The MLB Trade Deadline is officially over, and it was certainly one to remember! Multiple future Hall of Famers were traded in an effort to bolster a team’s chance to win the World Series, teams expected to compete for a title at the beginning of the year either tore it all down (Mets) or didn’t make any significant moves (Yankees).
Each year, there are winners and losers of the Trade Deadline. And while it goes without saying it’s far too early to judge any of these trades or the quality of the prospects traded, we’re going to do it anyways!
Winners:
Justin Verlander
Verlander signed with the Mets in the offseason for a whopping $86 million dollars over 2 seasons. As the season for the Mets continued to sink, it became clearer and clearer that they’d be sellers. So where does Verlander go? To arguably the best team in the AL and the team he just won the World Series with last year. Him and Max Scherzer will go from teammates trying to win a ring to rivals in the AL West.
Max Scherzer
The same exact thing can be said for Scherzer here. He signed a mega contract with the Mets, pitched well but underperformed when it mattered, and now has a chance to be a hero for Rnagers fans everywhere by delivering a World Series title to that fanbase.
Teams That Needed Pitching
If your team needed pitching help, this was a good deadline. In addition to Scherzer and Verlander being moved, quality arms such as Jordan Hicks, Jordan Montgomery , David Robertson, Jack Flaherty, Michael Lorenzen and Paul Sewald were all moved. This is a good thing when you consider most of the top teams in the league had capable lineups, but needed better pitchers to get them over the top. It’s always better for teams and fans when the sellers have the types of players buyers want, and that’s what we saw this year.
Losers:
The Seattle Mariners
The Mariners finally seemed to get it going in July, going 17-9. They were just a few games out of a wildcard spot, and with their pitching and young hitters, they seemed to have the potential to make some noise down the stretch. However, the front office saw things differently and traded away All-Star closer Paul Sewald to the Diamondbacks. Granted, the AL West is loaded at the top, but we all saw what the Phillies did last year after they snuck into the playoffs
The Cleveland Guardians
When you have some of the best young starting pitchers in the game and an elite bullpen, you’d think your team would be in position to make the playoffs. And technically, they are. Thanks to the woeful division they’re in, they have every chance to win the division and host a first round playoff series, just like they did last year. However, they traded away Aaron Civale and Josh Bell for prospects. Fans knew the team wasn’t very good, but an optimist would’ve pointed out how deadly their pitching could’ve been in a short series.
The New York Yankees
At least the crosstown rival Mets can say they acquired a whole bunch of prospects in their epic roster teardown. If even half of those prospects end up being productive major leaguers, that’s several positions on the team that can be accounted for for years to come. The Yankees were arguably in the worst position possible. 3.5 games back of the last wildcard isn’t far enough away to sell your fans that you should be selling, but it’s juuuust far enough away that you know you really have to pick it up over the last two months. The Yankees, essentially, did nothing. They added two pitchers, a reliever and a starter. However, it’s the lineup that needs help. The Yankees have scored more than 3 runs once in the last 7 games. The bullpen was already good and got a little better, but it doesn’t matter if you can’t score. This isn’t the Yankees your dad and granddad grew up with.
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