Winners From the 2018 MLB Trade Deadline

Baseball’s 2018 trade deadline has come and gone. Now it’s time to break down who made out like bandits. Here’s a look at the winners from this year’s MLB trading bonanza.

New York Yankees

The New York Yankees did well at the trade deadline, while not landing a true ace starter, they bolstered their rotation and bullpen.

The Yankees got J.A. Happ from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for Brandon Drury and Billy McKinney, neither of whom are top-level prospects.

Then they landed Zach Britton from the Baltimore Orioles for right handers Dillon Tate and Cody Carroll and lefty Josh Rogers. Only Tate is anything of consequence, but he’s struggled to stay healthy. Meanwhile, Britton should add to an already stacked bullpen.

In less consequential moves, the New York landed Lance Lynn as a backup rotation option and sent Adam Warren to the Seattle Mariners for bonus pool money.

San Diego Padres

General manager A.J. Preller and the San Diego Padres were ripped for holding on to closer Brad Hand when other teams didn’t meet their price. Well, they were proven to be right in doing so. Hand and Adam Cimber went to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for Francisco Mejia, who is almost universally regarded as baseball’s best catching prospect.

The Padres didn’t make any other moves, but that might qualify them as a winner too. They resisted giving up too much for a front-line starter they likely won’t need for another two seasons. The Rays asked for far too much in exchange for Chris Archer (more on him later).

Tampa Bay Rays

While the Tampa Bay Rays had to move their ace in Chris Archer, they got a haul in exchange for him. They got two top-level prospects Austin Meadows and Tyler Glasnow for a diminishing asset.

Archer has an amazing, team-friendly contract, but his WHIP and ERA have risen each year since 2015. This year his ERA is at 4.31 and his WHIP is a whopping 1.39 in 17 starts. He’ll turn 30 in September and getting young, top prospects like Glasnow and Meadows is absolutely worth the risk.

Earlier on deadline day, the Rays traded three minor leaguers to the St. Louis Cardinals for Tommy Pham and international bonus pool money. Pham is hitting .248 with 14 home runs and 41 RBIs this season, but his numbers are way down from last season. That said, he’s still likely a three to four WAR player at worst, which is a huge upgrade in left field for the Rays.

Tampa also moved former All-Star catcher Wilson Ramos to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for a player to be named. That was a puzzling trade, but seemed like a straight up salary dump, as Ramos was making $8.5 million.

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers added a ton to the major league roster, but they’re all rentals. Still, they greatly increased their chance to competing this year while not giving up much in the way of prospects.

The Dodgers got Manny Machado in exchange for five prospects, and outfielder Yusniel Diaz was the only one of consequence for the Dodgers.

The Dodgers also got reliever John Axford and Brian Dozier in separate deadline day deals in which they didn’t give up anything at the top of their farm system.

Los Angeles got better in the short term without surrendering anything of real consequence in the long run.

Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves sent four unheralded minor leaguers and international bonus pool money to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for Kevin Gausman. While Gausman is currently 5-8 with a 4.43 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP this season, there is tremendous upside in this deal for Atlanta.

Gausman is 27 but he has legitimate ace-level stuff, he just can’t put it together. He’s got a mid-90s fastball and an outstanding changeup. His fastball is the real issue though as it’s getting hit hard this season.

Basically the Braves are buying low on Gausman and hoping a change of scenery turns things around. He’s under team control until 2021. Darren O'Day also went to Atlanta in this deal but he’s out for the season.

The Braves also landed outfielder Adam Duvall from the Reds in exchange for a few former prospects who have yet to show they can stick in the bigs.

Chris Archer

The Rays are going nowhere fast and while Archer isn’t what he was in 2015, he has a chance to turn his career around with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Moving from the AL East to the NL Central will only help his numbers.

Archer flashes ace stuff at times but he clearly needed a change of scenery. Maybe he’ll find consistency on the banks of the Allegheny.