Alright everybody, pencils down.
The trade deadline has come and gone, and a relatively dormant month of transactions sprung to life in a big way with a flurry—no, blizzard—of activity on Thursday. There were teams that took big swings, dipped into their prospect reserve and pushed their chips into the middle of the table with sights set on making noise this October, while others saw the writing on the wall that this just wasn’t going to be their year.
As we continue to sift through the rubble of what was an incredibly impactful day, here’s a rapid-reaction style look at which clubs should be celebrating—and which should be shaking their heads at a missed opportunity.
WinnersPhiladelphia Phillies
It’s an arms race in the NL East, and the Phillies appear to have come out in better shape than the first-place Mets (more on them later). Philadelphia fortified its bullpen with the best closer available in Jhoan Durán, a flame-thrower who is under club control through 2027. The team also added much-needed help to its outfielder by snagging Harrison Bader, a defensive whiz who can play multiple positions and is in the midst of the best offensive season of his career. The Phillies addressed their two biggest needs without trading away the farm system’s crown jewels in pitcher Andrew Painter and shortstop Aidan Miller.
Seattle Mariners
Credit to Seattle and president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto: they seem to have learned from their mistakes.
At this time last year, the Mariners held a slim lead in the AL West that they ultimately were unable to hold onto, a fate partially caused by taking a passive stance at the trade deadline. Randy Arozarena was a nice pickup who’s having a better 2025 campaign than his two-month debut for Seattle last year, but the team simply didn’t have enough offensive firepower to make it to the postseason.
Apparently, getting the greatest offensive performance from a catcher in the history of the game changes the decision-making calculus. Cal Raleigh is putting together an MVP-caliber run, but logged a .191/284/.461 slash line in July as the rigors of catching and mashing appear to be taking a toll. In short, Big Dumper needed some help, so Dipoto and Co. ponied up and got the most notable instant-impact bat on the market, landing third baseman Eugenio Suárez from the Diamondbacks on the heels of acquiring Josh Naylor a week prior. The prospect cost doesn’t appear too steep, but regardless, the message these moves send is crystal clear: the Mariners are no longer content to keep doing the same things and hoping for better results.
Carlos Correa
In one of the more surprising deadline moves, Correa gets to go back to where his career began. This time, he arrives as the cavalry to help Houston navigate an injury-marred season, and will reportedly shift to third base to fill in for Isaac Paredes, who might be out for the year with a hamstring injury.
Even removing the homecoming aspect for Correa and the chance to return to the postseason, it must be a breath of fresh air to get out of Minnesota, where the vibes have been awkward in recent days to say the least. It seems that players are eager to find the exit route from an organization that’s had a truly miserable past calendar year.
The Athletics
Finding winners among the sellers is typically a difficult challenge, as the fact that teams are selling indicates the season hasn’t gone to plan. The A’s were a dark horse contender pick by some in the preseason, yet entered the deadline in last place in their division with the AL’s worst run differential. But given their circumstances, they did well in flipping flame-throwing closer Mason Miller and starter J.P. Sears to the Padres for a bevy of prospects headlined by 18-year-old shortstop Leo De Vries.
Miller is as dominant as it gets on the mound, with a fastball that 101.1 mph. He’s had some bumps in the road this season and is a walking injury risk, but he’ll undoubtedly help San Diego’s bullpen. Still, the prospect haul for a relief pitcher—even one as talented as Miller with four more seasons of club control beyond 2025—is something that the A’s front office should be thrilled about.
The Padres’ 2025 fortunes
Say what you will about A.J. Preller, but the man is consistent: he’s not afraid to trade prospects, even if those prospects one day develop into stars for other teams.
Whether this is a sound strategy or not is up for debate, but the Padres undoubtedly got better for the stretch run. Adding Mason Miller to a bullpen that already leads the majors with a 2.97 ERA is overkill (in a good way). They addressed lineup holes in acquiring Ryan O’Hearn and Ramón Laureano from the Orioles and catcher Freddy Fermin from the Royals. And they added Nestor Cortes, who’s nearing a return from the IL, to add depth to the rotation that still includes Dylan Cease, an impending free agent who many teams inquired about but ultimately stayed put in San Diego because Preller does not believe in half measures.
Some might view this approach as brash, and they’d be right. But this is the way Preller likes to operate, and it’s a strategy that’s helped the organization make the playoffs in three of the past five seasons. The Padres are indisputably better today. As for the future? That’s an entirely different question.
LosersThe Padres’ long-term outlook
It should be noted that Miller, Sears and Fermin all arrive with at least three more years of club control beyond this one, so while Laureano and O’Hearn are set to hit free agency this winter, San Diego did not break the prospect bank for mere rentals. That said, the organization made a sizable withdrawal from its stash, beginning with De Vries, who’s ranked by MLB Pipeline as the No. 3 prospect in baseball.
When the key return for a package headlined by that type of player is a relief pitcher—one who, despite his talent and years of club control, carries considerable injury risk and is joining a roster strength rather than a weakness—it’s fair to question whether the juice is worth the squeeze. San Diego has operated ahead of the curve enough to withstand prospect departures like the ill-fated Juan Soto package that included James Wood, MacKenzie Gore and CJ Abrams, so it’s not like this is uncharted territory for the club. But fans would be well-reasoned to feel at least some degree of anxiety knowing that the Padres’ top decision maker is one who’s not afraid to spin the prospect roulette wheel.
Minnesota Twins
Call it Bloody Thursday in Minneapolis. In all, the Twins parted ways with players, slamming the reset button in the midst of a season that had taken a turn for the worse over the past two months. It’s a stark reality considering, just a year ago, the team was 58–48 and in possession of a wild-card spot before collapsing down the stretch.
Maybe this is the shakeup the organization needed after such a disastrous last 12 months, and perhaps this will be the start of a brighter future. But for a team that entered the year with playoff aspirations to take this hard of a left turn, there’s no real way to spin a series of developments like this into a positive.
Los Angeles Dodgers
If the Dodgers were feeling any sense of urgency amid their 10–14 mark in July, they didn’t show it. While the Padres sold off pieces of its future for more immediate reinforcements, the defending champs made moves around the margins, most notably adding Minnesota’s Brock Stewart to help the bullpen while sending starter Dustin May to the Red Sox in exchange for outfield prospect James Tibbs III.
Los Angeles didn’t make any proverbial “big splash” moves last summer, but this year’s activity was even quieter than last July’s by comparison. The banged-up rotation recently got Tyler Glasnow back and Blake Snell should be quick to follow, so the front office likely has confidence that all the talent that’s spent much of the season on the IL will be back in time to make the difference. But with the division lead down to three games and the Padres clearly going for it, it was a little surprising to see Andrew Friedman show this much restraint.
New York Mets
Like the Phillies, the Mets addressed their two biggest needs—bullpen and outfield. They added Tyler Rogers and Ryan Helsley to solidify the back end of the ‘pen, and picked up Cedric Mullins from the Orioles. Those additions make New York better. But all three will be free agents this winter—as will Gregory Soto, acquired last week—and the Mets gave up 11 players total across the four deals. The most notable departure was Blade Tidwell, a starter whom the Mets gave a $1.8 million signing bonus after drafting him in the second round in 2022. The Mets have long said they’re aiming for the moon this year, and they added some impact players this deadline. But given that all four players the team added will likely be gone by winter, these moves seemed particularly shortsided.
Detroit Tigers
With how much it cost to acquire top-end relief pitchers this deadline, it’s understandable for some teams to shop in a different tier of the market. But the Tigers clearly had a need for a late-innings shutdown arm, and rather than making the jump to grab someone like Durán, Helsley or David Bednar (who went to the Yankees), they instead settled for Kyle Finnegan, a soon-to-be free agent with a 4.38 ERA on the year. Detroit lost eight of its first nine games coming out of the All-Star break but has since won four straight, so perhaps that was enough to quell the panic meter. The Tigers still have a nine-game division lead and the AL’s best record, but it’s a bit odd they weren’t more active in getting some help for their uninspiring bullpen.
