MLB Trade Deadline: Teams that won the deadline
The 2017 MLB non-waiver trade deadline has come and gone, and players are on the move all over the place. Every season at the deadline, there are some clear winners and clear losers. Take a look at which teams won the deadline.
When the MLB trade deadline hits, that’s usually the time of the season where a team indicates whether they’re competing for a championship or building for the future. Some teams go all out to give themselves the best shot at winning a ring, while others sell off their best players for a haul of prospects.
Some of the biggest names traded during the last day of the 2017 trade deadline included Sonny Gray, Yu Darvish, Brandon Kintzler, Addison Reed, Francisco Liriano and Tony Watson. A majority of the impactful deals that happened on deadline day revolved around a pitcher.
Over the past few playoffs, pitching has played a big role in deciding who won it all. A strong rotation or a deep bullpen can make a huge difference when it comes to winning in the playoffs.
Some teams capitalized on acquiring players before the final day of the deadline. Some big name players dealt earlier than July 31 include Jonathan Lucroy, Todd Frazier, Eduardo Nunez, Melky Cabrera, Jaime Garcia, Howie Kendrick, Lucas Duda, Jose Quintana, Ryan Madson, Sean Doolittle and J.D. Martinez.
As the final two months approach in the MLB season, teams look to make a strong push to reach the postseason.
Let’s take a look at some teams that won the 2017 trade deadline.
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers currently sport the best record in MLB at 74-31. Over the past two months, the Dodgers have won 42 of 52 games. Even with that, they added more firepower to their squad.
Los Angeles waited until the last hour of the deadline to make some significant moves. They added one of the top pitchers in today’s game when they acquired right-handed starting pitcher Yu Darvish from the Texas Rangers.
In the Darvish trade, the Dodgers sent prospects Willie Calhoun, A.J. Alexy and Brendon Davis to Texas.
Darvish pitched four and a half seasons for the Rangers and in that time, he made four All-Star teams. He owned a 52-39 record, a 3.42 ERA, a 1.181 WHIP, a 3.98 FIP and 960 strikeouts.
Darvish joins a rotation with Clayton Kershaw (currently on the DL), Rich Hill, Alex Wood, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Kenta Maeda. With the way Wood has pitched this season, the Dodgers now have four top of the line pitchers in their rotation.
The Dodgers didn’t stop there, though.
They also acquired two left-handed relievers in Tony Watson from the Pittsburgh Pirates and Tony Cingrani from the Cincinnati Reds. In 2017, Watson had 10 saves for the Pirates, with a 3.66 ERA and 35 strikeouts. Cingrani sports a 5.40 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 2017. Both pitchers possess great stuff.
The additions improved a team that was already top notch. The Dodgers are eyeing the World Series and look to reach it for the first time since 1988.
New York Yankees
Already outperforming expectations in 2017, the New York Yankees saw the AL East title within reach and made moves to capitalize on that. Some exceptional play from young stars like Aaron Judge, Luis Severino, Gary Sanchez and Didi Gregorius have the Yankees looking like a team with a bright present and future.
Earlier in July, the Yankees made a deal with the Chicago White Sox that got them third baseman Todd Frazier and relievers David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle. In that deal, the Yankees solidified their corner position issues. And also cleaned up their bullpen by adding two solid late inning guys.
The White Sox acquired relief pitcher Tyler Clippard and prospects Ian Clarkin, Blake Rutherford and Tito Polo.
The Yankees then made two more significant moves toward the deadline. On July 30, the Yankees acquired lefty starting pitcher Jaime Garcia from the Minnesota Twins for pitching prospects Dietrich Enns and Zack Littell. The Atlanta Braves traded Garcia to the Twins roughly three minutes before the Twins flipped him.
In 2017, Garcia sports a 5-7 record with a 4.29 ERA, a 1.337 WHIP and 92 strikeouts. He’ll become a free agent after the 2017 season.
The big deal for the Yankees happened with about an hour to go on deadline day. The Yankees traded for Oakland Athletics’ star pitcher Sonny Gray. The right-hander owns a 6-5 record with a 3.43 ERA, a 1.175 WHIP and 94 strikeouts in 2017. He was an All-Star in 2015 and has been coming on strong of late.
All five additions give the Yankees a huge boost and they look like they have a good shot at the playoffs now.
Colorado Rockies
The Colorado Rockies started off the 2017 season as one of the best teams in baseball. With the Rockies cooling off and the Dodgers catching fire, it looks like they don’t have a shot at the NL West. They still hold the second Wild Card spot with a 5.5 game lead and sit just a half-game game back of the Arizona Diamondbacks for the first Wild Card spot.
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Earlier in the week, the Rockies acquired one of the top relievers this season, Pat Neshek, from the Philadelphia Phillies. In 42 innings in 2017, Neshek owns a 1.29 ERA, a 0.810 WHIP and 47 strikeouts. Neshek has made the All-Star team twice including 2017.
The move added depth to the Rockies’ bullpen and created a strong one-two punch at the back end of the bullpen. Both Neshek and Greg Holland make for some tough late innings for their opponents.
On July 31, the Rockies made another move to add strength to the team. The Rockies bolstered the team by trading for Jonathan Lucroy from the Texas Rangers for a player to be named later.
In 2017, Lucroy has struggled, but a change of scenery and the thin air that envelops Coors field could help him. He’s hitting .242/.297/.338 with four home runs, 27 RBI and 27 runs.
Although he’s in a down year, his career numbers are much better. In his career, he’s hit .280/.297/.338 with 94 home runs, 445 RBI and 392 runs.
Next: Astros stay quiet at the trade deadline
The catcher’s spot was one of the weakest spots for the Rockies and they needed to add a bat. They have the lowest fWAR among all 30 teams behind the dish. Lucroy’s well below average wRC+ of 66 is still an improvement of 23% over the Rockies’ backstops this season. These moves could help keep the Rockies in position to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2009.