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There were contending baseball teams who utilized Tuesday’s trade deadline to augment their chances of reaching the Promised Land. There were contenders who used the deadline to instead become pretenders. And there were teams who still don’t have the slightest idea whether they’re a contender or a pretender.
Then, there are the Houston Astros. And the New York Mets.
The teams who symbolized the winners and losers of the trade deadline.
Come on, you really thought the Astros, the defending World Series champions, were going to sit idly by and watch the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels load up?
Then, you just don’t know owner Jim Crane.
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Crane, who has turned his franchise into a powerful juggernaut, winning four American League pennants and two World Series titles the last six years, wants to make sure their championship window isn’t ready to close yet.
The Astros engineered the blockbuster of the trade deadline, bringing back future Hall of Fame pitcher Justin Verlander from the New York Mets for two of their top prospects, and having the Mets chip in a cool $53 million, too.
It wasn’t a trade.
It was a heist.
Oh, sure, it cost the Astros two of their top prospects in Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford, but in return, they get Verlander, who has been dominating the National League, yielding a 1.95 ERA in his last nine starts with a 3.15 ERA this season.
So they passed on matching the two-year, $86.6 million contract with a $35 million vesting option the Mets gave Verlander, and now are getting him for less than half price. The Mets are paying $35 million of the $58 million Verlander is owed through 2024. If Verlander’s $35 million option is exercised, which becomes automatically vested with 140 innings pitched, they’ll chip in another $17.5 million. It means the Astros are paying just $40.5 million to have Verlander’s services for two-plus seasons.
No wonder the Astros could barely contain their euphoria with the news, wanting to break out some champagne before they even took the field before their game against the Cleveland Guardians.
“I feel like it’s Opening Day today,” Astros third baseman Alex Bregman said. “It’s definitely going to provide a huge boost, not only energy-wise, but also to be able to have a guy like him in here.’’
While the Astros were ready to party, the Mets were preparing for a funeral.
Their season is over.
Not just this season, but next year too – and perhaps even 2025.
Max Scherzer, who was traded to the Texas Rangers over the weekend, revealed Tuesday that he waived his no-trade clause after being informed by owner Steve Cohen and GM Billy Eppler that the franchise does not expect to contend again for a few years.
“The math changed on them,” Scherzer said at his press conference. “I asked kind of what’s going on, and [Eppler’s] answer was he’s now shifting vision and they’re looking to compete now for 2025 and 2026 – 2024, it was not going to be a reload situation in New York.”
The Mets, who also traded outfielders Tommy Pham to the Arizona Diamondbacks, Mark Canha to the Milwaukee Brewers and closer David Robertson to the Miami Marlins, will now spend the winter dumping even more contracts.
They could shop All-Star first baseman Pete Alonso and virtually everyone else with big contracts, and will listen to any and all offers, even on All-Star closer Edwin Diaz and shortstop Francisco Lindor.
They have already spent more than $100 million just buying prospects in their sell-off, so they certainly don’t intend to stop now. They have collected eight of their top 24 prospects in trades this past week, and have done a 180, spending nearly $500 million in payroll and taxes to try to buy a championship to now buying a farm system.
“You have to go through a little pain to get where we want to go,” Eppler said. “Our organization is making strides for a better future. … We want to make the best out of the circumstances.”
They spent more money than any team in baseball history but four months later, the team’s plans to be a World Series champion in five years went into foreclosure.
If nothing else, it’s owner Steve Cohen’s rude awakening to the baseball business.
Here’s a look at the rest of the winners and losers from the 2023 trade deadline.
Winners
Los Angeles Angels
Well, now that the New York Mets would seem to be out of the running for Shohei Ohtani and the San Diego Padres are still stuck with all of their bloated contracts for their bunch of underachievers, the Angels have a better chance than ever to retain Ohtani.
They traded away their top prospects for a starter (Lucas Giolito), reliever (Reynaldo Lopez), first baseman (C.J. Cron) and outfielder (Randal Grichuk) and now are squarely in the hunt for their first postseason berth since 2014.
Even if they don’t make the playoffs, Ohtani can at least see they’re trying, and why leave when he’s seeing first-hand that money can’t guarantee even a winning record?
The trade deadline eliminated a few of Ohtani’s suitors in one glorious afternoon.
Texas Rangers
The Rangers spent $700 million in free agency the last two years, and then went big in the trade market, too.
They grabbed Jordan Montgomery and reliever Chris Stratton from the Cardinals, Scherzer from the Mets, and catcher Austin Hedges from the Pirates to help replace injured All-Star catcher Jonah Heim.
Just like that, they are serious heavyweight contenders, trying to go where they haven’t been since 2011 when they were one strike away from winning the World Series.
Who knew the epicenter of baseball’s powerhouses would be deep in the heart of Texas.
Baltimore Orioles
A year ago, they traded away popular outfielder Trey Mancini to Houston and All-Star closer Jorge Lopez to Minnesota, with GM Mike Elias saying their team might be good enough to reach the postseason, but didn’t believe they could make it out of the wild-card round.
This time, with the Orioles sitting in first place in the AL East, he didn’t flinch, trading away prospects for St. Louis Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty. He’ll look good pitching in October.
Miami Marlins
The Marlins are hanging on for dear life in the wild-card race and have struggled for a month, but they refuse to look ahead to next year. They want to win right now. So they acquired power hitters Jake Burger from the Chicago White Sox and Josh Bell of the Cleveland Guardians as well as pitcher Ryan Weathers from San Diego.
It’s rather refreshing to see a team with low odds to reach the postseason — only at 45%, according to FanGraphs — still push their chips all in.
Arizona Diamondbacks
They have played awful baseball the past month, 8-16, sinking in the standings from first place in the NL West to sitting just outside of the wild-card pictures.
Yet, instead of licking their wounds and saying they’re a year away, they made moves to prevent the erosion. They finally landed a closer in Paul Sewald from the Seattle Mariners, grabbed veteran outfielder Tommy Pham for power, and veteran infielder Jace Peterson for depth. If they’re going down, they’re going to go down fighting.
Philadelphia Phillies
Come on, did you really expect Dave Dombrowski to let a trade deadline go by without giving his team every chance to return to the World Series? They got veteran starter Mike Lorenzen, giving up prized minor-league infielder Hao-Yu Lee, and believe now they’ve got a fighting chance to play deep into October again.
Toronto Blue Jays
They have been disappointing most of the season, but here they are, sitting in the last wild-card berth, and making sure this could still be a season worth remembering.
They traded for closer Jordan Hicks of the St. Louis Cardinals, and when All-Star shortstop Bo Bichette injured his knee, they quickly grabbed Hicks’ teammate, too, Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong.
The future, the Jays decided, is now.
Losers
Seattle Mariners
The Mariners finished the month of July with a 17-9 record, tied for the best mark in baseball, pulling to within just 3½ games of a wild-card berth.
So how do they reward the players and coaching staff?
By waving the white flag, giving up closer Paul Sewald for two Diamondbacks outfield prospects.
The trade would have been acceptable in the winter. It was disgusting in the middle of a pennant race.
Cleveland Guardians
This season has been a constant struggle. The pitching has been banged up. The offense has been anemic. But they still are just one-half game out of first place in the AL Central.
Instead of fighting, they decided to quit.
They gave up their best starter, Aaron Civale, for a future first baseman.
They gave up their current first baseman, Josh Bell, for a future outfielder.
Sure, they were longshots to reach the World Series, but once you get into the playoffs, as we’ve learned, anything can happen.
Now it’s impossible, considering no team in baseball history has ever reached the World Series without making the postseason.
San Diego Padres
Who doesn’t love owners who will spend money, get the biggest stars, and do everything possible to win?
But when it clearly isn’t working, when you still have a losing record four months into the season, when you’re unable to produce a four-game winning streak, and you still are buying pieces at the deadline instead of selling, when are you considered delusional?
The Padres had spectacular trade chips in starter Blake Snell and All-Star Josh Hader, listened to a few casual offers, but instead of selling, actually added more pitching and offense, making their payroll even fatter.
“We just never got anything,’’ Padres GM A.J. Preller said, “that was that compelling to push us.’’
It’s a massive gamble.
Perhaps even reckless.
If the Padres are sitting home this winter, without even making the postseason in an expanded field, they’ll forever be remembered as the most underachieving team in baseball history.
San Francisco Giants
The Giants are just 2½ games back of the Dodgers in the NL West race.
Did someone forget to tell them?
They did nothing except pick up Mariners outfielder A.J. Pollock and infielder Mark Mathias for cash or a player to be named later, while the two teams behind them, Arizona and San Diego, made aggressive moves.
They’ll have a whole lot of explaining to do if they miss the playoffs.
Minnesota Twins
Just because the Cleveland Guardians didn’t do a thing, virtually handing the AL Central title to the Twins, the Twins were still permitted to make a trade.
They needed bullpen help. They needed another right-handed bat. They could have even been creative, trading one of their starters for a power hitter.
Instead, they did nothing. We’re not counting their swap of struggling right-handed relievers last week of Jorge Lopez for Dylan Floro.
Hey, just because you get a free T-shirt and cap by making the playoffs, doesn’t mean you can’t try to go a little further.
New York Yankees
Hey, didn’t you guys used to be the Yankees?
The team with a fat bank account and ability to trade for whoever you desired?
They came away with relievers Keynan Middleton of the Chicago White Sox and Spencer Howard of the Texas Rangers.
That was it. They didn’t invest in the present, and didn’t make moves for the future.
The team with the second-highest payroll in baseball, and sitting last in the AL East, didn’t do a darn thing.
See you next year.
Detroit Tigers
Rule No. 1 in trading: If your player has a no-trade clause, and can reject a trade to 10 teams, it might be wise to check and make sure he really wants to go.
The Tigers had a nice deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, getting some of their prized prospects for starter Eduardo Rodriguez.
The deal was agreed upon. Everything was set.
They made the phone call to inform Rodriguez. And he declined.
Sorry, nothing personal, but he doesn’t want to go all of the way to Southern California with his family in Florida.
“There were some contractual headwinds,” Tigers GM Scott Harris said, “that influenced his market.’’
So instead of getting just something for him, the Tigers were stuck with him, knowing he plans to opt out of the final three years and $49 million in his contract.
It put a severe pothole on the road to rebuild in the Motor City.
Follow Nightengale on Twitter: @Bnightengale
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