Believe it or not, the American League East teams were able to make deal even after the Mets and Padres went on their respective shopping sprees.
All jokes aside, the AL East had a solid deadline overall (with the exception of one team). Let&#8217;s take a look at each team&#8217;s acquisitions and deductions, as well as my grade and assessment on how they did.
* Names in italics indicate prospects
<h2>Toronto Blue Jays</h2>
Grade: B+
In: RP Seranthony Domínguez (BAL), SP Shane Bieber (CLE), C Brandon Valenzuela (SD), RP Louis Varland (MIN), 1B Ty France (MIN)
Out: SP Juaron Watts-Brown, SP Khal Stephen, INF Will Wagner, SP Kendry Rojas, OF Alan Roden
Summary: Entering Friday tied for the best record in the American League, the Blue Jays got better at this trade deadline.
Seranthony Domínguez and Louis Varland raise the ceiling on a bullpen that has already impressed with the likes of Braydon Fisher, Brendon Little, and Yariel Rodríguez earning the trust of John Schneider in high leverage this year. The Blue Jays are still awaiting Yimi García and Nick Sandlin to return from injury, but once they are, Schneider has a plethora of options at his disposal.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
Louis Varland is disgusting. <a href="https://t.co/PQCyvsXM7J">pic.twitter.com/PQCyvsXM7J</a>
&mdash; Cal (@CalToronto27) <a href="https://twitter.com/CalToronto27/status/1951094699411779913?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/toronto-blue-jays-acquire-former-cy-young-winner-shane-bieber-from-guardians">Shane Bieber</a> is the wild card here. The resounding opinion is that this is a high-risk, high-reward acquisition, and it&#8217;s hard to disagree with that. The Blue Jays capitalized on growing pitching depth in their farm system to make this deal, and if Bieber stays on track with his rehab, there&#8217;s a good chance he&#8217;s getting the ball to start a playoff game for this team. Ultimately, I think the Blue Jays were enamoured with the potential of that.
Ty France has generated mixed reviews, but the Blue Jays now get a true backup first baseman, given that&#8217;s where France has played the majority of his career. Toronto was rumoured to be involved with other bats, and it begs the question of how much the front office believed in the possibility of Anthony Santander coming back this year.
The Blue Jays could&#8217;ve swung harder for another bat (pun intended), but it&#8217;s hard to argue with how well their current hitters have been playing. After all, they&#8217;re at the top of the MLB standings, and those guys have a lot to do with that.
<h2>New York Yankees</h2>
Grade: A-
In: 3B Ryan McMahon (COL), OF Austin Slater (CHW), UTIL Amed Rosario (WSH), RP David Bednar (PIT), RP Camilo Doval (SF), RP Jake Bird (COL), INF José Caballero (TB), OF Wilberson De Pena (LAA)
Out: SP Griffin Herring, SP Josh Grosz, SP Gage Ziehl, OF Browm Martinez, RP Clayton Beeter, C Rafael Flores, C Edgleen Perez, OF Brian Sanchez, C Jesus Rodriguez, SP Trystan Vrieling, INF Parks Harber, SP Carlos De La Rosa, 2B Roc Riggio, SP Ben Shields, OF Everson Pereira, 3B Oswald Peraza
Summary: After being dethroned by the Blue Jays for the AL East lead, the Yankees needed an injection of something new at the deadline. Defensive woes on the left side of the infield forced their hand at acquiring Ryan McMahon and José Caballero, a name that New York could plug in all over the diamond.
The biggest deals, however, were the acquisitions of high-leverage relievers David Bednar and Camilo Doval, almost certainly moving the struggling Luke Weaver and maybe Devin Williams into earlier innings of the ball game. Yankees manager Aaron Boone <a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/45870491/sources-yankees-finalizing-trade-pirates-closer-david-bednar">said yesterday</a> that Williams would still be the closer, but New York now has options if they want to deviate. Weaver has posted a 6.60 since the beginning of June, and Williams hasn&#8217;t had an ERA below 4.50 since April 6th.
The Yankees missed the icing on the cake on this deadline by not getting a starting pitcher, despite rumours swirling about acquiring one of Sandy Alcantara or Edward Cabrera from the Marlins. Getting another starter would&#8217;ve raised the ceiling on a team whose back end of the rotation hasn&#8217;t put up the prettiest numbers this season; however, they are getting Luis Gil and Ryan Yarbrough back soon from injury.
<h2>Boston Red Sox</h2>
Grade: D
In: SP Dustin May (LAD), RP Steven Matz (STL)
Out: OF James Gibbs III, OF Zach Ehrhard, 1B Blaze Jordan
Summary: Yikes.
The biggest headline from Boston&#8217;s deadline might be the move they didn&#8217;t make, as the smoke around a potential Joe Ryan deal died out. The same could be said for any Jarren Duran deal, despite persistent efforts from the Padres.
Acquiring Steven Matz from the Cardinals and Dustin May from the Dodgers doesn&#8217;t move the needle much for a Red Sox team that was 17-7 in July and currently owns a Wild Card spot. The Red Sox boasted younger talent and appropriate prospect capital to make a big move, but other teams (including their rivals) made bigger splashes.
After missing all of last season, May will fill a starting pitching void as the Red Sox currently have Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford, and Hunter Dobbins all on the IL. Through 19 games this year, May owns a 4.85 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, and 8.4 K/9 over 104 innings. May and Matz are both rentals as they will be free agents after this season, but those two names alone may put them behind the eight ball going into the home stretch.
<h2>Tampa Bay Rays</h2>
Grade: B
In: SP Adrian Houser (CHW), RP Griffin Jax (MIN), OF Everson Pereira (NYY), C/1B Hunter Feduccia (LAD), SP Brian Van Belle (CIN), C Nick Fortes (MIA), INF Jadher Areinamo (MIL), RP Bryan Baker (BAL)
Out: INF Curtis Mead, SP Duncan Davitt, RP Ben Peoples, SP Taj Bradley, INF José Caballero, RP Paul Gervase, C Ben Rortvedt, SP Adam Serwinowski, C Danny Jansen, SP Zack Littell, OF Matthew Etzel
Summary: The Rays have struggled immensely in July, going 7-18 and falling to fourth in the AL East and out of a playoff spot. That may just be chalked up to the ebbs and flows of a baseball season, though, as a 33-22 record between May and June kept them near the AL East lead.
Tampa Bay played both sides last week, dipping their toes in both buying and selling. However, after joining in on Minnesota&#8217;s fire sale and nabbing reliever Griffin Jax, as well as acquiring Adrian Houser during a career season, the Rays appeared to keep their attention focused on the playoffs.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
The Rays have acquired Griffin Jax
The 30-year-old has multiple years of control and ranks in the top 1% of the league in Chase% (41.1%), Whiff% (38.8%), and K% (36.4%). He has a 5 pitch mix and has a whiff rate of over 40% on 3 of his offerings.<a href="https://t.co/4aHBN1UgnD">pic.twitter.com/4aHBN1UgnD</a>
&mdash; Running From The OPS (@OPS_BASEBALL) <a href="https://twitter.com/OPS_BASEBALL/status/1951072999307715021?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Signed to a minor league deal this season, Houser turned into a valuable piece at the deadline. On the year, he&#8217;s posted a 2.10 ERA through 11 starts, and he&#8217;s allowed just three home runs through 68 2/3 innings. Even with acquiring Houser, it left the Rays a bit thin on the SP side. They parted ways with Taj Bradley and Zack Littell, and they also recently found out about Shane McClanahan&#8217;s <a href="https://www.si.com/mlb/rays/injuries/frustrated-shane-mcclanahan-suffers-another-setback-on-rehab-journey-tampa-bay-rays-injured-pitcher">latest setback</a> after getting Tommy John surgery last year. But, they&#8217;re the Rays. They&#8217;ll figure something out.
On the selling side, the Rays capitalized on pending free agent Danny Jansen, and they also sent José Caballero to the Yankees in return for Everson Pereira, one of the higher-ranked prospects in New York&#8217;s system over the past few seasons.
<h2>Baltimore Orioles</h2>
Grade: B
In: SP Juaron Watts-Brown (TOR), RP Wellington Aracena (NYM), RP Cameron Foster (NYM), RP Micah Ashman (DET), RP Raimon Gómez (NYM), RP Anthony Nunez (NYM), RP Chandler Marsh (NYM), Wilfri De La Cruz (CHC), SP Boston Bateman (SD), RP Tyson Neighbors (SD), RP Tanner Smith (SD), UTIL Brandon Butterworth (SD), SS Cobb Hightower (SD), 1B Victor Figueroa (SD), SP Twine Palmer (HOU)
Out: RP Seranthony Domínguez, RP Gregory Soto, SP Charlie Morton, CF Cedric Mullins, RP Andrew Kittredge, 1B/DH Ryan O&#8217;Hearn, OF Ramón Laureano, 3B Ramón Urías
Summary: As poorly as this season has gone for Baltimore, kudos to them for taking advantage of a seller&#8217;s market and raiding the farm systems of the Mets and Padres in particular.
Baltimore moved everyone that made sense, and stayed away from moving any of their core pieces, such as Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman. They even got Detroit to bite on Charlie Morton despite posting a 5.42 ERA and the third-highest home run percentage of his career. Yesterday, the team also put Zach Eflin on the IL for lower back discomfort, which came at a poor time as they might&#8217;ve been able to get something in return for his services.
Part of Baltimore&#8217;s prospect haul included former Blue Jays prospect Juaron Watts-Brown, who was promoted to double-A New Hampshire this year. Watts-Brown made 11 starts there, pitching to a 3.48 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, and 9.2 K/9. They also acquired reliever prospect Raimon Gómez from the Mets in the Cedric Mullins deal; Gómez <a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/mets-prospect-raimon-gomez-throws-104-5-mph-pitch">touched 104.5 mph</a> on his fastball earlier this season with single-A St. Lucie. High strikeouts and high velocity have been accompanied by a high walk rate, but at 23 years of age, there&#8217;s intrigue with the stuff.
From now until the end of the year, the Orioles have room to give other prospects a chance at the big league level, particularly in the bullpen. They&#8217;ll take whatever wins they can now and go into next year with a clean slate.
<hr />
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Celebrate <a href="https://nationgear.ca/collections/bluejaysnation">Vladdy’s big news</a> in style with the exclusive new <a href="https://nationgear.ca/collections/bluejaysnation">BlueJaysNation Vladdy merch</a> — available only at <a href="https://nationgear.ca/collections/bluejaysnation">NationGear.ca</a>! Rep a future Hall of Famer and wear your team&#8217;s pride loud. Limited drop. Don’t miss out.

Believe it or not, the American League East teams were able to make deal even after the Mets and Padres went on their respective shopping sprees.

All jokes aside, the AL East had a solid deadline overall (with the exception of one team). Let's take a look at each team's acquisitions and deductions, as well as my grade and assessment on how they did.

* Names in italics indicate prospects
<h2>Toronto Blue Jays</h2>
Grade: B+

In: RP Seranthony Domínguez (BAL), SP Shane Bieber (CLE), C Brandon Valenzuela (SD), RP Louis Varland (MIN), 1B Ty France (MIN)

Out: SP Juaron Watts-Brown, SP Khal Stephen, INF Will Wagner, SP Kendry Rojas, OF Alan Roden

Summary: Entering Friday tied for the best record in the American League, the Blue Jays got better at this trade deadline.

Seranthony Domínguez and Louis Varland raise the ceiling on a bullpen that has already impressed with the likes of Braydon Fisher, Brendon Little, and Yariel Rodríguez earning the trust of John Schneider in high leverage this year. The Blue Jays are still awaiting Yimi García and Nick Sandlin to return from injury, but once they are, Schneider has a plethora of options at his disposal.

https://twitter.com/CalToronto27/status/1951094699411779913

<a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/toronto-blue-jays-acquire-former-cy-young-winner-shane-bieber-from-guardians">Shane Bieber</a> is the wild card here. The resounding opinion is that this is a high-risk, high-reward acquisition, and it's hard to disagree with that. The Blue Jays capitalized on growing pitching depth in their farm system to make this deal, and if Bieber stays on track with his rehab, there's a good chance he's getting the ball to start a playoff game for this team. Ultimately, I think the Blue Jays were enamoured with the potential of that.

Ty France has generated mixed reviews, but the Blue Jays now get a true backup first baseman, given that's where France has played the majority of his career. Toronto was rumoured to be involved with other bats, and it begs the question of how much the front office believed in the possibility of Anthony Santander coming back this year.

The Blue Jays could've swung harder for another bat (pun intended), but it's hard to argue with how well their current hitters have been playing. After all, they're at the top of the MLB standings, and those guys have a lot to do with that.
<h2>New York Yankees</h2>
Grade: A-

In: 3B Ryan McMahon (COL), OF Austin Slater (CHW), UTIL Amed Rosario (WSH), RP David Bednar (PIT), RP Camilo Doval (SF), RP Jake Bird (COL), INF José Caballero (TB), OF Wilberson De Pena (LAA)

Out: SP Griffin Herring, SP Josh Grosz, SP Gage Ziehl, OF Browm Martinez, RP Clayton Beeter, C Rafael Flores, C Edgleen Perez, OF Brian Sanchez, C Jesus Rodriguez, SP Trystan Vrieling, INF Parks Harber, SP Carlos De La Rosa, 2B Roc Riggio, SP Ben Shields, OF Everson Pereira, 3B Oswald Peraza

Summary: After being dethroned by the Blue Jays for the AL East lead, the Yankees needed an injection of something new at the deadline. Defensive woes on the left side of the infield forced their hand at acquiring Ryan McMahon and José Caballero, a name that New York could plug in all over the diamond.

The biggest deals, however, were the acquisitions of high-leverage relievers David Bednar and Camilo Doval, almost certainly moving the struggling Luke Weaver and maybe Devin Williams into earlier innings of the ball game. Yankees manager Aaron Boone <a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/45870491/sources-yankees-finalizing-trade-pirates-closer-david-bednar">said yesterday</a> that Williams would still be the closer, but New York now has options if they want to deviate. Weaver has posted a 6.60 since the beginning of June, and Williams hasn't had an ERA below 4.50 since April 6th.

The Yankees missed the icing on the cake on this deadline by not getting a starting pitcher, despite rumours swirling about acquiring one of Sandy Alcantara or Edward Cabrera from the Marlins. Getting another starter would've raised the ceiling on a team whose back end of the rotation hasn't put up the prettiest numbers this season; however, they are getting Luis Gil and Ryan Yarbrough back soon from injury.
<h2>Boston Red Sox</h2>
Grade: D

In: SP Dustin May (LAD), RP Steven Matz (STL)

Out: OF James Gibbs III, OF Zach Ehrhard, 1B Blaze Jordan

Summary: Yikes.

The biggest headline from Boston's deadline might be the move they didn't make, as the smoke around a potential Joe Ryan deal died out. The same could be said for any Jarren Duran deal, despite persistent efforts from the Padres.

Acquiring Steven Matz from the Cardinals and Dustin May from the Dodgers doesn't move the needle much for a Red Sox team that was 17-7 in July and currently owns a Wild Card spot. The Red Sox boasted younger talent and appropriate prospect capital to make a big move, but other teams (including their rivals) made bigger splashes.

After missing all of last season, May will fill a starting pitching void as the Red Sox currently have Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford, and Hunter Dobbins all on the IL. Through 19 games this year, May owns a 4.85 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, and 8.4 K/9 over 104 innings. May and Matz are both rentals as they will be free agents after this season, but those two names alone may put them behind the eight ball going into the home stretch.
<h2>Tampa Bay Rays</h2>
Grade: B

In: SP Adrian Houser (CHW), RP Griffin Jax (MIN), OF Everson Pereira (NYY), C/1B Hunter Feduccia (LAD), SP Brian Van Belle (CIN), C Nick Fortes (MIA), INF Jadher Areinamo (MIL), RP Bryan Baker (BAL)

Out: INF Curtis Mead, SP Duncan Davitt, RP Ben Peoples, SP Taj Bradley, INF José Caballero, RP Paul Gervase, C Ben Rortvedt, SP Adam Serwinowski, C Danny Jansen, SP Zack Littell, OF Matthew Etzel

Summary: The Rays have struggled immensely in July, going 7-18 and falling to fourth in the AL East and out of a playoff spot. That may just be chalked up to the ebbs and flows of a baseball season, though, as a 33-22 record between May and June kept them near the AL East lead.

Tampa Bay played both sides last week, dipping their toes in both buying and selling. However, after joining in on Minnesota's fire sale and nabbing reliever Griffin Jax, as well as acquiring Adrian Houser during a career season, the Rays appeared to keep their attention focused on the playoffs.

https://twitter.com/OPS_BASEBALL/status/1951072999307715021

Signed to a minor league deal this season, Houser turned into a valuable piece at the deadline. On the year, he's posted a 2.10 ERA through 11 starts, and he's allowed just three home runs through 68 2/3 innings. Even with acquiring Houser, it left the Rays a bit thin on the SP side. They parted ways with Taj Bradley and Zack Littell, and they also recently found out about Shane McClanahan's <a href="https://www.si.com/mlb/rays/injuries/frustrated-shane-mcclanahan-suffers-another-setback-on-rehab-journey-tampa-bay-rays-injured-pitcher">latest setback</a> after getting Tommy John surgery last year. But, they're the Rays. They'll figure something out.

On the selling side, the Rays capitalized on pending free agent Danny Jansen, and they also sent José Caballero to the Yankees in return for Everson Pereira, one of the higher-ranked prospects in New York's system over the past few seasons.
<h2>Baltimore Orioles</h2>
Grade: B

In: SP Juaron Watts-Brown (TOR), RP Wellington Aracena (NYM), RP Cameron Foster (NYM), RP Micah Ashman (DET), RP Raimon Gómez (NYM), RP Anthony Nunez (NYM), RP Chandler Marsh (NYM), Wilfri De La Cruz (CHC), SP Boston Bateman (SD), RP Tyson Neighbors (SD), RP Tanner Smith (SD), UTIL Brandon Butterworth (SD), SS Cobb Hightower (SD), 1B Victor Figueroa (SD), SP Twine Palmer (HOU)

Out: RP Seranthony Domínguez, RP Gregory Soto, SP Charlie Morton, CF Cedric Mullins, RP Andrew Kittredge, 1B/DH Ryan O'Hearn, OF Ramón Laureano, 3B Ramón Urías

Summary: As poorly as this season has gone for Baltimore, kudos to them for taking advantage of a seller's market and raiding the farm systems of the Mets and Padres in particular.

Baltimore moved everyone that made sense, and stayed away from moving any of their core pieces, such as Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman. They even got Detroit to bite on Charlie Morton despite posting a 5.42 ERA and the third-highest home run percentage of his career. Yesterday, the team also put Zach Eflin on the IL for lower back discomfort, which came at a poor time as they might've been able to get something in return for his services.

Part of Baltimore's prospect haul included former Blue Jays prospect Juaron Watts-Brown, who was promoted to double-A New Hampshire this year. Watts-Brown made 11 starts there, pitching to a 3.48 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, and 9.2 K/9. They also acquired reliever prospect Raimon Gómez from the Mets in the Cedric Mullins deal; Gómez <a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/mets-prospect-raimon-gomez-throws-104-5-mph-pitch">touched 104.5 mph</a> on his fastball earlier this season with single-A St. Lucie. High strikeouts and high velocity have been accompanied by a high walk rate, but at 23 years of age, there's intrigue with the stuff.

From now until the end of the year, the Orioles have room to give other prospects a chance at the big league level, particularly in the bullpen. They'll take whatever wins they can now and go into next year with a clean slate.

<hr />

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Celebrate <a href="https://nationgear.ca/collections/bluejaysnation">Vladdy’s big news</a> in style with the exclusive new <a href="https://nationgear.ca/collections/bluejaysnation">BlueJaysNation Vladdy merch</a> — available only at <a href="https://nationgear.ca/collections/bluejaysnation">NationGear.ca</a>! Rep a future Hall of Famer and wear your team's pride loud. Limited drop. Don’t miss out.

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