MLB trade deadline: Reviewing the impact of 2021 deadline trades
By Bill Felber
Scherzer and Turner to Los Angeles
The bombshell among 2021 deadline trades brought the Dodgers one of the game’s best pitchers and one of the best shortstops.
L.A. took Max Scherzer and Trea Turner from the lowly Washington Nationals as fortification for their NL West pennant race and also for the postseason.
Statistically, the Dodgers came out as big winners. Scherzer went 7-0 for the Dodgers with a 1.98 ERA in 11 starts, and Turner, plugging a hole at second base, batted .338.
The postseason was another story. Turner batted just .191 in 11 postseason games. As for Scherzer, he developed a dead arm at the worst possible time, the final games of his team’s NLCS loss to the Braves. Making only one appearance in that six-game series, he left in the fifth inning of Game 2, an eventual 5-4 Braves victory.
As the sixth game loomed, Scherzer reported a dead arm and was sidelined.
Over the winter, Scherzer signed a three-year contract with the Mets. Two-thirds of the way through the first of those three seasons, he’s 6-2 with a 2.09 ERA.
Turner, having moved to shortstop when Corey Seager elected free agency, has been a key contributor to the Dodgers’ ongoing success in 2022. An All-Star selection, he’s batting .310 with 16 home runs and 18 steals in 20 attempts.
But those pickups came at a significant cost. The Dodgers gave up four players for Scherzer and Turner, two of whom have made impacts on the 2022 Nats.
Pitcher Josiah Gray is 7-7 in 19 starts with an ERA around 4.50. At 24, the Nats view Gray as a piece of their rebuild to contender status.
They feel the same way about his battery mate, catcher Keibert Ruiz. Inheriting the regular catching duty, the 23-year-old is batting .248, and while his .648 OPS and negative defensive stats need work, Nats officials are confident he’ll get there.
The Nats think they may have a third catch in that deal in pitching prospect Gerardo Carillo. At 23, he’s the team’s seventh-rated prospect.
Verdict: Although Scherzer came up small at the key postseason moment, this remains one of those deals that really has worked out for both sides. Turner is an established piece solidifying the Dodger infield, while Gray and Ruiz — and possibly Carillo‚— are likely to be featured assets in Washington’s eventual rise from the NL East basement.