Trade Day Boom or Gloom in MLB

Published July 31, 2021

By David A. Avila

Armageddon or Nirvana was the feeling fans, players and coaches may be feeling after the biggest explosion of trades ever seen in Major League Baseball.

The deadline set by MLB at Friday 4 p.m. Easter Time saw activity that resulted in historic trades in both the American and National League.

Teams withing striking distance of making the playoffs went for broke and exchanged future prospects to teams looking to dump talent like stockbrokers in a bear market.

One bull market team was the Los Angeles Dodgers who picked up three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer and all-star shortstop Trea Turner from the bear market team Washington Nationals for a quartet of upscale minor league prospects.

Then there were surprise teams like the New York Yankees who were expected to trade off star talent, instead they picked up left-handed sluggers like Joey Gallo from the Texas Rangers and Anthony Rizzo from the Chicago Cubs. Throughout the year the Yankees dearth of left-handed power was a stark weakness now certainly solved.

Chicago Cubs also dumped most of their stars to other teams including Kris Bryant to the San Francisco Giants, Craig Kimbrel to Chicago White Sox, Javier Baez to New York Mets, Jake Marisnick to San Diego Padres and Joc Pederson to Atlanta Braves. The 2016 World Champion Cubs team is no more.

Another World Series team dumping talent was the Washington Nationals who aside from trading Scherzer and Turner, also sent Yan Gomez and Josh Harrison to Oakland Athletics, pitcher Jon Lester to St. Louis Cardinals, pitcher Daniel Hudson to San Diego Padres, and Kyle Schwarber to Boston Red Sox. It was only two years ago they were the 2019 World Series Champion.

How the mighty have fallen.

Toronto Blue Jays who have been playing in other stadiums due to Covid-19 concerns, were one of the busier teams on the trading block. They picked up young pitching star Jose Berrios from Minnesota, pitcher Joakim Soria from Arizona D-Backs, and pitcher Brad Hand from the Washington Nationals.

Another busy team was the New York Mets who added Javier Baez and pitcher Trevor Williams from the Cubs, and also picked up southpaw pitcher Rich Hill from Tampa Bay,

Friday, July 30^th, was a make-or-break day for teams with dreams of making the playoffs this year or teams looking to secure a better future.

Trade deal breakdown:

Atlanta got OF Eddie Rosario and cash from Cleveland for INF Panda Sandoval.

Baltimore received cash from Tampa Bay for RHP Shawn Armstrong.

Boston got RHP Hansel Robles and cash from Minn. for RHP Alex Scherff.

Boston got LHP Austin Davis from Pittsburgh for OF Michael Chavis.

Chicago (NL) traded RHP Craig Kimbrel Chicago (AL) for RHP Codi Heuer and 2B Nick Madrigal.

Detroit traded LHP Daniel Norris to Milwaukee for RHP Reese Olson.

Houston got RHP Phil Maton and C Yainer Diaz from Cleveland for CF Myles Straw.

Kansas City got RHP Kaley Kalich from Atlanta for OF Jorge Soler.

Los Angeles Angels got RHP Elvis Peguero, RHP Janson Junk from New York (AL) for LHP Andrew Heaney and cash.

Los Angeles Angels got RHP Jose Marte, RHP Ivan Armstrong and LHP Sam Selman from San Francisco for LHP Tony Watson.

Los Angeles Dodgers got RHP Max Scherzer and SS Trea Turner from Washington for RHP Gerardo Carrillo, C Keibert Ruiz, RHP Josiah Gray and RF Donavan Casey.

Miami traded RF Adam Duvall to Atlanta for C Alex Jackson.

Milwaukee got RHP John Curtiss from Miami for C Payton Henry.

Minnesota traded LHP J.A. Happ and cash to St. Louis for LHP Evan Sisk and RHP John Gant.

New York (NL) got SS Javier Baez, RHP Trevor Williams and cash from Chicago (NL) for CF Pete Crow Armstrong.

Oakland got 2B Josh Harrison, C Yan Gomes and cash from Washington for RHP Richard Guasch, RHP Seth Shuman and C Drew Millas.

Philadelphia got RHP Kyle Gibson RHP Ian Kennedy, RHP Hans Crouse and cash from Texas for RHP Spencer Howard, RHP Kevin Gowdy and RHP Josh Gessner.

Pittsburgh traded LHP Braeden Ogle to Philadelphia for C Abraham Gutierrez.

St. Louis got LHP Jon Lester from Washington for CF Lane Thomas.

San Diego got OF Jake Marisnick from Chicago (NL) for RHP Anderson Espinoza.

San Francisco got INF Kris Bryant from Chicago (NL) for CF Alexander Canario and RHP Caleb Kilian.

Tampa Bay got RHP D.J. Johnson and CF Jordan Luplow from Cleveland for RHP Peyton Battenfield.

Toronto got RHP Jose Berrios from Minnesota for INF Austin Martin and RHP Simeon Woods Richardson.

Toronto got RHP Joakim Soria from Arizona for two players to be named later.

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