MLB Trade Rumors and News: Pretty much everyone has a new team

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We know. Things got a little wild last Friday, and we’re not talking about whatever you did at Happy Hour. However, like the Happy Hour drink specials, this deadline snuck up fast with little sign of warning and then was non stop chaos for a few hours of unpredictability. Here’s a little recap of who is going to pop up on a different team, leading you to say, “What? No way! When?”.

• The Giants have re-acquired Tony Watson from the Angels.
• The Braves have acquired Richard Rodriguez and Jorge Soler at trade deadline from the Pittsburg Pirates and Kansas City Royals, respectively. In exchange for Rodriguez, the Pirates received right-handed pitchers Bryse Wilson and Ricky DeVito. The Royals ended up with right-hand pitcher Kasey Kalich.
• The Cardinals did a good job restocking their rotation by acquiring both J.A. Happ and Jon Lester at deadline. The two veteran arms will be a welcome change for St. Louis.
• Kris Bryant is now a San Francisco Giant, and even kicked off his first game with the team by hitting a home run. Talk about making a first impression.
• The Mets acquired Javier Báez and Trevor Williams from Cubs for Pete Crow-Armstrong. Good ol’ Javy also homered during his first game with the Mets, while Trevor Williams checks notes was optioned to Triple-A.
• The Phillies have acquired Ian Kennedy and Kyle Gibson from the Rangers.
• The White Sox have acquired Craig Kimbrel from Cubs. Is anyone left on the Cubs? Asking for myself.
• Deja vu strikes again. The Braves have re-acquired Adam Duvall from Marlins, and in turn acquired Eddie Rosario from Indians. In other news, the Braves are really moving and shaking and literally nothing can stop them from acquiring everyone.
• The Toronto Blue Jays have acquired Jose Berrios from Twins.
• The Nationals have released Starlin Castro following his suspension.
• The Athletics have acquired Yan Gomes and Josh Harrison, who yes, are both still in the league.
• The highlight of what was a VERY busy day of trades last week was the Max Scherzer saga. After early reporting suggested that the Padres were the frontrunners for his services, the Dodgers swooped in and not only snagged Scherzer, but also acquired Trea Turner along with him. Good to see the Dodgers finally have a high level player acquisition go their way.
• The Yankees continued their busy trade deadline work yesterday as they added Anthony Rizzo in a deal with the Cubs after already grabbing Joey Gallo earlier this week. The Yankees clearly know what they want (lefty power bats) and are going for it this year. Gallo and Rizzo should fit in nicely with that short porch in right.
• Not to be outdone, the Boston Red Sox made a move to bolster their lineup as well as they made a late trade for Kyle Schwarber from the Nationals. It is pretty wild how quickly the Nationals roster has gone from perennial contender to trade deadline fire sale booth, but here we are.
• It had been clear for a while that one of the bigger bats on the trade market that was also likely to have a new team by the trade deadline was the Rangers’ Joey Gallo. While not a perfect hitter, Gallo gets on base at a high clip and you won’t find greater raw power in the bigs than him. Well, now we will get a chance to see what he can do with that short right field porch in New York as the Yankees acquired Gallo for a healthy haul of prospects.
• If Joey Gallo was likely to be traded, then Starling Marte was a lock to move on given how extension talks with the Marlins quickly broke down. The Athletics were the team that decided to pony up in a big way as they snagged Marte along with some cash in exchange for Jesus Luzardo.
• Lost somewhat amongst a flurry of trades yesterday was that the Washington Nationals find themselves in a bit of a situation. Trea Turner tested positive for COVID-19 had to be pulled from a game earlier and then yesterday the Nationals’ game was postponed after the organization had 12 positive test results including a number of players who were vaccinated.
• The Diamondbacks have had a rough season in 2021 and that is being pretty charitable in that description. However, one of the bright spots has been the play of Eduardo Escobar who was the team’s lone All-Star Game representative this year. Now, he has a new team as the Brewers traded for him for a couple of prospects.
• Tuesday was the biggest trading day of the season, and it should only get busier from here. Lefty Tyler Anderson thought he was going from the Pirates to the Phillies early in the day, but the deal fell through, apparently due to a medical concern with one of the prospects who was set to go to the Pirates: right-hander Cristian Hernandez and catcher Abrahan Gutierrez. Late Tuesday night, the Pirates pivoted and dealt Anderson to the Mariners for minor league catcher Carter Bins and Joaquin Tejeda. It’s a deal that Seattle GM Jerry Dipoto apparently believes will soothe Mariners fans and players after he traded his closer while the team was one game out of a playoff spot on Tuesday.
• The Anderson deal was Seattle’s second of the day. Before a matchup with the division rival Astros, one night after they came back from a 7-0 deficit to beat Houston 11-8 and pull within a game of a wild card spot, the Mariners dealt star closer Kendall Graveman and recently DFA’d right-hander Rafael Montero to the Astros for infielder Abraham Toro and veteran sidearmer Joe Smith. Mariners players expressed major displeasure at the move, with several crying, one going postal in the clubhouse, and a few anonymously ripping the front office to the Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish. With Seattle still within reach of a playoff spot, it should be interesting to see what they do Friday.
• For a few fleeting moments on Tuesday evening, many fans and media members believed that All-Star shortstop Trea Turner, a frequently discussed trade candidate in recent days, had been traded after he exited in the first inning of the Nationals’ matchup with the Phillies. As it turns out, he exited for a much more familiar and disheartening reason — because he tested positive for COVID-19. It shouldn’t affect his trade value if Washington wants to move him, but now Turner almost certainly won’t get back on the field until after the deadline.
• The Reds took two veteran relievers off the Yankees’ hands late Tuesday night, acquiring lefty Justin Wilson and righty Luis Cessa from New York in exchange for a player to be named later. Neither is a surefire solution to the Reds’ bullpen woes, but Cincinnati will take a wild guess and see if they can improve a relief corps that ranks last in the majors in ERA.
• The Padres have acquired Adam Frazier from Pirates. Infielder Tucupita Marcano, who ranked fifth among San Diego’s prospects in the MLB Pipeline rankings, headlines a three-player package going to Pittsburgh.
• The Mets have officially done something! On Friday they acquired Rich Hill from the Rays in a deal that also relived them of injured pitcher Tommy Hunter and Double-A catcher Matt Dyer.
• It’s finally happening: the Cleveland Indians are set to become the Cleveland Guardians next season.
• The have Rays acquire Nelson Cruz from Twins, along with minor league pitcher Calvin Faucher. In exchange, Minnesota receives pitching prospects Joe Ryan and Drew Strotman.
• The Giants are “one of the key teams to watch” if Marlins center fielder Starling Marte is dealt before the deadline, per Craig Mish and Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. Marte’s numbers are roughly equivalent to those of Giants center fielder Steven Duggar, so he wouldn’t appear to provide a transformative upgrade. But if the asking price for the pending free agent is mild enough that San Francisco can acquire him as a right-handed hitting platoon option, perhaps there will be interest.
• While the Marlins weren’t going anywhere this season, they clearly have formed an exciting young core of players that should be competitive in the National League East in the coming years who are fun to watch even now. Unfortunately, a chunk of that young core appear to be set to miss some time as Jazz Chisholm and Garrett Cooper hit the injured list after getting hurt in the exact same game.
• Mets fans, don’t look: Jacob deGrom has hit the injured list with forearm tightness. New York has made it very clear that the time table on this injury is flexible, and deGrom won’t throw until that tightness has subsided. I don’t think I need to tell you how devastating this is for the Mets. Doctors are still doing tests to get to the root of what’s causing this.
• The White Sox have signed Lance Lynn to a two-year, $38 million extension with a club option for 2024. In ten seasons, Lynn has been a solid rotation staple, but this season feels like the comeback most players only dream of. So far in 2021, the veteran is hurling a 1.99 ERA with 105 strikeouts, and only 31 walks over 90.2 innings. Talk about getting your money’s worth.
• The Braves’ outfield has been ravaged by injuries and/or legal issues this season. With prospects Drew Waters and Cristian Pache still getting work in the minor leagues, the Braves decided to make a move to shore that unit up as they acquired Joc Pederson from the Cubs for 1B prospect Bryce Ball.
• But the Braves weren’t done wheeling and dealing quite yet. They then acquired Stephen Vogt from the Diamondbacks, securing another strong leadership presence in the dugout. In return, Atlanta will send 25-year-old first base prospect Mason Berne to Arizona.
• Shohei Ohtani threw a perfect first inning to earn the win and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit an absolute moonshot in the third inning as the American League earned its eight straight All-Star victory in last week’s Midsummer Classic. The 22-year-old Guerrero, who had two RBI, became the youngest player ever to earn All-Star MVP honors.
• Encouraging news for baseball fans who don’t like the major rule changes instituted over the last two seasons: Rob Manfred says that seven-inning doubleheaders and the runner-on-second rule in extra innings are unlikely to survive beyond the 2021 season, with Manfred saying those changes were instituted for the purpose of limiting time at the ballpark during the COVID-19 pandemic — something that isn’t expected to be a factor in future seasons.
• To say that the first round of the 2021 MLB Draft was a wild one may be a bit of an understatement, as mock drafts were blown up within the first five picks. That started with the number one overall pick as Henry Davis was chosen by the Pittsburgh Pirates in a bit of an upset.
• In devastating news for Braves fans, Ronald Acuña Jr. was injured when trying to make a play on a fly ball. None of the aftermath looked good as Acuña was unable to finish leaving the field and had to be carted off with an apparent knee injury. Sadly, he did not escape major injury this time as it was confirmed that he completely tore his ACL and will miss the remainder of the season.