The Winners and Losers of the Trade Deadline

The trade deadline is now behind us, which means that players who are currently with their respective teams will remain there until the end of the current season, with a few exceptions.

But before we turn our attention to the baseball season that will carry us into October, let's take a look back at this trade deadline by analyzing the winners and losers.

In the first category, we must of course mention the Los Angeles Dodgers, who landed the best player available—two-time American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal—as well as insurance policy Kris Bubic.

Next up are the Chicago Cubs, who desperately needed reinforcements on the mound and added Kevin Gausman, Clay Holmes, and Braxton Garrett to their roster. Well done.

Still among the winners, we must also mention the excellent work by the Tampa Bay Rays, who aren't usually very active at the trade deadline. This year, however, it was quite the opposite: after acquiring Freddy Peralta on Sunday, Tampa continued to add pieces to the puzzle yesterday (Monday) by acquiring catcher Liam Hicks and reliever Tyler Wells.

Now let's turn to the losers, starting with the Boston Red Sox. Granted, the Red Sox added Curtis Mead, Erik Miller, and Adley Rutschman.

But to acquire a player who was designated for assignment earlier this year, a declining catcher, and an inconsistent reliever, the Red Sox gave up young pitcher Connely Early, three of their top five prospects, and Marcelo Meyer. Talk about overpaying.

The Sox aren't alone in this mess, however, since the Detroit Tigers didn't even bother to wait for a bit of a bidding war for Skubal and ended up with a package well below the star pitcher's value.

Finally, as my colleague Félix Forget has clearly explained, we must also mention the New York Yankees, who—of course—have a better roster than they did before the trade deadline but have failed to address their main weaknesses. What a waste.

• Jack Flaherty feels alone.

• Contract extension in Colorado.

• Kyle Tucker booed in Chicago.

Created by humans, assisted by AI.