Dodgers, Cardinals, and White Sox make three-team deal
In the first multi-team trade of the Deadline season, the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals swung a massive eight-player deal on Monday.
Each team hammered their needs in the deal. The Dodgers acquired Tommy Edman and Minor League pitcher Oliver Gonzalez from the Cardinals, plus right-handed pitcher Michael Kopech from Chicago. The Cardinals would snag Erick Fedde and Tommy Pham from Chicago, and the White Sox would collect Dodgers infield prospects Miguel Vargas, Alexander Albertus, and Jeral Perez.
The Dodgers cover two obvious needs with this trade; Tommy Edman is a perfect addition to the glaring middle-infield-sized hole on their team. An injury to Mookie Betts and Gavin Lux’s lacklustre return from his horrific leg injury last spring has made second base and shortstop volatile positions for Los Angeles.
Edman is a fantastic defensive player; the 2021 Gold Glove winner sat in the 96th percentile in defensive range and the 86th percentile in fielding run value last year. Edman has yet to play a game this year in the Major Leagues after recovering from a wrist surgery he underwent last October.
Luckily for Edman, injuries have been a bit of a storyline for the Dodgers this year; 13 players currently sit on L.A.’s injured list, including Mookie Betts, Walker Buehler, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Max Muncy. Edman’s expected to make his season debut soon as he has already spent almost a month in Triple-A on his rehab stint.
The same goes for Kopech, who is joining a depleted (but recovering) Dodgers pitching staff. Clayton Kershaw, Tyler Glasnow, Emmet Sheehan Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, Blake Treinen, Brusdar Graterol, and numerous others have joined Buehler and Yamamoto on the IL this year, so adding an arm that has made 43 appearances with nine saves this season is a much-welcomed arm.
For the Cardinals, the play of Alec Burleson and Brendan Donovan made Tommy Edman movable and being able to add one of the most surprising pitchers of the 2024 season in Erick Fedde and some outfield help in veteran Tommy Pham.
Fedde has been one of the best stories in baseball this year after making his return to the MLB this season. Last year, Fedde spent the season with the NC Dinos in Korea, winning the KBO’s equivalent of the Cy Young award. This season, Fedde holds a 3.11 ERA with 108 strikeouts and seven wins in 21 games; impressive considering he was pitching for a team that is currently on pace to win less than 50 games.
As for Pham, he is a depth piece in the deal, adding to an outfield that employs Lars Nootbaar as its elder statesman (he has 2.076 years of MLB service time). Pham didn’t sign with a Major League team until the middle of April. Pham smacked five homers and cashed in 19 runs in his 271 at-bats in Chicago.
For the White Sox, acquiring future capital was the name of the game; three prospects from the Dodgers organization head to the Southside including their former No. 3 prospect, Miguel Vargas. Now is Vargas technically a prospect? Considering he has played over 370 games in the major leagues, no. But he has yet to get real playing time in the MLB and has only been up with the big squad for half a season before being sent back to Triple-A Oklahoma in 2023. Vargas has three long balls this season in only 71 at-bats, so getting this extended look he is likely to get in Chicago could be exactly what he needs to become a full-time Major Leaguer.
As for Perez and Albertus, MLB Pipeline has slotted them into the 13 and 14 spots respectively in the White Sox organization. Overall, everyone got what they wanted, great trade.
Mariners load up with Arozarena and more
In the trade that sort of kicked off the really silly season of the Trade Deadline, the Seattle Mariners would acquire Tampa Bay Rays slugging outfielder, Randy Arozarena. The Mariners would send two prospects, outfielder Aidan Smith, right-hander Brody Hopkins, and a player to be named later to Tampa.
Arozarena adds the power bat the Mariners desperately need. While the pitching has been exactly what the doctor ordered this season in Seattle, boasting the best ERA in all of baseball with 3.35, issuing the least amount of walks with 251, and least amount of hits allowed with 760. Pitching has not been the problem, the lack of offensive production has been. Seattle’s offence has produced the third least amount of runs in the MLB this year, the second-worst batting average, and the least amount of hits… not great.
Arozarena has seen a bit of a dip this season, seeing his average dive by 37 points to .217, but does sit only eight homers back of his career-high. Tampa Bay also sat in the bottom third in the league in basically every offensive category, so I’m sure that also helps with his numbers, as well.
Now, the Mariners don’t exactly have the best prospect pool, sitting 18th heading into the season according to MLB Pipeline. But, Hopkins settles into the Rays organization as the No. 7 prospect and Aidan Smith slots into the 13 spot. Pretty decent return for an organization that doesn’t have a great reputation.
*Update* Arozarena has just hit his first home run as a Mariner. He now has 16 homers on the year
Hopkins is a 22-year-old right-hander who has thrown pretty well in Single-A Modesto so far this year. Striking out 95 batters in 83.2 innings, the 6’4″ pitcher can touch 99 mph and threw six scoreless innings, sitting down eight in his final appearance in the Mariners organization.
As for Smith, he was selected in the fourth round of the MLB Draft last year and was touted as one of the best pure hitters coming out of high school in Texas. After a shaky first year of pro ball, Smith has found his footing this year, smashing nine home runs and cashing in 42 runs. But it’s not just his bat that jumps off the page; Smith has 28 stolen bases this year while also legging out 26 doubles. He can do it with his bat and his legs.
Again, another deal that accomplishes exactly what both teams set out to find.
New York Yankees acquire Jazz Chisholm Jr.
Now, this trade is my absolute favourite, and I don’t know why. On Saturday, the New York Yankees acquired the Marlins eccentric outfielder, Jazz Chisholm. In exchange for Chisholm, Miami would acquire three prospects from the Yankees: catcher Agustin Ramirez, middle infielder Jared Serna, and utility guy Abrahan Ramirez.
On the surface, this trade kind of doesn’t make sense. The Yankees already added outfielders Juan Soto, Trent Grisham, and Alex Verdugo this winter, adding to an outfield that already has Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge. Not to mention the two top prospects in the organization are also outfielders in Jasson Dominguez and Spencer Jones.
However, the outfield was not the route the Yankees went with Chisholm’s second start in New York; instead, Chisholm made his first-ever start at third base. Jazz did enter the MLB as a middle infielder back in 2020 but was moved to the outfield part-time in 2023 and full-time in 2024.
Chisholm also allows for more flexibility in the batting lineup for the Bronx Bombers. In his first game on Monday, Jazz was placed in the six-hole, a spot behind DH Giancarlo Stanton. But, Chisholm can easily slot in as the new lead-off hitter, creating a top-four of Chisholm, Volpe, Soto, and Judge… NASTY.
On the Marlins side, two of the three prospects already sit in the top-eight prospects in Miami’s organization. Agustin Ramirez becomes the fourth-best prospect for the club while Jared Serna occupies the No. 8 spot.
Ramirez impresses with his short swing from the right side of the plate, stroking 20 bombs in 87 games this season across Double-A and Triple-A. Even more impressive, is the fact that 2023 was his first full season of baseball since signing from the Dominican Republic in 2020. Ramirez has already surpassed his career-high in long balls from last season and could be on the fast track to making his MLB debut soon.
Serna is a pull-hitter and can hit the ball harder than his 5’7″ frame would suggest. Signed out of Mexico in 2019, similar to Ramirez, he wouldn’t make his pro debut until two years later. Since making his debut, Serna has hit 41 home runs in 309 games in the minor leagues, including 26 this year alone. Serna is only two long balls away from his career-high and seems to be on his way to Double-A Pensacola.
The last prospect the Marlins acquired, Abrahan Ramirez, is a 19-year-old utility guy, spending his first two professional seasons in the Dominican Summer League. Ramirez doesn’t boast a ton of power, hitting only three homers in the last three years, but has a real knack for getting on base. Abrahan has rocked a batting average of .311 and above in all three of his pro seasons and has a career-best .348 this season. Not only is he crushing career numbers, but he has also played the most games he has ever played in a single season in his pro career. Really encouraging numbers if you’re Miami.
*UPDATE* Chisholm has hit two home runs in his second game as a Yankee.*
Isaac Parades swaps places with Christopher Morel
In one of the most head-scratching deals of the Trade Deadline season, the Chicago Cubs acquired third baseman Isaac Parades from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for fellow third baseman, Christopher Morel, and prospects Hunter Bigge and Ty Johnson.
This move turned some heads considering the Cubs labeled themselves as sellers heading into the deadline, but that has not been the case.
Outside of Randy Arozarena, Parades was Tampa Bay’s most productive hitter this season, sitting first on the team in home runs with 16, first in RBIs with 55, and second in slugging with .441.
This season hasn’t been as friendly for Christopher Morel, swinging a .199 average this year, by far the worst he has seen in his career. One thing Morel has had going for him this year, though, is his power hitting; leaving the Cubs as their club leader in home runs this season and second in RBIs. The other positive for Morel is his advanced numbers; sitting in the 70th percentile or higher in six hitting categories including xwOBA, slugging, barrel percentage, and hard-hit percentage. The underlying numbers are there, the results just haven’t thus far this season for Morel.
Neither of the prospects sent from the Cubs make the Rays top-30 prospects according to MLB Pipeline. Bigge is a 26-year-old righty selected in the ninth round of the 2019 draft. He has made four Major League appearances in his career, striking out five batters in 3.1 innings. All of his MLB appearances came earlier this month with Chicago, and while he hasn’t yet stuck with the big club, his season in the minors has been nothing to scoff at. In 14 games, Bigge has six saves and one win in 14 appearances, striking out 23 batters in 15.1 innings, all while boasting a 1.17 ERA.
Ty Johnson is a totally different story; Johnson is a 22-year-old 6’6″ righty who is in the middle of his first season as a pro. He has struggled a little bit this season, winning only one of his 10 starts this season and owning a 3.54 ERA, but his swing-and-miss stuff has been there. Johnson has struck out 81 hitters in 61.0 innings in A-ball and even earned himself a save.
The eye test suggests this is a straight swap between young third basemen, with a sprinkle of a sweetener on the side from Chicago and a change of scenery for each player might be exactly what they need. This is also clearly a move between two teams who are trying to re-tool on the fly instead of committing to a full rebuild/selling off assets. Another deal that makes a lot of sense. But… There’s still a lot of time for some silly stuff.