Trade-a-palooza

Man, this year's Trade Deadline was crazy!  I don't remember where so many teams were active and so many players moved.  And not just two-month rentals with expiring contracts, either.  Some BIG names changed teams.  Seriously, do the Cubs and Nationals have anybody left?!

So many teams were buyers that it's hard to keep track of who went where.  And, thanks to the Nationals and Cubs getting rid of every player in their respective organizations that you've ever heard of (except for Juan Soto), a lot of actual and wannabe contenders got significantly better.  For the most part, they all addressed obvious needs.  Which is gonna make the next two months very interesting.

The biggest winner of the Trade Deadline has to be the Dodgers.  Proving the old adage of "you can never have enough starting pitching," they just added another future Hall of Famer to their rotation, while also keeping him away from the Padres and Giants!  Beyond that, though, they got Washington to throw in Trea Turner!  They've had so many guys on the IL this year that it's enough to make your head spin!  Trea Turner's not a bad insurance policy to have.  He can play short while Seager's out, then move over to second, freeing up Chris Taylor to play the outfield.

Another big winner was the Yankees.  An argument could've been made that maybe they should've been sellers instead of buyers, but Brian Cashman proved that he's all-in on this season...by doing what Yankees fans have been begging him to do for months and getting left-handed hitters!  First it was Joey Gallo, then, as a last-minute surprise, he got Anthony Rizzo, too.  Suddenly a team with zero left-handed bats had two big ones.  Friday's lineup against the Marlins looked A LOT different as a result.

Sure, neither one of them can play center field, but that's a minor detail that can be worked out.  The left-handed power was a much bigger concern.  Although, Rizzo's gonna play every day, so I don't know what that means when Luke Voit comes back.  I also think it's safe to say the whole Clint Frazier experiment is probably over.  Because the most likely outfield configuration sees Judge in right and Gallo in left (Judge played center and Gallo right on Friday night, but that was because Stanton had to play left with no DH).

Not to be outdone, the Yankees' two biggest rivals took advantage of the fire sales, as well.  The Mets added Javy Baez, who can play short until Francisco Lindor comes back, then move over to second when he does.  And the Red Sox got the left-handed bat they were looking for in Kyle Schwarber (a guy who I've been saying all along needed to be in the American League since he's always been basically a DH).

Then there's Atlanta.  We all know what's going on with the Braves' outfield situation.  That's why they struck early and got Joc Pederson from, you guessed it, the Cubs!  They weren't done, though.  They brought back Adam Duvall, who was actually pretty successful for Atlanta in 2019-20.  They also swung a deal for Jorge Soler.  And another for Eddie Rosario.  Just like that, they have an entirely new outfield!

Two other teams worth noting are the Giants and Blue Jays.  With literally seconds to spare, San Francisco was the team that landed Kris Bryant.  Not only does he bolster their lineup, he can play literally anywhere on the field.  The Giants still might've been able to hold off the Dodgers and Padres even without Bryant, but now they've made sure that the NL West will stay a three-team race.

Toronto, meanwhile, made it very clear that they, too, still think they have a shot this season.  The Blue Jays were very active in addressing their biggest problem area...the bullpen.  They brought in a pair of veteran former closers in Brad Hand and Joakim Soria.  They also got Hyun-Jin Ryu some rotation help by snagging the Twins' top starter, Jose Berrios.

Berrios wasn't the only player Minnesota moved.  The Twins didn't go full Cubs/Nationals, but they definitely did some unloading.  They actually made an early deal with Tampa Bay, sending Nelson Cruz to the Rays before shipping Hansel Robles to Boston.  Incredibly, they were also able to unload J.A. Happ, with the Cardinals giving up two players for him for some reason.

Byron Buxton and Josh Donaldson are both still members of the Twins, though, so they either couldn't work out a deal, their asking price was too high, or they just weren't offered anything appealing.  So the Twins still have enough quality pieces to build around for another run next year.  Which means their road back to being good shouldn't be as long as those on the North Side and in DC.

Also, how crazy is it that the Cubs made two trades with the White Sox?  First it was Ryan Tepera, then Craig Kimbrel.  The Kimbrel trade, especially, is an intriguing one.  I'm curious to see how they're gonna set up their bullpen.  Does Hendriks stay the closer with Kimbrel as his set up man?  Do they share closer duties?  Does Hendriks move to the eighth inning so that Kimbrel can close?  Regardless, the White Sox bullpen is dramatically better today than it was earlier this week thanks to their cross-town neighbors.

Everyone knew what the Cubs and Nationals were going to do, so it wouldn't really be fair to call them the "losers" of the Deadline.  It would be fair to say that about the Rockies, though.  The two names everybody assumed were moving were Kris Bryant and Trevor Story.  Well, the Deadline has come and gone, and Story is still a Rockie.  They didn't make any significant moves as a matter of fact, which leaves you wondering exactly what they were thinking.

It's fun to pick on the Cubs and Nationals, but they weren't the only sellers who unloaded multiple pieces.  Two of the usual suspects who can be relied upon to provide contending teams with Trade Deadline rentals--the Pirates and Marlins--came through again.  This year, two American League teams joined them--Texas and Cleveland.

Gallo wasn't the only key guy the Rangers dealt.  They also sent three pitchers, including All-Star Kyle Gibson, to the Phillies.  Cleveland, meanwhile, picked up where it left off over the winter and sold off its remaining worthwhile pieces.  It won't just be a new name and new uniforms next season, there'll be a lot of new faces, too, when they officially become the "Guardians" (horrible name, even worse logo).

Will all of these trades work out?  History tells us the answer to that question is "No."  But that almost doesn't even matter.  Because this was one of the most exciting Trade Deadlines in years!  And a lot of teams honestly feel like they're significantly better today than they were 48 hours ago.