The trade deadline is history, and if you’re like us, your head keeps spinning. We will not see a day as busy as that again for a long time. Remember when we worried because the teams that were going to qualify for the postseason already seemed defined? Well, many outfits disagree and go for everything.
Here we present the undisputed winners of the trade deadline.
Remember when Venezuelan Ronald Acuña Jr. got injured and many began to write off the Braves? It was not a good idea. This year has been difficult for the big names in Atlanta, but there they are, even without Acuña, Mike Soroka and Marcell Ozuna.
The Braves were very active in acquiring Jorge Soler, Adam Duvall and Puerto Rican Eddie Rosario, three key bats for injury-plagued outfields. Not to mention Richard Rodríguez, who, although he does not have the name Craig Kimbrel, has stood out.
A couple of weeks ago the Braves had no outfielders and now, along with Joc Pederson, who came in a trade on July 16, they have four. The Braves go for everything.
Yes, the Brewers added Daniel Norris, Eduardo Escobar and John Curtiss. Good players, but the real reason the Brewers were one of the deadline winners is because of what happened in the division. The Cubs … well, you saw what they did. The Reds got some arms for the bullpen and the Cardinals, for the 40th summer in a row, weren’t very active.
The Brewers were very proactive in bringing in Willy Adames in May. That, coupled with their subsequent streak, appears to have terrified the rest of the division.
Well, it’s easy to say that the Dodgers won the trade deadline. Remember just hours ago we thought Max Scherzer would be a Father? Not only is he with the Dodgers now, but he brought with him Trea Turner, who is under contract for next year and is one of the top 20 players in the major leagues right now.
The Dodgers have suffered many injuries, but several of their key figures are close to returning. Now that they have Scherzer and Turner, they have the best roster in baseball and are, from this perspective, the favorites to win the World Series.
The White Sox have the most comfortable lead of any divisional leader in the majors, with four “selling” teams behind them. They also have the Dominican Eloy Jiménez back, and the Cuban Luis Robert is close to returning. Things are looking good in Chicago.
And now they got Craig Kimbrel – no one saw that coming – in exchange for Nick Madrigal, which gives them a Kimbrel / Liam Hendriks / Michael Kopech trio reminiscent of the 2015 Royals bullpen. Not counting Ryan Tepera , which also came from the Cubs.
The Yankees have a pretty big deficit in the standings, but you have to respect a team that, despite so many problems it has had this season, went for everything in an attempt to straighten the course.
I know they have yet to catch up with the A’s, and that the Mariners, Blue Jays and even Indians and Angels are not out of the competition.
But the Yankees needed power left-handed bats more than anyone (not to mention defense), and they got them by adding Joey Gallo and Anthony Rizzo. If you are one of the frustrated fans of the team, this is the best thing that could happen to you.
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