RJ Hamster
SI:AM | The MLB Trade Deadline’s Most and Least…
DAN GARTLAND
Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I don’t think anyone had a worse trade deadline than Codi Heuer. He was traded by the Guardians to the Brewers on Saturday, and then Milwaukee sent him to the Orioles yesterday. I hope he didn’t unpack his bags after the first trade.
In today’s SI:AM:
A hectic trade deadline
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Yesterday’s MLB trade deadline was an active one. I counted 40 trades made on Monday alone, not to mention more than a dozen executed in the week leading up to the deadline. But some teams were busier than others. Let’s look at which clubs had the most action-packed deadlines and who mostly sat on the sidelines.
The biggest buyers and sellers
Everyone expected last-place teams like the Mets and Angels to strip down their rosters at the deadline, and they did. The Mets’ biggest deal was the trade that sent starting pitcher Freddy Peralta to the Rays, while the Angels got a good haul from the Blue Jays for starter José Soriano.
Speaking of the Blue Jays, they had perhaps the most interesting deadline of any team. Toronto isn’t a serious playoff contender this season, but it wasn’t purely a seller at the deadline. The Jays made six trades in the 48 hours before the deadline: three in which they acquired a big leaguer and three in which they sent one away. In addition to Soriano, they also acquired Rangers utilityman Josh Smith and Cubs starter Jameson Taillon. Soriano and Smith won’t be free agents until 2029, so the Jays seem to have approached the deadline as a way to stock up for next season amid this year’s letdown.
The Red Sox didn’t make all that many trades, but they did swing the biggest deal of deadline day, acquiring catcher Adley Rutschman from the Orioles in exchange for a massive haul of prospects. The Sox gave up three of their top five prospects, plus incumbent starting catcher Carlos Narváez and a player to be named later. Boston also turned heads by trading away infielder Marcelo Mayer. He went to the Giants in exchange for lefty reliever Erik Miller and Carlos Gutierrez, a 21-year-old outfielder currently in High-A. Once viewed as a top prospect, Mayer has struggled at the plate in 114 games across two big league seasons. But he’s still just 23, and giving up on him for a 28-year-old reliever is a surprise. CONTINUE DAN’S COLUMN ON SI
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👀 The top five …
… things I saw last night:
5. Luis García Jr.’s emphatic bat drop after hitting a two-run homer to give the Yankees the lead in the bottom of the seventh. (The Cardinals then scored seven runs in the top of the eighth and won, 13–7.)
4. Alec Burleson’s towering upper-deck shotfor his third homer of the game against the Yankees.
3. Daulton Varsho’s pregame greeting with his former Blue Jays teammates after being traded to the Astros hours before Toronto’s game in Houston.
2. Teoscar Hernández’s massive homer that traveled all the way out of Wrigley Field. (Statcast estimated it at 443 feet.)
1. A heroic performance by Senegal goalie Adji Ndiaye against Morocco in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations. She saved one penalty shot, then, when the referee ordered that the penalty be retaken, stopped the second attempt as well. (The game ended in a 0–0 draw, which eliminated Senegal from the tournament.)
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