This year’s trade season did not disappoint. After a wild couple of days, we’re gonna do our best to recap the action from one of the busiest trade deadlines in recent memory. Let’s start with the headlines coming out of the Senior Circuit this month…
The Champs Are Still The Champs: This phrase, in many ways, could serve as an ironic headline for this year’s trade deadline, as we saw the dismantling of a couple of former championship teams. The reigning champ, however, was not one of them. The Dodgers reasserted themselves as the team to beat in the National League by making the splashiest move of the deadline in acquiring Max Scherzer and Trea Turner from the Nationals.
The Dodgers stepped up, and now they have perhaps the most intimidating starter of his generation slotted into a rotation with Clayton Kershaw, probably the best pitcher of his generation, along with young stud Walker Buehler. It’s an amazing collection of talent for a single team.
That said, the Turner acquisition might be even more impactful, as he’s under team control through next season. Turner and Mookie Betts as a 1-2 punch in the lineup are devastating. Interestingly, the Dodgers also got Corey Seager back from the injured list today, and it remains to be seen how the Dodgers will deploy their pair of All-Star shortstops (to say nothing of Gavin Lux and Chris Taylor). The Dodgers have options now and for the future. Remember, Seager is a free agent after the season. They can still bring back their World Series MVP at the right price point, but they won’t be pressured to now that they have Turner in the fold.
The Padres Don’t Land Mad Max: The trade deadline madness really began on Thursday night when it was announced that the Padres and Nats had agreed on the players involved in a Scherzer deal. That didn’t sit well with the Dodgers, who swooped in to remind the Padres of who still runs the West. The Padres were expected to turn their attention to Jose Berrios, but they weren’t able to get him either.
At the end of the day, the Padres didn’t get Scherzer, Berrios, Joey Gallo, or any other of the big names. They did add Adam Frazier, a versatile defender and good contact hitter, along with Daniel Hudson, who is a legitimate get for the bullpen, and Jake Marisnick, who compliments their centerfield options nicely, even if he’s not much more than a depth piece. It was a less impactful deadline than expected, but what’s worse: Fernando Tatis Jr. promptly reaggravated his shoulder injury. Add it all up, and the swing from potentially acquiring Scherzer to potentially losing Tatis is enough to give any Padres fan whiplash.
Giants Add Bryant: The Padres took a big swing and missed, the Dodgers took their swing and connected, and sure to form, the Giants played the deadline slow and steady. Does the tortoise win again? Time will tell, but the Giants did ultimately nab a former MVP in Kris Bryant without giving up a top prospect. Bryant fits their profile like a glove, and he’ll be able to fill in at third until Evan Longoria returns and then move to the outfield.
Remember: The Giants have a three-game head start on LA and a five-game lead on the Padres. Adding Bryant has game-changing potential, while Tony Watson was a solid, low-key add to the pen. The Dodgers are scary, but if the Giants keep playing their game, LA may find themselves in the wild card game anyway.
Cubs Collapse, Dismantle 2016 World Series Champs: In a vacuum, the Cubs had a pretty good deadline. They added a number of buzzy, interesting young players like Nick Madrigal, Pete Crow-Armstrong, and Alexander Canario. But it came at a cost. After years of rumors, Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and Javier Baez were finally shipped out of town, along with Craig Kimbrel, Andrew Chafin, Ryan Tepera, Marisnick, and Trevor Williams. New players — and new narratives — are long overdue in Chicago, and the next chapter awaits.
Nationals Collapse, Dismantle 2019 World Series Champs: It’s appropriate that the Cubs are in DC to play the Nats this weekend, because really, the two clubs are mirror images of one another, right down to their interconnecting pieces like Kyle Schwarber and Jon Lester. Both teams were trying to contend on the legs of recent title teams, both teams had disastrous months of July, and both clubs desperately needed an influx of young talent. Both teams got it on Friday.
The Nats farm system was even more barren than Chicago’s and their need to restock even direr given the presence of young superstud Juan Soto. So Washington said their fare-thee-wells to Scherzer, Turner, Hudson, and Yan Gomes from the title team, plus recent additions Lester, Schwarber, Brad Hand, and Josh Harrison. GM Mike Rizzo does not sell off pieces willy nilly, but in doing so, they got some high-end, near-ready pieces as they look to quickly rebuild a contender in context around Soto before the Scott Boras client reaches free agency after the 2024 season.
Brewers Take Their Place Atop The NL Central: Milwaukee made their big acquisition back in May, and Willy Adames has transformed himself and the club since his arrival. They were last under .500 on the day before Adames arrived, they’ve gone 41-19 since and taken firm hold of the NL Central. Still, some tinkering remained on the docket for July, as the Brewers picked up Eduardo Escobar, Rowdy Tellez, John Curtiss, and Daniel Norris.
Injuries Keeping Mets From Runaway Division Title: The Mets left deadline day with a more acute awareness of what they lost than what they gained: Jacob deGrom has been shut down for another couple of weeks, leaving the all-world hurler out until at least September. That’s heartbreaking for a Mets team with a clear path to an NL East title. Plenty of upside remains in the Mets rotation with Marcus Stroman and Taijuan Walker posting career years, Carlos Carrasco set to make his debut, and Tylor Megill providing the surprising rookie breakout contenders seek. Still, deGrom and Noah Syndergaard are questionable at best for the rest of the season, and the only rotation additions the Mets made at the deadline were Rich Hill and Trevor Williams.
They did, however, account for Francisco Lindor’s injury by adding Javier Baez, Lindor’s friend and countrymate who can ably fill in while Lindor is out and then slide to second or third when he returns. Baez isn’t, perhaps, the former Cub that Mets fans expected, but he’s an excellent fit alongside Lindor and should bolster the pitching staff with his stellar glove — even if acquiring him did cost them a former first-rounder in Crow-Armstrong.
Braves Lose Acuna For The Season: The deadline might have looked a lot different for Atlanta had they not lost Ronald Acuna Jr. for the season back on July 10th. Without Acuna and Mike Soroka, the Braves weren’t expected to make any major swings at contention. But even a 13-12 July was enough to keep them within four games of first. A fourth consecutive NL East title remains in reach. So they nabbed one of the top available relief arms in Richard Rodriguez, as well as, seemingly, all the outfielders: Jorge Soler, old pal Adam Duvall, Eddie Rosario, and Joc Pederson, plus Stephen Vogt to reinforce their catching corps.
Soft Buys From The Fringes Of Contention: The Giants and Dodgers made headline additions, while the Nats and Cubs took a firm step away from contention. In the middle, there were a number of clubs that neither sold the farm nor raised the white flag. Such as…
…the Phillies… who seemed poised to add a bevy of arms given their bullpen situation, not to mention a starting rotation that’s received underwhelming performances from the back end. Instead, only Kyle Gibson and Ian Kennedy came to help, and they cost the Phillies’ top prospect Spencer Howard. Howard’s handling had been in question all season, and now he’s been served an unceremonious end to his Philly tenure. Gibson’s had a fine season thus far with the Rangers, but his groundball approach will be tested in front of Philly’s subpar infield defense. Sure, Freddy Galvis brings his glove back to help out, but will that be enough?
…and the Reds… who looked to undo their winter penny-pinching by restocking the bullpen. Justin Wilson, Luis Cessa, and Mychal Givens will try to help a bullpen that ranks 29th with a 5.31 ERA. The Reds’ inconsistent play in July kept them squarely on the deadline fence, however, and now that Nick Castellanos is on the injured list, they’re seven games behind the Brewers and looking like longshots for the postseason.
…and the Cardinals…who added a few pieces at the deadline, despite being 9.5 games behind the Brewers and 6.5 out of a wild card spot. The additions were modest, however, as St. Louis went on a run of graybeard southpaws in July, adding 36-year-old Wade LeBlanc, 37-year-old Jon Lester, and 38-year-old J.A. Happ to a rotation fronted by 39-year-old Adam Wainwright and caught by 39-year-old Yadier Molina.
Cellar Dwellers Sell: The Marlins, Pirates, and Diamondbacks, each in last place of their respective divisions, made some moves to turn expiring talent into youth for the future. The Marlins added the biggest fish in Jesus Luzardo, but the Pirates did well for themselves, too, by adding some plug-and-play talent like Michael Chavis from Boston and Bryse Wilson from Atlanta, while also grabbing two prospects from Seattle for Tyler Anderson. The Dbacks weren’t quite as active, but they did move Escobar and Joakim Soria, though a COVID-19 outbreak has brought more pressing issues to their attention.
The Rockies Don’t Trade Trevor Story Or Jon Gray: The most perplexing moves of the deadline were the trades that didn’t happen. Despite having no shot at contention in a division with zero margin for error (in the short-and-long term), the Rockies chose to stand pat rather than build for the future. Holding Gray is one thing, but Story has stated his desire to move on, so their decision not to acquire a prospect or two for him before he walks might be the biggest shock of deadline season.
Turner has played 2B before. Probably will move Turner to 2B. Taylor to the OF
Isn’t Turner a natural CF?
And Bellinger can ride the bench!!! Hallelujah
I think Turner will be the short stop as I think the Dodgers getting him means Seager is last few months of being a dodger
Reds – in what universe is a 16-9 record in July “inconsistent play” with the schedule they had with 3 starting position players out? Dumb statement is really, really dumb.
I think more teams buying at the deadline is better for baseball than more teams throwing in towel.
Friedman & Dodgers fans should be embarrassed with that $295,000,000.00 payroll. That’s an entire small-market teams payroll higher than the next closest team. That’s the beautiful thing about baseball—buy all the stars you can, but all it’s going to do is get teams like SF-SD-MKE and Cincinnati to go all out after you guys with that big fat X on your back, and revel in beating your overrated team. Enjoy your world-wide pandemic 60 game truncated WS victory over the team with less than a third of your payroll, cause that’s gonna be it for a while.
And I am sure if your team had won last year, they would have handed back the trophy and you would have been fine with that.
The Dodgers have far more homegrown players than either SF or SD. Count them. They won with them last year, and they will continue to field them. Their farm system is still pretty strong, even with having lost Gray and Ruiz.
Homegrown numbers (at least 50Abs 15IPs except if injury): (not including if drafted by some other team then traded in minors)
Giants 2010 (13): Posey, Sandoval, Schierholtz, Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, Bumgarner, Romo, Wilson, Runzler,
Giants 2012 (16): Posey, Sandoval, Schierholtz, Velez, Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, Bumgarner, Romo, Wilson(INJ), Belt, Crawford, Burriss, Pill, Vogelsong, Edelfsen
Giants 2014 (18): Posey, Sandoval, Ishikawa, Susac, Lincecum, Cain, Bumgarner, Romo, Belt, Crawford, Vogelsong, Panik, H.Sanchez, Adrianza, Perez, Duvall, Duffy, Machi
Dodgers 2020 (17): Barnes, Seager, Pederson, Bellinger, Beaty, Smith, Lux, Buehler, Kershaw, Jansen, Baez, Urias, Ferguson, Gonsolin, May, Gonzalez, Santana
Giants 2021 (11): Posey, Belt, Crawford, Duggar, Slater, Vosler, Webb, Rogers, Garcia, Littell, Long (menez is at 14IP so not counted)
Dodgers 2021 (15):: Barnes, Seager, Bellinger, Beaty, McKinstry, Smith, Lux, Buehler, Kershaw, Jansen, Urias, Gonsolin, May, Neuse, Raley
Now looking at history it seems your statement of Dodgers “far” more is wrong Giants actually won WS with more homegrown than dodgers, and this year by years end Giants will have more Homegrown reaching numbers than dodgers.
In the farm system Dodgers upper echelon is almost bone dry: Busch, Pepiot are basically only ones that have slim chance to even help dodgers this year. Many dodgers in the farm are NOT star worthy or high ceiling. – I think only Busch maybe listed in top 100 (towards bottom).
meanwhile Giants farm has 5 listed on top 100 right now.
step back from your LAD kool-aid
Neuse was an A he came in the kolarek trade
Dude, your 2021 Dodger Giants homegrown players are waaaay off. Vosler and Littell came from other organizations and who is Garcia?
Jarlin Garcia came up with Miami and played 3 years for them. Littell played 3 years with Minnesota and Vosler played in both the Cubs and Padres minor league systems and was signed by the Giants last off-season.
ah got lazy….I forgot Baragar but definitely wrong on Vosler, littell and garcia…somehow I instantly thought those were sf originals…oh well
To be fair to the dodgers they did refrain from trading away home grown talent in 2010, 2012, 2014. The result is three legit rings for the Giants and one asterisk for the dodgers, but hey LA has got home grown talent and a 295M payroll they can display I. Their trophy case.
I believe that the Dodgers catch and pass the giants. Too many of the giants players were having too good of years in the first half. The Dodgers have way more talent on paper and at some point the giants will come back to earth I believe. Giants are one bad weekend from being knocked out of first
yet they have not….dodgers have not overcome them. in 2010, 2012, 2014 people thought the same of them too.
I believe that they pass the giants but by only the slimmest margins cause they really don’t have more on paper talent. SF is legit. Maybe if belli and Mookie were preforming I’d say more on paper but the INF of the giants is legit including Solano. The OF with Bryant Yatz and idk Dickerson or Slater is a threat too and probably beats Mookie Belli Pollock right now. And Smith is not close to posey. I think I’m all fairness it is like a 4-4 positional deal with dodgers LF (Bryant in CF), 2B, 1B and 3B being better with the giants the rest. The real difference will be pitching. The dodgers have the on paper better rotation especially with Guasman fading and Scherzer added but the dodger bullpen has been QUITE horrific as of late but such is a bullpen they have ups and downs. It will be a one game difference between the teams in the end.
I wasn’t talking about homegrown players in 2010,2012, or 2014. I was talking about the 2021 teams and their numbers of homegrown players. The last two years, the Dodgers have had the highest percentage of homegrown players on their roster in MLB. So, people talking about “buying a pennant” is not accurate.
what dodgers have is Buehler….he owns SF.
I think differences of SF and LAD are slim as seen when they match up they are split I believe 7-7 or SF has edge 8-7…not sure.
Dodgers needed a closer more than anything…jansen had his time but his velocity is a concern and does not intimidate anymore.
Giants need is an SP, but Webb is improving, but concern is there with their #1 and #2 having some bad games recently.
For how much $$$ dodger put up on stats they ain’t much different. I just think dodgers have some more clutch hitting….but Bryant helps Giants..well see how he performs.. mookie for the hype and money has been underwhelming
Buehler does own SF and it’s cute how much he owns them
I don’t know if the Dodgers will catch and pass the Giants or not. I believed a month ago that they would, but now I’m not so sure. The Dodgers are a great team that isn’t playing well, or at least not up to their abilities. They are 1-11 in extras.
The Giants are a good team no matter what anybody says regarding their opinion of what’s on paper. Zaidi put together a team of solid ballplayers with a lot of depth. And the implication that the entire team is having career years is not true at all.
While Posey and Crawford have revitalized their careers, Posey because he’s free of injury, and Crawford with a revamped approach, the rest of the team has not had great years. Yaz, Slater, Solano, and Dickerson all performing below their career averages.
What has helped them immensely, has been depth guys like Ruf, and good, young players like Wade, and Estrada, who’ve stepped in for injured, and subpar performing guys like Belt, Crawford, Longoria, Dickerson, Dubon, etc.. It’s possible the Giants can hold on with the returns of the injured guys and the addition of Bryant.
Good point about the giants coming back to earth. Once they collect all those homer units they hit off the Astor today Off the moon they will land back here, I’m sure of it.
Home runs, stupid phone
I don’t know, I kind of luck homer units.
Dodgers have the Giants position for position by at least 6-2….and pitching isn’t even close….
The Giants have played a bit over their abilities while LA has underperformed plus injuries to perennial MVP candidates and Cy young winners….
The 2nd half will be where the Dodgers take off and pass them up….things will go back to normal soon….
Datashark….the Giants had an ace caliber duo in Lincecum and Cain then….
Now they have a 3rd starter (Gausman) pitching like an ace an a 4th starter (DeScaflini) pitching like a #2….that will not continue as I said all along in other threads….
Let’s see.
C – Buster Posey vs Will Smith
Posey has good numbers and slightly worse xSTATS. He still as a better xBA, xSLG, and xwOBA than Smith. POSEY 63-47
Backup C – Austin Barnes vs Curt Casali
Barnes is a little better defender, but they are mostly equal on offense. Barnes has had some good years, especially when protected by someone other than the pitcher, so it’s BARNES 54-46.
1B – Brandon Belt/LaMonte Wade vs Max Muncy/Albert Pujols
Belt is having a good year, but his .213 xBA, .428 xSLG, and .338 xWOBA are way worse than his .253, .512, and .374. Wade is also having n unsupported breakout, posting .244, .464. and .346 xSTATS and .253, .568, and .380, but the xSTATS are still above average. Muncy has .296, .599, and .435 to a .279, .557, and .412, meaning that he has been BETTER than his real numbers. He also tortures SF and walks a ton, so more points. Albert mashes lefties and his xSTATS of .258, .447, and .321 are better than his .241, 429, and .305, but he is super slow, doesn’t walk a lot, and is unplayable vs righties. MUNCY 72-28, WADE 56-44.
2B – Trea Turner vs Donovan Solano
Is this a joke? Turner is playing like an MVP, and his xSTATS are worse but still good. Solano has a below average xSLG and xwOBA and can’t steal bases. Turner can hit, hit for power, and steal bases. TURNER 86-14
3B – Justin Turner vs Evan Longoria
The two veterans are still putting on good years. Turner’s .271, .466, and .364 are weaker than Longoria’s .288, .562, and .401, and Longoria is a better defender. LONGORIA 60-40
SS – Brandon Crawford vs Corey Seager
Crawford is having the best season of his career and his xSTATS back that up, although his xBA is .261 not .289. There isn’t much to judge on Seager, who’s missed most of the year. His xBA is way better this year and career, his 2021 xwOBA is almost the same, but Crawford has more power and speed. Crawford gets a narrow nod offensively but is a much better defender, so CRAWFORD 54-46.
LF – A.J. Pollock vs Kris Bryant
Wait, you thought Bryant got the nod here?! Nope! Pollock’s .284, .486, and .358 are superior to .261, .443, and .350. Bryant will take more walks, but other than that they are equal or better on stats like EV, Barrel%, K%, HH%, OPS, WOBA, OBP, SLG and more. POLLOCK 60-40
CF – Chris Taylor/Cody Bellinger vs Austin Slater/Steven Duggar
Taylor has been so good this year, but the xSTATS do not support that, with a .256, .463, and .359 that is well worse than .285, .501, and .379, but still well better than average. Keep in mind CT3 has consistently exceeded his xSTATS during his career, so they may not be indicative of a regression immediately. Slater is having a down year but his xSTATS of .253, .432 and .331 vs .230, .392, and .305 indicate some bad luck, but are still inferior to the more versatile and better fielding Taylor. Bellinger has been so awful this year and while his xSTATS are better, they are still .193, .318, and .278, or very bad. Duggar has had a great year but the xSTATS indicate a bad year of .229, .405, and .312. Give Bellinger some points for his 12.1 BB%, lower but still bad K%, 4 OAA vs 2, and track record, and he still comes out behind. TAYLOR 62-38, DUGGAR 54-46
RF – Mike Yastrzemski vs Mookie Betts
This one would be fun but neither are having very good years and they’re years are even worse under xSTATS. Yaz’s .213, .422, and .317 are inferior to .263, .437, and .358. Mookie has somehow been -1 OAA this year while Yaz has a +5, so he gets some points, but Mookie’s better K%, BB%, and stolen bases gets them right back and then some. BETTS 60-40
Bench – Matt Beaty vs Darin Ruf
Ruf is having a good year. Beaty’s is bad and the xSTATS are even worse. He has no power (.353 SLG and .323 xSLG) or speed, and his .251 average is way above his .227 xBA. Ruf’s good year is mostly backed by the xSTATS. RUF 80-20
Both teams get 6 better positions/backups. The 13th position player is a revolving door and not modeled. The Dodgers however have some clear wins while Giants have some closer ones, however the points I gave each player may have some subjectivity. On starting players, Dodgers have 5 better and Giants have 3, but I have Slater and Taylor has starting CF with Bellinger and Duggar on the bench, which Kapler and Roberts might not do, and both managers love to move players around. SF has a better bench and complimentary players but LA has better versatility and more actual superstars. Should be fun to see what turns out.
GO DODGERS!
I agree. Gasman has an xERA of 3.18, which is a #2 or 3 SP, not ace level. Desclafani has a 3.74 xERA, like a #4. Logan Webb has a 3.58, like a #3 or 4. Cueto’s xERA is almost a full run higher than his ERA at 4.74, good for a #6. Wood is pitching like a #4, but he’s always injured. McGee is pitching like a closer with a 2.88 xERA as is Rogers with his 2.75 but neither are going to be top tier like Kimbrel or 2016-17 Jansen.
@Dodgers World Champs….great points but I don’t go off of 1 anomaly type season where mid 30’s SS (Crawford) and mid 30’s year 3B (Longoria) are playing like all-stars when both were below average as recent as last season and have been on a decline for the past couple seasons….
I love what u did with the stats etc to show proof but I wouldn’t rank Crawford over Seager especially since Seager has been hurt for a while snd Crawford is hooting way above his norm….also I wouldn’t say that Crawford has more power when Seager has 25-30 HR power….and Crawford is more like 15-20 HR power….
I would say the Dodgers have the Giants at 1B and 2B and SS while 3B is even and the Giants have the Dodgers at catcher while the Dodgers OF sweeps the Giants before the Bryant trade….so now LF goes to Giants while CF and RF goes to the Dodgers….
By my count that is:
Dodgers 5 and Giants 2 with 3B being even….
The rotations are not even close….I don’t care about Gausman’s anomaly season….
That said the Dodgers on paper should have at least 8 games on the Giants at this point of the season….
Other than that great points man….
Awesome post
8-2 before the All-star break to climb back in the race, but then faltered to 3-7 including a sweep by the Brewers afterwards to take a big step back. But hey, 4-0 since then, so you got that going for ya.
The Reds never get any love from the national media so I’m used to hearing shade thrown at them. Instead of saying they’ve played well in July despite Castellanos being out for a couple weeks now and Winker struggling, they’ve had Joey Votto looking like the hitter we used to know him to be carrying the team through this month, it’s a jab about the penny pinching in the off season. Par for the course
I’m a Giants fan but my grand father was from northern Kentucky and turned me on to baseball as a young kid, so I have always watched the reds since the nasty boys and Barry Larkin. You are absolutely correct about the media never giving Cincinnati a fair shot, Giants go through it too but in my opinion the reds have always been under estimated by the pundits.
Small world, I was born and raised in Northern Kentucky myself. Your grandfather saw a lot of great Reds teams back in the day. I was unfortunately born the year the Big Red Machine was disbanded so 1990 is the only World Series I have been able to experience.
Thinking Seager is not going to get that 8 year $200+ mill deal from LA.
If seager rebounds, he’s more likely to get large deal from dodgers since bellinger & kershaw are less likely to stick around. I can see the dodgers flexing by signing seager and turner (but letting bellinger, justin turner, and kershaw go).
Justin Turner is signed through next year. And Bellinger is not a FA, either.
They can always trade them. Notice letting someone go isn’t exclusive to not tendering a contract or resigning in FA.
Seager will be a Cub
Hahahaha
I would’ve laughed at that til they traded Baez and and saw just how much payroll flexibility they’ll have next year. Hoyer will go all in on a couple of guys and build around them. Seager could definitely be one.
Kershaw should get resigned, make a decent push for Scherzer and spend the Seager money on Trea while this year locking CT3 up
Boy you sure give up quick on players last year and the year before Bellinger was off the planet. Sometimes players have nagging injuries and can’t perform as they should
Actually, I’m not sold on Bellinger being the guy I thought he was. Some people say, incorrectly, that the Giants are only winning because of career years. I not so sure Bellinger didn’t start his career with his best.
He was great in his first season, but so are a lot of guys until the pitchers find their weaknesses. And he was superb in his MVP 3rd season, but his 2nd was only good.
I looked at his OPS month by month, and it’s interesting. He was consistently very good in his first season, still good in his second, but with a lot more up and down. But what was really interesting is looking at his MVP season on:
2019
Mar/Apr – 1.397
May – .998
June – .967
July – .952
August – .918
Sept/Oct – .891
2020
July – .372 (small sample, 39 PAs)
August – .927
Sept/Oct – .795
2021
Mar/Apr – .654
May – .231
June – .827
July – .380
There is a clear downward trend with a couple outlier months. Now maybe it is just nagging injuries, and like Posey, once healthy again he’s hitting well again. Injuries certainly could be the reason, but if I was a Dodger fan I would be concerned.
Seager leaves via FA J Turner has 3B T Turner is a much better SS than seager
Bellinger ain’t going anywhere he is arb 3
AJ Pollock will opt in for 2022
Chris Taylor ?? seems like they would sign but their payroll is very high for 2022
and he will be 31….They may let him walk too.
Bauer is out.
Kershaw geez…..would they let him walk he is in his 30s and has slowed with injuries – him and JTurner are heart of team I would think…that will be interesting
Duffy will go FA
Kelly Team will NOT pick him up
Knebel and nelson wont be resigned (if they make it through the season)
Still can’t believe the Rockies stood “pat” and didn’t trade away anything.
The rockies have to get better value back than the comp pick. I guarantee they were getting lowballed. The incredible FO turnover also led to probably delayed evaluations of other team’s farm systems. The rockies having a bigger draft pool budget next year means they can over slot to get more high end talent. The people that regurgitate pundits’ hot takes (on rockies doing poorly) are exactly the same pions that can’t tie their own shoe laces.
@justacub-So when the entire baseball world can’t figure out wtf Colorado is doing, it’s because everyone is stupid?
Occam’s razor would suggest that the more likely scenario is that the Rockies FO has no clue what they’re doing.
Nice try though…
It’s quite simple. If you want to use Occam’s razor, it’s much more applicable like this: player A is worth comp draft pick after round 1 (top 40 pick), some, but not all top 40 picks make the top 100 list for most sites, but usually wind up in a team’s top 5 prospect ranking. If a team wasn’t offering a top 5, not going to get story. Just because story wanted out, and to an extent baseball fans, doesn’t mean the rockies need to abide by the public interpretation of trading players on expiring deals. The rockies will do better to QO him, and then allocate the extra bonus money in next year’s draft.
Agreed. I think writers and commenters are apoplectic over this, but we don’t know exactly what offers the Rockies were getting. His bat was off this year. He’s a very good defensive shortstop but there were even better available. The Mets went with Baez to fill in for Lindor. Andrelton Simmons stayed put because his bat has not been good either, though he just posted a 3 for 4.
It’s peon.
I think it’s a Madison bumgarner situation. The offers just were not there, the QO is like you said more attractive, and it gives the die hard fans some one to cheer for for the next 60 days. But I am a little surprised they didn’t try to pick up some prospects from teams trying to cut payroll. I would have thought they might pick up Hosner
Really? I expected nothing else. Rockies are going to Rockies.
“The Champ Are Still The Champs”
That’s some outstanding grammar.
If that’s the only typo in a long TC Zencka article, he’s doing better than average.
The Rockies clearly performed even worse than expected at the deadline. Hard to argue against all the criticism of the front office now that they’ve proven their inteptitude. That said, the fact Story wasn’t moved may indicate this year’s down performance is having a bigger impact than expected on his value. If Story doesn’t pick it up down the stretch, I could see him settling for a contract looking significantly different than what people were expecting.
I think the Dodgers are recognizing their window might be looking like it’s closing at this point. The Padres may be winners in the long term here as LA really took a hit to their farm system and they have a lot of questions for next year.
All 30 teams have questions for next year.
What exactly are all the questions? Infield intact, outfield intact, catching intact. Pitching = , Urias, probably Kershaw, hopefully May, Miller, Pepiot, perhaps a more mature Gonsolin. I kind of like it. Scherzer extension.
Buehler too
The Dodgers have 18 free agents next year and a lot of their pitching is up in the air.
Ana I think that’s why Friedman went all in at this deadline. He blew past the luxury tax because he knew even without the Scherzer/Turner move some guys were gonna be gone.
That is a good point but unfortunately the dodgers unlike a lot of teams have very deep pockets and owners willing to spend. When a Atlanta or Oakland or Milwaukee or even a Chicago see the window closing it’s because the owners can’t or aren’t willing to pay to fill the gap to be competitive while working to restock the farm system simultaneously. The dodgers and Yankees don’t have that issue, the Yankees kinda seem like they foo because they draft garbage compared to LA, but they don’t. I say this as someone that has watched LA with hatred as long as I remember.
Nice article detailing all of the trade action. This was one hill of a trade deadline. Should make for a exciting post season run.
Nothing on the Twins moves over the past week and a half?
Interesting…..
Patience is a virtue.
You realize this is National League only? The American League will be coming shortly.
Send to downvote oblivion for not reading the title of the article but complaining anyway.
Go Giants…..
Informative, well written and entertaining summary. Nice work, TC!
The Padres, Giants and Dodgers all had big time offers on the table for Scherzer. Ultimately Scherzer got to choose where he wanted to go and he chose the Dodgers. There’s no question that’s where the money is and the Dodgers have as good a chance to win the World Series as anyone.
Why does every post say the Reds are long shots. They will easily be there.
I don’t think they’ll easily be there but if history has told us anything, the Reds could have a 5 game division lead and most writers would call them long shots.
They may get there, but it won’t be “easily”.
They are long shots, not because they haven’t had a good season, but cause there are 4 teams better than them one of which is in their division. They should be a blast to watch but unless the brewers or Padres completely implode the Reds have a very steep uphill battle to the playoffs. Still a decent team having a good season though and very fun to watch.
The Reds have a VERY favorable remaining schedule. Don’t count them out.
Whiplash is a perfect word to describe what happened to Padre fans yesterday. I was with two of them in my brew-pub when new broke about Scherzer, then someone put this song the juke: youtube.com/watch?v=wBNox7kkXRc
The only thing I’d have preferred my Phillies do differently was maybe trade for Rodriguez instead of Kennedy due to the huge age difference. Gibson was the best reasonable get available by far other than maybe Merill Kelly. Scherzer wasn’t coming here. The price for Berrios was too steep. Gibson isn’t an ace but he is a #3/4, which is exactly what the Phillies needed. Adding him takes the pressure off of the back-end guys and even off of Eflin. The only guy I’d have preferred over him would be Berrios but the asking price was too high when we already have two (potentially three) aces. This Gibson/Kennedy move is exactly the type of move Klentak not making cost the Phillies in 2019.
Kennedy too will help take the pressure off of guys in the bullpen who are being put in situations they aren’t ready for or maybe not even built for without stopping Ranger from stepping into that role sooner than getting Kimbrel would have allowed him to.
I would have preferred to not trade for Galvis but I get why they did. Maybe this means they finally do the right thing and keep Maton in AAA. Here’s hoping. Marte would have been an amazing get but the asking price was too high, and adding Bryant would have meant moving Cutch into CF. The options available weren’t great.
Rockies FO malpractice continues.
I can’t believe no one is going to laud the Cardinals acquisitions. With the two guys we got, I think
the Series belongs to St. Louis.
As a Cub fan I obviously ‘hate’ the Redbirds, but as a baseball fan, I have always respected the way they do business. But these deadline moves were head scratching.and seem to be out of character. IMO..
The champs are the champs-lmao ok 60 game season champs* gtfoh! Kershaw is great during the season but we all know he chokes when it matters as was the case last year during that mickey mouse post season. Dodgers will choke again and what an embarrassment it will be lmao! On paper they look good BUT don’t count the Giants out to remind them who the west belongs to.
Regarding the Scherzer deal.
Word from reputable sports folk is that Scott Boros was the leaker to exact revenge for some of his minor league clients he feels are being mishandled by the Padres.
Source: Kaplan and Company (YouTube & 1090AM San Diego)
His major league clients on the Padres should be pissed. Unethical move, MLB should investigate.
*Boras is the correct spelling.
*The Reds go 16-10 in the month of July *
Baseball writers: “The Reds’ inconsistent play in July kept them squarely on the deadline fence…”
The Reds have one of the easiest remaining schedules in baseball, with 34 of 56 remaining games against either last place teams or fire sell teams. The Reds could theoretically blow past the Brewers and the Padres just on strength of schedule alone.