The trade deadline has come and gone. While trade season was slow to get started this year, when all was said and done, there were several dozen trades made in a flurry of movement over the final few days before the deadline arrived. The full impact of these trades won’t be known for years to come, but that doesn’t meant we can’t analyze the deals and decide whose haul looks the best right now. Over the next week-plus, MLBTR will be running a series of polls asking which club in each division had the best deadline. Yesterday, the Phillies came out on top in the NL East with about half the vote. Today, we’ll be taking a look at the NL Central. A look at each of the five clubs, listed from best to worst record in 2025:
Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers have the best record in baseball but had a fairly quiet deadline. Perhaps their most impactful move of the summer came last month, when they traded away Aaron Civale to land former top prospect Andrew Vaughn from the White Sox. Vaughn had struggled in Chicago for years but has caught fire with the Brewers and has proven to be an anchor for a lineup that’s without Rhys Hoskins and Jackson Chourio. Looking at deals made closer to the deadline, Milwaukee swapped out another big league starter to add a hitter when they shipped Nestor Cortes to the Padres alongside infield prospect Jorge Quintana and cash in order to bring in outfielder Brandon Lockridge.
Another unusual trade for Milwaukee was acquiring injured closer Shelby Miller and injured lefty Jordan Montgomery in exchange for a player to be named later or cash. Montgomery won’t pitch this year, so the deal essentially saw the Brewers buy Miller off of the Diamondbacks in exchange for eating some of Montgomery’s salary. Perhaps the only typical buy-side addition was catcher Danny Jansen, who they acquired from the Rays to back up William Contreras. Dealing away Cortes and Civale hasn’t seemed to hurt the team much, but their additions are fairly modest on paper.
Chicago Cubs
The Cubs have fallen behind the Brewers after posting a somewhat pedestrian 29-25 record since the start of June, and entered trade season in clear need of upgrades. Perhaps their most impactful addition was utility man Willi Castro, a switch-hitter who can help take pressure off of rookie Matt Shaw at third base while upgrading the bench to make giving regulars like Dansby Swanson and Ian Happ days off more feasible. Deals with the Orioles and Pirates to acquire veteran setup man Andrew Kittredge and southpaw Taylor Rogers should help bolster a bullpen that had been relying on reclamation projects like Brad Keller and Drew Pomeranz to this point, as well.
Despite those generally solid additions, the Cubs did not substantially address their biggest need this summer: starting pitching. It was no secret that adding rotation help was a top priority for Chicago with Justin Steele done for the year, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad both on the injured list, and both Cade Horton and Matthew Boyd in uncharted territory in terms of innings. Unfortunately for the Cubs, they were unable to find much help in that regard on the market. Michael Soroka was added in a trade with the Nationals in order to pitch in, but his velocity was down in his last few outings with the Nats and now he’s headed for the injured list with shoulder discomfort. While the club’s bench and bullpen additions were solid, it’s unclear if that will be enough to outweigh the lack of impactful rotation help down the stretch.
Cincinnati Reds
The 59-54 Reds currently sit just three games out of a Wild Card spot in the NL, and that was enough to convince them to go for it this summer. They made three trades to round out their roster. They picked up right-hander Zack Littell from the Rays in a three-team deal that sent righty Brian Van Belle to Tampa and lefty Adam Serwinowski to the Dodgers. They added Miguel Andujar to their bench in a deal with the A’s and, most interestingly, they picked up third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes from the Pirates in exchange for Rogers (who was later traded to the Cubs) and shortstop prospect Sammy Stafura.
Littell should provide some depth for an already-strong rotation that has a history of struggling to stay healthy (as was reinforced by Nick Lodolo’s departure from yesterday’s game after just 1 2/3 innings of work). Andujar provides a lefty-mashing bench bat to a club that has struggled badly against southpaws this year, but Hayes is the most interesting addition of the bunch. A former top prospect and Gold Glove award winner at third base, Hayes is one of the most talented defenders in the sport but hit just .236/.279/.290 (57 wRC+) in 100 games with the Pirates this year and has a career wRC+ of just 84. His relatively pricey contract makes bringing him in a gamble, but if he can float a slash line even close to league average, he should be a 3-win player when healthy.
St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals sold at the deadline for the second time in three years, but in doing so they only traded veterans on expiring contracts. Right-hander Erick Fedde was the first domino to fall, as the veteran starter was shipped to the Braves for a player to be named later or cash amid a disappointing season that saw him designated for assignment just before the deal. Veteran setup man Phil Maton netted a pair of prospects from the Rangers, one of whom is now St. Louis’s #26 ranked prospect at MLB Pipeline, and swingman Steven Matz was shipped to the Red Sox in a deal that brought back power-hitting first baseman Blaze Jordan (#18 in the Cardinals’ system, per Pipeline).
The team’s biggest deal this summer, however, was shipping out closer Ryan Helsley to the Mets. Even in the midst of a down season by his standards, Helsley brought back a trio of talented players: infield prospect Jesus Baez (#6 in the Cardinals’ system, per Pipeline), righty pitching prospect Nate Dohm (#15), and right-handed prospect Frank Elissalt (unranked). It’s a solid group of talent to bring in for a handful of rentals on expiring deals and the moves should help set incoming president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom up for success as John Mozeliak departs the club at the end of the season.
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pirates also sold off pieces this summer, although their deadline was quiet for a club that entered July with Paul Skenes and Andrew McCutchen as their only two untouchable players. Not only did widely-speculated trade candidate Mitch Keller stay put despite a market starved for controllable rotation talent, but a number of rental players for whom the Pirates have little use did not end up getting cashed in for prospects and/or salary relief. Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Tommy Pham, Andrew Heaney, and Tim Mayza all remain in town. And some deals they did make, such as the David Bednar swap with the Yankees, produced underwhelming returns.
That’s not to say everything about the club’s deadline was disappointing, however. The Pirates did manage to get out from under the Hayes contract, and then flipped Rogers to get an additional prospect from the Cubs. Lefty Caleb Ferguson and infielder Adam Frazier both were successfully cashed in for prospect talent and the Bucs received a return led by intriguing MLB-ready reliever Evan Sisk when they looked to sell on back-end starter Bailey Falter. Some of those young players acquired should help the Pirates going forward, and getting Hayes off the books should make adding offense easier for 2026 and beyond. Even so, it’s fair to wonder if this deadline represents a missed opportunity in Pittsburgh.
The NL Central was one of the quieter divisions in baseball this deadline, with only a handful of non-rental players changing hands and no blockbusters. With that being said, three teams did make an effort to get better for 2025, while the Cardinals and Pirates picked up a number of pieces for their futures. Which club did the best of this quintet? Have your say in the poll below:
Did Andrew Vaughn ever have a good 20 game stretch with the White Sox? Crazy what a change of scenery has done for him, at least over the past month.
He’s a former #3 overall pick so his talent was there, but playing for the Sox must have really bummed him out and didnt do squat for his development. Outside of an 8-game hitting streak where he hit .414, he’s never had this kind of success previously. He’s already credited the Brewers for the quick work they have done with him.
That hot streak at the moment for Vaughn is a small sample size rn.
It is, but he never even matched this small sample size in his time with the White Sox which was the question. I think the Brewers know its a small sample size but instead of getting into a bidding war for a 1B like O’Hearn they opted to ride this out and then if he falters, plug Rhys back in after his rehab and rest.
cwizz – Wasn’t the whole purpose of Chicago getting Civale to flip him at the trade deadline? So why didn’t they?
The fact they ended up paying the remainder of a rental player’s contract in a season when they were never going to contend makes the trade appear even worse for Chicago, which nobody thought possible.
Everyone thought that Chicago could find a way to make a bad deal worse.
I, admittedly, was upset at the trade at the time. I thought the Brewers could have got a lot more for a serviceable starter and boy was I wrong. I have absolutely NO idea how or why the Sox still have Civale on their roster. It makes zero sense and yes it looks like they made the trade even worse for themselves. I would have thought it impossible for them to not receive some kind of offer for him. I assumed that was the point for them.
Cubs! Hahaha!
Brewers just got it done early. Priester is an ace and Vaughn is the hottest hitter in ball. Beating the dodgers 6 games in a row, passing the cubs for best record in the bigs beats anything anyone did at the last second.
You got Priester back in early April. Can that qualify as having a good trade deadline?
The Vaughn pickup was great though. Definitely worked out to take a flyer on him.
I voted reds merely for the fact that it did specify “who had the best deadline?” Brewers have definitely made the overall most impactful trades since the beginning of the season so far in the central. But the Reds probably had the better deadline moves. Though they also have ground to make up to even get into a wildcard spot, and time will tell how their moves payoff. Since the brewers made their moves early, we’ve already seen how they’re paying off. I just don’t consider priester and Vaughn deadline moves since they were done earlier. It was the better move of them to make. But they do have a history of making earlier ones. Adames was an earlier trade when they acquired him years ago as well.
They needed a “none if the above” choice
I’d say the Brewers, they sent out their discards and returned a former third overall pick in Vaughn, who they have relied on with Hoskins out.
They added an MLB ready OF who has already contributed to the team in Lockridge. Lockridge fits their style of play.
If Shelby Miller returns strong, if he can pitch into October, they landed a nice reliever and didn’t give up much compared to what other teams traded for their bullpen reinforcements.
They filled their needs without trading any propsects, didn’t trade frivolously, even added a prospect and they moved off Cortes and Civale, neither of whom fit into their plans down the stretch, and got a good return for both of them.
I call Milwaukee the winner by default because the rest of the division seems to be filled with sloppy FOs.
Hoyer remains obsessed with mediocre depth. Mozeliak needlessly resisted necessary trades, resulting in a diminished, if still solid, return for Helsley and Cincinnati barely addressed a surprisingly weak offense.
The Brewers at least demonstrated some basic competence by trading prior to the deadline for Priester and Vaughn and thereby avoiding overpays. Moreover, they traded from their SP depth- which they produce in droves- and left the farm system intact.
Excellent points.
I agree with your post. And your use of the word “ moreover” was top knotch.
What made Milwaukee’s deadline the best was that they didn’t have to make a lot of noise as they feel good about their core of players. Whether the fans like it or not, the organization will hold on to prospects and fill in around the edges pretty much every year. It remains to be seen if that will payoff in October.
I would have voted for Cincinnati, but I thought taking all of Hayes salary should have sent back nothing but a very low level prospect. That brought their deadline down for me.
Jed Hoyer says, “Take that, Pittsburgh!”
“Is it free?”
–Bob Nutting
Cubs should be dead last. Total failure.
My initial thoughts were the Brewers. Buying Miller is a risk so hard to say they won. Vaughn alone might make them the winner but this wasn’t really a deadline deal. I’d say they won the season.
For deadline winners I went with the Cardinals. They got a lot for some rentals.
Reds did ok but Hayes is a head scratcher. Hope he doesn’t continue to suck at the plate.
None of the above wasn’t an option so I didn’t vote.
Brewers will probably win the regular season because Manfred gives their pitchers more dead balls than Lance Armstrong but they’ll crash and burn in the playoffs like always. When the playoffs come MLB uses more juiced balls because they want more offense on the games everyone is watching. Dr Meredith Wills already proved this then manfred will say its because they’re hand made. What a clown
What does MLB specifically gain by helping Milwaukee win using dead balls?
I love the Lance Armstrong reference that was solid gold.
I’m fine with what the reds did, they just should’ve done more. Coloumbe and Laureano would’ve been great
I’m not sure if any of the teams in the NL central even knew there was a trade deadline
Brewers treated it like every other deadline, which is to say they did their work in the weeks prior. Cubs didnt do squat. Reds were very active.
As a pirates fan I’m going to say the Cardinals but recognize the bar is very low. Brewers or Cubs are in a better position to win this year without giving up anything but I can’t point to a needle moving move they made. Reds got the most but also gave up the most. They didn’t sell the farm but I question going for it with this team. Cardinals did better than the pirates selling for top prospects.
If you think the Reds went for it, you definitely have a different definition than most people.
Getting rid of Hayes puts the Pirates not in last. Then getting a team in the division to pay his albeit mostly affordable but trash contract? That’s a huge overlooked W.
IMO the (good) problem with the Brewers is that they are set at almost every position. Every position with the exception of shortstop has a 105 OPS+ or better. They have a stacked and deep rotation, even if it doesn’t have many household names. They have a fantastic bullpen. They just don’t have many holes. The only move I could’ve seen them making was bringing in a big bat like Suarez but that didn’t happen.
And that’s the one deadline move that either the Cubs or Brewers should’ve made. As a Brewers fan, I was shocked the Cubs didn’t do more. Pleasantly shocked, but shocked nonetheless. The Crew lucked into Vaughn as nobody thought he’d hit the ground running in this fashion. We all knew he has talent, but that sort of turnaround makes you wonder what Robert is capable of on a winner.
Now we wait and see what happens with Rhys – no way I platoon Vaughn at this time. Ride him all the way if he keeps going. But the Crew still has that gaping power hole at 3B. Yes the other guys are filling in admirably and nobody has enjoyed the small ball more than me to this point, but in the playoffs you’re facing the best pitchers every night, and a guy like Suarez does damage. Should’ve learned from the recent early playoff exits that you really do need a nice mix of young talent to go along with the proven commodity. The young guys can learn a lot from those quality vets, so yeah they’d lose some playing time, but being around winners and guys who have productive track records pays dividends too. Both the Cubs and the Brewers made a mistake by not getting that guy. Time will tell.
You ride with Vaughn and give Rhys all the rest and rehab that is allowed. Let him figure it out so he can be a weapon in the playoffs.
The Pirates had the best deadline. Why? Because it’s going to prompt a few fans to finally tie weights around Nutting and Cherringtons ankles and throw them in the Allegheny.
There wasn’t much buying amongst the NLC teams, just some modest moves.
*none of the above.
I guess the Brewers? I didn’t vote pretty disappointed with most of the deadline now.
Brewers prove again that “deadline deal” is beside the point. Their trade for Priester way back in April (where they were criticized for overpaying) has led to 12 wins and counting so far, with a pitcher under team control until 2030. Priester and of course Miz make a nice 1-2 punch if and when the Brewers lose Woody, Quintana and Peralta.
“Deadline day” is fun but it leads to some questionable decisions. One of the Cubs’ pickups is now injured, and one of the Yankees’ pickups was just optioned to AAA.
One of Woody or Peralta will still be with the team, but not both, is my guess. Peralta still has a year left on his contract (team option) but they may want to use that money for Woody. I would rather have Woody.
Will caissie ever see Wrigley except as maybe an opposing player even when they lose king tuck?
Not trading him validated that he will be the right fielder next year.
Where would a young player rather be with the brewers organization or the cubs?
Easy call if you are a pitcher. Brewers.
The Astros
None of them did as much as they should have
As a pirates fan, that was a brutal deadline. Nothing but about getting pay roll down 40 million going into next season. Not getting a competent ML ready position player for Bednar really hurts. Trading Falter for that they got back absolutely was stupidity even for this front office. I predict Skenes demands a trade in off season