Ranking the winners, losers and snoozers of the 2025 MLB trade deadline

New York Times

6 days ago

By Grant Brisbee, Stephen J. Nesbitt and Andy McCullough
Ever binged a show you found boring at first? Then you got hooked and started spending time tumbling down internet rabbit holes and debating plot theories on Reddit. It wasn't until the final credits rolled that you unglued your eyeballs from the screen and realized your condition. You were exhausted. You looked awful. You needed a drink of water.
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That's how tracking this year's MLB trade deadline felt. A slow-moving market morphed into a sprint over the past 24 hours, and now Mason Miller is a Padre, Shane Bieber a Blue Jay, David Bednar a Yankee and Carlos Correa an Astro … again.
It's time to sort all 30 MLB teams into the only categories that matter this time of year: Winners, losers and snoozers. Winners are buyers or sellers who addressed their clubs' needs and got better without getting fleeced. Losers overpaid, misread the market or made minor moves when big swings were needed to address areas of need. Snoozers snoozed.
Sounds nice, come to think of it.
Baltimore Orioles
We were really torn on this one. The Orioles are here because this season has been a failure. But once here, Baltimore's front office did what they had to do these past two weeks. The team had a stockpile of pending free agents, and general manager Mike Elias cashed in that stockpile in an efficient fashion that could prove effective down the road. It feels silly to declare Baltimore a winner in a season in which the club entered with World Series aspirations only to become one of the most active sellers by July. Perhaps this is the sort of losing season that could be a springboard back to contending. Give them credit, at the least, for decisiveness. — AM
Colorado Rockies
Rejoice, ye faithful. The Rockies finally acted like a regular bad team at the deadline and sold. We shouldn't be giving them bonus points for doing the most obvious thing a rebuilding team can do, but I can't help it. One million bonus points. They're in the winners section before I even look up the prospects they got in return for Ryan McMahon, Jake Bird and Tyler Kinley.
Now that I've looked up the prospects, sure! They're prospects, alright. One of them is named Roc Riggio, which is an incredible Rockies name. It also sounds like Scooby Doo talking about Astros Hall of Famers. Even before the Rockies get anything out of these young players, they're winners in my book. I'm so proud of them. – GB
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Houston Astros
Think back to the end of the 2021 season. Carlos Correa was 27 years old and a free agent. He was coming off a fifth-place MVP finish, Gold Glove and 7 WAR season. He was one of the clubhouse leaders on a championship winner. He was a superstar with the world in front of him. This was about 1,300 days ago, people.
Since then, one-year deals, failed physicals, IL trips, All-Star seasons, a multi-year deal with all kinds of club options and finally a trade back to where it all started. What a weird, weird hiccup in what was a completely normal Hall of Fame path. While it's hard to expect the same kind of elite performance from his peak, it was just last year that he was outstanding. With the Twins picking up $30 million of his contract it's a worthy gamble for an old friend, who is joining a team that's already much better than most people expected them to be. — GB
Kansas City Royals
The Royals' most impactful move was extending starter Seth Lugo rather than dangling him at the trade deadline. They also did well with their smaller moves. They got a lefty-mashing outfielder, Randal Grichuk; a righty-mashing outfielder, Mike Yastrzemski (OK, mashing might be overstating); a reunion with utility infielder Adam Frazier; and three major league arms — Stephen Kolek, Ryan Bergert and Bailey Falter — for catcher Freddy Fermin and two minor leaguers. That's tidy trade-deadline work for an organization that's still on the periphery of the playoff race. They got a bit better, and they'll now have Kolek, Bergert, Falter and Lugo for 2026 and beyond. — SN
New York Mets
While other teams pursued pitchers with multiple years of team control, David Stearns scooped up two of the best rental relievers, Ryan Helsley and Tyler Rogers, without doing much damage to his farm system. On deadline day he swooped in for outfielder Cedric Mullins. Is there a chance the Mets will miss the surplus value of outfielder Drew Gilbert or pitcher Blade Tidwell? Sure. But those are gaps easily plugged in the future with owner Steve Cohen's wallet. This is the closest the Mets have come to looking like Cohen's dream, the East Coast version of the Dodgers, using a bustling minor-league system to set up the big-league club for October success. —AM
New York Yankees
The Yankees improved in several areas at the deadline as general manager Brian Cashman utilized a plethora of catching prospects to help the big-league club. Ryan McMahon offers strong defense, cost certainty and some potential offensive upside at third base. Austin Slater should aid the lineup against left-handed pitching. The relief duo of David Bednar and Jake Bird can keep traffic off the bases in the late innings. Camilo Doval, a last-minute acquisition, is more of a wild card, but has flashed the potential to be a closer in the past. It's a good haul. Will the influx of new talent outweigh the team's propensity for sloppy play? We'll find out in October. — AM
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Philadelphia Phillies
The Phillies needed a closer. So Dave Dombrowski went out and got a closer. Jhoan Duran has been one of the best relievers in baseball since he debuted in 2022. Duran is under team control through 2027, but make no mistake: This deal is about this October. Philadelphia has the best starting rotation in baseball. The lineup features battle-tested veterans. And now the bullpen has a final boss. Dombrowski did what needed to be done, and he managed to protect top prospects Andrew Painter and Aidan Miller. — AM
San Diego Padres
A.J. Preller is currently levitating above the roof of Petco Park, emitting an unnatural glow and a humming sound that's somewhere between a cricket and a bagpipe. Police are on the scene, but there's no urgency, no panic. They've been through this before. This is just what Preller does around this time of year. He'll come down on his own.
Leo De Vries might end up a superstar, a cosmic credit card bill for the Fernando Tatis Jr. trade, but it's hard to care about that from here. Preller's single-minded mission is to make the Padres better and do it now now now now, and that's exactly what he's done.— GB
Seattle Mariners
Do you remember the last time the Mariners traded for a corner infielder, then went back and immediately traded with the same team for another one? It was 2006, when they acquired Eduardo Pérez and Ben Broussard from Cleveland. The tandem combined for 198 games and -1.6 WAR, which is bad enough. Except the Mariners gave up Asdrúbal Cabrera and Shin-Soo Choo, who combined for 31 seasons, 65 WAR and a couple All-Star Games.
Those deals don't have much in common with the Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez trades, almost two decades later, but it's an amusing note for amateur historians of general Mariners malaise. What else can you say about what they did at this deadline? They had obvious holes in their lineup, and they fixed them with two of the best players available at the position, without emptying the farm. As clear a win as there is. – GB
The Athletics
The A's organization doesn't deserve a lick of credit for anything, and you do not, under any circumstances, 'gotta hand it to them.' But they haven't been in their traditional sell-sell-sell mode over the last couple seasons, preferring instead to lock up a variety of players to long-term deals, ostensibly for their eventual home in Las Vegas. So they weren't going to trade Mason Miller unless they got one of the very best prospects in the game, which is exactly what they got in De Vries. They held out for one of the best prospects traded since Yoan Moncada, and they won, with some other talented prospects to boot. No other place to put 'em but the winners' section. — GB
Arizona Diamondbacks
The Diamondbacks aren't necessarily here because of the prospects they got back in returns for their deals. The Eugenio Suárez return seemed a little light, but the Merrill Kelly haul was more than ample. All in all, they did what a rebuilding team is supposed to do, trading some of their best players away for future contributors. The wrinkle is that the Diamondbacks aren't supposed to be rebuilding at all, and it's hard not to wonder if they should be the ones half-going for it, like the Angels. Maybe they should have taken the draft picks for their free agents after the year and see what they have. Anything else? Frankly, that's loser talk. But at least their owner will be happy they got rid of Jordan Montgomery. – GB
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Chicago Cubs
Sometimes when you snooze, you lose. No contender needs a great starter like the Cubs. There was plenty of smoke, but when the deadline came and went there was no fire. The Cubs got three veteran pitchers — starter Michael Soroka and relievers Andrew Kittredge and Taylor Rogers — and utility player Willi Castro, a league-average hitter. That's all. They declined to part with the top prospects that might have brought back a top-end starter. They also decided not to upgrade the lineup in their one (and only?) season with Kyle Tucker. The answer to their third-base question, apparently, is Matt Shaw staying hot. It was a surprisingly conservative approach in a crucial season. — SN
Cincinnati Reds
An evaluator texted Wednesday afternoon, 'What on earth did the Reds just do?' They had just acquired Gold Glove third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes from the Pirates for shortstop prospect Sammy Stafura and reliever Taylor Rogers. Hayes is one of the best defenders in baseball, but whatever value he brings with the glove is drowned out by the fact he's also one of the worst hitters in the sport. Starter Zack Littell is a solid add, but the bullpen lost Taylor Rogers and didn't replace him. But the lingering question is whether the Reds can solve Hayes' hitting woes before his contract is up in 2030. If he can become an average hitter, they'll have won this trade. But he's got a long way to go to be average. — SN
Detroit Tigers
The Tigers certainly were active. They rebuilt half their pitching staff this week. But Charlie Morton, Chris Paddack, Kyle Finnegan, Paul Sewald, Randy Dobnak, Rafael Montero and Codi Heuer is not a winning deadline. It's depth. Where are the bats? Where are the stud late-inning relievers? The issue is not that the Tigers lost the individual trades. It's that they were so unwilling to overpay on elite relievers that they didn't come close to landing any of them. Instead, they incrementally improved and didn't raid their prospect stash. Feels great until it's the ninth inning of a playoff game and you could have had Ryan Helsley or David Bednar trotting in from the bullpen. — SN
Los Angeles Angels
The year is 2024. I have renamed this document 'Winners, Losers and Snoozers 2025,' and I have already set up an empty template to share with my co-writers in a few months. The only team I have placed anywhere is the Angels, and I've put them in the 'losers' section. Let's see if I have to move them.
2025 update: Dammit, Angels.
The Angels are out here stockpiling BBs, while the rest of the AL West is shopping at the armory, and for what? A team that's several games behind several teams in the wild-card chase, not to mention completely out of the divisional race. Please, someone in the Angels front office set a rumor that the 2026 deadline is in the middle of August. Two relievers in their mid-to-late 30s? Is this a bit? It is hard to imagine less consequential pieces to add for a less consequential team.
I'll just say it: I'm starting to wonder if the Angels even know what they're doing. — GB
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Los Angeles Dodgers
Brock Stewart? Alex Call? Trading away a starting pitcher, even if he's oft-injured and mercurial? Buddy, your problems run deeper than that. The Dodgers had one of the snooziest deadlines an active team can have, even if they were technically 'active.' And when you're in the Dodgers' position, when you snooze, you lose. It isn't what you want from a team that's been leaking oil, dignity and other viscous fluids in July. There was more room for them to get aggressive and weird.
However, 10 bonus points are awarded for acquiring James Tibbs III, the first-round pick the Giants traded away for Rafael Devers. He has the chance to do a very, very funny thing over the next decade. — GB
Minnesota Twins
Well, they sure incinerated that roster. Jhoan Duran, Carlos Correa, Danny Coulombe, Harrison Bader, Brock Stewart, Willi Castro, Griffin Jax, Ty France and Louie Varland. Gone. All gone. Sheesh. The Twins acquired talented prospects, but it's not yet time to celebrate organizational depth. For Jhoan Duran, they got catcher Eduardo Tait — likely the second-best prospect moved at the deadline — and former first-round pick Mick Abel. They got a couple other likely top-20 organizational prospects. They acquired change-of-scenery candidates James Outman and Taj Bradley. And they extracted themselves from a long-term commitment with Correa, who's far more likely to participate in October baseball in Houston throughout his contract than in Minnesota. — SN
#MNTwins included $30 million with Carlos Correa to Houston in the trade.
— DanHayesMLB (@DanHayesMLB) July 31, 2025
Pittsburgh Pirates
GM Ben Cherington's stated intention was to 'be prepared to strike' if he saw chances to improve the 2026 ballclub. So that's how I'm grading the club's trade deadline. The Pirates didn't get better for 2026. Understandable as it was to trade David Bednar, escape Ke'Bryan Hayes' long-term contract and keep Mitch Keller, the only new acquisition who could impact the lineup next season is 24-year-old catcher Rafael Flores. He can really hit, and they'll try him at catcher. The Pirates' top prospect list got more interesting with the additions of Flores, Sammy Stafura, Edgleen Perez, Brian Sanchez and Jeter Martinez. But, ultimately, they got more quantity than quality, and other than saving some money the 2026 outlook is unimproved. Perhaps the big-swing trades will come this offseason. — SN
St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals had held on to closer Ryan Helsley looking for the perfect time to trade him. This seemed to be that time. The return, though, was light. Keith Law described it as 'a heist.' An evaluator who'd been impressed with how little Phillies GM Dave Dombrowski gave up to acquire Duran then said the Mets' David Stearns 'blew him out of the water' with the Helsley deal. Jesus Baez is a massively skilled prospect, but he's raw and a long way off. None of the other minor leaguers acquired at the deadline — Nate Dohm, Frank Elissalt, Blaze Jordan — project to be above-average big leaguers. The two prospects from the Phil Maton trade are not yet known. — SN
San Francisco Giants
It wasn't that long – three weeks ago! – that the Giants were already the winners of the trade deadline. They had Rafael Devers, who still might be the best player traded this month. Since then, they've been the worst team in baseball, so bad in July that they committed to an aggressive sell-off. They have a thin system in the middle of a mostly unexciting 2025, so the prospects will help. The prospects they got in return for Tyler Rogers from the Mets, in particular, will have some name value and a Giants debut sooner rather than later. The Giants' trade of Yastrzemski might have been to open a spot for Gilbert on the active roster, even. Still hard to see them as anything but losers after the last few weeks, though. We can retroactively regrade them if the prospects pan out, but until then, they'll have to sit in the corner and think about what they did. – GB
Toronto Blue Jays
There were so many high-end relievers dealt during these past few days, from rentals like Bednar and Tyler Rogers to long-term solutions like Duran and Miller. The Blue Jays settled for middle relievers Serantony Dominguez and Louis Varland while taking a flier on rehabbing starter Shane Bieber. It's possible Dominguez and Varland deepen the relief corps enough to last through October. It's possible Bieber, as he returns from Tommy John surgery, can crack the postseason rotation. But on the surface Toronto missed an opportunity to make a sizable addition to a club that has outplayed its run differential to reach first place in the American League East. — AM
Atlanta Braves
Not much has gone right for the Braves this year. And not much happened for them at the deadline. Alex Anthopoulos is one of the most aggressive movers and shakers in the sport. But he mostly sat this one out. It was probably not easy to build up a market for Marcell Ozuna. More puzzling was the inability to find some sort of return for closer Raisel Iglesias, even given his struggles this season. Hard to rip the Braves for that, though. — AM
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Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox added some reinforcements to its pitching staff, in the form of Steven Matz and Dustin May. And that was about it for a club that has surged back into the thick of the American League East. Matz has made himself useful in his first season as a reliever. Is May good enough to start a postseason game for Boston? He was unlikely to crack the October rotation for the Dodgers, which made him expendable for the defending champs. It was an underwhelming week for a club that has built momentum on the field. — AM
Chicago White Sox
Even after Luis Robert Jr. hit .353 in July to surpass the Mendoza line, his market still wasn't robust enough to persuade the White Sox to move him. So they once again kicked that can down the road. Two $20 million club options remain on his contract. Moving forward he's a rental, and also not. All told, it was quiet relative to the White Sox's past two deadlines. They traded Adrian Houser and Austin Slater, then got back to thinking about trading Robert this offseason, or next trade deadline, or next offseason, or … — SN
Cleveland Guardians
This might have been an even newsier deadline for the Cleveland Grind Machine had Emmanuel Clase been available. Still speculation swirled connecting Steven Kwan to San Diego, yet he's still here. The Guardians' only significant move, trading Shane Bieber to Toronto, was a good one. Because Bieber is expected to decline his 2026 player option, the Guardians did well to get Khal Stephen, a fast-rising pitching prospect, for effectively a rental starter. It's not a feel-good way for Bieber's union with Cleveland to end, but it's a strong return for the front office. — SN
Miami Marlins
A year ago, Peter Bendix executed a feverish fire sale to fill out his farm system. The Marlins opted for more restraint this deadline. Bendix hung on to his two most intriguing pitchers, Sandy Alcantara and Edward Cabrera. The organization will bank on Alcantara continuing to improve as he gets further removed from elbow surgery. As a franchise, Miami resides at an interesting nexus. They may not be as good as the team's internal projections suggest, but they are better than the general public thinks. The club has played good baseball for the past two months. There is value in keeping this group together as they play on the edges of the wild-card race. — AM
Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers weren't expected to be active buyers at the deadline, and they delivered. Crickets, baby! After making an early move to add catcher Danny Jansen from the Rays, the Brewers' only other moves were to trade away one lefty (Nestor Cortes Jr.) and acquire another (Jordan Montgomery.) It's hard to argue with what's been working for the division-leading Brewers, but on paper the lineup underwhelms. We've said that before. I'd feel better about their chances of weathering postseason pitching if they had upgraded an outfield spot and either shortstop or third base. — SN
Tampa Bay Rays
Well, at least they got Griffin Jax. But Tampa Bay was not exactly one reliever away from a title. A little more than a month ago, the Rays were 10 games above .500 and within a game of first place in the American League East. Today they reside in fourth, after a wretched July that saw their postseason probability crumble. Tampa Bay pivoted into selling, but there was only so much to sell. Faced with a similar situation last summer, the team put in a high volume of maneuvers. They were quieter this time around. The Rays declined to ship out veterans like Yandy Díaz or Brandon Lowe. The long-term vision for the future of the franchise, which is expected to be sold by the end of the season, remains murky. — AM
Texas Rangers
The Rangers have been one of the hottest teams in baseball over the last several weeks, but you'll excuse them for not going all in with this roster. Danny Coulombe and Merrill Kelly are perfectly helpful additions to a postseason push, but nobody is going to confuse them for blockbuster additions. This would seem to put the Rangers firmly in the snoozers camp, except that's exactly where they should be? Maybe they're winners and snoozers, just like I'll be when this delightful story is filed. — GB
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Washington Nationals
There wasn't much for new general manager Mike DeBartolo to trade this week. That's part of the reason he got the job — the franchise had been spinning its wheels under Mike Rizzo's leadership for the past few years. DeBartolo still did his best. He made a bunch of moves that could aid the margins of the club's 40-man roster but adding a grab bag of potential swingmen and middle relievers and platoon outfielders won't change the franchise's outlook. That will take a while. — AM