MLB’s Offseason: Winners and Losers in Free Agency
The close of this year’s MLB season didn’t see moves of star players of the caliber of Juan Soto in 2022, nor the volume of last year, but the 6 p.m. ET deadline closed with a lot of activity. There were two surprising trades: The Astros got back their former star Carlos Correa, while the Athletics traded closer Mason Miller to the Padres in exchange for Leo De Vries, one of the best prospects in the game. Former Cy Young winner Shane Bieber, who is still recovering in the minor leagues, went from Cleveland to Toronto, while the Orioles and Diamondbacks were busy as expected. And the Twins? Well, we’ll get to them. Who were the biggest winners at the deadline? And who were the biggest losers, leaving much to be desired? Let’s delve in.The Big Winners
Seattle Mariners
The Mariners acquired the two best hitters who moved at the deadline, Eugenio Suárez and Josh Naylor, in two separate trades with the Arizona Diamondbacks, and notably didn’t have to give up any of their top 10 prospects to do so. That’s a top-notch negotiation by baseball operations president Jerry Dipoto, who has always been an aggressive negotiator, but who has also been limited over the years by a group of stingy owners who have limited the Mariners’ payroll. Given the approval to add some dollars, Dipoto has now built one of the best lineups in the majors with the home run duo of Cal Raleigh and Suárez. The Mariners have only made one playoff appearance since 2001, missing the postseason by one win in each of the last two seasons after making it in 2022, so there was certainly an urgency to go big in a season in which the American League is wide open. They are still fighting for a wild card spot and trying to chase the Houston Astros in the American League West, so October is not a guarantee, and they will need to get more consistency from a rotation that was among the best in the majors in 2024, but ranks 14th in the majors in terms of effectiveness this season (and 23rd on the road). The only downside of the Seattle deadline: Dipoto had said he wanted to add an impact reliever, and although he got left-hander Caleb Ferguson from the Pittsburgh Pirates, getting a high-leverage pitcher for Andrés Muñoz would have crowned an even better trade deadline.San Diego Padres
The Padres’ deadline began with the surprising trade of top prospect Leo De Vries for A’s closer Mason Miller, leading to speculation that general manager AJ Preller was in the midst of a complicated scheme in which he would then trade Dylan Cease and Robert Suárez to replace the prospects he had just traded. No. The Padres went all in, later adding Ryan O’Hearn and Ramon Laureano from the Baltimore Orioles and catcher Freddy Fermin from the Kansas City Royals. Thus, the Padres solved the three holes they had: left field, designated hitter, and catcher, while also adding one of the best relievers in the game. In fact, already possessing possibly the best bullpen in the game, the Padres now look like the team you won’t want to face in October, when they will present a dominant reliever after another, inning after inning. The offense has also improved now. Of course, they still have to reach the postseason, but this is a team that now seems capable of chasing the Los Angeles Dodgers for the National League West Division title, which San Diego last won in 2006.Philadelphia Phillies
With an aging roster and three starting pitchers doing very well right now, Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sánchez, and Ranger Suárez, the Phillies are absolutely in win-now mode, and getting Jhoan Duran addresses their biggest Achilles’ heel. Jordan Romano and his 6.81 ERA lead the team with eight saves. They will get José Alvarado back from his PED suspension, but he is not postseason eligible. Phillies fans don’t need to be reminded of the 2023 National League Championship Series (when Craig Kimbrel lost two games) or last year’s National League Division Series (when Jeff Hoffman lost twice). In Duran, baseball operations president Dave Dombrowski acquires not only an immediate upgrade for his closer, but also a long-term solution, as Duran is under team control until 2027. It cost the Phillies their number 4 and number 5 prospects in catcher Eduardo Tait and pitcher Mick Abel, but Tait is only 18 years old and is years away from the majors, while Abel struggled a bit in six starts with the Phillies. With the need to improve their high-impact relief, this was a deal the Phillies had to make. In a second trade with the Minnesota Twins, Dombrowski also added useful outfielder Harrison Bader, who provides a necessary right-handed bat and could end up being the starter in center field if he continues to hit as he did with Minnesota.New York Mets
The Mets’ bullpen had been struggling for two months, at least, aside from Edwin Díaz, who has been unstoppable lately. So the president of baseball operations, David Stearns, used the deadline to remake it, turning it into what, at least on paper, now looks like one of the best in the game. Tyler Rogers is unconventional with his underhand delivery and his men’s league velocity, but he gets hitters to pound that fastball into the ground and has been one of the best relievers this season with an ERA of 1.80. Ryan Helsley and Gregory Soto provide a power arsenal from the right and left sides, respectively. With Díaz, Reed Garrett, Ryne Stanek, and Brooks Raley already on the roster, this bullpen is now loaded. October baseball is a different game than the regular season: There are more off days, which makes it even easier to bet heavily on the bullpen. We’ve seen the Atlanta Braves in 2021, the Houston Astros in 2022, and the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2024 win the World Series at the expense of their bullpens. The deals cost the Mets two of their top 10 prospects in infielder Jesús Baez (No. 5) and outfielder Drew Gilbert (No. 7), plus pitcher Blade Tidwell, who was No. 10 on Baseball America’s list. Dombrowski and Stearns have shown why they are considered two of the best executives in baseball: They are not afraid to make bold moves, acting a day before the deadline to make sure they get the best relievers available. To top it off, the Mets added center fielder Cedric Mullins, who gives them more offense than Tyrone Taylor, but less defense. That will likely become a platoon situation or allow the Mets to give some DH at-bats to Juan Soto. Nothing wrong with improving the depth.Houston Astros
The Astros added Carlos Correa to play third base, outfielder Jesús Sánchez to give them a much-needed left-handed bat, and utility infielder Ramón Urías. On Friday, they will get shortstop Jeremy Peña back, so suddenly, the lineup has improved a lot compared to the provisional group that Houston has been using for much of July. Correa is shaping up to be one of the key players in these last two months, as the Astros seek to keep the Mariners and the Texas Rangers at bay in the American League West Division. He hasn’t been an impact hitter in 2025, batting .267/.319/.386 with only seven home runs in 93 games, but he is a season away from an OPS+ of 151, when his OPS was 200 points higher than this year. It will be fascinating to see what happens in his return to Houston. The Astros have one of the best late-inning bullpens in the majors and one of the best 1-2 starting pitcher pairings in Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown. They have been winning without Yordan Álvarez. They don’t necessarily need a great offense with their pitching, but they have it better with Correa, Sánchez (.814 OPS against right-handers) and Urías.Oakland Athletics
The trade of Mason Miller for Leo De Vries was one of the most surprising deals we’ve seen in years, not only because top 100 prospects are rarely traded at the deadline, let alone a top-five prospect like De Vries, but because the A’s got him for a reliever. Yes, a very good one in Miller, who the San Diego Padres could try as a starter next season. Whenever you can trade a reliever for a potential superstar, you make the move. At 18, De Vries remains in High-A, with an OPS 60 points above the Midwest League average, despite being the youngest player in the league (and one of only two teenage position players). You could say he’s where Carlos Correa or Francisco Lindor were at this age, although you could also point to a long list of highly touted teenagers who didn’t make it. Still, everyone thinks De Vries is the real deal, and his precocious results suggest he should become at least an above-average regular player. This is a move that could alter the franchise.New York Yankees
General manager Brian Cashman promised the Yankees would “go to town” at this deadline. They added third baseman Ryan McMahon, infielders Jose Caballero and Amed Rosario, closer David Bednar, outfielder Austin Slater, and relievers Jake Bird and Camilo Doval, which is… a lot of players. But is that going to town? McMahon could end up being one of the surprise acquisitions of the deadline, as escaping Colorado for a more analytical organization could be good for the psyche and the numbers. Caballero gives them an option to play shortstop over the struggling Anthony Volpe, or at least gives them one of the best base stealers in the game. But the Yankees didn’t get Eugenio Suárez, Jhoan Duran, or a starting pitcher. In short: This wasn’t the Death Star approach we always expect from the Yankees, but, in reality, they haven’t operated like that in a long time. Their biggest moves at the deadline in recent years were Jazz Chisholm Jr. last year and Andrew Benintendi in 2022. Don’t remind Yankees fans of Joey Gallo in 2021. They have drastically improved their depth and versatility, so we’ll call them winners, but did they do enough to chase the Toronto Blue Jays in the division?The Biggest Losers
Minnesota Twins
What a sad and brutal day to be a Twins fan. They were gone in this deadline period: Carlos Correa, Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland, Danny Coulombe, Harrison Bader, Willi Castro, Brock Stewart, Chris Paddack, and Ty France. That’s 10 players from the 26-man roster, including the back end of a championship-caliber bullpen. At least they kept Joe Ryan and Byron Buxton. Sure, some of those guys – Bader and Castro in particular – were heading to free agency. It’s more the message here: We’re cheap and we don’t care about winning. Was this season likely? Probably not, as the Twins are 5 1/2 games out of the wild card race. But it wasn’t an impossible idea. A hot streak and they’re back in it. Is next year likely? Probably not now. The Twins will need to build an entire bullpen from scratch, to start. They have a legitimate star position player in Buxton, and he has trouble staying healthy.Did they do well in the trades? Time will tell, but it’s not like they loaded up on the top 100 prospects or anything like that. Catcher Eduardo Tait is the most interesting prospect they got, but he’s 18 years old and in High-A, and it will likely take years for him to make an impact. It’s possible that the Twins – if they spend part of the savings on the Correa contract transfer – can reallocate their resources to build a more competitive and complete team. It’s also possible, with the team for sale, that the Twins are entering an era of frugality similar to that of the Rays or the Pirates, pocketing more profits while losses accumulate.
This Twins era began with a 101-win team in 2019. They signed Correa in 2022, but the Correa era will have only produced one playoff season in four years. It could be a few years before the Twins are thinking about the playoffs again. Twins fans can only hope that assessment is wrong.Other Losers
Chicago Cubs
The Cubs weren’t inactive – they added infielder/utility player Willi Castro and a couple of fringe pitchers in Michael Soroka and Andrew Kittredge – but it was a surprisingly unaggressive deadline for a team battling the Brewers for the National League Central Division title. No Eugenio Suárez. No impact starting pitcher like Merrill Kelly. None of the impact relievers who were traded. The Cubs have a pretty good farm system, so they had the resources to make a trade for one of those players, but they erred on the side of caution. We’ll see if that costs them a division title or haunts them in October.Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox added pitchers Dustin May and Steven Matz. Meh. May had an ERA of 4.85 as a starter for the Dodgers. Matz had an ERA of 3.44 pitching in relief for the St. Louis Cardinals. Both have some utility – May gives them a rotation option, and Matz has been a multi-inning reliever – but they don’t really alter Boston’s playoff odds, especially considering the moves the Yankees and Blue Jays made, or even the Tampa Bay Rays adding a couple of higher-impact pitchers in Adrian Houser and Griffin Jax.The Red Sox could have signed a first baseman or been creative and traded from their outfield logjam. It’s understandable that they wouldn’t want to do that now, given that they’ve had a 17-7 record in July. Why spoil that momentum? Even so, a better starting pitcher than May or an impact reliever would have helped.
Cincinnati Reds
We applaud the Reds for making a couple of deals – after all, they haven’t played the playoffs in a full season since 2013 – but Ke’Bryan Hayes and Zack Littell are a strange combination. As my colleague Brad Doolittle wrote, Hayes is an excellent defensive third baseman but bats like a shortstop from the 1970s. (He has the lowest slugging percentage of any player with 600 plate appearances in the last two seasons). The Reds will try Noelvi Marte in right field to clear space for Hayes, but since Marte had no experience in the outfield until 11 days ago, the gains Hayes provides in defense could be offset by Marte in right field. Yes, this can be seen as a long-term deal as much as a move to win now, because Hayes is signed until 2029, but once his defense declines a bit, he won’t be playable.
Littell is a strange acquisition also because the rotation has been a strength for the Reds and his home run tendencies – leads the majors in home runs allowed – are an especially bad combination for the cozy confines of Great American Ball Park. He has only allowed 21 walks in 22 starts, so at least the plus-plus command eliminates some of the damage from home runs. But Littell doesn’t seem like an improvement over what the Reds already have and, unlike Hayes, he is a free agent after the season.
