{"id":110180,"date":"2025-08-01T11:57:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T11:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/110180\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T11:57:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T11:57:16","slug":"six-takeaways-from-the-mlb-trade-deadline-twins-blow-it-up-a-j-preller-stays-on-brand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/110180\/","title":{"rendered":"Six takeaways from the MLB trade deadline: Twins blow it up, A.J. Preller stays on brand"},"content":{"rendered":"

The trade deadline was sleepy. It was getting late on Wednesday night, and things just weren\u2019t happening. Most moves always wait until the end, but this was slow. Not deliberate. Just glacial.<\/p>\n

And then \u2014 wham! \u2014 everything happened.<\/p>\n

Where does Mason Miller pitch, again? Who\u2019s the new Astros right fielder? Did someone say Mike Yastrzemski got traded?<\/p>\n

We\u2019re still wrapping our heads around it, but here are some initial takeaways after a wild 24 hours.<\/p>\n

Minnesota Twins! OMG!<\/p>\n

The Minnesota Twins crashed in the last two months, and they fell apart in the last two weeks. In the last 24 hours, they set on fire whatever was left.<\/p>\n

The dismantling was swift and shocking. The Twins traded not only their rentals but also their closer (Jhoan Dur\u00e1n was under team control through 2027) and their highest-paid player (Carlos Correa was signed through 2028 with team options through 2032). They traded 10 players in all.<\/p>\n

No, wait, 11. One of the last shockers of the deadline was Griffin Jax to the Rays<\/a>. Another elite reliever, homegrown, with excellent numbers and two more years of team control. Gone.<\/p>\n

Clearly, the Twins weren\u2019t buyers. No one expected them to add. But this was the kind of sale that blindsides a fan base and rattles a clubhouse. Maybe it was the right thing to do, but it\u2019s hard to feel that way as the bulldozers are driving away.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow no one wants to stay if they\u2019re selling like this,\u201d one player told The Athletic\u2019s Dan Hayes.<\/p>\n

Relievers rule<\/p>\n

The stars of the 2025 trade deadline were the relief pitchers. The entire trade market was cold and uneventful until Wednesday night, when the Twins traded Dur\u00e1n and set the whole thing in motion.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In acquiring Jhoan Dur\u00e1n, the Phillies get a lockdown closer who\u2019s under team control through 2027. (Stephen Maturen \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The Phillies gave up two high-end prospects in the Dur\u00e1n deal. The Mets traded three prospects for two months of Ryan Helsley. The Yankees convinced the Pirates to move David Bednar, then made another trade for Giants closer Camilo Doval. The Tigers got Kyle Finnegan. And, in the real stunner, the Padres gave up Leo De Vries \u2014 one of the most highly touted prospects in the sport \u2014 for Athletics flamethrower Mason Miller. Both Jax and Doval were traded in the deadline\u2019s final minutes.<\/p>\n

The Mets added three relievers. So did the Yankees (and two of them were closers). Even the Angels got a couple of bullpen arms, and there were more \u2014 Pete Fairbanks, Carlos Est\u00e9vez, Reid Detmers, Dennis Santana \u2014 left on the table.<\/p>\n

Preller at it again<\/p>\n

The Padres were not the Twins. With his team\u2019s playoff odds trending heavily upward in the past week, Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller did what he always does: he got aggressive and found ways to get what he needed.<\/p>\n

A willingness to trade a prospect like De Vries tends to open some possibilities.<\/p>\n

But after burning his top trade chip on Miller, Preller was still able to address his most glaring need \u2014 getting some actual bats \u2014 in a late deal with the Orioles for Ryan O\u2019Hearn and Ram\u00f3n Laureano, who have some of the best offensive numbers of anyone on the block.<\/p>\n

There was some thought that Preller might have to thread the needle to get what he wanted \u2014 he might have to trade away Dylan Cease or Robert Suarez to add elsewhere \u2014 but Preller didn\u2019t have to get cute. He just got aggressive. Which is what he does.<\/p>\n

Where were the Tigers?<\/p>\n

For a while this season, the Tigers were making a compelling case for being the best team in baseball. Then they fell hard in the past month before dusting themselves off the past few days. They didn\u2019t necessarily have a glaring need, but the Tigers seemed primed to build and buy.<\/p>\n

Instead, they went for quantity over quality with a bunch of half measures on their pitching staff. They added a back-end starter (Chris Paddack), then announced that Reese Olson is likely to miss the rest of the year. They settled for the Nationals\u2019 closer Finnegan when other teams made real splashes in the ninth inning. They got Paul Sewald (who\u2019s hurt) and Rafael Montero (who has a 5.40 ERA). In the final minute, they got Charlie Morton.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Tigers made a late move for Charlie Morton, reuniting him with manager A.J. Hinch. (Mike Ehrmann \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

This was not the trade deadline of a team that thinks it\u2019s on the verge of a championship. Of course, the Tigers sold last deadline and still made a playoff run, so who knows?<\/p>\n

The Red Sox (Dustin May and Steven Matz), Cubs (Michael Soroka and Andrew Kittredge) and Brewers (Danny Jansen and Shelby Miller) also made additions, but might have left some meat on the bone. Also in this group: the Dodgers, who traded for reliever Brock Stewart but otherwise seem to be banking on their existing roster getting healthy enough to repeat as world champs.<\/p>\n

Can\u2019t tell the buyers from the sellers<\/p>\n

The Braves, I guess, forgot to trade Marcell Ozuna and accidentally added Erick Fedde and Carlos Carrasco instead. The Angels clearly have never learned their lesson and again refused to sell. They traded for a couple of relievers in their mid- to late-30s. The Royals added, too.<\/p>\n

The Pirates wound up stuck in the middle. They sold \u2014 Ke\u2019Bryan Hayes to the Reds, Bednar to the Yankees, Bailey Falter to the Royals \u2014 but their hearts weren\u2019t in it. No Santana trade. No Mitch Keller. No Bryan Reynolds. The Pirates have a .431 winning percentage and approached the trade deadline as if they\u2019re one free agent away from turning this thing around. Except, they never sign free agents.<\/p>\n

The team that did the best job of blurring the line between buying and selling was the Rays. Their early swap of one catcher for another was a sign of things to come, because they also traded away a couple of starting pitchers. One was included in their deal for Twins reliever Jax, and the other was ultimately White Sox starter Adrian Houser, who\u2019s been one of the biggest surprises in the sport. The Rays \u201csold\u201d and wound up adding one of the game\u2019s best relievers and a starter with a 2.10 ERA.<\/p>\n

Wasted potential is hard to value<\/p>\n

Two of the most intriguing names on the trade market were White Sox center fielder Luis Robert Jr. and Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara. Both are relatively young, and both were legitimate superstars not so long ago. Both have also been awful this season: a .653 OPS for Robert and a 6.36 ERA for Alcantara.<\/p>\n

The idea of a contender taking a shot on either one had been a trade deadline fascination for weeks. But both stayed put. Teams certainly engaged, but even in a trade market that saw a flurry of deals in the past 24 hours, no one could agree on a cost for those two.<\/p>\n

Winners and losers<\/p>\n

It was a midnight surprise that brought Eugenio Su\u00e1rez to Seattle Wednesday night. He joins his former Diamondbacks teammate Josh Naylor in addressing the Mariners\u2019 glaring offensive issues at the infield corners. That lineup looks a lot more potent with those two. And if the Mariners can score some runs for that pitching staff, they\u2019ll be dangerous.<\/p>\n

The Mets, too, addressed their bullpen without giving up much of anything (David Stearns remains one of the best in the business), and the Yankees wiped away their bullpen and third base issues by trading for two third basemen and three late-inning relievers. That feels like a radically different team than it was just a few years ago.<\/p>\n

The Padres and Astros \u2014 Carlos Correa! \u2014 also found ways to improve in important ways despite having little financial wiggle room (Padres) or prospect capital (Astros). The Phillies also did exactly what they came into this deadline to do: They got the best closer on the market and maybe the best all-around center fielder.<\/p>\n

But while the Rays were getting creative and the Yankees were overloading their bullpen, the Red Sox were settling for second-tier arms and the Blue Jays were crossing their fingers on Shane Bieber\u2019s return. And while several contenders in the East and West \u2014 in both leagues \u2014 made bold moves toward improvement, the teams in the Central weren\u2019t nearly as aggressive.<\/p>\n

At least the Twins picked a lane and followed it all the way to the end.<\/p>\n

(Photo of Carlos Correa: David Berding \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The trade deadline was sleepy. It was getting late on Wednesday night, and things just weren\u2019t happening. Most…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":110181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[1279,1280,1276,1281,1271,1274,5048,1282,1283,1885,2382,1284,1285,2502,1286,4247,1287,1266,1305,2228,5055,2083,1886,1306,1275,1288,62,3692,1289,1278,1290,67,132,68,1291],"class_list":{"0":"post-110180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-arizona-diamondbacks","9":"tag-atlanta-braves","10":"tag-baltimore-orioles","11":"tag-boston-red-sox","12":"tag-chicago-cubs","13":"tag-chicago-white-sox","14":"tag-cincinnati-reds","15":"tag-cleveland-guardians","16":"tag-colorado-rockies","17":"tag-detroit-tigers","18":"tag-houston-astros","19":"tag-kansas-city-royals","20":"tag-los-angeles-angels","21":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","22":"tag-miami-marlins","23":"tag-milwaukee-brewers","24":"tag-minnesota-twins","25":"tag-mlb","26":"tag-new-york-mets","27":"tag-new-york-yankees","28":"tag-oakland-athletics","29":"tag-philadelphia-phillies","30":"tag-pittsburgh-pirates","31":"tag-san-diego-padres","32":"tag-san-francisco-giants","33":"tag-seattle-mariners","34":"tag-sports","35":"tag-st-louis-cardinals","36":"tag-tampa-bay-rays","37":"tag-texas-rangers","38":"tag-toronto-blue-jays","39":"tag-united-states","40":"tag-unitedstates","41":"tag-us","42":"tag-washington-nationals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}