Sonny Gray, Yu Darvish Blockbuster Deals Highlight 2017 MLB Trade Deadline Moves

The MLB non-waiver trade deadline passed at 4 p.m. ET on Monday with two major players on the move while a number of other stars stayed put. 

The biggest news of the day concerned the trades of starting pitchers Sonny Gray and Yu Darvish. 

The New York Yankees landed Gray from the Oakland Athletics, which had long been rumored. In exchange for Gray and $1.5 million in international bonus money, the Yankees sent prospects Dustin Fowler, Jorge Mateo and James Kaprielian to Oakland. 

MLB Tonight broke down the acquisition: 

Mark Feinsand of MLB.com also evaluated the prospects Oakland received: 

Bill Simmons of The Ringer didn't understand the trade from the Athletics' perspective: 

It's a fair question given that Gray is under club control through the 2019 season and just 27. On the other hand, the Athletics are 46-59 and unlikely to be a contender in the next season or two, so rebuilding and stocking the farm system made sense. 

The New York Post offered more details on the prospects: 

"Fowler is a highly-touted outfielder who made his Yankees debut earlier this season, suffering a ruptured patellar tendon crashing into the wall against the White Sox before he even had his first at-bat. Mateo, a fleet-footed middle infielder, has showed flashes of potential and frustration in his time in the Yankees' system. Kaprielian was the Yankees' top pitching prospect before requiring Tommy John surgery earlier this year."

Baseball writer Ken Rosenthal liked the deal for both sides:

Jon Tayler of SI.com preferred it for the Yankees:

From New York's perspective, the deal was a no-brainer and dramatically improves a team built to win both now and in the future. Baseball Reference provided context on the team's rotation before the Gray deal:

"Everyone is pretty ecstatic to add another No. 1 starter," Yankees third baseman Todd Frazier said, according to Andrew Marchand of ESPN.com.

"He's a really good arm," outfielder Brett Gardner added, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. "He can automatically slide into any rotation and make the team better."

The AL's top team, the Houston Astros, didn't stand pat but didn't make the sort of splash the Yankees did. They added starter Francisco Liriano, per Buster Olney of ESPN.com, and he'll transition to the bullpen, per Craig Calcaterra of NBC Sports:

For the rest of the afternoon, it appeared the other major storyline would be the players who weren't moved before the deadline, such as Baltimore Orioles closer Zach Britton. Justin Verlander, who had been one of the starting pitchers in the rumor mill, had a bit of fun on social media as the deadline neared:

So did Texas Rangers ace Yu Darvish, the subject of trade rumors himself:

But then things got interesting, per Jon Morosi of MLB.com:

Very interesting:

Very, very interesting, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports:

Baseball Twitter liked the move for the Dodgers. B/R's Zachary Rymer, for one, was a fan of the decision:

So was Bob Nightengale of USA Today:

The Dodgers also added Tony Watson from the Pittsburgh Pirates and Tony Cingrani from the Cincinnati Reds on Monday, per Andy McCullough and Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times.

Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times joined the praise party:

On Monday, the rich got richer. The best team in baseball added a legitimate ace to pair with Clayton Kershaw. The Yankees added Gray to a young core that should be competitive for several seasons. Other teams made smaller moves that didn't provide a major splash but should help playoff pushes.

For most of the day, it appeared there wouldn't be much drama. But with Gray and Darvish on the move, Monday's trade deadline turned out to be a memorable one.