SI:AM | The MLB Trade Deadline’s Most and Least Active Teams

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I don’t think anyone had a worse trade deadline than Codi Heuer. He was traded by the Guardians to the Brewers on Saturday, and then Milwaukee sent him to the Orioles yesterday. I hope he didn’t unpack his bags after the first trade.

In today’s SI:AM:
⚾ MLB trade deadline recap
🔮 Predicting every NFL game
🏈 Huge rivalry set to return

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A hectic trade deadline

Yesterday’s MLB trade deadline was an active one. I counted 40 trades made on Monday alone, not to mention more than a dozen executed in the week leading up to the deadline. But some teams were busier than others. Let’s look at which clubs had the most action-packed deadlines and who mostly sat on the sidelines.

The biggest buyers and sellers

Everyone expected last-place teams like the Mets and Angels to strip down their rosters at the deadline, and they did. The Mets’ biggest deal was the trade that sent starting pitcher Freddy Peralta to the Rays, while the Angels got a good haul from the Blue Jays for starter José Soriano.

Speaking of the Blue Jays, they had perhaps the most interesting deadline of any team. Toronto isn’t a serious playoff contender this season, but it wasn’t purely a seller at the deadline. The Jays made six trades in the 48 hours before the deadline: three in which they acquired a big leaguer and three in which they sent one away. In addition to Soriano, they also acquired Rangers utilityman Josh Smith and Cubs starter Jameson Taillon. Soriano and Smith won’t be free agents until 2029, so the Jays seem to have approached the deadline as a way to stock up for next season amid this year’s letdown.

José Soriano throws a pitch — The Blue Jays got José Soriano in a move that is more about building a winner next year. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Red Sox didn’t make all that many trades, but they did swing the biggest deal of deadline day, acquiring catcher Adley Rutschman from the Orioles in exchange for a massive haul of prospects. The Sox gave up three of their top five prospects, plus incumbent starting catcher Carlos Narváez and a player to be named later. Boston also turned heads by trading away infielder Marcelo Mayer. He went to the Giants in exchange for lefty reliever Erik Miller and Carlos Gutierrez, a 21-year-old outfielder currently in High-A. Once viewed as a top prospect, Mayer has struggled at the plate in 114 games across two big league seasons. But he’s still just 23, and giving up on him for a 28-year-old reliever is a surprise.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Guardians didn’t pull off any big blockbusters, but they made a handful of smaller trades that could have a big impact on the AL Central race. Cleveland got Angels slugger Jo Adell, Reds first baseman Nathaniel Lowe and Nationals starter Foster Griffin. It also acquired reliever Craig Yoho and speedy outfielder Blake Perkins from the Brewers on Saturday. Those deals won’t make the Guardians a World Series favorite, but they’re low-risk moves that make them marginally better in a tight division race.

Who sat by and watched

Luis Garcia Jr. with the Yankees — Luis Garcia Jr. hit a home run in his first game with the Yankees, but New York was mostly quiet at the deadline. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Every deadline is destined to leave some fans asking why their teams didn’t do more to improve. This year, it’s fans of the Braves and Yankees.

Atlanta doesn’t have many holes to fill. It’s got a 7 ½-game lead in the division and has mostly escaped major injuries that would create urgency to restock. The Braves do have one weak spot: their rotation. They currently rank 23rd in Fangraphs starting pitching WAR. Past Chris Sale, the rotation gets pretty iffy. And with several starters on the move at the deadline, the Braves had an opportunity to add depth there.

But Atlanta didn’t acquire any impact players at the deadline. It made five totally inconsequential deals. The best player it acquired is Brent Suter, a lefty reliever who turns 37 later this month and had a 4.12 ERA in 41 appearances for the Angels this season.

The Yankees also failed to address their most glaring weakness. Austin Wells is one of the best defensive catchers in baseball, but he’s been mired in a season-long slump at the plate. New York had long been rumored to be looking for an upgrade there but instead watched its biggest rival swing an intra-division trade for Rutschman and failed to entice the Rockies into parting with Hunter Goodman. The Yankees did acquire infield slugger Luis García Jr. from the Nationals and outfielder Heliot Ramos from the Giants, but those were their only two additions.

The Yankees do have one more big addition on the way, though. Shortstop George Lombard Jr., their top prospect, is being called up from Triple A to take Anthony Volpe’s spot on the roster. The unwillingness to part with Lombard was part of the reason why the Yankees had a slow deadline. Now they’ll hope that he can be a sort of internal deadline acquisition.

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The top five…

… things I saw last night:
5. Luis García Jr.’s emphatic bat drop after hitting a two-run homer to give the Yankees the lead in the bottom of the seventh. (The Cardinals then scored seven runs in the top of the eighth and won, 13–7.)
4. Alec Burleson’s towering upper-deck shot for his third homer of the game against the Yankees.
3. Daulton Varsho’s pregame greeting with his former Blue Jays teammates after being traded to the Astros hours before Toronto’s game in Houston.
2. Teoscar Hernández’s massive homer that traveled all the way out of Wrigley Field. (Statcast estimated it at 443 feet.)
1. A heroic performance by Senegal goalie Adji Ndiaye against Morocco in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations. She saved one penalty shot, then, when the referee ordered that the penalty be retaken, stopped the second attempt as well. (The game ended in a 0–0 draw, which eliminated Senegal from the tournament.)

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