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. So far, the Phillies and Reds have each come out on top in their respective divisions. Today, we’ll be rounding out the National League with a review of the NL West. A look at each of the five clubs, listed from best to worst record in 2025:
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers are, predictably, one of the best teams in the National League this year. They aren’t quite as overwhelming as some expected them to be, however, and that left them with some work to do ahead of the stretch run. Despite the holes in the club’s roster, however, L.A.’s deadline was a surprisingly quiet one where they did as much selling as they did buying. Dustin May was shipped to Boston for a pair of prospects headlined by 2024 first-rounder James Tibbs, and they downgraded from Hunter Feduccia to Ben Rortvedt for the club’s third catcher in order to bring in rookie reliever Paul Gervase and A-ball prospect Adam Serwinowski.
In terms of buy-side moves, they swapped depth outfielder James Outman to the Twins in order to bring Brock Stewart back home to the Dodgers’ pen. They followed that up by replacing Outman on the depth chart with a right-handed complement to Michael Conforto in the form of Alex Call. L.A.’s moves were strong ones on paper. They gave up very little meaningful talent in order to make a couple of legitimate improvements to their bullpen and bench mix, and it’s easy to see them emerging as the clear winners of the two sell-side trades they did make. Still, this summer could wind up feeling like a missed opportunity for the Dodgers given the lack of impact talent acquired—especially if they wind up getting chased down in the NL West by their rival 100 miles to the south.
San Diego Padres
No front office executive in the league operates quite like Padres GM A.J. Preller, and that frenetic aggressiveness was on full display on the day of this year’s trade deadline. San Diego completed five trades in the final seven hours before the deadline. The first one was the biggest, as they swapped a massive package headlined by consensus top-5 prospect Leo De Vries to the Athletics in exchange for superstar closer Mason Miller and lefty starter JP Sears.
They didn’t stop there, however. Outfielder Brandon Lockridge was surrendered to land Nestor Cortes from the Brewers (alongside prospect Jorge Quintana), and Preller immediately replaced Lockridge in the outfield by picking up both Ramon Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn from the Orioles. The acquisitions of Sears and Cortes created enough starting pitching depth that the Friars could move Stephen Kolek and Ryan Bergert to add Freddy Fermin behind the plate, and for good measure San Diego rounded out its deadline by upgrading the infield with a controllable young talent in Will Wagner.
It was a massive flurry of moves that should substantially improve the Padres in the near-term, but the cost was heavy. Prospects of De Vries’ caliber rarely get moved for a reason. Even aside from the risk that they’ve traded the league’s next superstar, they also surrendered some important depth in Kolek and Bergert, not to mention a huge chunk of their 2024 draft class. Preller’s win-now aggression allowed his club to improve its odds of winning the World Series this year more than any other team. But was the cost too great?
San Francisco Giants
Despite a strong start to the season and the aggressive decision to swing a deal with the Red Sox for Rafael Devers back in June, the Giants have mostly fallen out of the postseason race and now have a 58-57 record. That led the club to pivot towards selling at the deadline, and they brought back an impressive haul of talent in doing so. A trade of pending free agent Tyler Rogers to the Mets brought back a trio of well-regarded talents nearing or already in the big leagues: Triple-A outfielder Drew Gilbert, rookie starter Blade Tidwell, and young MLB reliever Jose Butto. They also landed A-ball starter Yunior Marte for rental outfielder Mike Yastrzemski despite his down 2025 campaign.
Impressive as those deals were, the package they received for Camilo Doval was somewhat light. That deal was led by catching/infield prospect Jesus Rodriguez and Double-A starter Trystan Vrieling. The return for Rogers and Yastrzemski was phenomenal, as the Giants acquired their #12, #13, and #25 prospects (per MLB Pipeline) along with Butto for aging veterans on expiring contracts. Parting with Doval for two-plus seasons in exchange for a package headlined by the club’s #16 prospect, according to Pipeline, puts a bit of a damper on the club’s deadline, but it was still a strong infusion of talent to the upper levels of San Francisco’s minor league system and should result in better days for the Giants in the future.
Arizona Diamondbacks
The Diamondbacks teetered on the edge of buying and selling for most of July but kicked off trade season by dealing Josh Naylor to the Mariners and never looked back. The club executed four trades that brought back players in return and a fifth that saw them deal Shelby Miller to the Brewers in exchange for Milwaukee taking on a portion of Jordan Montgomery’s contract. Big league ready talent and pitching prospects were the focus for Arizona this summer, and they mostly accomplished that goal of bolstering those parts of the organization. Eugenio Suarez brought back a potential first baseman of the future in Tyler Locklear as well as rookie reliever Juan Burgos. Randal Grichuk and Naylor also both brought back rookie relief arms in Andrew Hoffmann and Brandyn Garcia, giving the club a number of big league ready relief arms who can help fill out the bullpen next year.
Between the trades of Suarez, Naylor, and Merrill Kelly, the Diamondbacks also picked up five pitching prospects who have yet to make their big league debut. Kohl Drake (#7 in Arizona’s system at MLB Pipeline) leads that group, which also includes Mitch Bratt (#10), David Hagaman (#14), Ashton Izzi (#15), and Hunter Cranton (#23). Locklear (#6) and Garcia (#20) also rank within the top 30, meaning that nearly a quarter of the club’s top 30 prospects were acquired at this deadline. As solid as those moves were, some view the return for Suarez as too light, and there’s reason to question why the team held onto Zac Gallen rather than bringing back additional prospects and salary relief by letting him go. Even without Gallen moving, however, the Diamondbacks breathed new life into their farm system and saved a considerable amount of money that can be repurposed for the 2026 campaign come the offseason.
Colorado Rockies
Perhaps the most notable thing about Colorado’s deadline this year is that they did anything at all, given their years of relative inaction and refusal to part with veteran talents. The club made just three trades this summer, but the deals they did make were notable ones. Ryan McMahon and Jake Bird were traded to the Yankees for lefty Griffin Herring (#5 in the Rockies’ system at MLB Pipeline), second baseman Roc Riggio (#11), righty Josh Grosz (#19), and lefty Ben Shields (#27).
Their third deal was a smaller one, as the club dealt struggling reliever Tyler Kinley to the Braves in exchange for Double-A reliever Austin Smith. It wasn’t the flashiest deadline for Colorado, but the return in exchange for McMahon was strong and the activity should help prop up one of the weakest farm systems in the majors as the Rockies toil through the worst season in franchise history.
With the exception of the Dodgers, the NL West was busier than usual this summer. San Diego did enough buying for the entire division, while the Giants, Diamondbacks, and Rockies each made some savvy sell-side moves. L.A. stands out from the crowd for their quiet approach to the deadline as they did some light buying to address areas of need and also managed to sneak in some light selling to take advantage of areas of depth. Which team did the best of this quintet? Have your say in the poll below:
For the Padres it’s pretty simple, if they win the World Series this year or next, they had the best trade deadline no questions. If they don’t, then it could be the deadline that doomed their future. But that’s just how it is with the Preller/Dombrowski style of team building
Nah, preller will just find more prospects to trade later. Been hearing this type of statement for 5 years now.
Most of the padres core are locked up for several more years. The will likely need to sign a guy like King.
In another 3-4 years from now I might get worried given the cores age.
Prospect wise I have no concerns.
Already a win for Padres. They think Vries is closer to just a guy than a super star. Don’t think he is a SS. They could be wrong but from their development end it’s a win. Make Miller a starter and huge win.
“Nah, preller will just find more prospects to trade later.”
That’s nice and vague. Will the prospect fairy put them under his pillow?
“Been hearing this type of statement for 5 years now.”
Yes, and in those 5 years their farm system has gotten progressively worse, to where it’s now arguably the worst in the majors. That wasn’t the case when they paid a massive haul for Soto three years ago.
I get why Preller’s in win-now mode, but let’s not pretend he didn’t significantly hurt the Padres’ long-term viability last week.
Preller or someone with Padres is excellent at identifying and signing international talent. That could stop but so far so good. If AJ takes a year or 2 off from trading he will have a top system.
Other than Soto trade what has he lost? Patino Marcano Head that dh that hit some hrs a few years in Cleveland. That soft tossing pitcher who had a good year in Cleveland and no idea where he is now.
Soto sold a ton of season tickets and became King Cease so it’s bad but not that bad.
I don’t think the Padres window will still be open by the time De Vries makes an impact. They need to be in win now mode. Machado and Bogaerts will start showing their age within a few years.
That’s very possible. Father Time is undefeated. It’s just a matter of when and what level of drop off there is.
It’s mainly Manny, Xander and Darvish. Though Darvish is already showing his age. Mainly manny since he is the carrier of this team. He certainly looks like he had a few more good seasons left.
Yes, Arenado and Goldschmidt were both MVP level players in 2022. By 2024 it was obvious that would never be the case again.
I don’t think their future is doomed. I highly doubt Miller finishes his pre-free agency years in San Diego, similar to the way they handled Soto. As long as he’s stays healthy, there’s no reason to think they wouldn’t get a similar package to what the Twins got for Duran. And it might even be better if he can transition back into a starting role.
well stated Kap.
Honestly, this “poll” is nothing more than a clickbait stunt absent criteria for assessing what is meant by “best”. As written, a poll such as this one will always produce confirmation of short-term win now thinking.
Writers and electronic media personalities love AJ Preller. I cannot remember a year when Preller has not been crowned the “winner of the deadline” for his high profile trades. AJ invariably acquires the bigger name by trading the incredible prospects Logan White and his team astutely acquire. Those prospects frequently turn out to be golden.
With a little time, I think evaluations might be a bit different. Below is a list of prospects Preller has traded since assuming control in SD. On the day these players were traded, most fans and, unfortunately, far too many pundits, knew as much about these players as they knew about Leodalis DeVries last week.
Trea Turner
Craig Kimbrel
Yazmani Grandal
Max Fried
Craig Kimbrel
Emmanuel Clase
Andres Munoz
Ty France
David Bednar
Luis Castillo
Brent Rooker
Josh Naylor
James Wood
CJ Abrams
Mackenzie Gore
Here is the list of Padre prospects (and system ranking) that were traded at the 2025 deadline:
SS Leo De Vries (#1)
RHP Braden Nett (#3)
LHP Boston Bateman (#4)
SS Cobb Hightower (#6)
RHP Ryan Bergert (#7)
RHP Tyson Neighbors (#12)
RHP Henry Baez (#13)
RHP Eduarniel Nunez (#17)
C Brandon Valenzuela (#26)
1B Victor Figueroa (#29)
RHP Tanner Smith
RHP Brandon Butterworth
RHP Stephen Kolek
Will the Padres be a better team in the next two months? Of course. Perhaps they will win the World Series in 2025? Right now, most betting sites give 10 other teams a better chance at that outcome. But hey, it’s baseball. 🤷♂️
Absent a WS victory in 2025, it’s my assessment that most evaluators will have a very different view of Preller’s “deadline performance in 2025” five years from now.
He has shown that he can reload the system. A prospect is a prospect he traded a lot away for know MLB players. Will any of the prospects make it to the bigs? Who knows, they might, he actually has a good number of former prospects in the bigs now. But DeVries doesn’t help the team now. It would be nice to have Gore, Wood, Abrams, and Hassell, but Soto helped them get to the NLCS.
Even if it doesn’t work out he is willing to try and that’s more than a lot of teams can say.
That’s a reasonable and fair defense JM. Preller never seems to waiver from his approach.
In my mind, there are years to go for it and then there are times when I believe a more long-term view is appropriate. In fairness, most Padre fans that I have read here hold the view that the window is now and AJ is making the right call. I respect that. My son is a Padre fan and he hates the trade. But, perhaps he is in the minority.
I will say that AJ’s strategy seems more appropriate than what the Cubs or Tigers did. Those teams are on the cusp and those two GMs held on to prospects at a time when going for it seemed best.
It doesn’t matter if the Padres end up with a ring. all they need to do is be in the playoffs beyond the WC round. That, along with the 2nd or 3rd highest attendance in the game (highest percentage of available seats), provides enough revenue to continue with a payroll well over the CBT threshold. The ownership and FO have already said that the payroll they had to start the season is a level that is sustainable.
With the players expected to be leaving as FA, via opt outs, or via expiring contracts at the end of the season, the Padres will be around $50 million under the 1st CBT threshold for 2026 with a lineup that still looks quite solid. They will have to get a backup catcher or pick up Diaz’s $7 million option. They will need to add to a rotation that will have Pivetta, Musgrove, and Darvish at the top with Vasquez, Sears, Waldron and a few others at the back end. They will need to add one bat and a bench player. That is about it. I think $50 million is enough to do that. Don’t you?
Padres 2026 roster as of today.
Tatis Jr. (RF), Merrill (CF), Laureano (LF), ????? (1B), Cronenworth (2B), Machado (3B), Bogaerts (SS). DH: Sheets. Catcher: Fermin
Bench: Johnson, Wagner, McCoy, C-Diaz (?), Campusano (DH/1B)
SP: Pivetta, Musgrove, Darvish, Vasquez, Sears, Waldron, Hart, Gillaspie
RP: Miller, Estrada, Adam, Morejon, Peralta, Matsui, Morgan, Reynolds, Hoeing, Brito, Patino (remember him?), Rodriguez, Jacob
One of Miller or Morejon is likely to move into the rotation.
That is miles ahead of where the team was going into the last offseason with $50 million to spend while staying under the CBT threshold. I like it.
There can be no other choice but the Padres. Preller had a good off-season in one day. No one else really did anything beneficial for their teams. The Diamondbacks sold. The Rockies sold what anyone would take. The Giants never should have been in the position to have to “sell”. The Dodgers doing nothing may work out for them if everyone gets healthy, but if they are an early exit from the playoffs then they will be scrutinized for the approach
Selling is beneficial. Arizona and Giants did fantastic.
In what way exactly did they do fantastic?
Looking at that list of players that Norcal Blue posted, that’s a lot to give up. They got squeezed on every trade.
Bateman isnt just #3 in the Padres system he is a top 100 prospect in my opinion. Will be one soon enough. If the Padres could of landed Laureano and Fermin, Cortes and a bullpen arm while keeping DeVries and Bateman I would have said that they had a good deadline but trading those two away was over the top.
They must like Sears a lot. Must like Miller a lot. DeVries and Bateman look like Acuna Jr. and Tarik Skubal to me.
Define best. The Padres were one of the few teams (only?) that improved their odds beyond statistical noise. But will they eventually end up giving away more they received?
If you are measuring the deadline by what a team needed then the padres were the clear winner.
If you want to go by future value then maybe not. Though it will take years to see those results.
You can pretty much make an allstar team out of the players Preller has traded away.
I thought the D’Backs might have done the best. Dodgers moved pieces and got better without losing anything they needed.
Only clear loser is the Giants. A C or D grade for the Rockies is a step in the right direction.
Preller gonna Preller.
Laureano, Fermin, Miller, and Sears provide future value. O’ Hearn and Cortes are strictly rentals.
You can make up more than half of an All Star team out of the players Preller has on the MLB roster beyond 2025. Only 3 or 4 All Stars among the players he has traded away the last 5 years as of today.
He has a playoff team for the last 5 years? Not saying he is bad just goes all in. If they can develop players well enough to continue trading then go for it.
Tough one to call. SD was pretty much the only one who traded for the current season.
Let’s give it to SF. They haven’t won much of anything since their big trade.
At 27-15 since the trade, trading Devers may have saved the Sox season. At 17-26 the trade may have sank the Giants season.
Hopefully things pan out better for the Giants in the future with Devers but in this case the addition by subtraction has favored the Sox
A busted posey
The addition of Mason Miller is overrated if he’s not the closer. So far he’s been in only 2 games and has given up 2 hits 1st game, 1bb and 2 run hr in 2nd game. His velocity is best, but his run prevention is not. Suarez better at both those stats.
It’s two games, give it some time. Miller will lock it in. His stuff is too good not to. Last night was more of a fluke than anything…was the fastest pitch ever recorded being hit for a homer. That doesn’t just happen.
Oh wow really? Who hit it?
“The addition of Mason Miller..two games”…Ah yes, let’s decide after two games that a guy is “overrated” and has poor “run prevention” and is not good.
You do understand that sometimes the 7th or 8th inning(core of the opposition order)are the “save” innings?
Since you’re clearly prescient, do you have any good stock tips or ideas on who I should bet on for this year’s World Series.
They decided pretty quick on Sears
C’mon, only one team improved at the TDL for ’25 (and ’26)…!
LFGSD!
WOOOO BABY LETS GO
Preller for the Padres easy! The man delivered, can’t fault a GM for giving the team the tools it needs.
I would have said the Padres just for the Miller deal alone. If Hoyer had pulled off that deal I would have been fine with moving Caissie and some other pieces.
Is it ironic that Caissie was a Preller draftee? Haha, cheers Unc! 🤙🏽
Jed doesn’t have enough cajones or friends to get a deal like that done.
Trading SP’s Bergert and Kolek for the catcher Fermin is VERY risky. Darvish has had one good outing out of six and Sears was blown out in his first outing. Hopefully Cortes will be decent today.
Padres have Cortez, Sears and Vasquez to fill the 5th spot. They just need one of them to be decent for less than two months. Vasquez at the very least has shown to be serviceable.
This trade could be a bigger problem next year. Though the upgrade at catcher has always been big.
They need them to be decent for 5 starts including the one by Cortes today. The rest will be Pivetta, Cease, Darvish, and King.
LaBellaVita and Simm share my thoughts.
FanGraphs has the Padres as increasing the World Series winning odds more than any other team (about a 3 percentage point increase). They helped themselves the most in the short term.
The Dodgers only lost 0.1 percentage points of WS winning probability and most likely improved their team in the future with the prospects they picked up.
They other 3 teams sold – ideally those moves help them down the road.
I voted Rockies – because they actually did the right thing at the deadline.
giants got devers almost for free. sox gave him up for next to nothing
but not since juiced up bonds has SF had a true power hitter. devers went from hof slugger in fenway to batting next to wilmer flores, jung hoo lee and casey schmitt. ouch
meanwhile boston gave the $ they saved on devers to the young kids. and devers is now playing 1B full time. both sides got a slap to the face for their childish behavior
Fat lazy DH with huge contract for free. Can’t beat that.
Fat lazy dh with 215 career hrs & 700 rbi for sox in 8 years. Over .300 postseason, and a ring
28 tms would have given up their top prospects or best young talent. Somehow boston was ok accepting a couple of RPs that got immediately demoted
Paying for past stats not the best plan.
Sox will do much better giving out 3 Anthony contracts on young players.
Good luck with those 28 other teams. Reason he is a Giant. Those 28 ain’t stupid. Well some of them are but they are poor and or cheap as well.
Past stats? Devers is top 10 in rbi, doubles, and obp this year. On pace for 30 hr 110 rbi
I have no patience for ignorant and/or stupid comments
cb
“Past stats? Devers is top 10 in rbi, doubles, and obp this year. On pace for 30 hr 110 rbi”
To be fair, all of those things did happen in the past
Sox sold high. Good for them.
Unfortunately teams (other than Giants apparently) care more about wins than rbi.
“215 career hrs & 700 rbi for sox in 8 years. Over .300 postseason, and a ring”
Are those not past stats?
The Giants gave up $200 million, two MLB players plus two prospects and got a cancer in the clubhouse. That trade has hurt their team and helped the Red Sox as the team’s records show.
They all had pretty good deadlines in their own way, based on what they’re hoping to achieve in the near term. I like the Dodgers deadline the most though. Getting Tibbs for May was great value, and Stewart for a declining asset in Outman is even better value. I really liked the Call addition as well. I think he’s a very good under the radar acquisition.
Even though I disagree (I *might* be biased…)- mad respect jd! Cheers
I agree JD. But, the real get of this deadline for Friedman may have been Adam Serwinowski who was picked up in the Feduccia trade. Fangraphs ranks him #4 among all prospects acquired last week.
blogs.fangraphs.com/ranking-the-mlb-prospects-trad…
Everyone’s buzzing about the Padres (which still sounds weird to say, after all this time watching awful teams most of my fandom) so I won’t add to that.
With that said, I think the D-Backs did quite well at the deadline. It’s disappointing the way their season unfolded, but they picked the correct direction and reloaded with major league ready players and bolstered their farm system.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see them on the rise again starting next season.
Like em all
Even the Rox did the right thing; the NL West is fun. 🤙🏽😎🤙🏽
Not many losers anywhere. Maybe none. Everyone did what they should could.
Fans love to complain but who wants Ozuna Heaney. Or sell low on Alcantara. Aww the Cubs just settled for good players instead giving away top prospects for the big flashy names.
Or the well they didn’t get better in 2025. Sellers should all get high grades. Best Sellers market I can remember.
The Padres gave up the #3 prospect in the game, plus more prospects, for a relief pitcher who gets shelled more frequently than he should.
That was not a good trade.
Maybe O’Hearn and Laureano will help some, but I really don’t think they improved their team enough to justify the price. And I’m not one to cling on to prospects—projections and reality usually don’t align. But they gave up the farm to improve the already-best bullpen and to marginally improve the offense.
The Padres are another winner by default. Not only did the team upgrade for the stretch run, but Miller and Sears act as low cost replacements for Suarez and King next season. Kudos to Preller for getting creative and delaying the inevitable for yet another season. Attempting to duck under the second luxury tax threshold would have been tantamount to waving a white flag.
Ultimately, I believe the Dbacks strategy gets validated big time in the next two seasons. The payroll space allows them to spend in free agency. That, the acquisition of MLB adjacent arms like Drake and Bratt, combined with several potential impact positional prospects such as Lawlar , Troy and Locklear give Arizona a chance at massively upgrading the 26 man roster next season.
No disrespect to Preller’s creativity, which has cleared some payroll next season, but Hazen has repeatedly demonstrated an ability to improve organization wide depth and keep the team in contention. Just my two cents, but AZ is gradually emerging as the primary threat to LA in the NL West.
The real winners are all of the NL West fans
I’d say the Giants. Yunior Marte looks like a good one and Jose Butto is going to be in the bullpen for five seasons, Butto for Rogers was a steal. They got Gilbert in that trade too, he’ll replace Yazstremski. They can salvage Tidwell into a good RHRP.
Carlos De La Rosa could make the Doval trade look really bad one day. And they got a nice catcher who can hit in Rodriguez if he doesn’t.
They win without the Devers trade in my opinion. Devers puts them way over the top on this one.
It looks like the Dodgers and Padres will reach the playoffs again this year. Wonder if the Giants might next year?