The 2026 MLB Trade Deadline is finally behind us. It was a whirlwind day and a whirlwind week-plus since the first major domino fell on the trade market. In reality, we won't really know how teams did at this year's deadline until the World Series trophy is hoisted or some of the prospects who got dealt have more years of experience under their belt, but that's not a fun truth for this exercise. Instead, we're gonna talk about who won or lost the deadline right now, just after it all went down.
This was a super fun trade deadline. We had some out-of-left-field moves. We had some top 50 prospects get traded. We had some established veterans going to new teams, and we had some typically passive teams trying to be aggressive. It all made for an enjoyable trade deadline that I didn't see coming. Now don't ruin it by taking a whole year off from playing games.
Yes, Tarik Skubal is a winner even if people are suggesting that he and the Dodgers have broken baseball. He was traded to the odds-on favorite to win the World Series. That's a big win for any player, which I guess makes Kris Bubic a winner too.
We should also take a minute and call River Ryan a winner. The discourse about him online has been aggressively harsh and bordering on illogical. He didn't become a full-time pitcher until 2022, when he was 23 years old. He had a fully healthy 2023 and 2024 season, and even reached the majors in 2024 before he blew out his arm and needed UCL surgery. He missed the entire 2025 season recovering from that and then returned this season. He looked good in Triple-A before a hamstring injury sidelined him. I don't care that he's 27 years old. I don't think he's "injury ***** e"; he had one major arm injury and a hamstring injury. Is he a risk? Sure, but he's a talented pitcher, and he's eventually going to get to show it in Detroit.
Even if the Dodgers got Skubal, they might still have to go through the Boston Red Sox. Say what you want about how many prospects the Red Sox gave up today (and I will say some things later in this article), but they are certainly building a team to contend for this season. This team just swept the Dodgers on the road over the weekend and put together the best month of July of any team in baseball, so the front office decided they had to go for it. They added Adley Rutschman to provide a major upgrade at catcher for 2026 and 2027. They also added Eli White as a solid fourth outfielder who can defend and run the bases well, and then added Erik Miller as a solid left-handed reliever under team control through 2030, which the team really needed. Those are all solid pieces to add to a roster that is performing and plans to make a run in the playoffs. They gave up a lot of young players to get those pieces, but you certainly can't argue that the Red Sox are making a push to win in 2026.
#deadline #trade #major
This was a super fun trade deadline. We had some out-of-left-field moves. We had some top 50 prospects get traded. We had some established veterans going to new teams, and we had some typically passive teams trying to be aggressive. It all made for an enjoyable trade deadline that I didn't see coming. Now don't ruin it by taking a whole year off from playing games.
Yes, Tarik Skubal is a winner even if people are suggesting that he and the Dodgers have broken baseball. He was traded to the odds-on favorite to win the World Series. That's a big win for any player, which I guess makes Kris Bubic a winner too.
We should also take a minute and call River Ryan a winner. The discourse about him online has been aggressively harsh and bordering on illogical. He didn't become a full-time pitcher until 2022, when he was 23 years old. He had a fully healthy 2023 and 2024 season, and even reached the majors in 2024 before he blew out his arm and needed UCL surgery. He missed the entire 2025 season recovering from that and then returned this season. He looked good in Triple-A before a hamstring injury sidelined him. I don't care that he's 27 years old. I don't think he's "injury ***** e"; he had one major arm injury and a hamstring injury. Is he a risk? Sure, but he's a talented pitcher, and he's eventually going to get to show it in Detroit.
Even if the Dodgers got Skubal, they might still have to go through the Boston Red Sox. Say what you want about how many prospects the Red Sox gave up today (and I will say some things later in this article), but they are certainly building a team to contend for this season. This team just swept the Dodgers on the road over the weekend and put together the best month of July of any team in baseball, so the front office decided they had to go for it. They added Adley Rutschman to provide a major upgrade at catcher for 2026 and 2027. They also added Eli White as a solid fourth outfielder who can defend and run the bases well, and then added Erik Miller as a solid left-handed reliever under team control through 2030, which the team really needed. Those are all solid pieces to add to a roster that is performing and plans to make a run in the playoffs. They gave up a lot of young players to get those pieces, but you certainly can't argue that the Red Sox are making a push to win in 2026.
#deadline #trade #major
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