Dissecting the Deadline Deals

Major League Baseball's non-waiver trade deadline has come and gone.  And as usual, teams made deals with a definite purpose in mind.  The Indians, Rangers and Cubs went all-in for this season, while the Yankees were in the unique position of unloading their prime talent.  There are also the buyers that are fooling themselves (Mets, Pirates) and the teams that surprisingly did very little (Tigers).  Still other teams, I'm not exactly sure what they were doing (Matt Kemp from the Padres to the Braves?).

As with every trade deadline, there were definite winners and losers.  While we won't know for certain who the real winners and losers are until October (or, potentially, years later), we've definitely seen some of their chances at getting to the Promised Land improve dramatically.  We've even seen one seller potentially set itself up for a long run of sustained success.

So, who are those winners?  Well, a lot of people are now expecting a Cubs-Indians World Series.  At least they were until Texas was done dealing.  Now, I'm seeing a lot of Cubs-Rangers.  And I can see why.  You want winners?  Start right there.

Winners

• Cubs: The only thing they were missing was a closer.  That's why they fired the first strike by getting Aroldis Chapman last week.  Everyone knows they can hit and the rotation, which was the problem last year, is definitely good enough for a long playoff run.  But that bullpen, which was already decent, is that much better with Chapman closing and the combination of Pedro Strop and Hector Rondon moved up an inning.  Throw in Joe Nathan, as well as the also newly-acquired Mike Montgomery and Joe Smith, and you can see why the Cubs are now even bigger favorites in the National League.
• Rangers: Texas might've been the biggest winner of anybody that was buying.  They already had arguably the best lineup in the American League.  Then they added the best catcher available in Jonathan Lucroy (after he vetoed a deal to Cleveland), as well as the best hitter available in Carlos Beltran.  Prince Fielder's out for the year, and Texas actually managed to upgrade at DH, which Beltran is now free to do full-time.  I still have questions about their bullpen, but they can easily slug their way to the AL pennant.
• Indians: Cleveland's in first place because of its sensational starting pitching.  But they knew that if they're going to go far in October, they needed to improve their bullpen.  Enter Andrew Miller, the second closer traded by the Yankees in less than a week.  Of course, with Yan Gomes out, they really would've hit the mother load if Lucroy had agreed to come to Cleveland.  They still need a bat.  Michael Brantley's coming back at some point, but don't be surprised to see them try and pull off a waiver deal sometime in August.
• Dodgers: When the Dodgers announced that they had acquired Josh Reddick, I was confused.  "They have a stockpile of outfielders, why do they need another?", I thought.  But then I heard they're trying to get rid of Yasiel Puig, and the Reddick trade made more sense.  Rich Hill was a smart add since they obviously needed at least one starter (especially with Kershaw out), and Jesse Chavez was a nice addition to the bullpen.  Is it enough to catch the Giants?  Probably not (it is an even year, after all).  But the Dodgers are definitely right in the heart of the wild card discussion.
• Yankees: Yes, it seems odd to say the team that's usually a buyer and turned into a seller is a deadline winner, but I think in this case, you could argue that the Yankees are.  Of the four guys they traded (Chapman, Miller, Beltran and Ivan Nova), three are going to be free agents at the end of the season.  So, instead of losing them for nothing, they yielded an incredible haul of prospects that have given them one of the best farm systems in baseball.  Those prospects could either form the core of the next Yankees dynasty the same way The Core Four did...or they can be flipped for the big guns the next time they're in a position to buy.

Now for the losers, of which I can definitely think of a couple...

• Mets: Last year when they got Yoenis Cespedes, it was the move that propelled the Mets to the World Series.  This year they made a similar move for Jay Bruce, but the results won't be anywhere near the same.  This isn't last year's Mets.  Adding Bruce seems a little desperate frankly.  They're not going to catch the Nationals, and I'm not really sure they improved their wild card chances.  And the outfield of Bruce, Granderson and Cespedes isn't exactly three Gold Glovers out there.  I do like it that they brought Jon Niese back, though.  Mainly because I like him.
• Mariners: Seattle's in the postseason discussion for the first time in years.  Yet what did they do at the deadline to improve themselves?  Exactly.  In fact, the only move they did make was sending starting pitcher Wade Miley to Baltimore.  Contending teams are supposed to use the trade deadline to make themselves better.  The Mariners didn't do that.  They weren't good enough to make the playoffs before, and they aren't good enough to now.
• Padres: It's pretty obvious that they were in sell mode for most of the season, but it has to be embarrassing when you trade a guy only to have the other team trade him back three days later because he got hurt in his first start.  At least Colin Rea's return means that it's only 60 percent of their Opening Day rotation that's been traded.  They went all-in during the offseason a few years ago and it didn't work out.  Now they've gone full-blown Atlanta Braves.  Although, it was actually impressive that they somehow convinced the Braves to take Matt Kemp, who doesn't really have any value.
• Tigers: Like Seattle, Detroit did nothing at the deadline.  Of course, the Tigers are in a much better position than the Mariners right now, but I'm still surprised they didn't make even a minor move to improve the bullpen.  Apparently they tried, but the asking price was too high.  As a result, the Tigers are going to bank on the returns of J.D. Martinez and Jordan Zimmermann to push them past the Indians in the AL Central.  But Detroit has long had bullpen problems (which have killed them in the playoffs in the past) that they would've been smart to address.
• Red Sox: A lot of people would argue that Boston didn't have to do much at the deadline, and I would have to say I agree with them.  So why do I consider the Red Sox "losers?"  Because Baltimore and Toronto made better moves than they did.  The Orioles and Blue Jays both added the starter that they needed and picked up a bat.  Other than getting their needed starter (Drew Pomeranz), the Red Sox mainly addressed their bullpen.  We'll see if it's enough.