3 winners and 3 losers of the MLB trade deadline

The 2024 MLB trade deadline has come and gone leaving the baseball world underwhelmed. Blockbusters were unusually scarce.

With all the chatter we heard, it’s hard to believe no team really went for it and acquired a franchise-changing player that could easily pave the way to a championship. Tarik Skubal, Garrett Crochet, Luis Robert Jr, Brent Rooker, Blake Snell, and Mason Miller among many others will not be changing their uniforms.

But there were some notable moves and notable lack of movement from a select group of teams. Let’s start with the teams that can say they improved.

Winners

1. Los Angeles Dodgers

Despite losing a chunk of their pitching staff to injury, the Los Angeles Dodgers have put together a great season. With just a few weaknesses to address, the Dodgers went above and beyond at the trade deadline.

The marquee name of course is Jack Flaherty. Flaherty has been having a bounce back year with the Detroit Tigers and is looking like he did as a Cy Young contender in 2019. But this wasn’t the only move the Dodgers made.

The Dodgers also acquired Amed Rosario, Tommy Edman, Michael Kopech, and Kevin Kiermaier.

Rosario definitely flies in under the radar. He may only have 2 HR this year, but he is batting .307.

Tommy Edman is currently injured and hasn’t played this season. When he returns, he is expected to be a versatile fielder (won a Gold Glove at second base) who can bring quality at-bats in the bottom of the lineup.

Kiermaier is another great defender having won four Gold Gloves in centerfield. He will retire after the year is done.

Former starter Kopech doesn’t have the flashiest ERA, but he still flashes monster potential. He can hit triple digits with his four-seamer and collects plenty of strikeouts in his new role as a reliever.

2. New York Yankees

The New York Yankees came into the trade deadline full of weak spots. To be fair, they still have plenty. But this year’s trade deadline lull has worked to their advantage. While their team got better, their main competitors (namely the Orioles and Red Sox) did little to improve in any major way.

Meanwhile, the Yankees nabbed Jazz Chisholm, Enyel De Los Santos, and Mark Leiter Jr. The two names other than Chisholm’s are relief pitchers.

The Yankees also sent Caleb Ferguson to the Astros. In his short time in pinstripes, Ferguson did not make a good impression.

Mark Leiter Jr., nephew of Al Leiter, will be taking Ferguson’s spot in the bullpen. With a 4.21 ERA, this season, Leiter isn’t the huge bullpen weapon most fans wanted, but if we just stare at the ERA, we miss the bigger picture. Leiter is a high strikeout pitcher with a ton of potential. In the month of July, through 7.2 IP before coming to the Yankees, he hadn’t allowed a single walk or hit.

Meanwhile, Chisholm has already made a good impression with the Yankees. Thus far, he has proven he has more power than meets the eye. The power and speed of Chisholm combined with his decent batting average will make a big difference at the struggling third base position for the Yankees.

De Los Santos currently maintains a 4.46 ERA. However, he has done very well in the past two years, and that’s the performance the Yankees are hoping to revive.

Overall, the Yankees might not be a lock for a World Series title, but they made a better improvement than most other teams around the MLB.

3. St Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals have addressed two very weak points. Erick Fedde will bolster their rotation, Shawn Armstrong will strengthen their bullpen, and Tommy Pham brings a veteran presence to their outfield.

Fedde is having a career season with a 3.11 ERA. This is now the lowest ERA for a starter on the Cardinals, and by a large margin as well.

The right-handed reliever, Shawn Armstrong, maintains a 5.40 ERA, but the Cardinals are without a doubt enamored by his 1.38 ERA last year.

As for the Cardinals’ offense, Tommy Pham brings a quality bat to their lineup, something they don’t have enough of. Let’s also not forget Pham’s postseason performance as an NL champ last year. He went 17-for-61 hitting three home runs with the D-Backs on their run to the World Series.

The Cardinals’ additions may not push them past the Phillies or Dodgers, but they stand a chance now.

Honorable mention: San Diego Padres

Losers

1. Houston Astros

Like the Dodgers, the Houston Astros have also gone through their share of injury woes. With problems in the lineup and in the pitching staff, the Astros have addressed one of their detrimental issues. Pitching help has come in the form of Yusei Kikuchi and Caleb Ferguson.

To Kikuchi’s credit, he is a strikeout pitcher, but his 4.75 ERA isn’t exactly what the Astros need right now. The Astros are known to be deadline buyers and have splurged for top arms on their way to dominating postseasons. However, this time around, they didn’t have many pieces to trade.

If Kikuchi had a track record of success, this scenario would be different as they could be trying to recover his prime performance. But his lowest ERA in his 6-year career is the 3.86 he pitched to last year. All the other years, his ERA stayed well above 4.00.

Caleb Ferguson, on the other hand, has thrown to a 5.13 ERA this year. Still, his days as a Dodger were more successful. Both he and Kikuchi have a lot of potential, but it isn’t clear if they are going to showcase it with the Astros as the results so far, haven’t been good. And without a boost to their offense, the Astros might not be the postseason threat they used to be.

2. Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox have similar problems to the Astros. Parts of the lineup are not working out well and pitching behind Houck and Crawford has been abysmal. So, the Red Sox, anticipating Triston Casas’ return, took the same approach as the Astros: focus on pitching. They acquired James Paxton, Quinn Priester, Lucas Sims, and Luis Garcia. The lowest ERA of this group belongs to Lucas Sims with a 3.57.

The Red Sox did well to boost their bullpen depth, but where they really needed help was their rotation.

Adding Paxton brought a load of risk to Boston. Paxton currently maintains an ERA of 4.52, not what any team needs to bolster their already wavering rotation. The oft-injured 35-year-old has had better days, but those days seem to be well behind him.

3. Minnesota Twins

Again, the Minnesota Twins seem well-positioned to enter the postseason, but with a 4.19 team ERA (21st in MLB), they could use a lot of help. Neither their poor pitching nor their offense will get the Twins deep into the postseason. To quell their club’s concerns, the Twins acquired Trevor Richards.

But there is much head-scratching. In a related move, the Twins DFA’d Josh Staumont.

Staumont has a 3.70 ERA. Richards has a 4.64.

To his credit, Richards has pitched far more innings, but this doesn’t change the fact that the Twins bewilderingly DFA’d a seemingly fine reliever. Instead of making their team stronger, the Twins appear to have made it weaker.

In any case, the Twins did worse than stand pat. They are the perfect team to round out the list of trade deadline losers.