Johnny Cueto (pictured above), David Price, Troy Tulowitzki, and Yoenis Cespedes were all big names to change teams at trade deadline, just to name a few. This year’s deadline saw an interesting trading climate, as teams that were expected to sell, like the Padres, didn’t, while teams that were not expected to sell did, like the Tigers. Interestingly enough, the main teams that were buyers on July 31 are all in the midst of long playoff droughts; the Blue Jays (since 1993), the Astros (since 2005), and the Mets (since 2006).
And while every year’s trade deadline has interesting deals and intrigue, the most fun part of analyzing the deals is figuring out who the winners and losers were. So here it is, the MLB trade deadline, complete with winners and losers.
3. Winner: Kansas City Royals
The Royals made two separate deals in the week leading up to the deadline, acquiring pitcher Johnny Cueto from the Reds and second baseman Ben Zobrist from the A’s. Kansas City and GM Dayton Moore are going all in this year, and no better indication exists of this fact than what they gave up to get Zobrist and Cueto. Mike Axisa of CBS Sports explains:
In trading for Cueto and Zobrist, the Royals have given up two of their top three prospects (according to Baseball America). Kansas City has hung onto shortstop prospect Raul Mondesi Jr. Left-hander Sean Manaea is ranked by MLB.com as the No. 56 prospect in the majors. He’s had injury issues with his hip and abdomen (nothing with his arm!) and just reached Class AA after being drafted 34th overall in 2013. Standing 6-foot-5, he can reach the upper 90s with his fastball and showed improved command overall in high A-ball. At 23, reaching the majors sometime in 2016 seems possible. Brooks hasn’t shown much in brief stints with the Royals this season and in 2014, but has averaged 6.9 strikeouts and 1.8 walks over 639 minor-league innings. The A’s could pop him into their rotation now for an extended look.
But these acquisitions are about what the Royals get this year. In Cueto, they get a dominant starting pitcher (they didn’t have one before) and a major innings eater. Even with the Royals’ lockdown bullpen, getting to the sixth inning had been a challenge for their starters this season; it won’t be with Cueto. It’s so important to have good to commanding starting pitching, and having a pitcher of Cueto’s ilk should significantly help the Royals’ chances at their first championship since 1985. But let’s just hope this doesn’t happen again.
What do the Royals get with Ben Zobrist? A career .264 hitter who they can play just about anywhere except pitcher and catcher. Zobrist hit second in the lineup yesterday and hit two home runs, helping the Royals to a 7-6 win over the Blue Jays (more on them later). Another good thing to have come playoff time is the ability to score runs, and when the pitching falls short, being able to still win games. The Royals did that yesterday, and it will be important to their World Series aspirations to continue scoring runs, runs that will help them continue to win games, a division title, and even a pennant or championship.
3. Loser: Colorado Rockies
This one is pretty simple. The Rox dealt star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki on July 27, which seems fair enough, considering that they are a struggling team unwilling to spend money. The return for Tulo? Three pitching prospects… and Jose Reyes.
Reyes has been injury prone throughout his career, and this is only the first reason the move made zero sense for Colorado. The other reason? Reyes is making more money than Tulowitzki for each of the next three seasons. The acquisition of the pitching prospects, namely Castro, was good, but taking on Reyes’ contract was not.
And when the Rockies got Reyes, why didn’t they try to trade him for more prospects? You may laugh at this assertion in light of the Tulo deal, but Colorado needs more pitching, in the worst way; exactly one pitcher (Boone Logan) on the MLB roster has an ERA under four this year. Instead, the Rox kept Jose, and will be tied to his contract until 2017.
2. Winner: Toronto Blue Jays
You may not have expected to see the Blue Jays this early in the countdown, but here they are. However, they are assuredly a winner at the deadline. Grantland’s Michael Baumann even argues that they are the winners:
I’ve said for years that if the Blue Jays ever realized they’re a big-market team, it could irrevocably change the landscape of the game. The Jays play in an extremely cosmopolitan metro area of more than 5.6 million people (comparable to Houston, Philadelphia, or Washington) and considering that they have 30 million more Canadians to themselves, that Toronto-specific number understates their true commercial and economic reach. Plus, the Jays are owned by Canadian media giant Rogers Communications (think Jonathan Pryce’s character in Tomorrow Never Dies). They could conquer and subjugate Red Sox Nation if they wanted to.
And for once, it’s finally starting to show, as the Jays went out and got the two best players on the market: David Price and Troy Tulowitzki. Even before adding Tulo, Toronto’s offense was already the best in the game, by far, and now the Jays are only two games out of a wild-card spot despite underperforming their run differential by nine games. And it’s not like they only upgraded the top of the lineup and rotation: Mark Lowe and LaTroy Hawkins strengthen the bullpen, while Ben Revere, in addition to having a lovely smile, is a solid on-base guy to plug in left field, even if he has trouble identifying local food. This team is starting to remind me a lot of the 1993 Blue Jays.
Left-handed starter Daniel Norris, probably the best prospect to change hands at the deadline, is a lot of freight to pay for Price, particularly compared to what the Royals gave up for Johnny Cueto, but that’s offset by the degree to which the Blue Jays absolutely bamboozled Colorado for Tulowitzki. A lot of teams got better this week, but Toronto is the winner at the deadline.
They did get better. You know what they did: they got the best hitter and the best pitcher on the market. Other than that, they got Mariners reliever Mark Lowe and Phillies outfielder Ben Revere in separate deals. This one is also easy; the Blue Jays are winners, going for it all this year and giving themselves a shot at their first postseason action in 22 years.
2. Loser: Cincinnati Reds
The Reds traded away Johnny Cueto and Mike Leake to contending teams this deadline (the Royals and the Giants, respectively) without getting too much back in return. They acquired two prospects in the Cueto trade, and, namely, got Brandon Finnegan from Kansas City. Finnegan projects to be the best player the Reds got in the deal, as the other two prospects they acquired do not have great chances of panning out (one, a pitcher, had Tommy John surgery in 2011, is 25, and just getting back into form now, and the other is a 22-year old AA pitcher).
Then, they decided to deal pitcher Mike Leake to the Giants for prospects Adam Duvall and Keury Mella. Duvall is almost 27 and has limited action in the majors. He’s a power hitting first baseman who has hit 26 home runs for the Giants’ AAA team, the Sacramento River Cats, this season. However, as a corner infielder, he is now stuck behind Todd Frazier and Joey Votto. Mella is a hyped pitching prospect who, at just 21, has a good chance to be a solid big-league pitcher.
But here’s the issue; they could’ve dealt Aroldis Chapman and/or Jay Bruce, and they didn’t. While they got five prospects from two different teams, there is a good chance only one or two of them pan out. They could’ve gotten more by trading more major league talent, but they didn’t. They lost the deadline.
1. Winner: Houston Astros
The Astros did everything right at this year’s deadline. They got help where they needed it most, starting pitching, by acquiring Scott Kazmir from the A’s. They weren’t done there, though, as they picked up outfielder Carlos Gomez and pitcher Mike Fiers from the Brewers for multiple prospects. While Houston gave up quite a bit in the way of these prospects, they are able to allow themselves to part with them because of the depth they have accumulated on the farm.
Let Joon Lee of SB Nation explain:
The Astros lost and lost and lost for so many years to accumulate seemingly endless depth in the farm system. While a lot of that prospect depth is now finally culminating in major league success for players such as Dallas Keuchel and Carlos Correa, the team’s minor league depth gave the organization the personnel flexibility to acquire big assets to prime themselves for a competitive run at the playoffs. Even after the team’s trades for Gomez, Kazmir and Fiers, the Astros still possess 14 prospects graded 50 or better (on a 20-80 prospect scale) according to MLB.com. The Astros’ prospect depth allowed them to not only position themselves to succeed in the short term, but also to continue to build towards the future.
But Houston is not in the position to buy at the deadline without the team’s moves in the offseason: the signings of Luke Gregerson, Pat Neshek and Colby Rasmus, the trades for Evan Gattis and Hank Conger and the waiver claim of Will Harris. The moves allowed Luhnow to balance future financial flexibility while positioning the team to compete in 2015. While many did not recognize it at the time, the Houston Astros had one of the best offseasons in years.
He’s right: the Astros can give up prospects. They’ll still have plenty more.
1. Loser: San Diego Padres
Duh; the Pods didn’t do anything. They could have dealt either Justin or Melvin Upton; they didn’t. They could’ve traded star closer Craig Kimbrel; they didn’t. They could have moved starters Tyson Ross and/or James Shields and/or Andrew Cashner; they didn’t. They could have re-stacked their farm system; they didn’t.
However, the most hilarious train of thought that any GM had at this year’s deadline came from theirs, A.J. Preller. Ken Rosenthal reports:
#Padres largely standing pat because GM A.J. Preller believes the team can reach the postseason, source says.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 31, 2015
Yes, he actually thinks that. San Diego is 7 games back of the second Wild Card spot in the National League as of today, August 2. They also happen to be 10.5 games ahead of the Phillies. They aren’t making the playoffs.
Agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments section.
(c) 2015