Who were the Trade Deadline winners? We ranked the top 7

One of the great things about the Trade Deadline is that, when it’s over, everyone can feel like a winner. Did your team add needed pieces for the stretch run? Or did it start (or continue) a process that will lead to a core foundation that can contend in a year or two? Either way, everyone can feel like they’re a little better off today than they were a week ago. History will let us know who ends up being right. But for now, every team, in the short or long term, can feel a little stronger about itself.

Accounting for all that, it’s still fun to try to determine who the real winners were, teams who sure seem to have gotten considerably better at or around the Deadline, maybe even without giving up nearly as much in return as many might have thought. Again, we won’t really know how all these trades will turn out until this year is over, or even for many years to come. But here’s a stab at the immediate Deadline winners, at first glance. For the purposes of this exercise, we’re focusing on teams that made moves with an eye toward the playoffs this year.

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1. Cardinals

The Cardinals, with a negative run differential and having lost a couple of series in a row, came into the Deadline hanging around the NL Wild Card chase but with three glaring holes: They were short a starting pitcher, they needed bullpen help, and they’re awful against left-handed pitching (the team’s .633 OPS against southpaws ranks 29th in MLB).

Well, they seemingly went out and filled all three holes without giving up much of anything they’ll miss this year … or even in the future. Erick Fedde is one of the top three starting pitchers moved at the Deadline, and he’s signed for next year as well. Tommy Pham, at the age of 36, still crushes lefties (.848 OPS against them this year). And Shawn Alexander, while maybe not the Rays reliever they might have preferred, is a bullpen filler they need for an already-exhausted reliever core. And all they had to give up was Tommy Edman – who hasn’t played an inning this season and who plays positions the Cardinals already have filled – Dylan Carlson – who never quite figured it out as a Cardinal – and two lower-tier prospects.

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Considering how expensive the market for starting pitchers ended up being, the Fedde trade looks like even more of a heist. The Cardinals may not be a great team, but they need to act like one: This is a proud franchise that finished in last place in 2023 and needs to show a frustrated fanbase it can get back to the playoffs. That’s hardly a lock even in the wake of these trades. But it’s a lot more likely now than it was before they happened.

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2. Dodgers

The Dodgers are always looking to sneak in at the last second -- remember when they swiped Max Scherzer from the Padres in 2021? -- and they did it again this year. Just minutes before the Deadline clock ticked over to 6 p.m. ET, news broke that the Dodgers had acquired Jack Flaherty, perhaps the top pitcher available at the Deadline once it became clear Garrett Crochet would not be leaving the White Sox. This is the second straight Deadline that Flaherty switched teams, and it should be noted that he struggled for the Orioles last year, putting up a 6.75 ERA and eventually losing his rotation spot. He has been a lot better in Detroit this year than he was in St. Louis in the first half of last year, though, and he gives some stability to a rotation that still is relying, alternately, on guys coming back from injury and rookies trying to establish themselves.

The Dodgers tweaked around the edges too, adding Michael Kopech, Amed Rosario (again), Kevin Kiermaier and, intriguingly, Tommy Edman, who is a potentially very exciting X-factor for this team if he can get healthy. The Dodgers are going to the playoffs and are arming up accordingly. As always, it’s World Series or bust for them.

3. Mariners

The Mariners came into the Trade Deadline still tied for first in the AL West, but it sure doesn’t feel that way, does it? Still looking for their first division title since 2001, the Mariners are only about a month-plus removed from a 10-game lead in the AL West, a lead that evaporated so fast it feels like they are worse off than they really are. (Particularly with the Rangers creeping up behind both them and the Astros.) This is still a team trying to do something special, and the Deadline made it clear they’re not going to let injuries to Julio Rodríguez and J.P. Crawford stop them.

The additions of Randy Arozarena and Justin Turner are not necessarily earthshakers, but they raise the floor of an offense that was starting Jorge Polanco in the cleanup spot last week. With a rotation like the Mariners have, your offense simply has to be passable. With Arozarena and Turner – and with J-Rod coming back soon – Seattle should now be exactly that. Which might be all they need.

4. Mets

It is sort of remarkable how quickly we have collectively adjusted to the Mets making smart, prudent, small-scale moves. For all the bluster from the ownership box, they are operating like a team that knows it is good enough to compete this year without blowing up everything in the future. The Mets needed a left-handed bat, so they got Jesse Winker. They needed some rotation depth, so they got Paul Blackburn. They needed bullpen arms, so they got … a whole bunch of them. And they didn’t give up anything they will miss.

Even better: The Braves, the team they’re chasing in the NL East and the Wild Card, didn’t do much other than try to make it 2021 again by science or magic. The Mets keep doing smart things. Eventually it’ll stop being surprising.

5. Orioles

Sure, Orioles fans were all dreaming on Tarik Skubal, or Garrett Crochet, or even Blake Snell. But the prices were obviously too high for any of those three to end up being traded at all, and you can certainly understand why the Orioles would be wary of trading for Jack Flaherty again, considering how lousy he was for them after last year’s Deadline. So the Orioles did the next best thing: They went with quantity. Zach Eflin and Trevor Rogers instantly slot into the rotation, not just this year but next. Seranthony Domínguez and Gregory Soto are ideal patches for a tiring bullpen. And while they’re going to have to figure out how to get at-bats for Eloy Jiménez, he is a power bat that you don’t have to squint hard to imagine seeing launching a homer in a huge spot this October. Cristian Pache makes for an interesting outfield piece as well.

The Orioles have flooded the zone with a bunch of interchangeable parts. Those parts will very much come in handy as they try to erase memories of last year’s postseason and replace them with happy ones from this year’s.

6. Phillies

What do you want from a team with the best record in the National League, one stacked with veterans and clearly geared up to win the whole thing this year? You want them to attack their specific holes aggressively and not really sweat the price. So that’s what the Phillies did. Sure, the Phillies had to give up a lot for Carlos Estévez, but he was arguably the best reliever on the market and they did what they had to do to get him. Tanner Banks is a handy reliever as well, and Austin Hays helps them more than he would have helped the Orioles. Are any of these moves earth shattering? No. But the Phillies don’t need earth shattering. They need players who will help them in the postseason.

There’s going to be a huge moment this October involving Estévez, Banks, or both. The Phillies and their fans will be very happy they went out and got them.

7. Royals

No matter what, this season is a success for the Royals. This team lost 106 games last year! If they lose every game they play for the rest of the season -- something that obviously isn’t even close to being likely to happen -- they’d only lose 104. The Royals are building something special, something that Bobby Witt Jr. is going to be in the middle of for a long, long time. So you can’t help but credit the team for making sure that exciting future merges with the present. They see a real opportunity in the AL Wild Card race, so they’re going for it.

The Royals brought in so many players it was tough to keep track of them. Michael Lorenzen. Paul DeJong. Lucas Erceg. Hunter Harvey. None of those players will make your eyes pop out of your head, but collectively, they raise both the floor and the ceiling for this team. And considering how quiet the Twins, clear rivals not just in the division but in the Wild Card chase, were at the Deadline, the Royals may have taken a series of small steps forward at the exact right time. The Royals aren’t going anywhere, not now, and not for a long time.