MLB Trade Rumors: Top Reports Following 2019 Deadline

The 2019 MLB trade deadline came and went on Wednesday, and for a few minutes after the 4 p.m. ET cutoff, it looked like the summer would carry on without a blockbuster follow-up to the Trevor Bauer-Yasiel Puig trade the day before.

But then, at 4:13 p.m. ET, The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal sent a jolt through the baseball world with a four-word tweet, revealing that the Houston Astros had acquired All-Star pitcher Zack Greinke (10-4, 2.90 ERA) from the Arizona Diamondbacks. 

The New York Post's Joel Sherman filled in the details:

The trade is huge for the American League West-leading Astros, who now boast a terrifying triumvirate of Greinke, Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole at the top of their rotation.

That's a 1-2-3 combination that could easily set up a knockout blow to whichever team has to face Houston in the postseason. The deal also stands in stark contrast to how some of the World Series contenders spent the deadline, making only minor adjustments or failing to get a deal done.

Take the New York Yankees, who were in the market for a starting pitcher. Nothing came to fruition for them, though it wasn't for a lack of trying. 

According to USA Today's Bob Nightengale, the Yankees couldn't meet the Diamondbacks' asking price for starter Robbie Ray:

Earlier in the day, MLB Network's Jon Heyman had reported on the difficulties of prying Ray from Arizona:

The left-handed Ray would have made a fine addition to the Yankees' hobbled rotation, with a respectable 3.91 ERA and 173 strikeouts in 129 innings pitched.

He's no Marcus Stroman (2.96 ERA), but he's been a consistently solid hurler for a few years now. The Diamondbacks wanted more from the Yankees' farm system, and the big-money club wasn't willing to do it.

Matt Marton/Associated Press

So what else was out there for New York? Apparently, Stroman was in the mix, even though the New York Mets had just acquired him from the Toronto Blue Jays.

It was another fruitless endeavor, per Bob Klapisch of the New York Times:

That's quite the ransom the Mets were reportedly asking for, considering Estevan Florial and Deivi Garcia are two of the Yankees best prospects. In the end, it was too much for Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, who defended his decisions in a quiet deadline.

"The best play was we did nothing. And we did nothing for a very good reason, because we felt everything that was in front of me was really not obtainable because of the associated costs," Cashman said, per ESPN.com's Coley Harvey. "And that's with understanding that as a buyer, you have to step up and pay."

Parting with Florial and Garcia would have been tough, but if the Astros' pitchers are mowing down the Yankees' bevy of heavies in the postseason, Cashman will have to answer to some angry fans.

Frank Franklin II/Associated Press

But maybe the Mets, who at 52-55 are only 4.5 games out of a wild-card spot, were never really all that interested in flipping Stroman and asked for a king's ransom just to see what might happen.

The rotation is much improved, with the team keeping Noah Syndergaard and rebuffing the Minnesota Twins' inquiries for Zack Wheeler, per MLB Network's Jon Morosi:

Wheeler is a below-average starter this year with an ERA+ of 87, per Baseball-Reference.com, but he fills out a rotation that boasts Syndergaard, a red-hot Jacob DeGrom and now Stroman. It seems the Mets really are going to make a postseason run, despite looking like a prime candidate to blow everything up just a few weeks ago. 

Morosi's tweet also noted the Twins, who at 66-41 lead the AL Central by three games over the Cleveland Indians, sent feelers out for San Francisco Giants talisman Madison Bumgarner.

He was a prime target at the deadline, with the Yankees and Astros also showing interest, per Rosenthal. The Giants couldn't part with their World Series hero, who is beloved by fans. Teams interested in Bumgarner surely were bummed to see the Giants catch fire in July.

San Francisco is now just two games back in the NL wild-card race, making Bumgarner more than just a sentimental team favorite, but an invaluable piece in what could be a surprise playoff push.