It was a dizzying day of activity, and when the smoke cleared after the Major League Baseball trade deadline, we learned who’s actually serious about challenging the Los Angeles Dodgers, and which teams are the pretenders.
We found that Craig Breslow, president of baseball operations for the Boston Red Sox, maybe isn’t so hell-bent on analytics after all, showing his guts by trading away his prized prospects for Baltimore Orioles All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman.
We discovered that the Cleveland Guardians aren’t going to just sit back and let the Chicago White Sox dream season continue without putting up a fight with their surprising show of aggressiveness, not only grabbing much-needed offensive help, but bolstering their rotation.
We now know that Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno has found his permanent GM by permitting John Mozeliak to make as many trades as he desired, overhauling the farm system in a matter of six hours.
And we learned that while the Dodgers may be that immovable force in their way of a World Series, it didn’t stop A.J. Preller of the San Diego Padres from finding a way to fortify their rotation with two front-line starters without needing to trade away a piece of their prized bullpen.
It will take years before we know whether any of the prospects will come back to haunt the men who traded them away, but only two months to know whether the risk pays off by playing deep in October.
Here are the top five winners and losers at this year’s deadline:
The Dodgers not only won the MLB trade deadline, but ran away and hid from the competition.
They got the No. 1 prize in Tarik Skubal, and didn’t give up a single major-league player or anyone that will haunt them in the future. They didn’t give up any of their top five prospects, sending outfielder Zyhir Hope (25th-best prospect in MLB), right-handed pitcher River Ryan (No. 68) and right-hander Brady Smith.
Just to rub it in, they even grabbd left-handed former All-Star starter Kris Bubic, who’s on the 60-day injured list, stashing him away for good measure. They even grabbed catching depth by bringing back Ben Rortvedt and Hunter Feduccia from the Tampa Bay Rays
Their biggest concern the rest of the season is planning the World Series parade route.
“We were of the mind to be aggressive for one player this deadline,” said Andrew Friedman, Dodgers president of baseball operations, “and fortunately we were able to line up.”
“I think it’s arguably the best rotation of all time,” Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing gushed.
So, are the Dodgers really ruining baseball with their latest heist?
“Passionately disagree,” Friedman said at the Dodgers’ press conference following the Skubal trade. “Again, this is about the partnership that we have with our fans who come out 50,000 large and the passion that they have for this team (and) the guys in that clubhouse who are doing everything they can to put us in position to win a World Series.”
It’s trade deadline day in Major League Baseball, with some big names expected to be dealt in the hours, minutes and seconds leading up to the 6 p.m. ET deadline.
The Los Angeles Dodgers‘ trade for back-to-back Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal further solidified the World Series champions as the favorites to win it all once again.
“I don’t think I’ve felt this good after getting swept,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after Sunday’s loss to the Boston Red Sox – who rode a wild winning streak into contention and should be involved in a deal or two ahead of the deadline.
Keep it here for the latest rumors and updates as the clock winds down:
Pirates set for Luke Weaver trade with Mets Pushing for their first postseason appearance in 11 years, the Pittsburgh Pirates are bolstering their bullpen with a trade for Luke Weaver. Weaver has a 1.84 ERA this season for the New York Mets, in the first year of a two-year, $22 million deal.
1 / 12It’s trade deadline day in Major League Baseball, with some big names expected to be dealt in the hours, minutes and seconds leading up to the 6 p.m. ET deadline.
The Los Angeles Dodgers‘ trade for back-to-back Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal further solidified the World Series champions as the favorites to win it all once again.
“I don’t think I’ve felt this good after getting swept,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after Sunday’s loss to the Boston Red Sox – who rode a wild winning streak into contention and should be involved in a deal or two ahead of the deadline.
Keep it here for the latest rumors and updates as the clock winds down:
Pirates set for Luke Weaver trade with Mets Pushing for their first postseason appearance in 11 years, the Pittsburgh Pirates are bolstering their bullpen with a trade for Luke Weaver. Weaver has a 1.84 ERA this season for the New York Mets, in the first year of a two-year, $22 million deal.
2 / 12Red Sox trade for Adley
Rutschman In a stunning deal that marks the end of a failed rebuild in Baltimore, the Orioles are trading catcher Adley Rutschman to the Boston Red Sox Monday, Aug. 3, a rare intra-division deal for a three-time All-Star, ESPN first reported. Rutschman, 28, was the first overall pick in 2019, chosen over prep shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. as the OriolesÕ reward for a 115-loss season that prompted the hiring of now club president Mike Elias. Through two more 100-loss seasons, Elias continued collecting elite draftees and building what appeared to be a sustainable and potentially imposing youth movement.
3 / 12Robbie Ray to Padres
The Giants are trading a former Cy Young winner within the NL West, sending Robbie Ray to the San Diego Padres in exchange for prospects Joniel Hernandez and Miguel Mendez.
4 / 12Braves get Brent Suter
Atlanta landed left-handed pitcher Brent Suter in a trade with the Los Angeles Angels, sending infielder Nacho Alvarez Jr. to Southern California, the teams announced Monday morning.
5 / 12Mets send Brooks Raley to Phillies
Brooks Raley has been traded from the Mets to the rival Phillies. The Mets are receiving outfielder John Spikerman and right-handed pitcher Luke Gabrysh in the deal. The move comes after the Mets also offloaded left-hander A.J. Minter to the Twins last Friday. Raley and Minter were the two likeliest trade candidates out of the Mets’ bullpen given their expiring deals. The Mets also traded Freddy Peralta to the Rays on Sunday and right-handed reliever Huascar Brazoban to the White Sox early Monday morning.
6 / 12Luis Arraez to the Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are trading for three-time batting champion Luis Arraez and right-reliever Kaleb Kilian of the San Francisco Giants, a person with direct knowledge of the trade told USA TODAY Sports. The Giants will receive starter Ramon Marquez, the PhilliesÕ No. 4 prospect and reliever Marty Gair. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity since the trade has yet to be announced until physicals are complete. Arraez, a three-time All-Star, is hitting .324 this season with four homers, 47 RBIs and an .801 OPS. And although heÕs left-handed, he still rakes against lefties, hitting .315 with a .341 on-base percentage and .782 OPS. HeÕs exactly the type of hitter the Phillies are looking for, someone who is dramatically different than the rest of the slugging lineup they have in place. He has struck out just 21 times all season.
7 / 12Blue Jays acquire Jose Soriano
Just one day after trading away staff ace Kevin Gausman, the Toronto Blue Jays have added a starting pitcher to take his place in the rotation. The Jays have acquired right-hander Jose Soriano from the Los Angeles Angels, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports. In exchange, the Angels receive shortstop prospect Arjun Nimmala, outfielder Eddie Micheletti and right-hander Angel Rivero. Nimmala is the Jays’ No. 2 overall prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, behind fellow shortstop JoJo Parker. The other two prospects aren’t among the Jays’ top 30.
8 / 12Freddy Peralta experiment ends for Mets
It took David Stearns seven months to turn the No. 3 prospect in baseball into three players who don’t crack anybody’s top 100. In January, the Mets sent Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat to Milwaukee for Peralta and Tobias Myers. Williams was supposed to be part of the next contending Mets team. Instead, he’s a Brewer, Peralta is a Ray and New York is last in the National League East. Stearns opened these talks asking for a top-100 prospect and more. He got none. He gave away any leverage he had by scratching Peralta on Friday, signaling he was about to hold a fire sale.
9 / 12White Sox land Luis Castillo
The Chicago White Sox didn’t have to prove they were legitimate playoff contenders, but they affirmed as much on Saturday when they acquired right-handed pitcher Luis Castillo from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for reliever Seranthony Dominguez, former outfield prospect Nolan Jones and catching prospect Boston Smith. Castillo, 33, was expendable in Seattle thanks to the Mariners’ deep rotation, a gaggle of majors-ready prospects and the $24.1 million salary he’s due in 2027. He also hasn’t performed particularly well this season, posting a 5.06 ERA in 20 appearances (17 starts) this season. Yet Castillo is a three-time former All-Star who finished fifth in 2023 AL Cy Young award voting and as recently as last season pitched 180 innings. He’ll add length to a White Sox rotation that thins out after No. 1 starter Sean Burke and No. 2 Davis Martin.
10 / 12Cubs get Kevin Gausman
Kevin Gausman, 35, is 5-10 with a 4.38 ERA in 23 starts this season but has been one of the most consistent starters in baseball for the past half-decade, posting a 3.36 ERA from 2020-2025. A two-time All-Star, Gausman finished third in AL Cy Young voting in 2023. Toronto is receiving minor league outfielder Brett Bateman and infielder Ty Southisene in the trade. Gausman was stellar in the Blue Jays’ 2025 postseason run, ultimately losing in Game 7 of the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Gausman started five games and also got the win in relief in Game 7 of the ALCS.
11 / 12Skubal trade had nothing to do with money
Tarik Skubal is a Dodger, and perhaps more significantly the avatar for All That Is Wrong With Baseball, he and his new team the whipping boys for a looming lockout whether or not L.A. wins a seemingly inevitable third consecutive World Series title. The Dodgers are kicking everyoneÕs behinds in every facet of the game: Drafting, player development, scouting (which includes assessing internal talent) and providing a workplace where players want to be.
12 / 12Mets’ fire sale continues
While it’s not the magnitude of the Freddy Peralta trade, the New York Mets have dealt another pitcher. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported overnight that they’ve send hard-throwing reliever Huascar Brazoban to the Chicago White Sox for minor-league pitchers Gabe Davis and Zach Franklin.
Say hello to the new American League pennant favorite.
They could have stopped when they traded starter Connelly Early for Curtis Mead last week, only to see Mead break his wrist in his second at-bat.
Instead, they still went for the jugular, and traded for Baltimore Orioles three-time All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman, the No. 1 pick in 2019, along with backup catcher Jake Rogers. They also acquired Giants left-handed reliever Erik Miller for former first-round pick Marcelo Mayer, and outfielder Eli White from Atlanta.
Not bad for the hottest team on the planet, who just swept the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.
Rutschman, who made the All-Star team this year, is hitting .251 with eight homers, but has been on the injured list since July 18 with wrist inflammation. Still, he’s expected to return within a couple of weeks and provides a massive upgrade behind the plate. Certainly, the Red Sox needed catching help, hitting an MLB-low four home runs with the sixth-worst OPS from the catcher’s position.
It was a steep, steep price, which stunned rival executives that the Red Sox were willing to include them in the deal:
Right-handed pitcher Anthony Eyanson, their second-best prospect; right-handed pitcher Kyson Witherspoon, their fourth-best prospect; outfielder Enddy Azocar, their fifth-best prospect; a player to be named later; and catcher Carlos Narvaez.
Hey, with the way the Red Sox are playing, why not go for it?
They have now won 23 of their last 26 games, and are 28-5 since June 25.
Whether they win the AL East or not, they should be the team to beat in the American League, and face the Dodgers in the World Series, with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts acknowledging Sunday he may have not seen the last of them.
“Really good ballclub,” Roberts says. “Really fundamentally sound. It’s a younger group as far as service time. They’re hungry. Seems like they play well together. They can really defend. They’re athletic. Remind me a lot of the Brewers. They can really pitch. They don’t beat themselves. Dynamic.”
They went into the trade deadline looking for a right-handed hitting outfielder.
They ended up with a left-handed hitting infielder, who just happened to be the finest contact hitter in the game:
Luis Arraez, the three-time batting champion, was hitting .324 this season for the San Francisco Giants with only 21 strikeouts in 464 plate appearances.
It required the Phillies to send No. 4 prospect Ramon Marquez to San Francisco along with reliever Marty Gair, but the Phillies also received right-handed reliever Caleb Kilian. The biggest gamble is that the Phillies have to re-arrange virtually their entire infield while sending first baseman Bryce Harper back to right field for the first time in two years.
Second baseman Bryson Stott is moving to third base. Third baseman Alec Bohm is moving to first base. And Harper is moving to right field.
It will be fascinating to see it work, but the Phillies knew they had to shake things up, and it’s a shrewd gamble.
They also shored up their bullpen by acquiring Mets‘ lefty Brooks Raley, too, after losing setup man Mitch Keller for the season.
The Padres, who a week ago were listening to offers for closer Mason Miller and setup man Adrian Morejon, not only shut down all conversations, but acquired veteran Robbie Ray from the Giants and Casey Mize and utilityman Gage Workman from the Tigers.
Oh, were you really going to believe A.J. Preller was going to punt on a season?
“We’re trying to win,” Preller said. “We don’t apologize for it. We’re trying to win championships. We’re trying to get to the postseason and do it year after year.”
Ray, the former Cy Young winner and two-time All-Star is pitching just about better than anyone in baseball these days. He’s 6-0 with an MLB-best 1.09 ERA in his last eight games (seven starts) since June 16, striking out 41 batters 49 ⅓ innings. Only once during this stretch has he permitted more than one run.
Casey Mize is healthy, and dominating. He is 2-1 with a 2.20 ERA over his last five starts, giving up just 19 hits and striking out 27 in 28 ⅔ innings.
The Padres knew they couldn’t go all year with just two starters, having already moved three of their starting pitchers for 11-man bullpen, with Michael King and Walker Buehler as their only traditional starters.
Now, they have added two frontline starters, and two more that could join them late this month in Joe Musgrove and Nick Pivetta, who are beginning rehab assignments Tuesday. They’ll likely be back in the postseason, winners of a wild-card berth, and will take their chances with the nastiest bullpen in the land.
John Mozeliak not only orchestrated the most aggressive trade deadline in recent Angels’ history, he just earned the right to stay as their permanent GM.
Scrub the interim title. It will become permanent.
Clearly, Mozeliak has earned the trust of Angels owner Arte Moreno, earning the right to make any trade he wanted outside of moving Mike Trout.
The Angels were one of the busiest teams at the deadline, making five trades across the landscape, including three controllable players. They traded right-handed starter Jose Soriano to the Toronto Blue Jays, outfielder Jo Adell to the Cleveland Guardians, reliever Ryan Zeferjahn to the Chicago Cubs, and veteran relievers Brent Suter to Atlanta and Kirby Yates to Pittsburgh.
They received nine prospects in return, highlighted by prized shortstop Arjun Nimmala from Toronto, who’s ranked as MLB Pipeline’s 43rd-overall prospect. Mozeliak even listened on shortstop Zach Neto and starter Reid Detmers, but “wasn’t comfortable,” with any of the offers.
Trout, who had no interest in waiving his no-trade clause, was not talked about during the day.
This was a team that was supposed to be in the World Series this year, maybe even ending their 42-year drought.
They spent a franchise-record with their $220 million payroll. They signed Framber Valdez to a free-agent contract. And they kept two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal.
Now, just 2 ½ games out of a wild-card spot, they panicked. And surrendered.
They got three nice prospects, but none of the Dodgers’ top five prospects.
Rival executives were surprised that the Tigers didn’t wait until the last hours, seeing if the Brewers would increase their offer, or someone else would jump in.
They instead took the Dodgers’ offer 48 hours before the deadline. Why so early? Why not create a bidding war?
Yet, instead of continuing to dump, they went halfway.
They traded starter Casey Mize at the buzzer. But they kept infielder Gleyber Torres. And reliever Kyle Finnegan. And closer Kenley Jansen.
So they can tell their fans they’re still kind of going for it, even though they just gave away the best pitcher in the American League.
The Yankees told the world they badly wanted a catcher, desperately sought a back-end reliever, and offensive help.
Well, after acquiring infielder/outfielder Luis Garcia Jr. from the Washington Nationals on Sunday, they traded for defensively-challenged outfielder Heliot Ramos from the San Francisco Giants.
And, believe it or not, that was it.
Oh, they talked to the Orioles about Adley Rutschman. They tried to pry catcher Ryan Jeffers from Minnesota. They were in plenty of conversations about another late reliever.
The Yankees are going to have to hang onto dear life just to make the playoffs. They’re not going to catch the Tampa Bay Rays. They’re probably going to get caught by the Boston Red Sox.
They are praying on a return to health from Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Cody Bellinger.
Privately, the Yankees will tell you they are much more concerned than they’re conveying publicly about Judge, and are terrified that he might not be able to return this year from his fractured rib.
And if Judge doesn’t come back, well, then maybe it doesn’t really matter that the Yankees didn’t do much.
The Diamondbacks, who have surged into the second wild-card spot, told everyone they hoped to be aggressive at the trade deadline. They wanted at least one starter, a big bat, and another late-inning reliever.
The only bat they received was St. Louis Cardinals left-handed hitting outfielder Lars Nootbaar. He happens to be hitting .234 with three homers and 16 RBIs.
The Diamondbacks got Nootbaar, but look at what the three teams did who they’re battling for a wild-card berth:
Let’s see, the Phillies traded for a three-time batting champion. The Padres grabbed two front-line starters. And the Cubs acquired multple starters and relievers.
The Diamondbacks just might be going into this wild-card war with a squirt gun.
They may be considered a loser at the trade deadline, but come on, you know they’ll get the last laugh.
The Brewers, who have the best farm system in baseball, bid on Tarik Skubal, but fell short when they refused to include their top prospects.
They could have jumped on the top starters available, or some of the relievers, but instead settled on Colorado Rockies reliever Antonio Senzatela, St. Louis Cardinals starter Dustin May and left-handed reliever JoJo Romero.
Senzatela, 9-2, 3.61 ERA, has been one of the best right-handed relievers this year. May has been wildly erratic, but has talent, and was yielding a 2.54 ERA and averaging 6.19 innings during a 12-start stretch. Romero was considered the top left-handed setup man last year with a 2.07 ERA, but is now on the injured list after undergoing an emergency appendectomy in mid-July.
When the trade deadline ended, you figured the Brewers would certainly do more, particularly considering the rival Cubs went out and were one of the day’s most aggressive buyers.
Oh, the Brewers could still win the most games in baseball. They might even be able to hold off the Cubs in the NL Central. But come on, how are they ever going to knock off the Dodgers?
No one expected them to go out and trade for Tarik Skubal, although man, can you imagine him and Chris Sale together?
Still, folks still expected them to grab another top starter on the market.What do they do?
They acquired starter Tyler Mahle (3-9, 5.13 ERA) from the Giants and veteran Brent Suter (1-2,4.12 ERA) from the Angels, and right-handed reliever Tyler Uberstine from the Red Sox, who spent most of the season in the minors.
And no one was more thankful than the Phillies, who are trying to chase them down.
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