NL Deadline Highlights Include Phils, Mets Pen Race, All In Padres

Forbes

4 days ago

The MLB trading deadline arrived at 6 PM Eastern on Thursday, and many high profile players and prospects changed hands. NL activity is being covered in this space; AL activity is summarized here.
A.J. Preller's at it again. The San Diego Padres are officially all in, as they added closer Mason Miller, starters JP Sears and Nestor Cortes, 1B/DH Ryan O'Hearn, OF Ramon Laureano and C Freddy Fermin. They gave up a lot - from incumbent starting pitchers Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek to mega-prospect SS Leodalis de Vries (#42 on my midseason top position player list - my hitter and pitcher lists are based purely on statistical performance relative to league and level, adjusted for age.) They also gave up some other solid prospects - P Boston Bateman (#53, to Orioles), P Henry Baez (#135, to Athletics), UT Victor Figueroa (#137, to Orioles) and P Braden Nett (#145, to Athletics). The farm has again been culled, but the Padre pen is fearsome. The loss of de Vries could sting long-term.
The Philadelphia Phillies were in on everybody, and ultimately got quite a bit done with the Minnesota Twins. They get two-plus years of control of closer Jhoan Duran (they also signed David Robertson recently) and added Harrison Bader into their outfield mix. They did pay dearly - OF Hendry Mendez (#75), C Eduardo Tait (#77) and P Mick Abel (#86) are all headed to Minnesota. Duran is quite good, but closers are fickle - just ask Phils' fans - and Duran will have his salary set in arbitration the next two seasons. Bader isn't all that much better of an all-around player than Max Kepler. The Phils are somewhat better, but…….and Tait could be really, really good down the road.
The New York Mets arguably waded even deeper into the bullpen market, acquiring Ryan Helsley, Tyler Rogers and Gregory Soto. Only Helsley is a needle-mover (and he's a rental), though Rogers does have some gaudy career stats against some of the rival Phillies' key hitters. They also picked up OF Cedric Mullins, but his underlying batted-ball metrics don't support his raw numbers. The Mets gave up some solid prospects, led by P Wellington Aracena (#81, to the Orioles), SS Jesus Baez (#111, to the Cardinals) and P Blade Tidwell (#141, to the Giants). Big league reliever Jose Butto also is headed to the Giants. I'm not sure the Mets got proper return on their deadline investments.
I was about to pencil the Milwaukee Brewers as 'Having It Both Ways', and then they beat the buzzer with the odd Shelby Miller/Jordan Montgomery acquisition from the Diamondbacks. The small market franchise takes on an underwater contract to get a injured late-inning reliever without giving up prospects. I fully expect these guys to get Montgomery healthy and turned around. They sent Nestor Cortes to the Padres, as they simply have too much starting pitching. They did dispatch a reasonably solid prospect in SS Jadher Areinamo (#147) to the Rays to pick up backup C Danny Jansen.
The Chicago Cubs didn't do anything massive but made a few minor upgrades. They added versatile arm Michael Soroka, middle relief arms Andrew Kittredge and Taylor Rogers and utilityman Willi Castro at the cost of several mid-range prospects, the best of whom is likely P Ryan Gallagher (#35).
The Cincinnati Reds are right in there trying to keep up with the Brewers and Cubs. Their two key pickups are 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes and P Zack Littell. Hayes is an elite defender, but has struggled mightily at the plate and is owed some real money, while Littell is a pitch-to-contact arm who could struggle in Great American Ball Park. P Adam Serwinowski (#74, to the Dodgers in a spinoff of the Littell deal) and SS Sammy Stafura (#131) were the key pieces moved.
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Who had the Los Angeles Dodgers landing here? Their adds were reliever Brock Stewart and OF Alex Call, but they also moved starter Dustin May to the Red Sox and OF James Outman to the Twins. Reasonably solid prospects moved both in and out the door, with P Serwinowski (#74, from the Reds) and OFs Zach Ehrhard (#69) and James Tibbs III (#263, both from the Red Sox) arriving and P Sean Linan (#11, to the Nationals) departing.
The Atlanta Braves are just trying to field a team at this point. Carlos Carrasco and Erick Fedde were brought aboard simply to fill short-term rotation spots, and they also bought low on Rockies' reliever Tyler Kinley. No prospects of meaningful value were surrendered.
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The St. Louis Cardinals held onto their supposedly available outfielders but moved pitchers Fedde, Helsley, Steven Matz and Phil Maton. In return they received some viable prospects, led by P Mason Molina (#41, from the Rangers), 1B Blaze Jordan (#43, from the Red Sox) and SS Jesus Baez (#111, from the Mets). All in all, they received decent value.
The Miami Marlins gave up on OF Jesus Sanchez, and it could come back to haunt them. He crushes the baseball, and they never truly gave him a chance to hit lefties. He goes to the Astros, with MLB starter Ryan Gusto and SS Chase Jaworsky (#256) and OF Esmil Valencia (#283) leading the package headed to Miami.
The San Francisco Giants moved OF Mike Yastrzemski and relievers Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval, and got a pretty respectable package in return for Rogers specifically. MLB reliever Jose Butto and P Blade Tidwell (#141) head that transaction, while C Jesus Rodriguez (#167, from the Yankees) led the return for Doval. All in all, solid value.
The Washington Nationals moved a score of small to medium-sized parts, like OF Call, Ps Soroka, Andrew Chafin. Luis Garcia and Kyle Finnegan, and UT Amed Rosario. The return was quantity over quality with P Linan (#11, from the Dodgers) the best prospect acquired.
The woeful Colorado Rockies moved out 3B Ryan McMahon and relievers Kinley and Jake Bird and took in a handful of prospects, the best of which came over from the Yankees - 2B Roc Riggio (#63) and P Griffin Herring (#140).
The Arizona Diamondbacks cleaned house, moving out 1B Josh Naylor, 3B Eugenio Suarez, OF Randal Grichuk and Ps Montgomery, Miller and Merrill Kelly. Quite frankly, the return was somewhat underwhelming, as the only acquired prospects appearing on my midseason lists were P Mitch Bratt (#4, from the Rangers) and P Ashton Izzi (#99, from the Mariners). Bratt isn't quite that good, he's more of a stats than stuff guy, but 1B Tyler Locklear, who has made my lists in the past but didn't in 2025, remains a viable asset.
The Pittsburgh Pirates also swept clean, moving 3B Hayes, starter Bailey Falter and relievers David Bednar and Caleb Ferguson. The Bucs got quantity but modest quality in return. Six players they acquired were on my midseason lists - SS Stafura (#131, from the Reds), P Jeter Martinez (#161, from the Mariners), OF Brian Sanchez (#189, from the Yankees), 1B Callan Moss (#197, from the Royals), OF Ivan Brethowr (#294, from the Cubs) and C Edgleen Perez (#339, from the Yankees), but none ranked very highly. Over the years, many players have gotten better when they left Pittsburgh - if that happens with Hayes, it may be the final nail for GM Ben Cherington.