MLB Trade Rumors and News: Few big moves made on a slower than usual MLB trade deadline

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Even this year’s trade deadline has proven to be a strange one. Let’s take a look that all the action that’s already gone down prior to today’s 4PM EST deadline.

• The trade deadline has come and gone and the biggest move of the day was without question the Padres’ trade for Mike Clevinger. San Diego has very clearly made a huge play for a deep playoff run this year as they sent six players, a mix of MLB talent and prospects, to Cleveland for the talented young starter’s services.
• The Athletics find themselves in a strong position of their own in the race for the playoffs. In a move that seems like a peak Billy Beane move, they pulled the trigger on a buy-low opportunity when they added starter Mike Minor from the Rangers yesterday.
• Not many people would have pegged the Marlins as buyers at the trade deadline when the season started, but 2020 is a weird year and that is exactly what happened. They went and snagged Starling Marte from the Diamondbacks for a trio of prospects.
• The Mariners and Padres swap known Trade Deadline Favorite Austin Nola and Taylor Trammell as a part of a massive seven-player deal, per reports.
• The Cubs have acquired José Martínez from the Rays for two players to be named later, which is significantly more interested and elusive than just one PTBNL. We love a good risk.
• San Diego did not come to play for this year’s trade deadline. The Padres have acquired Mitch Moreland from Red Sox for two of their higher level prospects.
• The Athletics have acquired Tommy La Stella from Angels in exchange for Franklin Barreto,
• Finally, some common sense is occurring in this Pandemic Baseball Experiment: MLB is expected to hold a playoff bubble in Texas and California.
• The White Sox acquired Jarrod Dyson from Pirates for international bonus pool space.
• The Blue Jays acquired Taijuan Walker from the Mariners to kick off some of that sweet, sweet Trade Deadline excitement.
• There are some very real and serious discussions happening in this country right now and one of those conversations is in regards to police conduct towards people of color. The recent shooting of Jacob Blake has brought this discussion back to the forefront and players across multiple sports have taken action with multiple MLB teams postponing their games last night.
• Aaron Judge finally returned to the Yankees lineup against the Braves after dealing with a calf injury, but it looks like he may be headed back. While running the bases, Judge seems to have aggravated his calf and the team is already talking about sending him back to the injured list.
• With pitchers getting ramped up during the shortened 60-game 2020 season and teams being more cautious than ever with their starters, the odds seemed long that we’d see a no-hitter of the solo variety this year. However, White Sox ace Lucas Giolito proved those odds wrong on Tuesday night, holding the lowly Pirates hitless while walking one and striking out 13.
• The Yankees, who are currently dealing with a watered-down rotation while trying to get back to the World Series, reportedly have interest in trading for Mariners starter Taijuan Walker. Walker has had a solid bounce-back season after losing almost all of the last two seasons due to injuries and should be a solid back-of-the-rotation option for a contender.
• In some refreshing baseball news that doesn’t involve test results, the Blue Jays have acquired Daniel Vogelbach from the Mariners in exchange for cash considerations. Seattle has designated the young DH for assignment earlier last week. Once a highly regarded prospect, Vogelbach struggled this abridged season, slashing an anemic .094/.250/.225 over his first 64 plate appearances. It’s hard to imagine that this same player was selected for last year’s All-Star Game. Let’s hope a change of scenery can set him up for an underdog comeback that we all desperately need this season. Please, something, anything that’s good news.
• When Reds fans tuned into last week’s game against the Royals, they definitely got more than they bargained for when announcer Thom Brennaman was picked up on a live mic calling some city a homophobic slur before diving right into his analysis. The fallout was swift as later in the broadcast, Brennaman apologized while simultaneously calling a home run and then was pulled from the air.
• Rays lefty (and occasional DH) Brendan McKay will miss the rest of the 2020 season after having shoulder surgery.
• We’ve updated our MLB Power Rankings, and yes, they are as weird and out there as the ramifications of this season have led them to be.
• Aaron Judge will be taking his talents to the IL for at least ten days, Newsday’s Roger Rubin reports. The slugger is currently recovering from a minor calf strain and while he’s told the media he “feels 100%”, he’s not eligible for play until Saturday. He was taken out of the game in the sixth inning against the Braves last Tuesday due to what the team was reporting as “lower body tightness”, subsequently missing Wednesday to have a follow up MRI. While the 28-year old chalks the strain up to playing on turf, citing that the discomfort began while the team was away at Tampa Bay, the Yankees are taking the cautious route and giving him the full time on the IL.
• Players getting ejected from games for arguing balls and strikes is a fairly common occurrence and normally wouldn’t warrant much attention. However, Stephen Strasburg somehow managed to get ejected from a game while sitting in the stands, which is delightfully weirder. Strasburg was watching the game from the stands as he tries to get healthy and apparently his heckling of the umpire was enough to get kicked out despite the fact that he wasn’t even in a dugout. What a time to be alive.