Collette Calls: Trade Deadline Fallout

The MLB trade deadline was fast and furious for some teams, and eerily quiet for others. Let's look at every team to see what fantasy impacts were made by comings and goings after the dust settled Monday at 6 pm Eastern.

National League

Arizona: Added Lars Nootbaar

Nootbaar should slot right into the middle of the Arizona lineup against righties, so this relocation is a slight upgrade on ballpark alone if not surrounding talent. 

Atlanta: Added Brent Suter, Tyler Mahle and Lane Thomas

Sean Murphy is also back in the fold as he returns from the injured list to serve as Drake Baldwin's backup now that Joey Bart has been traded to the White Sox. Atlanta improved their roster on the margins with the three names they brought in, and the fantasy values of the trio each take a hit. Suter gets lost in Atlanta's bullpen depth, Thomas likely falls into a short-side platoon situation with Mike Yastrzemski, and Tyler Mahle's home/road ERA splits are the stuff nightmares are made of:

Chicago: Acquired Clay Holmes, Braxton Garrett, Tyrone Taylor, Kevin Gausman and Ryan Zeferjahn. Lost Moises Ballesteros

Holmes should return from the injured list any day now after recovering from his fractured fibula. He and Gausman join the rotation, and while the body of work on Holmes is still out there, hopefully a change of scenery does Gausman well. The veteran righty was 1-7 in his last 12 starts with a 5.54 ERA, 1.53 WHIP and a 14.2 percent K-BB%. Gausman obviously brings experience, but his stuff has not looked as sharp this summer. Garrett has pitched well in Triple-A but has had not done well at the big-league level this season. Taylor provides help at all three outfield positions for depth, but the best add could be Zeferjahn.

The Cubs bullpen is in the bottom third in the league by strikeout rate and the bottom 20th percentile in swing-and-miss rate. Zeferjahn is 95th percentile in both swing-and-miss rate and strikeout rate. He should slot somewhere in the saves rotation for the club and perhaps take over the full-time job if he could reduce his walks.

Cincinnati: Lost Nathaniel Lowe. Promoted Hector Rodriguez

This, and dealing away Caleb Ferguson, was all that happened Over the Rhine. Lowe was already marginalized on the roster with the insistence of using Ke'Bryan Hayes at third base and Eugenio Suarez locking up DH when Hayes is in the lineup. The club did announce it was promoting Hector Rodriguez, who hit 27 homers for Triple-A Louisville. It will be interesting to see him in the lineup, and if Rodriguez makes enough contact, he could go on an Aristides Aquino-like heater from yesteryear. It is surprising some members of this roster are still there such as Tyler Stephenson and Brady Singer.

Colorado: Lost Brenton Doyle, Victor Vodnik and Antonio Senzatela. Gained Connor Norby.

Norby had been in Triple-A Jacksonville prior to the trade, but he could come up to the big-league roster with Colorado. Doyle's defense will be missed in the outfield, but the trio of Jake McCarthy, Mickey Moniak and Cole Carrigg will now get a healthy share of the playing time out there. Jordan Romano has settled in as the preferred closer for the Rockies, so the departure of the bridge to him is the biggest issue for that one save a week Romano gets.

Los Angeles: Acquired: Ben Rortvedt, Hunter Feduccia, Kris Bubic and some guy named Tarik Skubal.

The Skubal news is obvious and does not need to be discussed, but the Dodgers suddenly found themselves with a catching problem after Dalton Rushing hit the IL with a forearm strain. Will Smith (neck) is still hurt, so the club went out and got two of their catchers from last season since they're familiar enough with the pitchers to work with them until Smith returns. Bubic is still out due to shoulder and elbow soreness, but he will add to the team's pitching depth once October gets here. 

Miami: Lost Liam Hicks, Lake Bachar, Braxton Garrett and Rece Hinds. Acquired Victor Vodnik.

Miami traded their RBI leader in Hicks and apparently will move everyone else up in the lineup by one spot. Griffin Conine should be the beneficiary of more RBI chances with Hicks leaving town, but everything else appears to be status quo. Agustin Ramirez could be back up with the club to take over the backup catching to see whether his work in Triple-A has improved his skills behind the plate and his ability to control the running game. 

Garrett was not even pitching for the big-league club, so there is no impact there, while the bullpen simply swaps out Bachar's stuff for Vodnik's upside away from Coors Field. Vodnik brings some closing experience to town and could supplant Pete Fairbanks, who is very likely to be designated for assignment sometime this month. 

Milwaukee: Added Antonio Senzatela, JoJo Romero and Dustin May

The fantasy value of these three pitchers is marginally impacted. The best you could hope for is better run support and better winning chacnes for May and possibly some vultured wins by Senzatela.

New York: Lost Luke Weaver, Tyrone Taylor, Brooks Raley, Huascar Brazoban and Clay Holmes

The bridge to Devin Williams just got demolished as the club sent away its two best setup relievers. The bullpen situation just got rather murky, and it remains to be seen how the Mets are going to fill in the gaps on the roster. 

Philadelphia: Added Caleb Kilian, Luis Arraez, Brooks Raley and Colby Thomas

Philadephia decided they needed Arraez in their lineup so much that they are reconstructing their defensive alignment to fit him in. Bryce Harper is going to be re-introduced to the outfield, which will be a nice bonus for fantasy managers. Kilian and Raley provide some much needed help for the Phillies bullpen, while Thomas adds organizational depth to the outfield situation much like the club's acquisition of Derek Hill did earlier this summer.

Pittsburgh: Added Lake Bachar, Luke Weaver and Kirby Yates, lost Mitch Keller to the IL

Keller's injury news came toward the end of the day, so the club added three relievers while shifting Carmen Mlodzinski back into the rotation to replace him. Weaver will likely take over as the primary closer for the club but we cannot discount Yates and his experience as well. The ultimate winner should be the Pittsburgh starters as their bullpen just got better over the course of the weekend.

San Diego: Added Casey Mize, Gage Workman and Robbie Ray

It would not be a trade deadline without A.J. Preller doing something. He decided to address the rotation by adding the experience of Ray and the upside of Mize. Ray has gone 7-0 over his last nine starts and last worked July 30, so he could next pitch as soon as Tuesday as that would his natural five-day schedule. Mize has not pitched since July 25 as Detroit scratched his last start in preparation of a deal, so the club could put Mize in on Tuesday and give Ray the Friday start to open the series against Houston.

San Francisco: Lost Luis Arraez, Tyler Mahle, Robbie Ray, Erik Miller, Caleb Kilian and Heliot Ramos. Gained Marcelo Mayer.

The Giants made out well getting Mayer for Miller, as such a thought would have been laughed off earlier this season. Osleivis Basabe has played second base recently, but Mayer could slide right into that spot as soon as he comes off the injured list. Drew Gilbert and Buddy Kennedy would appear to be the beneficiaries of the playing time vacated by Ramos for now, but neither is fantasy-viable. It's not clear on what the Giants plan to do with their two vacated roster spots. They could move Adrian Houser back into one of those spots and then go with bullpen days for the other one. Simply put, matchups against this team just got a bit easier the rest of the season. 

St. Louis: Lost Lars Nootbaar, Dustin May and JoJo Romero. Gained Caleb Ferguson. 

The departure of Nootbaar creates an opportunity for Bryan Torres in the outfield, for now. It is expected the move was done to clear a path for top prospect Joshua Baez. Quinn Mathews and Matthew Liberatore looked like the back end of the St. Louis rotation, though the Cardinals elected to send Mathews back to Triple-A on Tuesday and call up Hunter Dobbins instead. Liberatore and Dobbins get nice matchups this weekend with the Rockies coming to St. Louis. Romero's vacated spot is nicely replaced by Caleb Ferguson, but that is only helpful for those in holds leagues.

Washington: Lost Luis Garcia Jr. and Foster Griffin, recalled Andrew Alvarez.

Alvarez was already working in the Washington rotation before a recent demotion, so he should go right back into it along with Jake Irvin. Alvarez has some upside but is truly only rosterable in deeper league formats since he rarely quailifies for a win. Connelly Early will steal one of the spots as soon as he is ready to return from the injured list. Garcia Jr.'s spot so far has been filled by Abimelec Ortiz against righties, who immediately hit second in the lneup. He has hit 43 minor-leauge homers since the start of last season, but it remains to be seen whether he sticks high in the lineup.

American League

Athletics: Lost Colby Thomas

Thomas was barely in the outfield rotation as it were, so nothing really changes here. Zack Gelof should be coming off the injured list by the weekend, so that should move Jeff McNeil back into a reserve role between the outfield and infield.

Baltimore: Lost Tyler Wells, Adley Rutschman, Jake Rogers and Taylor Ward. Acquired Carlos Narvaez.

The Orioles made three trades of note, two of which were done with division mates. The team received a considerable return for Rutschman from Boston, which creates playing time for Carlos Narvaez as the primary catcher until Samuel Basallo returns. The outfield situation has been a four-man rotation with Ward in there nearly every game, so the playing time in the outfield will now be shared between Dylan Beavers, Colton Cowser and Leody Taveras, with Jeremiah Jackson and Tyler O'Neill getting time in as well.

Boston: Acquired Adley Rutschman, Jake Rogers, Eli White and Erik Miller. Lost Carlos Narvaez.

Rogers was included in the deal to give Boston a healthy catcher until Rutschman comes off the injured list. Eli White gives the bench another right-handed bat to use in platoon situations since neither Masataka Yoshida nor Jarren Duran has shown much against lefties this season. The addition of Miller to the pen gives Boston even more nastiness to help protect these leads the offense and rotation are putting up seemingly every night these days. They will get Trevor Story back from injury in the next few weeks and eventually have Curtis Mead toward the end of the season. It's quite the contrast with the Yankees, who did very little on deadline day and failed to address their own catching situation.

Chicago: Acquired Brenton Doyle, Joey Bart and Luis Castillo. 

Good on the surprising White Sox for adding some necessary help, particularly the addition of Castillo to their rather inexperienced rotation. Castillo is far from what he once was, but the better run support should be welcomed by the veteran as well as the very favorable schedule the club has the rest of the season. Doyle's defense gives the club a legitimate defensive replacement in the outfield that they have lacked as they have played Tristan Peters in center by default. Bart gives the club an experienced catcher they have lacked all season, even with the multiple injuries to Kyle Teel. Bart could help the pitching staff with his abilities behind the plate, but his fantasy value is limited to deeper AL-only leagues.

Cleveland: Acquired Nathaniel Lowe, Foster Griffin, Jo Adell and Craig Yoho

Cleveland's offense needed help, and getting Lowe and Adell into the lineup in place of Kyle Manzardo and David Fry certainly helps give their lineup some more teeth against righties. Lowe's fantasy value takes a beneficial leap forward as he should be in the middle of the lineup against all righties, while Adell lengthens what had been a very shallow lineup. The team didn't exactly need more arms, but we all know a team can never have enough pitching, and a 1-2-3 of Parker Messick, Gavin Williams and Foster Griffin is more formidable than what their options were 24 hours ago. Yoho is a fun add for deeper AL-only leagues for his strikeout potential and Cleveland's ability to take these types of pitchers and get the most from them.

Detroit: Lost Tarik Skubal, Casey Mize and Gage Workman. Acquired River Ryan.

Setting aside how strange it is to see a team selling two-fifths of its rotation while still in contention for a playoff spot, it is a new era in the Detroit rotation. Jackson Jobe is 14 months out from Tommy John surgery and is expected to have one of the spots in the rotation. River Ryan is still working his way back from a hamstring injury, but a spot is his once he's ready. 

Houston: Acquired Daulton Varsho, lost Spencer Arrighetti.

Houston desperately needed another lefty bat in their lineup, and Varsho brings that as well as hid defense to center that has been a rotating assignment between a multitude of players in Houston. Varsho hit cleanup in his first game and it likely to remain in that spot because Yordan Alvarez will remain in the second spot with Isaac Paredes breaking up the lefties. This, simply put, was a great landing spot for Varsho. Hayden Wesneski, fresh off the injured list this past week, takes over the rotation spot vacated by Arrighetti. 

Kansas City: Lost Lane Thomas and Kris Bubic. 

Bubic was on the injured list, so the Royals were already making do without him. The real winner in all this is John Rave, who now inherits everyday playing time in the Kansas City outfield. Rave has been on the Edward Olivares Memorial Highway between Omaha and Kansas City for the past few years, but the 28-year old outfielder has the leg up on the job and could help those looking for steals and OBP help down the stretch.

Los Angeles: Lost Jo Adell, Kirby Yates, Ryan Zeferjahn, Jose Soriano and Brent Suter. Acquired Moises Ballesteros.

While the So Cal Paste-Eaters (h/t Jeff Erickson) did not trade Mike Trout, Reid Detmers or Zach Neto as the market wanted them to do, they did deal away most everything else. Moises Ballesteros was a big win for the club and he is being recalled today to the big-league roster. We should also look for Christian Moore to come back to the major-league roster to get time in the oufield with Adell out of the picture. The rotation needs some arms for later this week, with George Klassen and Brett Kerry expected to fill the spots. The bullpen lost two of its best options and is now a collection of "Angels Reliever or Orange County Commissioner" type names. Detmers may be stuck on three wins for the rest of the season. 

Minnesota: Acquired Jeff Hoffman, Dean Kremer and A.J. Minter.

The bigger story here is the Twins were willing to do what the Tigers were not: go for it. The Twins did not trade Ryan Jeffers to the Yankees as rumored and went out to improve their pitching by getting some much-needed options. Kremer fills in the back of the rotation, with Zebby Matthews going back to St. Paul. Minter gives the bullpen a third left-handed option, while Hoffman brings along his closer experience and could even usurp the saves that Yoendrys Gomez has delivered for free since his acquisition from Tampa Bay.

New York: Acquired Heliot Ramos and Luis Garcia Jr., promoted George Lombard Jr.

The Yankee offense has been dead last in baseball by wRC+ since Aaron Judge went on the injured list, so them going out and adding more offense is not surprising. Ramos is useful for now in the outfield until Giancarlo Stanton and hopefully (maybe?) Aaron Judge return in the coming weeks. The return of those two human statues would also seemingly cut into Garcia Jr.'s playing time unless the team blows up its defense a la Philly and plays musical chairs to accommodate the bats. Cody Bellinger will also need somewhere to play once he comes back off the IL.

While the deadline did not involve getting the catching help the roster and fan base sorely wanted, the promotion of Lombard Jr. and the demotion of Anthony Volpe should sooth some of those scorned fans. Lombard Jr. hit .284/.411/.498 between Double-A and Triple-A this season and simply has to be what Volpe was not in the field to be a hit. Fantasy-wise, he will likely hit near the bottom of the lineup, so set expecations accordingly. 

Seattle: Acquired Taylor Ward and Seranthony Dominguez. Lost Luis Castillo. Activated Brendan Donovan

Seattle has been a bottom-third offensive lineup nearly all season, so Ward should give them a legitimate leadoff candidate if they choose to use him in that spot. Cole Young is usually there, but Ward profiles better in that slot and moving Young down in the lineup could help what has been a rather empty bottom half of the order. Castillo's departure was not surprising given the rotation depth and what they have coming from the farm in short order. Dominguez adds necessary depth to a beleaguered bullpen. Donovan's return will send Weston Wilson back to the bench, but one of Stuart Fairchild, Rob Refsnyder or Victor Robles is not long for this roster given the logjam in the outfield.

Tampa Bay: Acquired Liam Hicks, Freddy Peralta and Tyler Wells. Lost Hunter Feduccia.

My rooting interests wanted four things at the deadline: a catcher upgrade, rotation help, bullpen help and some help for the middle infield or outfield. Three out of four isn't bad, so I'm happy yet not thrilled. Hicks is a much-needed upgrade to the catching stituation, as the Rays have had six home runs and 43 RBI from their catchers this season. Feduccia was especially challenging behind the plate, so the reunion of the 2024-2025 Marlins catchers with Nick Fortes taking on the lefties while Hicks hits against the righties should be more productive. Peralta slides into the rotation spot vacated by Shane McClanahan's stint on the injured list, and it will be interesting to see what the team does once the lefty is back. None of the current starting five deserve a demotion, but the club could decide to go with a six-man rotation to stay fresh for October. 

Peralta debuts with the Rays tonight in Colorado, and we should all focus on one thing: how many right-on-right changeups he throws. The Rays have embraced what used to be something pitchers did not do, and the changeup is Peralta's best pitch now that Fastball Freddy appears to be a thing of the past. Wells falls in line with the Rays liking what they see from a Baltimore reliever and should give Kevin Cash another A-bullpen righty option, which means it won't be Kevin Kelly getting the ball to Bryan Baker every single time the game is close. 

Texas: Nothing on deadline day.

The Rangers did acquire Logan O'Hoppe and Chase Silseth last week and reportedly attempted to trade Jacob deGrom to Atlanta, but the veteran exercised his no-trade clause. The team is paralyzed by its desire to stay below the luxury tax and is banking on the return of Jack Leiter, Jordan Montgomery and Josh Jung to be its deadline acquisistions. When asked about the lack of deadline activity, Rangers GM Chris Young allegedly loosely quoted coach Norman Dale from Hoosier declaring his team was on the field. 

Toronto: Acquired Jose Soriano, Spencer Arrighetti and Daulton Varsho. Lost Jeff Hoffman.

Toronto has accepted the realities of the 2026 season and is preparing for their next reload. The defense in centre takes a hit with Varsho departing. Myles Straw could be overexposed offensively if pressed into regular duty out there, but he is the best choice to do so on paper. Soriano is usable now, but the combination of the turf and the Jays defense may be a poor match for him as things stand on the roster today. Arrighetti remains on the IL so is a non-factor for now. Louis Varland may lose some save chances just based off the team's overall performance as the team has downgraded its defense and bullpen situations.
 

Overall, mono-league managers have some options this weekend, but not as many or as notable as once hoped. It at least makes me feel better about spending $513 on Curtis Mead in AL Tout Wars only to see him get injured in his second plate appearance on my team. At least there isn't much to purchase this weekend that I'm missing out on. I will need to find something else to help me hold onto the most tenuous of leads this season.