Top of the Order: The Roster Implications of the Trade Deadline

Welcome back to Top of the Order, where every Tuesday and Friday I’ll be starting your baseball day with some news, notes, and thoughts about the game we love.

Well, that was fun! As trade season draws to a close — teams can only make straight-up waiver claims now — let’s take a step back and run down some of the most interesting roster implications of the deals made in the lead up to yesterday’s deadline.

We already know who was sent down as the corresponding move for some of these trades, but for others I’ll be walking through my best guess at what the cascading effects could be. It’s important to think about trades in that way. You’re not just getting Player A for Prospects X, Y, and Z. Player A is also replacing someone on your roster, shuffling playing time, bumping a hitter down or out of the lineup, sending a pitcher to the bullpen, etc. Making room on the 40-man roster also sends a player to the waiver wire who may be useful to other teams, with the worst teams getting first dibs.

The Marlins Will Hold Open Auditions

After trading (deep breath) A.J. Puk, Josh Bell, JT Chargois, Huascar Brazoban, Bryan De La Cruz, Trevor Rogers, Tanner Scott, Bryan Hoeing, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the last week, Miami now has plenty of players participating in open auditions for next season.

Kyle Stowers, Connor Norby, and Graham Pauley are all interesting bats who were acquired at the deadline (Stowers and Norby from the Orioles for Rogers and Pauley from the Padres in the package for Scott and Hoeing), and they should get plenty of run down the stretch, with Norby and Pauley probably trying out multiple positions. Deyvison De Los Santos, acquired for Puk, is yet to make his major league debut, but there’ll be ample plate appearances for him if the Marlins determine he’s ready; he’s certainly hitting like it.

On the pitching side, Max Meyer is finally back up in the big leagues after having his innings managed down at Triple-A Jacksonville, and Adam Mazur (acquired in the Scott trade as well) will almost definitely make some starts before the season ends.

Looking ahead to next season, only two starting pitchers (Jesús Luzardo and Sandy Alcantara) have rotation spots locked in, with Eury Pérez probably out until next May or June after undergoing Tommy John surgery in April. The offense is even more unsettled, with Xavier Edwards the only current Marlin performing well at the dish — and in a small sample.

The Guardians Lean Into Lefty Mashing

Despite a bevy of left-handed bats, the Guardians already had a lineup built to crush lefty pitching; entering Tuesday, Cleveland’s 112 wRC+ against southpaws ranked ninth in the majors, far better than its 17th-best 96 wRC+ against right-handed pitching. That didn’t stop the Guardians from adding Lane Thomas, who’s one of the more extreme platoon-advantage-dependent bats in baseball. At the time of the trade, his wRC+ against lefties was a ridiculous 160, compared to a below-average 87 against righties.

While conventional wisdom would probably dictate playing Thomas against all lefties and perhaps only the occasional righty, it’s clear by the prospect price the Guardians paid that they view him as a regular player.

The fallout from the Thomas deal is multifaceted: For one, Will Brennan lost his spot on the team despite having a perfectly average 100 wRC+ against righties, better than Thomas can claim. And Thomas’ addition locks in right field with one player, instead of using the amalgam of players like Daniel Schneemann, Angel Martínez, David Fry, and Jhonkensy Noel. But all four of those players have big-time versatility that the Guardians can still apply to other positions, especially on days that either José Ramírez, Josh Naylor, or Steven Kwan is taking a half-day off at DH. Brennan’s a casualty of being an outfielder-only; even with another regular added, the Guardians will continue to run out different lineups and defensive alignments seemingly every game.

How About the Trades That Didn’t Get Made?

For every trade that was made at the deadline, there were plenty that were discussed and never came to fruition. It certainly would’ve been fun to see Tarik Skubal, Garrett Crochet, Luis Robert Jr., or Brent Rooker get moved, but those potential trades were far from a fait accompli. What interests me more are the rentals on teams that are clearly going nowhere but who somehow stayed put anyway.

For some reason, the White Sox didn’t trade relievers Chris Flexen, John Brebbia, and Chad Kuhl, and the Tigers held onto reliever Shelby Miller. The Angels kept outfielder Kevin Pillar and reliever Matt Moore, and A’s relievers Scott Alexander and T.J. McFarland stayed put.

Although the Rockies traded a few relievers, they remained true to their reputation as a last-place team that doesn’t trade rentals, so catchers Elías Díaz and Jacob Stallings are still with Colorado. Likewise, the Cubs couldn’t find takers for Jorge López, Drew Smyly or Héctor Neris, despite relievers always being in demand.

It’s easy to blame the teams who held onto guys, and maybe they deserve some if they had interesting offers on the table, but it’s also entirely possible there just wasn’t much interest in those players. Still, keeping them around makes it harder for these teams to evaluate for the future in the way that the Marlins are going to do. This could lead to some players being placed on irrevocable waivers (as the Angels famously did last year) to save some cash and look forward to 2025.