While Jhoan Duran is now pumping 103 mph past opponents in Philadelphia, the Yankees’ remade bullpen is trying to weather some early speed bumps after a disastrous weekend on the mound in Miami.
As we get accustomed to seeing familiar faces in new places, here are the latest power rankings, which include analysis on how teams have changed after the deadline.
The Rockies, notorious for holding onto their guys, decided to think more about the future by dealing Ryan McMahon and Jake Bird to the Yankees and Tyler Kinley to the Braves for prospects. In addition, they’re no longer on pace for the worst season in MLB history. They completed a wild 17-16 comeback against the Pirates on Friday and are 8-7 since the break.
The White Sox are 10-5 out of the break and now have more wins than they had all of last year. Their quiet deadline was defined more by what they didn’t do (they held onto Luis Robert Jr.) than what they did (they traded Adrian Houser and Austin Slater). Robert is playing some of his best baseball of the year. Meanwhile, Aaron Civale, who asked for a trade from Milwaukee in June and found a home on the South Side, has not allowed an earned run in any of his last three starts.
The Nationals traded away a litany of pitchers — Kyle Finnegan, Andrew Chafin, Luis Garcia and Mike Soroka — as well as infielder Amed Rosario and outfielder Alex Call. They were swept by the Brewers over the weekend, have lost five straight, and have the second-worst record in the National League. It’s a disappointing place for a team with a solid nucleus of young talents in James Wood, C.J. Abrams and MacKenzie Gore, who stayed put after some rumblings.
It was a bit of a strange deadline for the Pirates, who traded a couple of prominent players under control beyond this year, including Ke’Bryan Hayes and David Bednar, but did not get anything back for rentals Andrew Heaney, Tommy Pham, Isiah Kiner-Falefa or Andrew McCutchen. Dennis Santana figured to also draw a lot of interest, but he stuck around, too. I expected even more of a firesale.
Speaking of strange deadlines, the Braves are 15.5 games back in the division and 14 games back of a wild-card spot. It has been a miserable year in Atlanta. Yet they did nothing to improve their future, holding onto Marcell Ozuna and Raisel Iglesias despite both becoming free agents at the end of the year.
The A’s have played better of late, but their pitching staff was not going to allow them to contend this year. So you certainly can’t blame them for trading away Mason Miller and JP Sears in a deal that could shape their future. As they wait to see what 18-year-old shortstop phenom Leo De Vries and the intriguing trio of arms they got in the Miller deal become, they can enjoy the prodigious power of Nick Kurtz.
Woof! It seemed possible that the Twins might trade a couple of prominent pieces for the right price, but the complete teardown that transpired was not expected. Almost half of their big-league roster is gone now after dealing away pitchers Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Brock Stewart, Chris Paddack, Danny Coulombe and Louis Varland, infielders Carlos Correa, Willi Castro and Ty France and outfielder Harrison Bader. They’ve lost each of their five series to start the second half, and it’s hard to imagine much winning ahead in the near future.
There weren’t many teams who possessed the litany of rental pieces that the Orioles had. It’s a colossal failure that they’re in this place, but they acknowledged their disappointing campaign by trading nine players from their big-league roster, including relievers Gregory Soto, Andrew Kittredge and Seranthony Dominguez. A team already light on pitching is now even lighter. With closer Félix Bautista among a bevy of pitchers on the injured list, games like Sunday — a walk-off defeat at Wrigley Field — might become more of the norm.
The fourth-place Angels, with odds to make the playoffs now under 2% according to FanGraphs, decided to…lightly buy at the deadline? It’s not surprising, but it also doesn’t seem like the most prudent course of action for the team’s future. They followed that decision up by dropping a series to the White Sox. (Shrug emoji.)
The D-backs decided to add more arms to their system, trading away sluggers Eugenio Suárez, Josh Naylor and Randal Grichuk as well as pitchers Merrill Kelly and Shelby Miller in a season that was trending the wrong way. Zac Gallen stayed, but it’s hard to envision this D-backs team contending in the NL West after the sell-off.
The Cardinals have been trending the wrong direction, and that continued last week with series losses to the Marlins and Padres. They dealt away pieces from their bullpen at the deadline, most notably sending two-time All-Star Ryan Helsley to the Mets.
It was a bit of a strange deadline for the Rays, who mostly sold (Zack Littell, Danny Jansen, Jose Caballero) but also did a little buying both for now (Adrian Houser) and the future (Griffin Jax). The present has been uninspiring. The Rays are 5-11 since the break and 8-20 since the start of July.
What an unbelievable year it’s been for first-year manager Clayton McCullough and his staff, taking a team no one believed in and having the group play .500 ball to this point. It was a quiet deadline for the Marlins, who traded outfielder Jesús Sánchez and catcher Nick Fortes but held onto starters Sandy Alcantara and Edward Cabrera. Let’s see what this young group, which has won every series to start the second half, can do.
After making the biggest move of the first half acquiring Rafael Devers, the Giants could not have anticipated they’d be selling weeks later. They dealt from their strength, trading away relievers Camilo Doval and Tyler Rogers (as well as outfielder Mike Yastrzemski), and are just 4-11 since the break as their spiral continues following an auspicious start to the year. They’ve lost 25 of 40 games since the Devers acquisition.
They no longer have the return of Shane Bieber to look forward to, but otherwise it was a relatively quiet deadline in Cleveland (apart from putting Emmanuel Clase on leave as the latest update to a troubling gambling investigation). The Guardians, at least, are still well-equipped at the back end of the bullpen and are only three games out of a wild-card spot.
The arrow’s pointing up on the Royals, who have won nine of their last 13 games and decided to be light buyers at the deadline. It’s unlikely Adam Frazier, Randal Grichuk, Yastrzemski will transform the offense, but it at least gives them a few more options.
The Reds decided to add light-hitting defensive stalwart Ke’Bryan Hayes and Miguel Andujar, who’s hitting slightly above league average, to a lineup that could have used more juice at the deadline. We’ll see if that’s enough to get them into the dance. They’re 9.5 games back of first place in the NL Central and are now four games out of a wild-card spot after dropping series to the Dodgers and Braves last week.
What a brutal week after finally getting on a roll. The Rangers dropped a series to the Angels, added more pitching to their league-leading staff at the deadline, then dropped a big series to the Mariners. Their lone win of the series in Seattle came in a game started by newcomer Merrill Kelly, and the additions in the bullpen — Phil Maton and Danny Coulombe — both put up zeroes this weekend. Still, the Rangers’ season will come down to whether this team hits anywhere close to its capabilities. Time is ticking.
After sweeping the Rays to start the week, the Yankees did arguably more than any team to bolster their bullpen by acquiring David Bednar, Camilo Doval and Jake Bird. Early results were … not great! On Friday, the new trio of back-end pieces combined to allow nine runs in the final three innings. Better days are likely ahead, but there could be some volatility.
It’s been a slow start for new bats Eugenio Suárez and Josh Naylor, but that didn’t stop Seattle from taking a four-game set against the Rangers. The revamped offense should be enough to at least push the depleted Astros for the division crown.
The Astros pulled off one of the biggest surprises of the deadline, bringing Carlos Correa back to Houston. For a beleaguered club struggling to score — the Astros scored five runs total this weekend while getting swept in Boston — can Correa find his way again in familiar surroundings and provide a boost?
The Red Sox are back on a roll despite a disappointing deadline, having won seven of their last eight games, including a sweep of the Astros at Fenway Park over the weekend. Will they regret not finding another front-line starter at the deadline to pair with Garrett Crochet? A lot is riding on the arms of Lucas Giolito and Brayan Bello, who have performed well lately.
The Padres are riding high, having won seven of their last eight games, and now look like a completely different squad as they continue to nip at the Dodgers’ heels. They swept the Mets, filled out the holes on their roster with a flurry of moves in the waning hours of the deadline (while emptying the farm system in the process), then took a series from the Cardinals. Ramon Laureano answers their question in left field. Ryan O’Hearn gives the lineup more pop. JP Sears and Nestor Cortes provide pitching depth as they await the return of Michael King. And now the best bullpen in MLB has the most electric arm, with Mason Miller further bolstering the group.
First impressions were much better in Queens than they were for the other New York squad. Still, the additions of Ryan Helsley, Tyler Rogers, Gregory Soto and Cedric Mullins could not prevent a series loss to a reeling Giants squad. The bullpen is fortified and looks like one of the best units in baseball; is the starting pitching good enough for the Mets to do what they hope?
After sweeping the Diamondbacks, a series loss to the Phillies took some wind out of the Tigers’ sails. It came after a bit of a peculiar deadline, one in which Detroit added to its pitching staff piecemeal. In their first appearances with their new club, starters Charlie Morton and Chris Paddack each allowed one run in six innings while closer Kyle Finnegan secured a four-out save his first time out. Still, will the club regret not making more of an impact move?
Jhoan Duran has lifted the spirits and October hopes for the Phillies, who needed a closer perhaps more than any contender needed any position. Duran was pumping gas over the weekend, securing each of his first two save opportunities without allowing a baserunner. Phillies fans can get used to this — Duran is under team control through 2027.
Since vaulting into the top spot of last week’s rankings, they lost series to the Orioles and Royals. They’ve now dropped six of their last eight games. Shane Bieber raises the ceiling of the group, but did they do enough at the deadline to raise their floor and hold off the rest of the AL East? After a blow-up outing Sunday for new reliever Seranthony Dominguez, the Red Sox are closing in.
Blake Snell is back on the mound, Freddie Freeman is back on track, and the Dodgers are back to winning, taking both series last week at Cincinnati and Tampa Bay. Will they regret not doing more for their bullpen at the deadline? Or could Brock Stewart be this year’s version of Michael Kopech for a potential title-winning team? Time will tell.
Like the Red Sox, the Cubs did not find a way to add another frontline starter, which they could have used at the deadline. They at least got better in the bullpen, adding Andrew Kittredge and Taylor Rogers. Their new relievers put up zeroes this weekend, plus Willi Castro should be a useful and versatile piece for what is already the most dynamic offense in the sport.
Both the Cubs and Brewers whiffed with a chance to make the type of season-altering deadline move that could have separated one of the two clubs or bettered their title hopes. Milwaukee, though, just keeps on winning. The Brewers took an important series from the Cubs to start the week, swept the Nationals and have now won six of their last seven games. William Contreras’ bat is heating up, and Andrew Vaughn continues to be a revelation. A 25-28 start to the year feels like a distant memory; they’ve won 42 of 58 games since then and have the best record in baseball.
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.
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