The Yankees’ rebuilt bullpen is attempting to overcome some early speed bumps following a terrible weekend on the mound in Miami, while Jhoan Duran is now blasting past opponents in Philadelphia at 103 mph.
Here are the most recent power rankings, which include an examination of how clubs have evolved since the deadline, as we become used to seeing familiar faces in unfamiliar settings.
The Rockies, who are known for keeping their players, made the decision to look farther ahead by trading Tyler Kinley to the Braves and Ryan McMahon and Jake Bird to the Yankees in order to acquire prospects. They are also no longer on track to have the worst season in Major League Baseball history. They are 8-7 after the break after pulling off a spectacular 17-16 comeback against the Pirates on Friday.
The White Sox already have more victories than they did during the whole previous season, as they are 10-5 out of the break. Their silent deadline was characterized more by their failures than by their accomplishments. Robert’s baseball game is at its peak right now.
The Nationals dealt away infielder Amed Rosario, outfielder Alex Call, and a long list of pitchers, including Kyle Finnegan, Andrew Chafin, Luis Garcia, and Mike Soroka. They have five consecutive losses, the second-worst record in the National League, and were swept by the Brewers over the weekend. It’s a frustrating spot for a club with a great foundation of young prospects in James Wood, C.J. Abrams and MacKenzie Gore, who stuck put after some rumblings.
The Pirates had a bit of an odd deadline since they moved a few key players who they had control over past this year, such Ke’Bryan Hayes and David Bednar, but they received nothing in return for rentals Andrew Heaney, Tommy Pham, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, or Andrew McCutchen. Dennis Santana was expected to attract a lot of attention as well, but he stayed. I anticipated an even greater fire sale.
Speaking of odd deadlines, the Braves are 14 games away from a wild-card berth and 15.5 games behind in the division. Atlanta has seen a terrible year. Despite Marcell Ozuna and Raisel Iglesias becoming free agents at the end of the year, they did little to better their prospects.
The fourth-place Angels choose to…lightly purchase before the deadline, even though their chances of making the playoffs are now less than 2%, according to FanGraphs? Although it’s not shocking, it also doesn’t seem like the best move for the team’s future.
In a season that was going south, the D-backs made the decision to add additional arms to their lineup by trading away pitchers Merrill Kelly and Shelby Miller along with sluggers Eugenio Suárez, Josh Naylor, and Randal Grichuk.
With their series defeats to the Marlins and Padres last week, the Cardinals continued their downward trajectory. At the deadline, they sent two-time All-Star Ryan Helsley to the Mets, among other pieces from their bullpen.
The Rays, who primarily sold but also made some purchases for the present (Adrian Houser) and the future (Griffin Jax), found the deadline to be a little odd. It hasn’t been inspirational lately. The Rays are 8-20 since the beginning of July and 5-11 after the break.
First-year manager Clayton McCullough and his staff have had an incredible year, leading a club that no one believed in to the group play. This is the 500 ball. The Marlins had a quiet deadline, keeping starters Sandy Alcantara and Edward Cabrera while trading outfielder Jesús Sánchez and catcher Nick Fortes. This youthful team has won every series to begin the second half; let’s see what they can do.
The Giants couldn’t have predicted that they would be selling weeks after making the greatest move of the first half to acquire Rafael Devers. After an excellent start to the season, they traded from their strength, selling away relievers Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval (as well as outfielder Mike Yastrzemski). They are only 4-11 since the break as their downward spiral continues.
Aside from placing Emmanuel Clase on leave as the most recent development in a disturbing gambling probe, it was a very quiet deadline in Cleveland, but they no longer have Shane Bieber’s return to look forward to. At the very least, the Guardians are only three games away from a wild-card berth and still have a strong bullpen at the back end.
At the deadline, the Royals, who have won nine of their past 13 games, made the decision to be light buys. Adam Frazier, Randal Grichuk, and Yastrzemski are unlikely to change the offensive, but they do have some other alternatives.
The Reds added Miguel Andujar, who is batting just above league average, and light-hitting defensive mainstay Ke’Bryan Hayes to a lineup that could have used more punch before the deadline. We’ll see whether they join the dance after that. After losing series to the Dodgers and Braves last week, they are now four games out of a wild-card berth and 9.5 games behind first place in the NL Central.
After finally catching on, what a terrible week. Following a series loss to the Angels, the Rangers added additional pitchers to their league-leading staff at the last minute before losing a crucial series to the Mariners. Phil Maton and Danny Coulombe in the bullpen and rookie Merrill Kelly in the game started gave them their only victory of the series in Seattle.
The Yankees acquired David Bednar, Camilo Doval, and Jake Bird, maybe more than any other club, to strengthen their bullpen after sweeping the Rays to begin the week. The first outcomes weren’t very good. Together, the new back-end trio gave up nine runs in the last three innings on Friday. Although there may be some turbulence, better days are probably coming.
