Revisiting the Trade Deadline: the Good and the Bad

Revisiting the 2024 Trade Deadline

It has officially been a week since the trade deadline took place. Players have made their debuts and have began to settle into their new homes. Some are enjoying and thriving in their new threads, while others have struggled with their new club. Here we take a look at the good and the bad and get a better look at who won the deadline.

The Good:

OF- Randy Arozarena and other Seattle Mariners

Of course, Randy Arozarena was the headliner for the Seattle Mariners this deadline. He has not disappointed either. He has a 158 WRC+ in his first 8 games including a home run. He had a slow start to the season but so far he has produced the way Seattle hoped he would when acquiring him. Arozarena isn't the only player enjoying life in Seattle. Justin Turner has a 119 WRC+ including a grand slam and a nice defensive play. Additionally Seattle's newest relievers, JT Chargois, and Yimi Garcia, have been valuable. Chargois has thrown 2.1 innings without allowing a run or a baserunner and has struck out 2. Yimi Garcia had thrown 4 scoreless innings prior to Sunday in Philadelphia where he had one blemish in a 2 run home run. Outside of that one mistake however he has been everything Seattle asked for. Seattle is 3-2 since the deadline, most notable a series win over the NL's top team the Phillies. Right after the deadline I was very high on the Mariners and loved the moves they made. A week later, the new Mariners are proving me and tons of other people right, Seattle had a greatly successful deadline.

UTL- Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Yankees new relievers

Jazz Chisholm Jr has looked like he was born to play in pinstripes thus far. Yankee fans have fully embraced him and Jazz has fit in perfectly. He hit 4 home runs in his first 3 games with the team. He has also reached base in all but one of his games with the team so far. He has willingly made the move to third base and has looked solid at that spot despite never playing it in the majors before. He has been huge for a Yankees team desperate for production outside of superstars Aaron Judge and Juan Soto. The two relievers, Enyel De Los Santos and Mark Leiter Jr, that the Yankees acquired have also been a bright spot. De Los Santos has thrown 3.1 scoreless innings so far while striking out 2. Leiter Jr has thrown 4 innings and has struck out 5. However, he has allowed more traffic on the bases than the Yankees would like. Teams have 7 hits off of him and he has surrendered a free pass. Only 1 run has crossed the plate so far though. He has been effective and has shown off his ability to make batters swing and miss. The Yankees are 4-1 since the deadline and even better 6-1 with Jazz Chisholm. The Yankees weren't the busiest team at the deadline but appear to have made the right moves to foster more success.

OF- Tommy Pham and Cardinals new reliever

Tommy Pham is no stranger to the Cardinals, as he was drafted by them back in 2006. This may be a bit of a homecoming for him and he is loving it. Pham has a 186 WRC+ since returning to St. Louis including a home run in his first game back with the Cardinals. Playing baseball is better when you're not on the Chicago White Sox and Pham is exemplifying that. Additionally, Shawn Armstrong who the Cardinals acquired for Dylan Carlson has looked solid in his 4 innings with the Cardinals. He has struck out 6 while only allowing 4 base runners. Unfortunately one of those was a home run from Jeff McNeil in Monday's game. Nevertheless he has shown the Cardinals his ability to be a multi-inning reliever and has been what the Cardinals asked for. Despite Pham and Armstrong's success, the Cardinals are 3-4 since the deadline and lost a 4 game series to the Cubs. They certainly were hoping to play better out of the deadline but look to turn it around fast to stay in the mix for a wild card spot.

Dodgers new Arms

The Dodgers newly acquired pitchers, Jack Flaherty and Michael Kopech, have not disappointed. Flaherty threw 6 scoreless innings and struck out 7 in his Dodgers debut against the Athletics on Saturday. A start like this was expected of Flaherty who has had a great season so far. Kopech being as dominant as he has been immediately is a pleasant surprise for Dodger fans. He went to the Dodgers with an ERA of almost 5 but has thrown 3 scoreless innings with the Dodgers and has looked almost untouchable. He struck out the side in his first outing and added 2 more in his next 2. He has only allowed 1 baserunner after allowing a 2 out single in yesterday's game against the Phillies. A bruised and battered Dodgers pitching staff are overjoyed to see this production from their new arms.

SP Yusei Kikuchi-Houston Astros

The Astros certainly went all out to acquire Kikuchi from the Blue Jays. It was largely considered a huge overpay for a rental starter with an ERA of almost 5 on the season. Due to this, Kikuchi went into his first start with the Astros with potentially more pressure on him than any other traded player. Kikuchi promptly silenced any doubters with an 11 strike out performance over 5.2 innings. He was pretty much as advertised in his first start: tons of swing and miss but hard contact when players made contact. Players swung and miss 26/51 times when they swung. Kikuchi did allow a home run resulting in 2 earned runs off of him. Kikuchi gets hit hard when batters are able to make contact but if he can limit the contact like he did in his debut, maybe the Astros won't look so crazy after all.

Arizona Diamondbacks

The Diamondbacks are probably the hottest team in baseball right now and their deadline acquisitions have performed well. With their star first baseman Christian Walker going down with an injury, the D-backs acquired Josh Bell in an emergency move. In his first game with Arizona Bell hit 2 home runs and has a 173 WRC+ in his first 19 plate appearances with the team. He has big shoes to fill as he is filling in for beloved Christian Walker but he is doing what he can while he nurses his injury. Both relievers the D-Backs acquired, AJ Puk and Dylan Floro, have been great reinforcements for Arizona's bullpen. Put has struck out 7 in 4.1 innings pitched. He has been nearly perfect outside of one bad outing where he allowed a run and 3 hits to the Pirates. Dylan Floro has thrown 2 scoreless innings and has tallied 1 strikeout since going Arizona. The D-backs are 5-1 since the deadline and have tied the Padres for second in the NL West while holding a wild card spot.

Mets Paul Blackburn and Padres Martin Perez

Blackburn and Perez were both non-headliner starting pitcher pickups. Both also saw tons of success in their first outing with their new clubs. Blackburn allowed 1 run and tallied 6 strike outs in 6 innings in his debut. Players swung and missed on 10/37 of their swings against him. When they did make contact they simply just did not hit the ball hard either with an average exit velocity of 86.1 MPH. Perez had a similar outing where he went 6 innings, allowing 1 run and striking out 7. he got 15 whiffs on 44 swings and also generated soft contact with an average exit velocity of 87.8. Both the Padres and Mets hope these pitchers see more of this success as they both chase a wild card spot.

Orioles Jimenez, Eflin, and Dominguez

The Orioles decided to take a chance on multiple players this deadline. Two of them being Eloy Jiménez and Seranthony Dominguez. Eloy has only had 9 plate appearances but in that small sample size has looked great. He has 5 hits and a 254 WRC+. The Orioles hope Eloy can rediscover the player he used to be when he was a top hitter in the MLB. Dominguez was basically a leftover reliever from the Phillies who the Orioles acquired in the Austin Hays trade. He has thrown 5 innings so far for Baltimore and has only allowed 1 run. He struck out 6 over that span and the only blemish really was the solo homer he allowed. Eflin came in with higher expectation than Jimenez and Dominguez as he was a cy young candidate just a season ago. He has started 2 games so far for 12.1 innings and has allowed 5 earned runs. He struck out 10 as well. He has allowed a ton of traffic with 15 hits and 1 walk surrendered so far. The Orioles hope he can limit the base runners and regain a little of last years success the rest of the season as they battle the Yankees for the AL East.

Royals SS Paul DeJong, SP Michael Lorenzen, and RP Lucas Erceg

When the Royals traded for DeJong it was questionable because we didn't know where he fit on a Royals team with superstar shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. However he has been playing third base and has been solid on offense so far. He has a 128 WRC+ and a home run through 17 plate appearances in Kansas City. Nobody expects him to be a superstar and if he can consistently put up above average offense he will be an extremely valuable veteran presence on a young Royals team. Lorenzen made his first start for the Royals on Saturday where he went 5.2 innings, allowed 1 run, and struck out 5. Batters swung and missed on 13/38 swings and could not hit the ball hard with an 85.4 average exit velocity. Meanwhile in the bullpen Lucas Erceg has struck out 3 in 2.1 scoreless innings out of the Royals pen. I loved the Lorenzen and Erceg pickups for Kansas City and it is good to see them succeed thus far.

The Bad:

3B Isaac Paredes-Chicago Cubs

Perhaps the most confusing trade of the deadline has resulted as most expected, not good for the Cubs. Paredes has been awful so far in Chicago as everyone expected. His toolset as a hitter just doesn't fit well at Wrigley Field and everyone predicted this regression for Paredes. He has only mustered 3 hits but it is important to note that 2 of those were doubles that came in Cincinnati, meaning he only has 1 hit at Wrigley in 29 plate appearances as a Cub. He also has a 2 WRC+ (league average is 100). Meanwhile in Tampa Bay Christopher Morel who was traded away in the Paredes trade has 2 home runs and a 182 WRC+ in 18 plate appearances for the Rays. It was all around an awful trade for Chicago and really made no sense at all.

OF Lane Thomas-Cleveland Guardians

The Guardians acquired Lane Thomas from the Nationals hoping to get production from an outfielder not named Steven Kwan. They knew the majority of his value would come in speed and defense but were hoping for more offense than he has provided. He has only 3 hits, 0 in his last 4 games, adding up to just a 40 WRC+. On the season Thomas has a 103 WRC+ which puts him at just about league average hitting. He has elite defense and speed to make up for average offense. He hasn't been anywhere near average offensively so far in Cleveland though and the Guardians hope he can return to at minimum league average offense soon.

SP Trevor Rogers-Baltimore Orioles

Former rookie of the year for the Marlins, Trevor Rogers, was disappointing in his first start for Baltimore. He allowed 5 earned runs over 4.1 innings. The most notable statistic from his outing was he got hit harder than he had all season. The average exit velocity on balls in play against him was 97.8, the highest of all his starts this season. Hitters weren't fooled at all and barreled the ball up against him. He has been inconsistent all season and the Orioles trading the quality of prospects they did for him was a head scratcher. They hope Rogers can find success more consistently as they look to make a deep playoff run.

SP Erick Fedde

Erick Fedde is in the middle of a huge comeback season after spending a year in the KBO. However, in his first start with the Cardinals he got lit up by the Cubs. He surrendered 5 earned runs in 5 innings and hitters had an average exit velocity of 92.5 off of him. This is not completely uncharacteristic for Fedde this season. Multiple times he has had rough starts where he allows 4-5 runs and then follows it up with a start where he throws 6 shutout innings. He has been pretty inconsistent this season. and the Cardinals would have known that going in. They hope he continues the trend of bouncing back from rough starts in his next one as the Cardinals are slumping and losing ground in the wild card race.

Summary

Overall players have had a good time with their new teams. A week is not a huge sample size and all of this shouldn't be taken as the be all end all for if teams made good trades or not. Players who have performed well could just be experiencing a hot streak and players who performed poorly could be in a slump and break out at any moment. It is fun to revisit the moves made a week ago and see how players have performed in an introduction to their new teams and fanbases and that's what this is.

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