MLB’s Biggest Buyers in Frantic Deadline Weren’t Top Markets

A lack of dominance from MLB’s economic powers has fueled a flurry of trade deadline activity from the sport’s middle class.

As the league hit Thursday’s trade deadline, the recent on-field struggles by the Dodgers, Mets, and Yankees—the game’s top three payroll spenders and a trio often dominating much of the market activity—have emboldened a series of other contenders to try to take advantage of the opening. That, in turn, has given the trade market greater clarity after a much more muddled state earlier this month.

Among the key trades happening before the deadline:

• The Astros made a blockbuster move to reacquire infielder Carlos Correa from the Twins. Correa won a World Series with Houston in 2017 and played in another two years later before becoming a free agent and signing a six-year, $200 million deal with Minnesota, now very much moving into a full-scale rebuild.  
• The Padres acquired top closer Mason Miller and starting pitcher JP Sears from the A’s. San Diego then followed that up by getting All-Star first baseman/outfielder Ryan O’Hearn from the Orioles, along with outfielder Ramón Laureano.
• The Mariners acquired slugging third baseman Eugenio Suárez from the Diamondbacks. Suárez is tied for first in MLB with 87 runs batted in and fifth in home runs with 36.
• The Rangers made their own deal with the Diamondbacks to get starting pitcher Merrill Kelly.
• The Blue Jays acquired former American League Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber, out of action since early last year due to injury, from the Guardians.
• The Tigers, MLB’s best team for significant stretches of this season, dealt for Nationals closer Kyle Finnegan and Guardians reliever Paul Sewald in moves to bulk up their bullpen. 
• The Phillies acquired veteran outfielder Harrison Bader and closer Jhoan Durán in separate deals with the Twins. 

The moves arrive as the defending World Series champion Dodgers and the Yankees have each posted losing records in July after strong starts to the season, while the Mets are just 17–23 since June 13. 

Those three teams were not idle this week, though, as each made its own moves, particularly to acquire bullpen and bench pieces who often have outsized importance in the postseason. Perhaps most notably, the Yankees acquired Rays infielder José Caballero, tied for the league lead in stolen bases, in the midst of a game Thursday in New York between the two teams. The Yankees supplemented that with deals for two closers, the Pirates’ David Bednar and Giants’ Camilo Doval. 

Prospect Dealing

Many of these MLB trade deadline deals, and others, followed a traditional formula of a contending team sending minor leaguers to a rebuilding club looking to shed payroll, in return for an established veteran. 

Those prospects, however, are typically not the contending club’s highest-rated ones, though, as there is often a reluctance to part with such promising talent for what could be just a short-term rental of the returning player. 

The Padres deviated from that norm by dealing minor-league shortstop Leo De Vries to the A’s in the trade for Miller and Sears. De Vries is considered San Diego’s top overall prospect, and he is No. 3 in MLB.com’s rankings of all minor leaguers. De Vries is the highest-ranked prospect to be dealt at the deadline since the White Sox acquired Eloy Jiménez from the Cubs in 2017. Jiménez did not ultimately become the star he was projected to be. 

The recent struggles of the Dodgers and a five-game winning streak by the Padres have left San Diego just three games behind their archrivals as GM A.J. Preller maintained his reputation for aggressive maneuvering.