“Spots on the San Diego Padres. They’re not afraid. (Padres GM) AJ Preller is not afraid,” Nationals GM Mike Rizzo said after the trade ( video ). “… We’re on a bumpy road right now and we think coming out of it will be a beautiful place.”
Other notable trades at the deadline include Josh Hader (Brewers to Padres), Luis Castillo (Reds to Mariners), Frankie Montas (Athletics to Yankees), Joey Gallo (Yankees to Dodgers), Noah Syndergaard (Angels to Phillies), Harrison Bader (Cardinals to Yankees), Raisel Iglesias (Angels to Braves) and Whit Merrifield (Royals to Blue Jays).
Willson Contreras, JD Martinez, Ian Happ and Carlos Rodón are the biggest names to stay put. Here’s a recap of Tuesday’s biggest moves:
Notable 2022 MLB deadline deals on Tuesday
Padres acquire Juan Soto and Josh Bell from Nationals in eight-player blockbuster (more details here) Yankees send struggling outfielder Joey Gallo to Dodgers (more details here) Phillies nab righty Noah Syndergaard from Angels (more details here) Yankees nab Harrison Bader from Cardinals for Jordan Montgomery (more details here) Whit Merrifield headed from Royals to Blue Jays (more details here) Eric Hosmer, after declining to participate in the Juan Soto deal, has been dealt by the Padres to the Red Sox (more details here) The Phillies acquired outfielder Brandon Marsh from the Angels, as well as reliever David Robertson from the Cubs (more details here) The Padres, after landing Soto, acquired Brandon Drury from the Reds (more details here) Mets acquire Darin Ruf from Giants (more details here) The Twins acquired All-Star closer Jorge López from the Orioles and righty Tyler Mahle from the Reds (more details here)
Now here are our winners and losers from the 2022 MLB trade deadline.
Winner: Padres
When you’re a good and entertaining team in the postseason race and add a generational talent, you’re automatically a trade deadline winner. The Padres brought in Juan Soto (and Josh Bell) and paid a heavy price to do it, but players as good and as young as Soto don’t come around very often, so when they do, you have to be there. Look this. It’s real:
I should have photoshopped them with City Connect, Padres jerseys. Big missed opportunity there.
Either way, the case can be made that the Padres now have the best shortstop (Fernando Tatis Jr., once healthy), the best third baseman (Manny Machado) and the best outfielder (Soto) in baseball. Oh, and they also brought in Josh Hader, arguably the best tight end in the business, and 20-year-old Brandon Drury. Say what you will about GM AJ Preller, but the man isn’t afraid of big moves.
The Tatis and Machado contracts mean the Padres are unlikely to re-sign Soto in a few years, but getting him for three postseason runs (he’s under team control through 2024) is extremely valuable to a franchise still looking for his first world. Series Championship. Soto is already on pace to become an all-time great. Adding a player like this makes you an easy deadline winner. The Padres are nothing if not electrifying.
Winner: Juan Soto
It’s hard to complain about leaving a last-place team in Washington for a postseason team in San Diego, right? Soto teams up with Machado and (once healthy) Tatis Jr. on the most entertaining roster in baseball. The best roster? No, not necessarily, but definitely the most fun. I’m sure the days leading up to the trade deadline were nerve-wracking, but that’s over now, and Soto is free to play baseball for a great team in a great ballpark in a great city.
Loser: Luke Voit
How crazy is Luke Voit with Eric Hosmer right now? Once Hosmer used his no-trade clause to block a trade to the Nationals, as was his contractual right, Voit was replaced in the Soto/Bell trade. Just like that, Voight went from the rival Padres to a bottom team in the Nationals, all because another player said he didn’t want to be traded. Tough break, though at least Voit will have a no-questions-asked lineup spot the rest of the season.
Winner: The Phillies (and the rest of their schedule)
Even with Soto and Bell, the Nationals ranked 27th in runs per game. Without those two, they figure to have the worst offense in baseball for the rest of 2022. That’s great for the NL postseason contenders with games remaining against Washington. The NL East-leading Mets have eight games against the Nationals, including two this week. The second-place Braves have just six. That could affect the division race. Here are the NL wildcard standings (entering Tuesday) with each team’s number of games remaining against the suddenly Soto-less and Bell-less Nationals: Phillies advantage and Cardinals and Giants disadvantage. Any team can beat any other team any day in this game, but if I were fighting for a postseason spot, I know I’d feel better if I had 11 — 11! — Games remaining against a rebuilding team that just traded away its two best players and is likely out for the season. (Also, shout out to the Phillies for landing Brandon Marsh, David Robertson, and Noah Syndergaard in sensible trades. They upgraded their roster significantly, and the designation of Odúbel Herrera and Jeurys Familia is addition with subtraction.)
Loser: Nationals fans
Soto, Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Max Scherzer, Anthony Rendon. That’s a lot of elite — like elite elite — talent going out the door in a short amount of time. It wasn’t meant to be. The Lerners, the family that owns the Nationals, are the second-richest owners in the sport and could have paid whatever it took to keep them all. Maybe that wasn’t smart (see: Stephen Strasburg), but my god, the Nationals had a championship trunk and it disappeared in such a short amount of time. Remodels are never fun. The prospects acquired in the Soto trade are all high quality and could be the core of the Nationals’ next great team, but will they be better than the core the Nationals had long ago? Probably not. That’s just the way with prospects. The Nationals are destined to finish with the worst record in the National League this season, and is it hard to see a path back to contention in the next 3-4 years? A sad, sad day for the Washington faithful.
Winner: Yankees
The Yankees have enjoyed a dream season to date, but entered the second half with several obvious needs and didn’t hesitate to address them at the trade deadline. They needed another starter, specifically a difference maker rather than a sidekick, a replacement for Joey Gallo, and a masterpiece. In the deadline they got:
Andrew Benintendi, the best rental outfielder available Frankie Montas, the second best controllable starter behind Luis Castillo Harrison Bader, an elite center fielder (currently on the injured list) Scott Efross, a sneaky-excellent high-leverage reliever Lou Trivino, a utility depth arm
Yankees GM Brian Cashman managed to do so without surrendering top prospects Anthony Volpe, Oswald Peraza and Jasson Domínguez and while giving up just one piece from his MLB roster (Jordan Montgomery). In fact, the Yankees traded eight prospects in their three trades, and exactly one was drafted before the fourth round (lefty TJ Sikkema, a former first-rounder who was part of the Benintendi trade). The Yankees looked to improve their roster for October — August and September aren’t much of a priority given their MLB-leading 70 wins — and managed to do so while keeping their top prospects. This is a clever art.
Winner: Joey Gallo
Gallo was traded to the Dodgers for a pitching prospect and, I have to say, he sounded miserable in New York. He had a tough 12 months with the Yankees and it clearly wore on him. From a recent interview with NJ.com: Q: Are you ready for this trade deadline to end? Gallo: I am. We will see what will happen. I’m waiting to hear. My parents are waiting to hear. They should come to New York and clean my apartment, move all the furniture. Q: Have you lived in Manhattan? Gallo: Yes. Q: What has it been like for you when Yankees fans notice you on the streets? Are they hard on you and away from the field? Gallo: I don’t go out on the streets. Q: It’s sad. Gallo: Yes. I really don’t want to show my face too much here. Gallo now has a fresh start with the only team in baseball with a better record than the Yankees, so he still has a chance to win a World Series ring before he hits free agency this offseason. No player in baseball needed a fresh start more than Gallo, and he got it at the deadline.
Loser: Red Sox
Strange deadline for the Red Sox, who sold while buying half-heartedly. They traded away steady catcher Christian Vázquez, but brought in Tommy Pham and Eric Hosmer in hopes of staying alive in the wild-card race. The Padres are paying most of Hosmer’s salary and the Red Sox had prospects in the trade, but Hosmer is one of the worst hitting first basemen in baseball and hits too many ground balls to really take advantage of Fenway Park’s dimensions which are player friendly. Not necessarily a bad deadline for the Red Sox, but an odd deadline, and certainly not one that would relegate them to the “winners” category.
Winner: Astros
Clever if underestimating the deadline for…