After shipping Enrique Hernández back to Los Angeles last week, the Red Sox addressed their newfound lack of infield depth with a last-minute trade right before Tuesday’s trade deadline, acquiring Luis Urías from the Brewers for right-handed pitching prospect Bradley Blalock.

Urías only turned 26 years old in June, but he’s already had six years of big league experience under his belt. He was a highly regarded prospect with the Padres before getting dealt to the Brewers in the Trent Grisham trade ahead of the 2020 season, then broke out the next year, posting a 112 wRC+ with 23 home runs and a .249/.345/.445 slash line. That kind of production from an infielder who can capably play anywhere on the dirt seemed to solidify him as a core piece in Milwaukee’s lineup. Unfortunately, a hamstring injury suffered on the first day of the season cost him all of April and May, and once he returned from his injury, he was a shell of his former self, limping to a 60 wRC+ in 20 games in June and getting demoted to Triple-A at the end of the month. Since then, he’s posted a .250/.392/.447 slash line in 20 games for Triple-A Nashville, good for a 113 wRC+. Read the rest of this entry »

Ranked and briefly analyzed below are the prospects who have been traded during the loosely defined “deadline season,” which for simplicity’s sake I consider all of July. Most of the deals these prospects were a part of have been analyzed at length on this site. An index of those pieces can be found here, or by clicking the hyperlink in the “Trade” column below, which will take you to the relevant article. I’ve moved all of the 35+ FV and above players listed here to their new orgs over on The Board, so you can click through to see where they rank among their new teammates and read their full scouting reports. Our Farm Rankings, which update live, also reflect these changes, so you can see where teams’ systems stack up following the draft and the deadline compared to prior to the draft and relevant 2022 prospect graduations.

I’ve included the compensatory draft pick the Cubs will receive after they extend Willson Contreras a qualifying offer and he signs elsewhere, as they will essentially be trading him for that pick if he signs with another team this offseason, which I think is the most likely outcome. Now, on to the rankings. Read the rest of this entry »

Episode 986

On this week’s show, we welcome a major league veteran and Phillies broadcaster for a chat before reacting to an overwhelming week of trade deadline moves, as well as the loss of a broadcasting legend.

• To kick things off, David Laurila welcomes Chad Durbin, a TV analyst for the Philadelphia Phillies with 14 years of major league pitching on his resume. The pair discuss the Phillies’ moves at the deadline and how new faces like Noah Syndergaard, Brandon Marsh, and old pal David Robertson could help the squad down the stretch. They also discuss the Juan Soto trade, and how he stacks up compared to another former National great: Bryce Harper. Durbin also offers insights into clubhouse leadership and chemistry, what it was like to play with Pedro Martinez, and why he could not get Magglio Ordóñez out. [4:37]
• After that, Eric Longenhagen is joined by Jay Jaffe and Jason Martinez for an extended conversation about Tuesday’s trade deadline. The trio discuss Soto’s historical significance, the haul he was traded for, and the King Kong vs. Godzilla battle that is the Dodgers vs. the Padres. They also break down playing for 162 vs. playing for the playoffs, which teams should have done more, and which clubs now find themselves out of the race, as well as the intriguing prospects who now find themselves with new homes. Finally, the group laments the passing of Vin Scully, one of the most beloved icons in the sport. We hear about how Scully had an impact on anyone who heard or was lucky enough to meet him, and how the baseball world stopped to remember him. [33:23]

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Over the past two weeks, the FanGraphs staff has written nearly 60 pieces dedicated to analyzing the 2022 trade deadline, from preview posts to recaps of the deadline’s winners and losers, and a whole bunch of transaction analysis in between. It’s a lot to sort through, so to assist you in finding anything you may have missed during the flurry, I’ve rounded up all of our deadline pieces in one place. You’ll find the broader preview and summary pieces listed first, followed by a team-by-team listing of the transaction analyses that involved your favorite squad, either as buyers or sellers. In instances where we dissected a transaction across multiple pieces — hello, Juan Soto trade! — you’ll see them grouped together. I’ll add any other relevant pieces as they trickle in.

As always, all of the pieces linked below are free to read, but they took time and resources to produce. If you enjoyed our coverage of the trade deadline and are in a position to do so, we hope you’ll sign up for a FanGraphs Ad-Free Membership. It’s the best way to both support our work and experience the site. Now, on to the roundup! Read the rest of this entry »

It’s the day after the trade deadline, which always means one thing: baseball writers begrudgingly cleaning up their gross, sparkling-water-can-filled workspaces. Oh, wait, actually it means two things: that, and a flood of “who won the trading deadline” articles.

This year, I’m going to do something slightly different. I won’t claim that I’ve re-invented the wheel, but I’ve always thought that those winner/loser columns are too deterministic and don’t leave enough room for nuance. I thought about listing each team that made a trade as a winner, with a “maybe” appended to indicate that we don’t know what will happen in the future; if you really want to know who won and who lost, check back in October… or maybe in October of 2025. I thought about making each team a “loser (maybe)” for the same reason. In the end, I settled on some broad archetypes. I’ll throw a subjective grade on how much I like the move, and also endeavor to explain the risks around each team’s deadline. You can find all of our deadline coverage here. Let’s get started. Read the rest of this entry »

Another trade deadline has come and gone, and I must say, this one was more exciting than I expected. I didn’t see the Yankees, Astros, or Dodgers making huge splashes, given that all three are in a daunting position both for first place in their divisions and a first-round playoff bye. There were also relatively few short-term rental options available; Juan Soto, Frankie Montas, and Luis Castillo, among others, could always be traded, but with none of them free agents after this season, teams could also pull them back if they didn’t like the offers. Meanwhile, players like Willson Contreras, Ian Happ and Carlos Rodón stayed put, also to my surprise. By and large, though, we had a whirlwind of a 48-hour period leading up to the deadline.

So, who won and who lost? That’s a bit of a loaded question, because the definition of winning and losing varies depending on each franchise’s goals. A contending team improving, a rebuilding team getting worse but acquiring a stable of prospects, or an indolent team only re-signing its 37-year-old closer are all things that can be considered a win in one way or the other. But we’re here to do some hardcore ranking, so let’s look only at who improved themselves the most in 2022.

To keep this all science-y rather than a somewhat arbitrary exercise, I first projected the entire league’s rest of season in ZiPS and then repeated the exercise with all trades since July 19 unwound. Since some teams primarily got overall playoff boosts and some teams saw improvement mainly in terms of World Series gains, I took each team’s rank in both categories and then ranked everyone by the harmonic mean of those two ranks. Read the rest of this entry »

A lot happened on a frantic deadline day, so you wouldn’t be blamed for missing out on this trade between the Dodgers and Blue Jays that came together down the stretch. But we at FanGraphs are dedicated to covering every deadline transaction, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. This is a four-player deal, with each team involved receiving two of them. Here’s the basic breakdown:

Blue Jays get:

• RHP Mitch White
• INF Alex De Jesus

Dodgers get:

• RHP Nick Frasso
• LHP Moises Brito

First, let’s break down the Jays’ return. As expected, a great scramble occurred at the deadline for the limited amount of starting pitching available. Some teams, like the Yankees and Twins, emerged as clear winners. Others, like the Phillies, had to settle for the second-best but nonetheless decent options. Then we have the Blue Jays, who ended up with White. It’s understandable if this feels like a disappointing pickup, and while it’s better than nothing at all, with the right maneuvers, they could have done much better.

At the very least, White has experience starting in the majors. Prior to the trade, he served as the Dodgers’ five-and-dive starter and put up admirable results, with a 3.47 ERA and 4.06 FIP in 46.2 innings. That’s partially because his team seldom lets him face the order for a third time, but it’s also the point: For four or five innings, White does his job on the mound and then heads back to the dugout. With José Berríos and Yusei Kikuchi still in search of consistency and Hyun Jin Ryu out for the season, White’s presence provides some respite for the Blue Jays.

Repertoire-wise, White throws up to five pitches, though only three of them are noteworthy. The four-seam fastball, his primary offering, has about league-average velocity (93–95 mph) and is characterized by poor shape. He’s weirdly gotten a ton of outs with it this season despite the lack of movement, though whether that’s due to luck remains to be seen. The slider, his secondary offering, is genuinely great, featuring two-plane break and solid velocity for a breaking ball (84–86 mph). Opposing hitters agree; when swinging at it, they’ve whiffed 33.8% of the time so far. White will sometimes remind us of his low-80s curveball, but he often lacks proper feel for the pitch. Read the rest of this entry »

Squeezing in once last deal before the looming deadline, the Braves acquired right-handed reliever Raisel Iglesias from the Angels in exchange for Tucker Davidson and Jesse Chavez. In doing so, they obtained one of the best bullpen arms of the past few years, filling a gap created by the departure of Will Smith (who was traded for Jake Odorizzi) and more. The Angels, meanwhile, shed a long-term contract and take on two pitchers who should keep their bullpen in a tolerable state this year and beyond.

Traded to Anaheim before the 2021 season, Iglesias hit the free-agent market that winter but quickly signed a hefty four-year, $58 million deal to return to the Angels. It made sense: If you have a lights-out closer, as he was in ’21, and see a window of contention, it’s a darn good idea to keep him around for as long as possible. And though his on-field results have been a tad disappointing — a 4.04 ERA, the third-highest mark of his career — his peripherals suggest he’s no pitcher on the decline. His 3.17 FIP is much better, and so is his 3.05 xFIP; he’s striking out fewer batters and walking slightly more, but he’s also giving up fewer home runs. And though the velocity is down a tick, the swinging-strike rate on his fastball hasn’t wavered.

I’m only human, but it’s clear that the computers also agree Iglesias is in no imminent danger of falling off a cliff. Check out his ZiPS projection for the remainder of his contract, courtesy of Dan Syzmborski:

That is… very good. So much so that, surprisingly, the Braves have agreed to take on the entirety of Iglesias’ contract. The righty reliever is owed $10 million this season, followed by $16 million annually from 2023 to ‘25, and while that’s not an insignificant sum, a reliever of his caliber is hard to come by. Outside of Edwin Díaz, the market for an A-list reliever should be thin this offseason, and what the Braves need to do as they nip at the heels of the Mets is improve at the margins. It’s not unreasonable they’re going all-in on with Iglesias. Read the rest of this entry »

True to his word, Chaim Bloom bought as well as sold at this year’s deadline. Filling one of his team’s biggest needs on the heels of Eric Hosmer’s no-trade-clause refusal to go to the nation’s capital as part of the Juan Soto mega–deal, Bloom acquired the veteran first baseman, along with a pair of speedy outfield prospects, from the San Diego Padres in exchange for 2016 first-rounder Jay Groome. Still holding out hope for October baseball — Boston’s postseason odds currently sit at 33.4% — it was a move that improves their chances.

Hosmer isn’t the type of player who will lift a team on his shoulders and carry them to the promised land. A career .277/.336/.429 (107 wRC+) hitter whose present-season slash line dwells in that same neighborhood, he’s by no means a savior. After a blazing start to the season that saw him hit .382/.447/.579 through May 1, he’s cooled considerably, hitting just .235/.295/.309 since. Still, he’s a capable fielder and if he can recapture something of his early-season form, he represents an upgrade at his position. Red Sox first basemen have combined to slash a putrid .203/.278/.349 this year, and they’ve been even worse on the defensive side of the ball. At -10, they have the worst DRS in either league, and OAA doesn’t like them much better (-9).

Hosmer isn’t exactly Keith Hernandez with the glove, nor is he the same adroit defender who won four Gold Gloves in his glory days with the Kansas City Royals. But again, he represents an upgrade. While Bobby Dalbec, a converted third baseman, has at least been credible at the opposite corner of the infield, converted outfielder Franchy Cordero has been nothing short of cringeworthy. Acquired from Kansas City as part of last year’s Andrew Benintendi trade, Cordero has committed eight errors in just 316 first-base innings this year. Conversely, Hosmer has been charged with 14 errors over his last 2,122 innings. As much as they’ve needed a better bat, Boston needed someone capable of catching the baseball. Read the rest of this entry »

For as long I’ve been writing about baseball, Whit Merrifield has never failed to appear on a list of potential trade targets. He’s never been dealt, though, as the Royals preferred to hold onto their speedy, contact-orientated infielder — that is, until now. Past the peak of his powers, Merrifield is finally headed elsewhere — Toronto, to be exact, which acquired him for prospects Samad Taylor and Max Castillo.

The Blue Jays didn’t need to trade for Merrifield, though in hindsight, he’s a pretty good fit. Santiago Espinal has handled second base for most of this season, but a 95 wRC+ isn’t marvelous, and he’s had a crummy July on top of that. Chances are the Jays will alternate between Espinal and Merrifield there, and if the former continues to trend downward, they now have a clear Plan B. In addition, the right-handed Merrifield is also capable of handling a corner outfield spot on a team whose backup outfielders (Cavan Biggio, Raimel Tapia, and Bradley Zimmer) are all lefties. Versatility is great! Toronto now has more of it than before. Read the rest of this entry »