MLB Trade Deadline: Last-Minute Deals That Will Have Big Effects

The MLB trade deadline came and went at 4 p.m. ET on Friday, and after a largely quiet morning, trades came through in the final hours that will have a significant impact on the rest of the season.

The New York Mets came through just before the final gun with the biggest deal of the day when they acquired outfielder Yoenis Cespedes from the Detroit Tigers.

To get Cespedes, the Mets gave up right-handed pitching prospects Michael Fulmer and Luis Cessa. Fulmer (22 years old) was the Mets' No. 7 prospect, according to MLB.com, and Cessa (23) was No. 16.

At the time of the trade, the Mets trailed the Nationals by three games in the NL East. Cespedes ranks No. 11 among position players in MLB with 4.2 Wins Above Replacement, according to Fangraphs, and has hit 18 home runs.

Cespedes will be counted on to bolster the Mets' anemic offense, which ranks last in the National League in runs scored. Cespedes is a free agent after this season, so his stay with the Mets could be short-lived. One thing that the fans in Queens can bank on is a top-notch bat flip technique from their new star outfielder.

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The Baltimore Orioles made a significant upgrade in left field, adding Gerardo Parra from the Brewers in exchange for minor league pitcher Zach Davies.

The Orioles have trotted out the likes of Steve Pearce, Nolan Reimold, Travis Snider, Alejandro De Aza and David Lough as actual starting left field options this season, and the results have been horrible. The five have combined for 0.7 WAR, and all have batting averages of .243 or worse.

Baltimore is currently six games out of first place in the AL East and two games behind the Twins for the second Wild Card spot. After advancing to the ALCS last season, the Orioles have backed up their statements made earlier in the week in which they refused to sell at the deadline, according to the Baltimore Sun.

Like Cespedes, Parra is also a free agent after this season. In the midst of a career year offensively, he has a strong chance of becoming a rental player for the Orioles. If he can rally the team to the playoffs, the gamble will be worth it.

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Heading into the trade deadline, no team had made a bigger splash than the Toronto Blue Jays. The team had already acquired Troy Tulowitzki and David Price, positioning themselves to make a surge into the playoffs in the final months of the season.

Though the Jays did not make a move of quite the same magnitude on Friday, the addition of outfielder Ben Revere from the Phillies will make an impact on the playoff race.

Chris Colabello, the team's primary left fielder this season, has posted a minus-0.1 WAR in 253 plate appearances in 2015, per Fangraphs. Though he's a well-above-average hitter, he is among the worst defensive players in the league, with at least 200 plate appearances.

Revere has been an above-average defender his entire career. Though he is closer to league average as a hitter, his ability to make contact will be very beneficial in a lineup that has plenty power.

The Blue Jays already had the American League's best offense by a wide margin, and they've now upgraded their pitching and their defense while also infusing more speed on the base paths. Though they currently sit six games out of first place in the AL East, they are now in a position to make up ground in a hurry.

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In the days leading up to the deadline, no team put itself in a better position for the rest of the season than the Blue Jays. They still trail the Yankees by a sizable margin, but after adding Troy Tulowitzki, David Price and now Revere, the team is very capable of making up the difference. The addition of Parra to the Orioles should make it a three-team race down the stretch for the AL East.

One team that was expected to make waves at the deadline was San Diego. Instead, the Padres stood pat, declining to trade away players such as Justin Upton, Craig Kimbrel, Tyson Ross or Andrew Cashner.

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Upton seemed to be the most likely candidate to be traded. The Padres are eight games out of first place in the NL West, and Upton will be a free agent after this season. Ross, Kimbrel and Cashner are all talented pitchers who are controlled at least through next season, making them very attractive trade pieces.

But the team declined to move any of its core players because of general manger A.J. Preller's belief that the team can rally in the final two months of the season and get back into the playoff race.

Fangraphs currently gives the Padres a 4 percent chance of reaching the postseason, meaning that Preller has taken a big gamble on his team making a resurgence down the stretch.

That seems like an extremely risky bet, which puts the Padres in the loser category for the time being. If the gamble pays off, then San Diego will still have an impressive core of young players on its roster for years to come. If they fail, the Padres will have to reassess in the winter, which likely means something resembling a fire sale. Should that be the case, then uncertainty will loom over the franchise for the foreseeable future.