams didn’t really try to thread the needle
With basically three-quarters of teams at least vaguely in the hunt, there were a lot of teams that seemed to be straddling the line between buyer and seller, but few teams really tried to thread that needle.
The Orioles and Phillies did it with one trade (Austin Hayes for Seranthony Dominguez), but they were otherwise in buy mode. The Cubs did it a little bit by acquiring Isaac Paredes and Nate Pearson while trading away Christopher Morel and Mark Leiter Jr. and the St. Louis Cardinals did it by trading Tommy Edman and Dylan Carlson for Fedde, Tommy Pham and Shawn Anderson. The Giants were mostly in sell mode (Alex Cobb, Jorge Soler, Luke Jackson, Mike Baumann) but they did add Mark Canha at the buzzer.
No one else really tried to buy and sell at the same time.
The Red Sox and Pirates made a prospect-for-prospect swap (Nick Yorke for Quinn Priester) but each team operated as modest buyers. The Pirates sold a little by trading underperforming starter Martin Pérez to the Padres (but Pérez’s rotation status was in question anyway). The Red Sox added four players while resisting the temptation to mitigate the prospect cost by trading away pending free agents Tyler O’Neill or Nick Pivetta.
The Yankees did not trade away Nestor Cortes (an idea that had been floated) and the Mets were firmly (if unenthusiastically) buyers, having played their way too far into contention to justify dealing Pete Alonso, J.D. Martinez, Luis Severino or Harrison Bader.
Contenders and defending champs weren’t particularly motivated
Last year, the Rangers were among the most aggressive teams at the deadline, and it propelled them to a World Series. This year? They traded for a middle-inning reliever (Andrew Chafin) and a backup catcher (Carson Kelly), while trading demoted-to-the-bullpen Michael Lorenzen to the Royals. That’s not exactly an all-out title defense.
The NL champs operated much the same way. The Diamondbacks have a better record than the Rangers, but they too are currently on the outside of the wild-card race. The Diamondbacks made a couple of additions to their bullpen (Dylan Floro and Puk) and got first baseman Bell for a player to be named later, but this wasn’t exactly a going-for-it deadline, nor did they trade away first baseman Christian Walker or closer Paul Sewald. Both the Diamondbacks and Rangers have some key players due back from injury in the second half and seem to be hoping those additions will tip the scales.
The first-place Guardians (outfielder Lane Thomas and starter Alex Cobb) and first-place Brewers (starter Frankie Montas and reliever Nick Mears) also played things relatively safe at the deadline. Same for the second-place Twins (reliever Trevor Richards) and second-place Braves (outfielder Jorge Soler and reliever Luke Jackson).
(Top photo of Chisholm: Winslow Townson / Getty Images)
