To say that this trade deadline was active feels almost like an understatement, with a shocking flurry of moves across the sport. Although we didn’t have superstar, a Juan Soto or prime Max Scherzer, getting dealt, plenty of impactful players now have a new home. Today, we’ll focus on the moves in the National League and what we might make of them.
Surprising the sum total of zero people, the action begins with A.J. Preller’s San Diego Padres, the most willing team to make a blockbuster we’ve seen
in recent campaigns.
Reinforcing an already potent bullpen, Preller pulled out his best Don Corleone impression and said, I'm going to make Billy Beane an offer he can’t refuse, setting himself up to acquire the flame-throwing closer Mason Miller. San Diego sent their best prospect and one of the best in the sport, Leo De Vries, headlining a package that also included a trio of pitching prospects to acquire Miller and J.P. Sears.
Not satisfied there, San Diego also further strengthened the back end of its rotation and lineup, two places of need for this contending squad. Ryan O’Hearn and Ramon Laureano came over from the Orioles, and old friend Nestor Cortes was added to the Friars’ pitching staff.
San Diego’s main competitor, the Dodgers, had a much more cautious approach to the deadline, focusing on a couple of bullpen acquisitions in Brock Stewart and Paul Gervase without taking a hammer to its farm system.
This deadline only increased the perceived gap between the Dodgers and Padres, and the Giants and Diamondbacks, with the latter two hedging and/or ‘conceding defeat’, primarily focused on departures at this trade deadline. You already know about Camilo Doval coming over to the Yankees, but the real highlight was Arizona dramatically changing the outlook of the Mariners' lineup by flipping both Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez to Seattle. Naylor had been moved to the Mariners a few days earlier, and Suárez links up with him in a familiar place, having previously played for Seattle between 2022 and 2023. For the Giants, things haven’t quite clicked since acquiring Rafael Devers, and they took a couple measured steps back at the deadline, trading away relievers Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval and outfielder Mike Yastrzemski
Back to the discussion of elite relievers, San Diego wasn’t the only one to make a splashy move. Cutting to the front of the line on the fire sale out there in Minneapolis, the Phillies acquired Jhoan Durán to solve their closer situation, sending highly touted catching prospect Eduardo Tait and young pitcher Mick Abel to Minnesota. Having recently beaten the Yankees to the signature of veteran David Robertson, the Phillies could have a significantly improved ‘pen down the stretch. Dave Dombrowski also shored up his outfield defense by making a separate trade with the Twins for Harrison Bader.
Durán’s trade is massive, but the Phillies' movement pales in comparison to an aggressive deadline from the New York Mets, completely revamping its bullpen with the acquisitions of Ryan Helsley, Tyler Rogers, and Gregory Soto. A closer for the better part of his career, Helsley will have to adapt to a different role as the primary setup man for Edwin Díaz. Soto (no relation to Juan Soto) gives the Mets a much-needed lefty presence as they lost A.J. Minter for the year a while back. Given Tyrone Taylor’s struggles and the fact that Starling Marte’s center field days are well behind him, the Mets also hoped to address that position, and they did just that by acquiring Cedric Mullins from the Orioles.
Out of the three divisions, the NL Central certainly had the quietest deadline among contenders. Milwaukee seemed pretty content without any major moves, and the Reds improved their infield defense with an odd in-division trade by taking on the contract of Ke’Bryan Hayes. The Cubs added a couple of relievers (Andrew Kittredge and Taylor Rogers) and Michael Soroka, whose near-5.00 ERA doesn’t excite you much, but a terrific 3.63 K/BB suggests promise.
All in all, given the tightness of the race between the Mets and Phillies, any edge that these deadline acquisitions could provide might just be the difference maker in whoever wins the NL East. San Diego’s mission to run down the Dodgers is a far more difficult challenge, though they too did their best to rise to the challenge. In all, this frenetic deadline did a whole lot to set up a fascinating stretch run for the league.
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