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New York Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
MLB trade deadline 2025 live updates: Tracker, news, rumors and analysis of every deal
Major League Baseball's trade deadline is a moment in time. This season, the deadline is set at 6 p.m. ET on Thursday. In theory, absolutely nothing changes until that moment. In reality: Everything changes in the days leading up to the deadline. Nearly 70 trades were completed in the month before last year's trade deadline. The vast majority happened in the last two days, but the market began to pick up steam in the final week. A.J. Puk was traded five days before, Zach Eflin and Randy Arozarena were traded four days before, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Carlos Estevez were traded three days before, Isaac Paredes and Jason Adam were traded two days before, Tommy Edman and Yusei Kikuchi were traded one day before, and Jack Flaherty was traded in the final minutes before the deadline passed and Major League trades ceased. As of this morning, the trade deadline is three-and-half days away, and we're expecting some action. The Athletic's trade deadline live blog will be your go-to source for breaking news and instant analysis. We'll have our usual in-depth coverage on the main site — and you'll see plenty of links to that work here on the blog — but this will be our landing page for all things trade deadline. We'll be with you more or less all day, Monday to Thursday, presenting some of the reporting you might have missed and providing quick feedback when deals come together. For all of you arm-chair GMs — aren't we all? — this can be baseball's most exciting week outside of the playoffs. Whether your favorite team is buying, selling or threading the needle, thanks for joining us. May all of your two-month rentals be CC Sabathia, and all of your lottery ticket prospects be Yordan Alvarez.
New York Times
18-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Looking back at MLB's 2024 trade deadline: Which deals made an impact then and now?
In the hours leading up to last year's trade deadline, the New York Yankees traded for veteran reliever Enyel De Los Santos. They put him on waivers three weeks later. The Los Angeles Dodgers made a deal for utility man Amed Rosario, then gave him only 11 at-bats. The Milwaukee Brewers traded for lefty Tyler Jay and pitched him twice. Advertisement Nearly 70 trades were completed in the run-up to last July's deadline, and although some were career-changing and franchise-altering — Randy Arozarena leaving Tampa Bay, Tommy Edman and Jack Flaherty going to L.A. to win a championship — most were about as memorable as the saga of reliever Mike Baumann, who was traded in May, sold in July, sold again in July, and claimed off waivers in August. The five teams he played for combined to appear in two playoff games and win none of them. Although the trade deadline is among the most anticipated benchmarks of every season, not every deadline deal is worth remembering — or even noticing — and most can be fully evaluated only with the benefit of hindsight. It often takes a while to reach a final verdict. Today, we're looking back at some of the notable deals from last year's trade deadline. A few had real consequences in the short term, some are still reverberating today, and many you will have completely forgotten about by tomorrow — if you ever remembered them in the first place. As last year's trade deadline approached, the Dodgers had a considerable lead in the National League West, but they also had considerable depth issues up the middle and on the pitching staff. They addressed those problems in ways big and small. Rosario lasted less than three weeks on the roster, and Kiermaier was a regular less than a month before moving to the bench, but Edman, Kopech and Flaherty were game-changers. Edman needed some time to get healthy, but he became the team's primary center fielder before moving mostly to shortstop in the playoffs (because Miguel Rojas was hurt). Kopech was a dominant reliever down the stretch and pitched 10 times in the postseason, including once as an opener. Flaherty — the last blockbuster just before the deadline — became the team's ace, starting Game 1 of the NLCS and World Series (he pitched well enough in those series openers to help make up for falling flat in other postseason starts). Advertisement The impact was a championship. The cost, so far, has been minimal. Sweeney was called up by the Tigers late last year and became their everyday shortstop for a stunning postseason run, but he's been optioned back to Triple-A this season. Vargas has been a roughly league-average hitter for the White Sox. Edman and Kopech, meanwhile, are back with the Dodgers, Edman having signed a five-year extension in November. The most surprising playoff team of 2024 actually sold at the deadline. The Detroit Tigers were seemingly out of contention when they sent Flaherty to the Dodgers, but they surged into the postseason — and within a win of the ALCS — in part because Sweeney, acquired in the Flaherty deal, became their shortstop. Other playoff runs came in part because of actual trade deadline investments. The Yankees got to the World Series after acquiring Chisholm to solve their revolving door at third base (his OPS jumped almost 100 points after the trade). The Mets made a surprising run to the NLCS with help from a series of smaller additions. Winker became a crucial left-handed bat (especially in the playoffs), but the Mets also purchased Phil Maton from the Rays and traded for Ryne Stanek from the Mariners. Those two combined to make 13 playoff appearances. The Mets also traded for A's veteran Paul Blackburn, who was less effective as a depth starter. More interesting as trade deadline buyers were the Royals. In third place, with playoff odds hovering around 50 percent, the Royals made an early move for Nationals reliever Hunter Harvey, then further supplemented at the deadline by trading for starter Lorenzen, reliever Erceg, and White Sox infielder Paul DeJong. Lorenzen (1.57 ERA in seven games, six starts) and Erceg (more than 10 strikeouts for every walk and 11 late-season saves) were especially effective in getting the Royals into the playoffs for the first time in nine years, and then past the favored Baltimore Orioles in the wild-card round. There are other examples, but here we'll list five deadline deals from which the buyers didn't get the intended impact. At least not right away. Only three of these teams made the playoffs in 2024 (the Brewers, Padres and Phillies), and only one actually won a playoff series (the Padres), But a year later, all five are back in the hunt with some lasting impact from these deadline deals. Mears, Adam and Banks have stuck around to become important bullpen pieces for the Brewers, Padres and Phillies (Mears, in particular, was pretty awful in the second half of last season, but he's been great this year). Arozarena, too, has struck around as the Mariners take another shot at the postseason. They missed last year, but they're back in the hunt this season, and Arozarena's been one of their best players. Advertisement Then there's the Paredes trade. The Cubs didn't get much out of him (.633 OPS in 52 games) and missed the playoffs, but they included him in their offseason blockbuster trade for star right fielder Kyle Tucker, who's helped the team take control of the NL Central this season. What's the definition of a good trade? Does it depend on the player acquired, or the impact it has on the team's championship ambition? These trades can be evaluated differently depending on where you set the goalposts. Look at the post-trade numbers for these guys. Generally speaking, the key pieces were pretty good after the fact. The Astros took a lot of heat for trading for Kikuchi (who had a 4.71 ERA at the time), but he was awesome for Houston, making 10 starts with a 2.70 ERA. Soler gave the Braves an offensive jolt, Pérez made 10 pretty good starts for the Padres, Canha got on base at a good clip for the Giants, Puk was dominant for the Diamondbacks, Bell helped fill a void when Christian Walker was hurt, and both Montas and Junis were better after the trade than before. But the end results were… not much. The Astros were swept out of the playoffs before Kikuchi got into a game, Pérez also didn't pitch in the postseason (Montas did, but in a loss), the Giants didn't have a ton of at-bats for Canha, and none of the Mariners, Diamondbacks or Giants even made the postseason. The Astros can sleep a little easier knowing none of the guys they gave up in the Kikuchi deal has done much for the Blue Jays this year, but there are multiple years of team control for that to change. It's more fun to buy at the deadline, but it's occasionally more useful to sell. Trade deadline deals often take years to pay dividends for the selling team, but some of last year's trades are already making a difference. One year removed from his 2023 breakout, Thomas was having a good-not-great season when the offense-needy Guardians traded for him to be their new center fielder. He's been replacement-level or below ever since. Thomas did hit a big Guardians home run last postseason, but he's otherwise struggled offensively and with injuries. The Nationals sold when he still had some value, and Tena became their regular third baseman until prospect Brady House made his debut last month. The other prospects in the deal are still extremely young, but Clemmey has a lot of strikeouts as a teenager in A ball. Schreck, acquired by the Blue Jays in the Turner deal, also has yet to reach the big leagues, but he's having a good offensive season in the upper minors, suggesting he could be close (Turner hit pretty well after the trade, but did not get the Mariners into the playoffs and became a free agent). The Marlins ultimately could be among the big winners of last year's deadline. In return for Rogers — who's been basically a depth starter for the Orioles — the Marlins got Stowers, who's been one of their few bright spots and still has four years of team control remaining. Norby has been the Marlins' primary third baseman, while Snelling and Mazur are two of their top 11 prospects according to Keith Law. Hicks — acquired by the Tigers in the Kelly trade — went to the Marlins in the Rule 5 draft and has been pretty good as a semi-regular catcher, first baseman and DH. (The other piece of that Kelly deal, Owens, made his big league debut this season and threw a scoreless inning in each of his first two Tigers appearances.) Advertisement Nothing about the Red Sox's 2024 trade deadline worked. Kavadas, Lugo and Zeferjahn have been little more than up-and-down role players for the Angels — though Zeferjahn could have some staying power — but the Red Sox got next to nothing from any of their deadline rentals. Garcia had an 8.22 ERA, Lucas Sims had a 6.43, James Paxton got hurt after three starts, and Jansen hit .188 with three extra-base hits. The Red Sox didn't give up a ton to get any of them (though the minor leaguers in the Jansen deal are having decent seasons), but they didn't get much in return, either, and they missed the playoffs. Some of last year's deals might be primed for a do-over, especially if some key pitchers can get healthy in the next few weeks. The Orioles made moves at the 2024 deadline assuming they'd remain in contention in 2025. Instead, they were swept in the wild-card round last season, and they've been among the most disappointing teams in baseball this season. That means two of the relievers they acquired a year ago — pending free agents Dominguez and Soto — could be trade bait again. It would make sense to trade Eflin, too (he's also about to be a free agent), but Eflin got hurt late last month, and even before the injury, he was performing far worse this season than last season, leaving little hope that the Orioles could recoup what they gave up. Harvey, too, has been hurt while the Royals, too, have underperformed. Harvey could be another trade chip if he can get back on the mound in the next few weeks. Kiner-Falefa is providing his usual defense for the Pirates and reportedly is already generating trade interest. Two pitchers acquired at last year's trade deadline — veteran Aaron Civale by the Brewers and young Quinn Priester by the Red Sox —already have been traded again this year. (Top photo of Flaherty: Harry How / Getty Images)
