MLB trade deadline 2024 winners and losers

The July 30 trade deadline was sort of an optical illusion. On the surface, it seemed like a snoozer, only because the bulk of the marquee names — such as AL Cy Young Award favorite Tarik Skubal, two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell and four-time All-Star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — all stayed put.

That’s where a deadline draws its energy from: the bona fide blockbuster. We didn’t get the 2023 Juan Soto trade, or even the Justin Verlander/Max Scherzer deals of a year ago, when the Mets packaged six Cy Young Awards (and nearly $50 million) to facilitate their rotation fire sale.

But if you looked closely — past this deadline’s smoke — this still was a very busy shopping season. There were 68 trades in July, including 59 on the final weekend and 32 on deadline day alone, right up until pencils down at 6 p.m. The absence of the megastar, however, definitely had an impact on what teams were willing to part with in a sellers' market with prices that stayed overinflated to the very end.

As a result, those white-flag teams were willing to renovate their organizations with quantity rather than blue-chip quality, as the contenders mostly held tight to the top prizes in their farm systems.

“I think there was some pretty aggressive pricing this year, but that’s to be expected,” Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns said. “We certainly anticipated that going into this thing. We had a situation where you’ve got a lot of teams that were trying to add and teams for various reasons that were reluctant to sell. So that was a pretty clear dynamic that was going to yield the type of deadline that we had.”

And how did that dynamic manifest itself? Well, a total of 90 prospects were dealt in the month leading up to Tuesday’s deadline, including 88 in the final week. But it’s interesting to note that none of those prospects was considered to be in MLB’s top 100, according to Baseball America. It’s the first time that’s happened in the past decade.

Also, since 2015, at least two top 100 prospects (again according to Baseball America) were moved at each deadline.

“This particular deadline seemed like it was a lot higher prices,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said.

With that in mind, and the majority being low-wattage trades, let’s consider this year’s grading done on a curve. Here’s a breakdown of how the deadline standouts fared: 

WINNERS

1. Padres

They always get points for the effort alone. Never content to stand pat or sit on prospects, Huntington Station native A.J. Preller grabbed two of the best relievers available in the Rays’ Jason Adam and the Marlins’ Tanner Scott, effectively cornering the bullpen market. Preller seems to pillage his farm system every two years, from 2020 to 2022 and now this season, dealing six of his top 12 prospects at this deadline, including pitchers Robby Snelling (No. 3) and Dylan Lesko (No. 5).

2. Dodgers

Another organization with a seemingly bottomless supply of prospects, L.A. stepped up to snag the top rental starter in Jack Flaherty, who reportedly was headed to the Yankees — according to The Athletic — before concern over his medical records nudged Cashman to back out of the deal. Flaherty went 7-5 with a 2.95 ERA in 18 starts with the Tigers, making him a bargain with roughly $4.7 million left on his one-year deal. The trade cost the Dodgers their No. 3 prospect in switch-hitting catcher Thayron Liranzo and shortstop Trey Sweeney (No. 22). Just because they could, the Dodgers also tacked on Tommy Edman, Amed Rosario, Kevin Kiermaier and Michael Kopech.

3. Yankees

There’s a case to be made that Cashman failed by not getting starting rotation help at the deadline. His two-man lineup was equally troubling, though, and Cashman was able to find the ideal catalyst in Jazz Chisholm Jr., who immediately was energized by leaving the hopeless Marlins for the Bronx. Cashman also got two high K-rate pitchers for the bullpen — his deadline specialty — in Mark Leiter Jr. from the Cubs and Enyel De Los Santos from the Padres.

4. Mariners

Seattle was one of the few contenders not craving arms at the deadline. The Mariners’ 3.46 ERA ranked second in the majors, with a Luis Castillo-anchored rotation leading the way. President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto was able to focus his attention on offense and traded for Randy Arozarena and Justin Turner. Arozarena helps fortify an underperforming outfield that is without Julio Rodriguez (high ankle sprain) for an unspecified period. Turner will take over at DH with some playing time at first base.

5. Orioles

After they lost three-fifths of their rotation to UCL injuries, the Orioles’ primary need was clear. They satisfied that, to some degree, by dealing for the Rays’ Zach Eflin — picking up the roughly $21 million due to him through 2025 — and the Marlins’ Trevor Rogers. The Orioles also picked up bullpen help in Seranthony Dominguez and took Eloy Jimenez (approximately $7M left on his expiring contract) off the White Sox’s hands.  

6. Cardinals

Looking to hang in the NL’s wide-open wild-card race, the Cardinals roped in the Dodgers and White Sox for a three-team trade that netted them coveted starter Erick Fedde and sparkplug outfielder Tommy Pham. Fedde, who was 7-4 with a 3.11 ERA for the historically bad White Sox, comes with the added benefit of being on a bargain two-year, $15 million contract. Pham didn’t get a job until mid-April, but he was a key contributor for the NL champion Diamondbacks a year ago as a midseason pickup from the Mets (whom he ripped for their lack of work ethic).  

7. Mets

Stearns took the measured approach most anticipated at the deadline, adding three relievers, a back-end starter in Paul Blackburn and Jesse Winker’s lefty bat without sacrificing any prospects in the top 20. The Mets could’ve used another front-line starter in the wake of Kodai Senga’s calf injury, but with those exorbitant prices, Stearns went with the depth piece and now must hope his starting corps stays healthy.  

8. Marlins

It’s tough to reward the mail-it-in Marlins for blowing up another season, but new GM Peter Bendix, formerly of the Rays, at least took full advantage of the fire-sale situation to bolster his future with the franchise. Miami shipped out nine major-league players and got 15 highly regarded prospects in return, including nine now ranked in the Marlins’ top 30. It’s not as if second-year manager Skip Schumaker is going to be there after this season anyway, so Miami got an early start on the organizational reset, from top to bottom. 

LOSERS

1. White Sox

With the White Sox in the midst of a historically bad season, their fire sale didn’t include one of the deadline’s biggest prizes, Garrett Crochet. The ace lefty kneecapped GM Chris Getz by issuing public demands regarding usage and a contract extension for any trade suitors. Getz called Crochet’s tactics “hurtful,” and in a pitching-hungry market, Getz was unable to use the AL’s strikeout leader to help replenish an organization with a massive talent deficit. Chicago did unload the rest of Jimenez’s contract but remained stuck with Luis Robert Jr., whose injury-riddled season and subpar performance wiped out his deadline allure.  

2. Cubs

This was a head-scratcher. Trying to buy and sell at the deadline can be a hard needle to thread, and the Cubs chose to waffle, stuck in the limbo region of contention. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer stunned the industry by trading for the Rays’ Isaac Paredes, a third baseman coveted by a number of real contenders, getting him back after dealing Paredes at the 2017 deadline. Hoyer shipped off Christopher Morel for Paredes and later sent Leiter to the Yankees. A better strategy, given the Cubs’ 5% chance of making the playoffs, would have involved finding takers for Jameson Taillon, Hector Neris, Cody Bellinger and Ian Happ.  

3. Rockies

Headed for their sixth straight losing season, the Rockies punted on a chance for a productive deadline when they assured All-Star third baseman Ryan McMahon — one of their few trade chips — that he wouldn’t be dealt. Pending free agent Elias Diaz, a catcher with some pop, figured to be on the move but is hampered by leg injuries. The Rockies also wound up holding on to Cal Quantrill and Austin Gomber in a big sellers’ market for arms. Figure on the Rockies stretching that losing streak to a seventh year in 2025.

4. Angels

One of only six teams with a 0.0% chance of making the playoffs, according to FanGraphs, the Angels opted to stay on their merry-go-round of mediocrity and keep a handful of attractive chips in Tyler Anderson, Luis Rengifo, Taylor Ward and Kevin Pillar. So the team that couldn’t win in years past with both Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout — who just had a second knee surgery — still thinks (mistakenly) it can be competitive in 2025. The only two trades involved shipping off the expiring contracts of closer Carlos Estevez to the Phillies and reliever Luis Garcia to the Red Sox.

5. Giants

After being burned by the Snell deal through the first two injury-marred months (9.51 ERA in six starts), the Giants then were blessed by perfect timing. Snell, who tossed the season’s third no-hitter Friday night, suddenly snapped back to his Cy Young Award self in the weeks leading up to the deadline. He had a 0.75 ERA in his four starts before the no-hitter, allowing eight hits in 24 innings and striking out 30. Instantly, he should’ve been the top arm available even with next year’s $30 million option, which he’s likely to decline anyway. But the Giants chose to hold on to Snell rather than go for a deadline haul and traded for Mark Canha, who was reunited with his former A’s manager, Bob Melvin.

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.