Even though there was no star blockbuster move, like Max Scherzer to the Rangers and Justin Verlander to the Mets in 2023 or Juan Soto to San Diego in 2022, the 2024 MLB trade deadline turned into a head-spinning frenzy in the final hours with a series of leaguewide deals. In some of the biggest deadline day moves, Tigers starter Jack Flaherty was sent to the Dodgers, Marlins closer Tanner Scott went to the Padres, and the Orioles added Trevor Rogers and Eloy Jiménez.
Perhaps most notable was who did not get traded. Tarik Skubal remained in Detroit, the White Sox kept their two top trade-value players, and Blake Snell stayed with the Giants. The extremely high prices for pitching became the story of the deadline, and only some of the more aggressive general managers were willing to pay those inflated prices.
Here are my winners and losers from the 2024 MLB trade deadline:
Winner: The Miami Marlins’ Fire Sale
The Marlins may end up being one of the biggest winners of the deadline because they leveraged their terrible 2024 position, with the league’s third-worst record, and embraced a full rebuild. Not only did the Fish move off the expiring contract of closer Tanner Scott, but they parted with controllable hitters Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Bryan De La Cruz. They also got an impressive return for struggling starter Trevor Rogers. A.J. Puk went to Arizona in a move that feels like it happened a month ago (it was five days ago), and then the Marlins emptied the bullpen by sending Huascar Brazobán to the Mets. Miami had a group of controllable, young pitchers a couple of years ago, but injuries and a lack of development caused the team to seriously bottom out in 2024, at 39-68.
Chisholm’s checkered health history meant that it was always unlikely his value would be higher than it is right now. The Yankees badly needed more hitting depth behind Soto and Aaron Judge, and the Marlins acquired catcher Agustin Ramírez, infielder Jared Serna, and infielder Abrahan Ramírez in the deal. The Marlins have basically zero catching depth in the minor leagues and have gotten no production, so Agustin Ramírez has already been added to the Marlins’ 40-man roster and will start in Triple-A Jacksonville.
The Marlins waived veteran Josh Bell before trading him to Arizona and then recouped big returns for two of their pitchers. Miami got Connor Norby and Kyle Stowers from the Orioles’ group of youngsters for Rogers, who has shown declining fastball velocities, a mediocre slider, and a 4.53 ERA this season.
Many industry experts also felt that Padres general manager A.J. Preller overpaid for Scott. San Diego parted ways with three of its top five prospects: Graham Pauley, Adam Mazur, and Robby Snelling. The Marlins weren’t afraid to part with real, controllable talent and take advantage of market factors.
Losers: Desperate Teams Reuniting With Old Players
For the second consecutive trade deadline, the Dodgers have acquired Amed Rosario to try to improve the lack of lineup depth that has been exposed throughout this season. Rosario had a .256/.301/.408 slash line for the Dodgers last season in 48 games, which was 10 percent below the league average by OPS+. He didn’t appear in the NLDS, in which the Dodgers were swept in three games by the Diamondbacks.
Injuries to Mookie Betts, Miguel Rojas, and Max Muncy have left the infield thin, and the Dodgers are still without Freddie Freeman as he deals with a medical situation involving his son. They’re hoping to plug the gap with Rosario and Tommy Edman. The surging Padres and Diamondbacks are within seven games in the NL West, and past actions from the Dodgers suggest they don’t think a player of Rosario’s caliber will even make the playoff roster.
The Dodgers aren’t the only team repeating trades from the past. Jorge Soler, 2021 World Series MVP, moved from the Giants to the Braves. Like the Dodgers, the Braves are desperate for offense following injuries to Ronald Acuña Jr., Michael Harris II, and now Ozzie Albies. The problem is that the Braves already have a full-time designated hitter with Marcell Ozuna, their best hitter this year. Soler or Ozuna has to play a corner outfield position, and it’s not clear that either is capable of doing that at this point.
Soler had minus-17 total defensive runs saved from 2021-23 and has not played the field all year in San Francisco. The Braves also added 2021 reliever Luke Jackson in the Soler deal with the Giants.
Then, there’s Tommy Pham’s trade to the Cardinals. Pham openly talked shit on the Cardinals front office in 2018 for sending him down and keeping him in the minors too long before he was traded to the Rays. He’s a fiery personality who questioned the Mets clubhouse’s commitment to winning last year after a midseason trade to Arizona. He also infamously slapped Joc Pederson in the outfield before a game over some trash talk in their fantasy football league. Pham is a productive player on the field and helped Arizona reach the World Series, and the Cardinals are highlighting his competitive spirit. But that doesn’t make it any less of a risky move given the history between Pham and St. Louis.
No matter how good (or bad) things were, getting back with the ex rarely works, whether we’re talking about relationships or building a winning MLB team in 2024.
Winner: Anyone Who Dealt Relief Pitchers
As analytics have taken over baseball, one of the most frequent market inefficiencies has been that teams will significantly overpay for rental relief pitchers. Some pundits criticized Baltimore for trading Jorge López to Minnesota at the deadline in 2022, only for the O’s to recoup excellent reliever Yennier Canó in the deal. It’s almost always better to deal relievers away at the deadline from a spreadsheet-value perspective, but the idea of chasing titles and the allure of flags that fly forever mean contending teams are willing to pay a surplus for a dominant late-inning arm.
In 2024, teams paid more than ever to secure good relievers from bad teams. When the Phillies dealt up-and-coming prospects George Klassen and Samuel Aldegheri for Carlos Estévez from the Angels, most pundits viewed it as an overpay given that Estévez is a rental reliever. That trade happened on Saturday, and by Tuesday, you could argue the Phillies made out pretty well, given how much the Padres spent for Scott and Jason Adam. More on the Padres general manager in a moment. One can only imagine how much Mason Miller would have potentially gone for if he had moved.
Winners: Fans Hoping for a More Competitive and Deeper National League Playoff Field
Since MLB went to the expanded playoff format of six teams per league in 2022, the NLCS has featured two wild-card teams against one another in both years—Philadelphia vs. San Diego in 2022 and Philadelphia vs. Arizona in 2023.
With no disrespect to Brewers fans, the National League looked like a three-team race for the majority of the first half of the season. Arizona, San Diego, Chicago, St. Louis, and San Francisco sputtered their way through the first half, meaning the Phillies, Braves, and Dodgers separated themselves from the pack from a talent perspective.
The top three in the National League didn’t make many splashy moves to really improve, outside of the Dodgers’ acquisition of Jack Flaherty at the deadline bell. Given the injury situation with the Dodgers and Braves, the door was open for the second tier of NL teams to improve and deepen the field.
The Padres, Mets, and Diamondbacks are marginally strengthened and hope to ride recent hot streaks into dangerous wild-card slots. San Diego and Arizona are within seven games of the Dodgers for the NL West. San Diego general manager A.J. Preller, seemingly on the hot seat, made aggressive moves to upgrade the bullpen by getting Jason Adam from the Rays and Scott from the Marlins. The Padres already made moves for Dylan Cease and Luis Arráez earlier this season.
Preller’s pristine eye for scouting talent has enabled him to continue to have a strong enough farm to be constantly aggressive in trading for MLB talent. Love him, hate him, or be indifferent about him, you must respect that Preller is the kind of general manager we all dream of being when we play fantasy or MLB The Show’s franchise mode.
The Diamondbacks added Puk from the Marlins and then compensated for Christian Walker’s oblique injury by adding Josh Bell. Bell is turning into the ultimate journeyman, as he’s been dealt at the deadline each of the past three seasons. He’s as reliable offensively as anyone moving at the deadline.
The Mets added Jesse Winker from the division rival Nationals and then bolstered the pitching staff with starter Paul Blackburn, Huascar Brazoban, and Ryne Stanek. It’s not clear that the Mets have enough high-end starting pitching to overcome the loss of Kodai Senga, but the offense is fourth in wRC+, and Winker has found some of his old power from pre-2022 again.
Loser: The Shortsightedness of MLB’s Worst Team
There are sellers, there are fire sales, and then there are the 2024 Chicago White Sox. The White Sox were making deals right up to the final bell. They even sold low on a player they thought would be a crucial part of their core. Earlier this month, there were 30 people on CBS Sports’ list of players most likely to be dealt at the deadline, and the White Sox had six of them. Michael Kopech, Paul DeJong, Erick Fedde, Tommy Pham, Tanner Banks, and Eloy Jiménez were all sent away in deals, but general manager Chris Getz did not move the team’s top two assets—Luis Robert Jr. and Garrett Crochet. Robert is in the middle of a massive slump and is hitting .221 with a .290 OBP, but he’s also an excellent all-around center fielder with multiple years of team control at age 26. He is unlikely to be a vital part of the next great White Sox team, and given the seller’s market showcased at this deadline, it’s hard to imagine that teams weren’t consistently calling to inquire about Robert. Maybe some teams were scared off by the earlier reports that the White Sox were seeking an unrealistic “Juan Soto package” for Robert after the Padres emptied the farm for Soto in August 2022.
The White Sox had lost 15 straight games entering Tuesday’s deadline and are 12 games worse than every other MLB team, at 27-82. They’ve started to taper off Crochet’s innings and have not let him throw more than four innings in a start since July began. Crochet has a 3.23 ERA, and there’s a reasonable case to be made that his value will never be higher than it is right now because of the demand and prices for starting pitching leaguewide.
You don’t want to give away talents like Robert and Crochet for nothing, but the White Sox’s lack of willingness to truly reboot and replenish their prospect capital will likely set back their rebuild while the MLB club is nowhere close to being competitive. Trading the expiring-contract guys is easy; not trading either of the two centerpieces is short-sighted. As Joel Sherman reported, selling low on Jiménez as a salary dump won’t help ease the concerns of the fan base about ownership.
Loser: The Hope of Seeing Paul Skenes in the Playoffs
Once Jared Jones returns from his lat strain in August, the Pirates will have one of the most formidable starting rotations in MLB with Jones, Mitch Keller, and rookie sensation Paul Skenes. The bullpen is rounding into form, with David Bednar and Aroldis Chapman pitching well. The Pirates are three games over .500, and the current situation in the NL has them a game and a half out of a playoff spot. A lot of media will dub them as a team no one wants to face in a short series because of their pitching, but the lineup also isn’t capable of hitting elite pitching right now.
Pittsburgh has obvious weaknesses, and in true Pittsburgh fashion, little was done to address them and maximize this opportunity with the city and team in the national spotlight due to Skenes-mania. The Pirates added two bats—Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Bryan De La Cruz. We’ve seen 2,696 plate appearances of below-average hitting from IKF with a career .670 OPS. Consider me skeptical that his .758 OPS this season with Toronto will last. De La Cruz has some real power, but he’s posted a 92 and a 96 wRC+ in the past two years.
The Pirates were rumored to be in play for Chisholm and Yandy Díaz, but they ended up with worse hitters. Pittsburgh also has gaping offensive holes at catcher, third base, and center field.
Winners: Prospect Huggers
Baseball America runs a midseason update of the MLB top 100 every year, and no top 100 prospects were moved at the deadline this year. A handful made the preseason top 100 and fell out of the midseason list before being moved, but the die-hard MiLB fans who hope that their team’s top prospects turn into superstars had their deadline wishes granted. The main reason was the lack of true star MLB talent that moved.
Before you get angry at your favorite baseball team for not being aggressive enough at the deadline, remember that practically no team was overly aggressive in buying at this deadline. Don’t hate the player; hate the game. The high prices for pitching and lack of impact bats on the move played out, and in the end, it was not the most aggressive deadline, even if there were a ton of minor deals.
Losers: Young Hitters in the Orioles System Waiting for an MLB Shot
There was a belief that Baltimore would cash in some of its hitting prospects in exchange for top-end arms or a more elite bat and create room for their top prospects. The Orioles made two specific additions—Austin Slater and Jiménez—to improve against left-handed pitchers, which the front office had identified as a potential weakness. After trading Austin Hays to Philadelphia on Friday, the Orioles opened the door to give Colton Cowser and Heston Kjerstad more playing time. There were rumors that Cedric Mullins could also be on the move.
Baltimore did end up trading infielder Connor Norby and outfielder Kyle Stowers to remove some of the prospect backlog. But the Orioles then turned around and traded for Slater and Jiménez. It’s not clear where either fits on the Orioles’ daily roster. If the Orioles want to platoon Slater at first, then where does Ryan Mountcastle fit? Jiménez isn’t good enough defensively to cover all the ground in Baltimore’s gigantic left field.
It’s a fascinating puzzle for the Orioles’ top brain trust to figure out, and it immediately makes them the most interesting team to watch from a playing time perspective between now and the end of the regular season. Top prospect Jackson Holliday has a .908 OPS, and Coby Mayo has a .946 OPS in Triple-A Norfolk. The Orioles called up Holliday on Tuesday after the deadline, but there’s still a logjam on the roster. It could be a good problem to have or result in more blocking of the young bats.
Winner AND Loser: The Tampa Bay Rays, Like Every Trade Deadline
I personally think it’s time to retire the baseball joke about how the Rays seemingly win every trade, regardless of who is involved. What a fascinating deadline in Tampa Bay. The Rays essentially dismantled the team’s core, trading away starter Zach Eflin, left fielder Randy Arozarena, and third baseman Isaac Paredes. They also moved off key role players Jason Adam and Amed Rosario.
Their move to swap Paredes for Cubs slugger Christopher Morel was especially interesting, given how much Paredes benefited offensively from slugging homers over the short wall in extreme left field at Tropicana Field. Paredes isn’t a Statcast darling, but he had a 132 OPS+ in 2023 and a 127 OPS+ in 2024. The Rays added 13 prospects through these trades and essentially rebuilt the farm system. Did Tampa Bay need to go that aggressive in selling? The Rays were two games above .500, with key pitchers Jeffrey Springs and Shane Baz expected to join Taj Bradley in a potentially competitive playoff rotation.
On the one hand, you could compare the situations of Seattle and Tampa Bay and say Tampa Bay was smarter in the medium-to-long-term. Neither team looks like a top contender in the American League this year, and both organizations are strapped financially. Seattle spent prospect capital on Arozarena and Justin Turner, while Tampa Bay took advantage of the seller’s market to recalibrate for the future. The Rays punted away the core of a competitive baseball team this year, even though the AL is wide open. Morel has all the tools to break out and become an offensive star at some point, and the trades could mean we’ll see top-five prospect Junior Caminero sooner rather than later. The Rays deadline was a true Rorschach test for your previously held beliefs on how they run their organization. And in the most Rays move ever, they traded for Cardinals reclamation project Dylan Carlson just after the deadline, at 6 p.m. ET.
