MLB trade deadline winners and losers: Padres and Astros go big while Twins trade away a third of their roster and Dodgers stay quiet

Yahoo

2 days ago

The 2025 MLB trade deadline finally arrived Thursday, and it didn't disappoint — at least not in the sheer quantity of trades.
From 4 p.m. ET to a little after the deadline at 6 p.m. ET, MLB teams executed 24 different trades, 14 of which came after 5:30 p.m. ET. It was a wild flurry of roster transactions in which some teams remade their rosters, for better and for worse.
Not every notable player on the market was traded. Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Joe Ryan, Chicago White Sox outfielder Luis Robert Jr., Miami Marlins starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara, Cleveland Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan, San Diego Padres starting pitcher Dylan Cease and Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Mitch Keller all stayed put despite days of reported discussions between teams.
Here are the winners and losers from this year's trade deadline.
Winners
Carlos Correa
If you're a high-priced player on a team that has clearly decided it has zero interest in continuing to compete for this season and possibly longer (more on that below), a homecoming is always welcome.
Correa was a first overall pick for the Houston Astros in 2012 and starred for the big league team from 2015 to 2021. Despite exiting the team in free agency, he remains a popular figure in both the organization and its fanbase. Astros players were reportedly elated he's coming back and he confirmed to MLB.com that Houston was the only team for whom he'd waive his no-trade clause.
The return will see Correa play a position other than shortstop for the first time of his professional career, all 1,492 games of it. The Astros specifically made this trade because a hamstring injury to Isaac Paredes opened up third base, and that's where he'll play for the foreseeable future. Correa was actually set to play third back in 2023 until his deal with the New York Mets went up in smoke.
This isn't the same Correa Astros fans might remember — the Twins were looking to move him for a reason and ate $30 million of his remaining $102 million to do so — but the chance to ride out your career with a franchise you're more than comfortable is something very few players get.
Mason Miller
The hardest throwing pitcher in baseball woke up on Thursday on a bad team playing in a minor league stadium and left it playing for a good team playing in a major league stadium. That's what we call an upgrade.
With four years of team control left after this season, any Miller trade was bound to be huge, and the San Diego Padres didn't disappoint by parting with MLB Pipeline No. 3 overall prospect Leo De Vries and three other youngsters for Miller and starting pitcher J.P. Sears.
That's a staggering price to pay, but Miller could easily make himself worth it by throwing some key innings in the playoffs. He's flanked by three other All-Star relievers in the San Diego bullpen, but this is still about as ideal an outcome he could have found with the A's set to play in Sacramento until at least 2027.
Jerry Dipoto
The Seattle Mariners entered Thursday tied for the final AL wild-card spot and were clearly in need of an upgrade. President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto, baseball's most prolific trade artist, delivered.
In exchange for a collection of lesser-known prospects, the Mariners got a new corner infield with first baseman Josh Naylor and third baseman Eugenio Suarez. Suarez, who ranks fifth in MLB in homers with 36, was the big prize, and it's a reunion with a still-popular player in Seattle to boot.
Naylor and Suarez both figure to enter the middle of the Mariners' lineup, the kind of shift the fanbase has been waiting for over a very long time. They could have gone a little further, especially considering Suarez is a pure rental, but this is suddenly a very interesting roster if the rotation stays healthy.
The Mets' bullpen
The Padres and Philadelphia Phillies might have both added big-time closers with Miller and Jhoan Duran, but no team reinforced its bullpen quite like the New York Mets.
Behind All-Star closer Edwin Diaz, the Mets have added Ryan Helsley from the St. Louis Cardinals, Tyler Rogers from the San Francisco Giants and Gregory Soto of the Baltimore Orioles to a group that already included Ryne Stanek and Reed Garrett. The Mets didn't need an overhaul as much as some teams, but that is an enviable group.
The NL East is a two-horse race between the Mets and Phillies and both teams took measures to make sure it's not the bullpen that costs them the crown.
Craig Breslow's critics
The Boston Red Sox currently hold the second AL wild-card spot and they did not act very interested in keeping it at the trade deadline, acquiring struggling Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Dustin May and reliever Steven Matz from the St. Louis Cardinals.
But don't worry. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, who caught plenty of flak in the Rafael Devers disaster, tried really hard to do more.
Losers
The Twins' remaining players
Hoo boy, where to start.
We figured the Minnesota Twins would be a seller at this year's deadline. They are 51-57 and 5.5 games out of the final AL wild-card spot, they had some players set to hit free agency and they weren't going down a chance to save some significant money. It's just that no one thought they would go this far.
Here's the full list of Twins players who now play on other teams after Thursday:
Carlos Correa, SS (Astros)
Willi Castro UTL (Cubs)
Jhoan Duran RHP (Phillies)
Griffin Jax, RHP (Rays)
Danny Coulombe LHP (Rangers)
Chris Paddack, RHP (Tigers)
Harrison Bader OF (Phillies)
Ty France, 1B (Blue Jays)
Louis Varland, RHP (Blue Jays)
Brock Stewart, RHP (Dodgers)
That is 10 players, also known as 38.5% of their active roster. That's their five (five!) best relievers and five players with multiple years of team control remaining after 2025. And they could have done even more, as Joe Ryan was arguably more valuable than any player on that list.
This all makes more sense when you consider the team is reportedly $440 million in debt (they save $70 million from the Correa trade alone), but that is a galling amount of talent to part with and still consider yourself a big-league team. You can stop watching this team this year, and probably for a while.
The L.A. Dodgers
The Mets got better. The Phillies got better. The Padres got better. The Dodgers got ... slightly better.
Even after a relatively inactive deadline, this is still one of the best teams in baseball on paper, but that's kind of the problem, isn't it? The Dodgers are talented, but injuries and a struggling bullpen have prevented them from breaking out of a crowded pack. The Padres are only three games behind them and now have good reason to believe they can catch them.
To be fair, the Dodgers didn't make bad moves. Brock Stewart gives them a very solid arm in a bullpen that needs it, Alex Call, acquired from the Washington Nationals, gives them a decent platoon in left field alongside Michael Conforto and they probably weren't going to get much use out of Dustin May going forward.
Those are still just improvements on the margins, though, and we're used to the Dodgers taking at least one big swing at each deadline. They brought in multiple key players to their World Series run last year, and have previously acquired the likes of Max Scherzer, Trea Turner, Manny Machado, Yu Darvish and Rich Hill under president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman.
Consider this deadline a big bet by the Dodgers that they already have enough talent returning from the injured list to remain the NL's top dog.
Luis Robert Jr.
The luster was sand-blasted off Robert a while ago, but it's getting ridiculous how long he's been surrounded by trade speculation.
Once again, some teams were reported to be discussing the outfielder with the Chicago White Sox. And once again, the White Sox opted to keep him. He now has two $20 million team options remaining on his contract.
Robert is essentially a reclamation project given his struggles since his All-Star season in 2023, but you would have to imagine he would be fine with removing himself from the White Sox organization in any way possible. Instead, he will remain with a team currently holding a 40-69 record. At least there are fewer ignominious record to break this season.
Ben Cherington
The Pittsburgh Pirates made quite a few trades, such as sending closer David Bednar to the New York Yankees and third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes to the Cincinnati Reds, but if you're going to sell, you definitely shouldn't be left with three players who are pending free agents.
Tommy Pham, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Andrew Heaney are still Pirates, at least until the offseason, as is Mitch Keller, who received significant interest amid a career year.
It's hard to say the Pirates didn't leave talent on the table, but they've never exactly been known for seizing the day under Cherington, their general manager.
The Padres' farm system
There might have been only one GM in MLB would have made that Mason Miller trade from the Padres' side: A.J. Preller.
Yes, Miller is amazing, but you know who else might be amazing? De Vries, a switch-hitting shortstop who might have the highest ceiling of any player in the minor leagues. The A's loved Miller, but this was not a hard decision for a team prioritizing its future years in Vegas over its Sacramento present. Get ready for the Leo de Vegas shirts.
Thursday might have been the apex of Preller as a concept — he has never been shy about trading high-ceiling prospects when a star is on the table. From Thursday morning to Thursday afternoon the Padres traded away 13 prospects for Miller, designated hitter Ryan O'Hearn, outfielder Ramon Laureano, infielder Will Wagner and starting pitcher Nestor Cortes Jr.
These were not insignificant prospects either.
So you can probably expect the Padres' farm system to go down a few rankings next time around. We keep assuming Preller's aggression will eventually catch up with him, but we all know what will make it worth the prospect price.