Winners and Losers of the 2015 MLB Trade Deadline
It’s all over now.
Everyone can take a deep breath, collect themselves and exhale after a week of whirlwind trade rumors that brought us shock, amazement and even tears. The Major League Baseball non-waiver trade deadline is behind us after blockbuster deals—even a failed one—dominated the headlines and reshaped every playoff race.
Now the focus can move forward to the final two-plus months of the season, but before we do that, a recap seems necessary after one of the most memorable deadline weeks in recent memory.
All the paperwork is still being completed, but everything is agreed to. Players are already with their new clubs, en route to them or soon to be so. So it seems time to hand out the honors and dishonors by determining which teams won at the deadline and which ones left themselves and their fans disappointed heading into August, plus one that saved itself from being a total loser in the final minutes.
Winner: Toronto Blue Jays
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There is no doubt about this one. The Blue Jays were big players in this year’s trade market, and they ended up big winners who were applauded far and wide for addressing needs and putting themselves in position for a playoff spot—it would be their first since 1993—and the American League pennant.
Things started curiously when they swapped shortstops with the Colorado Rockies, moving out Jose Reyes and moving in Troy Tulowitzki and an extra $50-plus million. At the time, and on its own, it seemed like the Blue Jays were just adding to a strength that was not strong enough to cover their weakness: starting pitching.
Then, on Thursday, Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos pulled off another blockbuster, sending seismic waves across the market when he acquired ace David Price from the Detroit Tigers for top prospect Daniel Norris, who ranked ranked 18th on Baseball America's midseason prospect list. The trade also made the Tulowitzki deal look more like a big win rather than just a head-scratcher.
All-Star third baseman Josh Donaldson told Mike Rutsey of the Toronto Sun:
"I had saw on social media that they were getting close and I was like, "I'm not going to believe it just yet." Then when I saw it was confirmed I was very happy because you know what a guy like that brings to the table. He’s one of those guys who’s a front-of-the-line starter who’s going to help the ball club in more ways than one.
You look around the clubhouse you're going to see a lot of All-Stars. It feels like you're almost playing fantasy baseball, you know what I mean?
"
Those two deals would have put the Blue Jays on this list by themselves. But Anthopoulos didn't stop there. On Friday, MLB.com's Gregor Chisholm reported the GM traded for reliever Mark Lowe, who has a 1.00 ERA and nearly 12 strikeouts per nine innings for the Seattle Mariners. He helps a Blue Jays bullpen that is sixth in the AL with a 3.36 ERA and third with 9.08 K/9, per FanGraphs.
The Blue Jays still were not done. Minutes later, they acquired Ben Revere from the Philadelphia Phillies, as Philadelphia announced on Twitter. Revere is hitting .298/.334/.374 with 24 steals, giving Toronto’s high-powered offense a different dynamic and possibly replacing Tulowitzki as the leadoff hitter, which would move Tulo into more of a run-producing role.
Anthopoulos had been highly criticized for his inability to return the Blue Jays to the postseason in his five seasons in charge. This trade deadline should change all of that.
Loser: New York Yankees
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The Yankees flirted with everybody, going from team to team, teasing them and their fanbase by quickly canoodling and then jetting on to the next team and rumor, as MLB Trade Rumors detailed.
David Price. Cole Hamels. Johnny Cueto. Jeff Samardzija. Yovani Gallardo. Aroldis Chapman. Craig Kimbrel. The Yankees were linked to so many arms at one point or another over the last couple of weeks, and in the couple of days leading up to the deadline, that it was hard to keep track.
In the end, their interest was just interest. The Yankees, with a suddenly uncomfortable six-game lead in the American League East and with Michael Pineda on the disabled list, did nothing on the pitching front.
Their only trade was acquiring outfielder Dustin Ackley from the Seattle Mariners, a minor move that does not appear to swing the balance of anything or increase the Yankees’ odds of winning a World Series.
In fact, with Pineda hurt for who knows how long, the Yankees are now looking over their shoulder for the Toronto Blue Jays, who had the kind of trade season that makes them an instant playoff contender.
“The Yankees could have done a little bit more, but obviously it’s a first-place club,” former GM and current MLB Network analyst Dan O’Dowd said. “They’ve got some issues with their starting pitching. At the end of the day, I do think [top prospect Luis Severino] ends up in the rotation.”
Push: New York Mets
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They took it right down to the wire, but the Mets were able to grab hold of a lifesaver.
Until Friday, the Mets’ trade-deadline season was going to be defined by a botched deal, with Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson from the Atlanta Braves as their big acquisitions. Fortunately for them and their reputation, they were able to nab rental outfielder Yoenis Cespedes at the 11th hour, as the team announced on Twitter, for a minimal cost.
Things could have been much different, though.
On Wednesday night, a deal appeared to be in place to send center fielder Carlos Gomez from the Milwaukee Brewers to Queens while the Mets sent back Zack Wheeler and Wilmer Flores to the Crew. It would have made so much sense for both organizations, which are headed in different directions and in need of different assets.
But as the baseball world watched the trade unfold on Twitter and Flores shed tears on national TV, the deal was collapsing behind the scenes. By the time the Mets game ended, the trade was completely quashed with no hope of resurrection.
According to ESPN's Adam Rubin and Kieran Darcy, the Mets were reportedly not comfortable with Gomez’s hip issues, which seem somewhat nonexistent. A source told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Tom Haudricourt that a financial issue caused New York to pull out and then place the blame on Gomez's hip.
The Brewers traded Gomez a day later to the Houston Astros, who saw no problems with his hip, according to ESPN's Jesse Rogers and Jerry Crasnick.
The entire ordeal was deflating for the Mets’ fanbase, and if it is true they pulled out because they didn’t want to pick up Gomez’s reasonable $9 million salary for next season, then this is an entirely new low for a franchise that keeps finding them.
“Carlos Gomez, in my mind, is healthy,” Brewers GM Doug Melvin told Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal. “There’s no issue. We don’t feel there’s anything wrong with his hip.”
The Mets went shopping for another bat right up to the deadline and landed Cespedes at a reduced price since they did not have to lose Wheeler in the return package.
Cespedes is a nice fit and a power bat for a struggling lineup. However, while Gomez would have been in a Mets uniform next season for a cheap price, Cespedes will be a free agent after the season. Not only that, but the Mets cannot re-sign him because his contract stipulates his team releases him after the season. CBA rules say any team that releases a player cannot re-sign him as a free agent until May 15, thus again putting the Mets in the market for a bat and outfielder come November.
This trade deadline was not a complete loss thanks to the Cespedes deal, but for a team with a long-term outlook, this is a Band-Aid on a serious wound.
Winner: Los Angeles Dodgers
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There is a group of fans and media people who are disappointed in the Dodgers.
That is too bad, because they are blinding themselves from one of the more incredible, impactful, all-encompassing trades in several deadlines. By putting together a massive and unexpected 13-player trade with the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins, the Dodgers filled several significant needs and kept themselves as the favorite in a tight National League West race going into the stretch run.
The Dodgers’ first-year front office led by president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman acquired two starting pitchers—Alex Wood and Mat Latos—to fill out the battered rotation behind aces Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke. The Dodgers picked up much needed right-handed and left-handed relievers in Jim Johnson and Luis Avilan, respectively. They also received a potential future infielder in Jose Peraza, who was rated the 26th best prospect in baseball in Baseball America’s midseason rankings.
Dodgers second baseman Howie Kendrick will be a free agent after the season, as will shortstop Jimmy Rollins, so Peraza could pair with Baseball America’s top prospect, shortstop Corey Seager, to form the team’s future double-play combination.
The two starting pitchers give front-line production when they are right, and Wood is under team control through 2019. And Johnson should slot in as closer Kenley Jansen’s setup man, something the Dodgers have lacked for two seasons now.
The Dodgers also did this without parting with top prospects Seager and 18-year-old lefty Julio Urias, rated fourth by Baseball America, or any other top prospects or any players off their 25-man roster.
“To sit here right now and have addressed the biggest areas of need for us in terms of our rotation and bullpen, to have added future pieces, while preserving our top guys in our system is a really good outcome,” Friedman said Thursday in a conference call.
“Obviously we’re really happy with the outcome—not only for what it does for our club in 2015 but the position it puts us in going into the winter, into next season and beyond.”
Friedman also acknowledged that fans might be disappointed the team didn’t land an ace like David Price or Cole Hamels—names they were linked to all week who would have excited the fanbase more than Wood and Latos.
“I get that,” Friedman admitted. "I have tremendous respect for the passion fans have for the team. We all share the same goal, to win the World Series. Everything we've done since mid-October is with that goal in mind.
“But it's also not about winning just in 2015. It's about creating something that can be sustained for many years and hopefully have a number of championship banners up. We're perfectly aligned in that and everything we're doing is working towards that.”
Other teams with high payrolls have taken the opposite approach in the recent past, and now the Philadelphia Phillies and Detroit Tigers find themselves free-falling and needing to sell. This trade shows the Dodgers are trying to avoid that kind of future.
Loser: San Diego Padres
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The Padres set out with a clear agenda entering this week: Shed payroll and add young, controllable and cheap players to correct some of the offseason mistakes.
The results? Nothing.
Padres GM A.J. Preller, once described as a “rock star” by Matt Kemp because of his wheeling and dealing last winter, was not able to move any of his assets, including the ones who will be free agents after the season.
It was shocking for a team that is nearly as close to the bottom of the National League wild-card standings as they are to the second spot.
“What they wound up doing was holding up the whole industry,” ESPN’s Jayson Stark said on Baseball Tonight. “They flooded the market with starting pitchers. They had a million players out there, a million balls in the air, and they’re still in the air.”
However, Preller thinks the Padres can still contend for a wild-card spot, according to Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal. That is why a deal for closer Craig Kimbrel never materialized, even though the New York Yankees were willing to deal a prized prospect for him, per Stark. That is why none of the Justin Upton rumors developed into anything serious. And that is why the rotation remains intact despite interest in Tyson Ross and Andrew Cashner.
Realistically, though, the Padres are not postseason contenders. They added a lot of talent in the offseason, but some of it has not performed up to expectations, and the rotation has been one of the more disappointing ones in the league with a 3.99 ERA that ranks 10th in the NL.
It will not be a complete loss. The Padres can make Upton a qualifying offer and receive a draft pick once he turns it down. They can look to move other pieces in the offseason or add to them so that this isn’t their situation next year.
Still, this disappointing deadline is just another part of a disappointing season in San Diego.
Winner: Kansas City Royals
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The Royals really kicked off the blockbuster deals when they acquired ace Johnny Cueto from the Cincinnati Reds for a couple of prospects and left-hander Brandon Finnegan, who has a 2.59 ERA and 8.9 strikeouts per nine innings in 31.1 major league innings.
A couple days later, on Tuesday, the Royals added super-utility man Ben Zobrist from the Oakland A’s for pitching prospect Sean Manaea.
The two deals, which are both rentals, make the Royals contenders for the American League pennant—they were good before but lacked a great, or even good, starting pitcher—but they came at a price.
The reason the Royals parted with prospects for rentals is because they have a window to win this season, especially with the league soft and without a definitive favorite.
“The American League is, more or less, dreadful this season," Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star wrote. "Kansas City may never have a better chance to return to the World Series than they do in 2015. And the roster figures to change, perhaps in significant ways, this offseason."
Alex Gordon, whose groin injury made Zobrist a legitimate target, will be a free agent. It could be time for the team to break up its dominant bullpen trio after the season, plus players like Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and Danny Duffy will start receiving significant salary boosts next season.
Loser: Los Angeles Angels
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The Angels were in need of just about everything going into the week—starting pitching, a bat (preferably in the outfield) and bullpen help. By the time the alarm went off at the deadline, the Angels had made only minor moves for a trio of outfielders—Shane Victorino from the Boston Red Sox, David DeJesus from the Tampa Bay Rays and David Murphy from the Cleveland Indians—who may or may not become an effective platoon.
On top of a disappointing deadline, the Angels were swept in Houston by an Astros club they had a one-game lead on going into the series. The Angels have lost six of seven games going into their weekend set against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“They caught a couple of breaks and beat us, but it's not like we're 10 games out,” Angels All-Star Albert Pujols told reporters after the Houston sweep. “This is not the last game of the season. There's a lot of baseball left, and we have two more series against those guys.”
The problem is the Astros made the kind of moves that could put them 10 games in front of the Angles in the American League West in the very near future.
Beyond that, it is worth wondering how much of a negative impact came with the decision to allow former GM Jerry Dipoto to resign a month ago. Dipoto is a respected executive who already had the trade wheels turning when he left. It is possible he would have done no better than interim GM Bill Stoneman, who was semi-retired when he was put in the role.
Still, it’s a situation worth pondering.
Winner: Houston Astros
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Well, the Astros are here to stay, people.
If not for the Blue Jays' flurry of deals, Houston would be the biggest talk of the deadline. The organization identified this season as the first opening of its window to win, which should be open for many years, earlier this year. And with this deadline, the club broke that window wide open.
The Astros started a week ago by acquiring left-hander Scott Kazmir, one of the most coveted pitchers on the market who Rosenthal noted was linked to several clubs because of his 2.38 ERA and 3.11 FIP in 18 starts with the Oakland A’s. In his first two starts for Houston, Kazmir has thrown 14.2 innings without allowing a run.
Then after the Carlos Gomez deal fell through with the New York Mets, the Astros stepped in and acquired him, too. Not only that, but they also plucked starter Mike Fiers from the Milwaukee Brewers in the package deal for one of their top prospects, outfielder Brett Phillips. according to MLB.com's Brian McTaggart.
The moves solidify Houston’s rotation, which now has a studly front three with Dallas Keuchel, Lance McCullers and Kazmir, followed by Fiers as a very good No. 4. It also added a big-time speed/power/defense element to the lineup with Gomez.
“To bring a player like Carlos Gomez into our organization in the prime of his career to complement a lot of great players we have now means we're serious about doing some damage this year and in the years to come,” Astros GM Jeff Luhnow told reporters. “It's going to be a fun next few years for the Astros.”
Starting with this one.
Loser: Miami Marlins
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The Marlins did not do much at the deadline, nor were they really expected to. However, what they did do was unimpressive despite being in the massive three-team deal that sent Mat Latos, Alex Wood and Jim Johnson, among others, to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cuban prospect Hector Olivera to the Atlanta Braves.
Miami once again opted to shed money by sending out Latos and Mike Morse to the Dodgers.
Even more troubling is that the Marlins again sold a competitive-balance draft pick, likely to be in the 30-40 range of the first round next year. This is the third time in three years the Marlins have traded a competitive-balance pick, and this time, it basically equated to selling the pick so that the Dodgers would take Morse and his $8 million salary for next year. The Dodgers eventually designated Morse for assignment and then traded him to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Jose Tabata, per CBS Sports' Jon Heyman.
The draft pick eventually went to the Braves in the deal, and the Marlins recouped three minor league pitchers, none of them prospects.
It’s one thing to sell/trade a draft pick for major league talent or a prospect, but to do it for pretty much nothing but salary relief is another troubling sign that the Marlins are not committed to winning.
Winner: Philadelphia Phillies
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The wait was excruciatingly long, and the criticism was deserved. But in the end, the Phillies and their jumbled front office pulled in a solid haul for ace Cole Hamels.
The Texas Rangers did not send every single one of their top prospects to the Phillies in return, but Hamels did cost them a six-player package rife with five prospects who come with limited ceilings but high floors. That means even if some of the prospects don’t live up to their potential, they can still be major league contributors at some point.
“This is exactly what we set out to do with this transition,” Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. told reporters at his televised press conference. “We got a very good package of players that we think will help propel this organization forward in the future.”
The Phillies were in an unenviable situation and one that is almost unprecedented in the current market where aces are valued higher than ever before and available aces with years of control are unheard of. Gauging the kind of return the Phillies should get was virtually impossible, because no other club in the game’s current climate has ever had to make such a trade for such a valuable player.
Considering Hamels is a legitimate ace and has three years of control beyond this one at a below-market-value price, the Phillies had what no other team could offer. It is easy to say they should have received several premium prospects, which they desperately tried to get for the better part of a year, but the reality is those kinds of deals don’t happen anymore. Teams value them too much because they are controllable in terms of years and cost.
With that as the backdrop to this trade, the Phillies made out well in trading Hamels and can finally start a rebuild that had been behind schedule.
All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
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