Talk of the Trades . . . or, Who Put the Zonks Into The Deadline?

By Jeff Kallman

Sometimes, you’d think the only thing missing from any annual run-up to baseball’s official trade deadline is Monty Hall brought back from the dead to moderate. That, of course, begs the question of whom among baseball’s big dealers comes out with the big deal(s) and whom, with zonks.

Herewith, some observations:

Big Dealers: The Dodgers. Let’s face it. Love them or loathe them, the Dodgers bringing in resurgent pitcher Jack Flaherty plus fellow veterans Tommy Edman, Kevin Kiermaier, Michael Kopech, and Amed Rosario wasn’t exactly missing the Amazon Prime Day sales and settling for the Dollar Tree bargain bins.

The moves fortify the Dodger rotation and (perhaps more importantly) bench. The sleeper could be Kiermaier, who’s announced his intent to retire after the season but who just might go out with a post-season highlight-reel play or three. Or, Flaherty, if it’s true that the Southern California native’s heart was with the Dodgers enough that they sneak him into a sensible contract extension before he hits this winter’s market.

[Editor’s Note: With Flaherty joining fellow local Freddie Freeman in L.A., will free agent Max Fried be far behind? The odds have just increased.]

He’s back in Atlanta after a sojourn in San Francisco.Photo byTopps

Big Zonks: The Braves. Yes, they look this year the way the Yankees did the past few years: the New England Journal of Medicine could be the Braves’ yearbook. But reuniting with 2021 World Series MVP Jorge Soler doesn’t look as bright as one might think. And, unlike 2021, they didn’t quite compensate for losing Ronald Acuña, Jr. that sharply.

They’re still leading the wild-card groupings, though. They could surprise. Or, the surprise could be on them.

Big Dealers: The Mets. You don’t have to be as spotlight-blasting as the Dodgers to deal big. You also don’t need to do it with glitter. Over three weeks up to and including deadline day, the Mets—whose surge beginning late May was almost the talk of the game—added decidedly non-headline harvesting but depth-to-burn veterans Paul Blackburn, Huascar Brazobán, Phil Maton, Ryne Stanek, Jesse Winker, and Tyler Zuber [plus late-signing free agent J.D. Martinez before them].

This year’s Mets went for depth from the moment new president David Stearns took office. After an early-season stumbling, they’ve been resembling geniuses. Deep geniuses. Let’s see how long that holds, which should be full distance. But these are the Mets, of course, perhaps the you-never-know franchise in the sport.

Big Zonks: The White Sox. Maybe this is a little unfair, considering the White Sox season was already threatening to make the 1962 Mets resemble the 2001 Mariners. But they could have gained a lot more than they did in unloading Kopech and Erick Fedde. Maybe even more in unloading Tanner Banks, Paul DeJong, and Eloy Jimenez. It’s enough to make you think that being a White Sox fan should merit compensation pay.

Big Dealers: The Yankees. Maybe not as big as (a) they could have gone or (b) Yankee fans would prefer. (Please. Yankee fans expect incoming Hall of Famers at every deadline and firing squads after every game loss.) But you can’t exactly argue with landing Jazz Chisholm, Jr. for some infield-outfield defensive versatility to accompany his speed and live bat. Or, with Mark Leiter, Jr., which only makes the Yankee bullpen deeper.

At minimum, those moves quell the usual demands for eternal general manager Brian Cashman’s summary execution . . . for about a week.

Big Zonks: The Red Sox. Their season may be a bit of a surprise, but I still can’t help thinking they could have brought more aboard other than James Paxton for the rotation and Luis Garcia for the bullpen. They didn’t do terribly, really, but failing to do better with their resources gets them on the zonk parade.

Big Dealers: The Nationals. They deepened their system this time around while continuing to make their parent roster younger and younger. Impressively. Enough so that you might believe the next generation of Nats contenders is sneaking around the corner or in from the outbacks. Might.

Big Zonks: The Angels. But of course. A team who needed to offload and re-construct did just about the opposite, even if they did get a serviceable return for Luis Garcia and Carlos Estevez. The Angels need a serious organizational boost and didn’t get it. Do they think Tyler Anderson is going to yank them anywhere no matter how good he is this year?

With Mike Trout’s health a continuing and sad concern, the Angels’ annual failure to reset reasonably becomes a lot more glaring. They’ve wasted the Hall of Famer-in-waiting’s career the way an ancient group of Cubs wasted that of Ernie Banks. And that was true before Trout’s injury bug became a swarm.

Jeff Kallman is an IBWAA Life Member who writes Throneberry Fields Forever. He has written for the Society for American Baseball Research, The Hardball Times, Sports-Central, and other publications. He has lived in Las Vegas since 2007, where he plays the guitar and writes music when not writing baseball. He remains a Met fan since the day they were born.