Fair Territory with Ken Rosenthal: MLB Trade Deadline Instant Recap

00:00:01
Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the post deadline edition of Fair Territory. I hope everyone has figured out all the deals and is fully cognizant of everything that went on, because I sure aren't. I'm sure not a lot of Rizzo was with me. I hope she is. But we're gonna go through some teams. We're gonna go through as much as we can here in the next twenty five twenty six minutes or so, because a lot happened today. And I say this every year, there will be things that happen at the deadline that will make your head spin. There were a number of things that happened today that made our head spin that way it was. It's why it was such a great day. And again, we're gonna go through it all. We're gonna focus on some teams. For teams to start with. We can't get to everybody on this one day. We're gonna do our best to hit some of the major points. And Alana, let's get into it, and let's start with the biggest buyer of the day, the king of the deadline, San Diego Padres general manager aj preller Ken.

00:00:58
Speaker 2: First of all, I want to thank you and plaud you for all of the work that you do. For most of us, this is like Christmas morning, Hanukkah, all of the things, But for you, it's one of the busiest days of the year. So let's talk about that Aj Preller whining and dining, wheeling and dealing. Let's talk about the Padres and what they gave up and what they gained.

00:01:16
Speaker 1: What's really interesting to me, Alana, is that about a week ago, I asked the A's about Mason Miller, and I asked about the Padres being on Mason Miller, because Aj Preller is generally on every good player he can get his hands on or thinks he can get his hands on. And I was told Preller didn't have the farm system. And then he asked the A's, Okay, what prospects can I go get you from other teams to satisfy you? And the A's said, we don't want to play that game. But what happened was Aj Preller did what he always does. He was persistent, he was relentless, he never stopped trying. And yesterday it has been right about this time, it was a story that Dennis Linn and I wrote saying that they were still after the Padres, Durrant, Stephen Kwan, and they were also pushing for Mason Miller. Turns out what happens today. They get Mason Miller, and not only do they get Mason Miller, they get a starting pitcher, Jp Sears, and in addition to that, they get Ryan O'Hearn, Ramon Loriano from the Ools will wagon him from the Blue Jays. Here's the entire list. I've got to read it myself. Oh yes, and freddie for me and the catcher from the Royals, talented guy and Nesta Cortez Junior. Now, the shock of this was beyond the absolute shock of the Padres trading a top one hundred prospect, top ten prospect Derees for Mason Miller. The shock of it was they did all this and they didn't trade off their major league roster except for Brandon Lockridge. They kept Dylan Ceese, they kept Robert Suarez, and now they have a team Alana that is absolutely loaded. They're gonna be fun to watch, and they have I would say, a puncher's chance even better than that of chasing down the Dodgers, the Mets, the Phillies, whoever you want to name in the division. And then of course for the National League title and maybe even the World Series title. Yeah.

00:03:08
Speaker 2: I couldn't agree with you more. The National League overnight got so much better, with the Mets adding to their bullpen, the Phillies adding to their pullman. Obviously the padre is what they've just done in terms of additions. Ken one thing that made me think, oh my goodness, and my head just blew off my neck is Carlos Correa. Going back to the Houston Astros. The Twins have basically gotten rid of everybody.

00:03:31
Speaker 3: What do you make of it?

00:03:33
Speaker 1: This was the other head spinner of the day and Alana a couple of days ago. I can't remember the time right now, because you know, it's all running together, but I was talking to the Twins people and they were saying, because the team was for sale, they might not want to trade controllable pieces because you know what, the new owner might come in, allow them to spend money and they can do some better things with what they have. Turns out they traded everybody, and with Carlos Correa, it was astonishing because he's been injured quite a bit. He's been a guy who of course has a huge contract and in this deal. The Twins are kicking in about thirty million of the ninety million or so owed him over the course of his contract. He's going to play third base for the Astros. But this was just the start for the Twins. They ended up trading the guys on expiring contracts that we anticipated, Willie Castro and some others. The two relievers that are under control for two additional years each, Joan Duran he went to the Phillies, and Griffin Jackson, who went to the Rays. That was something that I didn't necessarily expect. But the Twins will tell you. We held on to Pablo Lopez, we held on to Joe Ryan. We've still got Royce Lewis and Byron Buxton and a bunch of people to build around. But you see what they lost. That's ten players off their major league roster. It's astonishing what they did. Bader expiring contract, Castro the same day, Coolohm, Ty France, Chris Paddock, all of those guys. Brock Stewart was under club control for a few years. He went to the Dodgers. Louis Varland another guy that was under control. So they did this and they brought back a couple of really interesting pieces. The catcher that they acquired from the Phillies, a top one hundred prospect, Nick Abel from the Phillies who is a top one hundred type guy as well, right handed pitcher. And I'm forgetting who they got and the other trade it was, well, I'll get back to it, but they did pretty well. Oh, Todge Bradley in the Griffin Jacks trade, they did okay, But the shot of it was that they burned the house down. Now they will tell you they didn't do that. Here are the players they acquired, mc gabel, Edward O Tait, Todge Bradley, and Alan Road and he's another major leaguer came from the Blue Jays in the Varland and ty Franz trade. They will say, we didn't burn it all down. We kept a number of guys. But my goodness, no one expected the Minnesota Twins to pull the plug like they did, and they pulled it in a big way.

00:06:03
Speaker 3: They massively pulled it in a big way.

00:06:05
Speaker 2: I'm not certain ken if I'm more surprised at what they did or the fact that Johann Duran got traded.

00:06:10
Speaker 3: We can get into that in a moment. But what about the Yankees.

00:06:13
Speaker 2: Obviously, this is a team always with expectations to go into the postseason, get deep into the postseason.

00:06:18
Speaker 3: Did the Yankees do enough?

00:06:21
Speaker 1: They did quite a bit, and Alana hats off to them because they were one of the big winners of the day in my opinion. Now, granted, with all of these things, we can say one team is a winner, another team is a loser, and we can make our list as we all will after the deadline. We actually don't know who is going to end up winners and losers. But let's look at who the Yankees acquired over the course of this deadline period, and a climax today with the acquisitions of three relievers. Astonishing acquisitions actually, because all of them are under club control beyond this season. And remember, the Yankees face the losses of Devin Williams and Luke Weaver at the end of the season into free agency. But they get David Bednar from the Pirates one year extra control, Jake Bird from the Rockies, he's got additional control, Camillo Daval that's a bullpen. When you put those two with Weaver and Williams and some of the injured relievers they have coming back, it's going to be quite a group. And of course the Yankees had previously addressed their position needs with McMahon and Slater and Rosario, and today they add Jose Cabalero as well. They are a better team today, a significantly better team than they were yesterday. And they did this at a time when the Red Sox will get to them at some point. Did not have an impressive deadline, and the Blue Jays did some things, but I don't know that they improved themselves as much as the Yankees did. Maybe they didn't need to. But the Yankees, what they did with Brian Cashman orchestrated at this deadline, it was a tour de force along the lines of what Aj Prelller did. Maybe not quite as dramatic, but pretty darn close.

00:07:56
Speaker 2: The fact that the Yankees got David Bednar and I was like, oh wowow, that is quite the get. The Yankees bullpen just became that much better. But that also means that the Pirates were willing to let David Bednar go. What do you make of what the Buckoes did in terms of this deadline?

00:08:11
Speaker 1: Huge disappointment And I'll tell you why, Alana. They had a chance here to bring back some impact offensive talent. With Mitch Keller, they did not trade him. They did not even trade the guys that they have on expiring contracts, Tommy fam and Andrew Heaney and Isaiah Kiner Fileffa. Now maybe they wouldn't have brought much back, and they did make some deals, but when you compare what they did to what the Baltimore Orioles did, the Baltimore Orioles had a ton of players to trade, and they traded nearly all of them. They restock their system. They believe they will compete in twenty twenty six as well, even though they traded some controllable assets. In addition to the ones unexpiring contracts, they could have retained Kittridge, They could have retained Loreano ramoni Odius. They had a number of players that they just said, you know what, we're going to start over. We're going to take advantage of this opportunity. And they did in a way that the Pirates did not. And I want to show you what the Pirates did before we go any further here, because it is telling and it is revealing, and we'll see what this means for their general manager, Ben Sherrington, who has been under scrutiny. Okay, they trade Bednor, they trade Falter, Adam Frasier, Caleb Erkuson, and they did move Cabrian Hayes. It's good money that they're getting off their books there. But look at the guys that they kept, Mitch Keller, Dennis Santana, Andrew Heiney, Isaiah kine Filefa and Tommy fam the expiring contract guys. Yeah, they'll help them the rest of the season. That's all well and good, and maybe they feel with Keller he's under control for several more years. It's a good contract they won him leading that young rotation. But where their depth is is starting pitching. That is where they could have afforded to trade a Keller, have schemes lead their staff for the next few years and go from there. They didn't do that. They didn't trade Dennis Santana, who I'm sure I had value in a hot relief market. So the pirates, for me, I empathized with them because of their market size, and I understand the challenges that they face, but they had an opportunity to hear and with Keller, opposing teams never got the sense that they were really that interested in trading him.

00:10:17
Speaker 2: Can let me ask you this, because I thought, I don't know what the heck, guy, I know nothing, that this was going to be a very quiet deadline. You had thought perhaps that maybe it wasn't going to be as active as it was. I am blown away with the amount of trades and some of the pieces that have gone and moved around. Would you say that this trade deadline met your expectations in terms of quietness, if that's even a word. What do you think about how this whole thing went down, if you had to like kind of paint it with the broad brush allow.

00:10:47
Speaker 1: I'm glad you asked this. And first of all, when you say you don't know anything, I don't know anything either. Because I felt a number of executives felt a number of other people felt that because of the lack of quality players available compared to other years, this wasn't going to be as exciting a deadline. I would estimate, or can kind of say that this was one of the more exciting deadlines we've ever had. Now, there was no Wan Soto traded, no Max Suers are traded, nothing like that. But the Mason Miller deal was a big deal. The Carlos corea deal was a big deal. We go back to ralphae Old Devers. That was a big deal. So it definitely exceeded my expectations. And I remember again a couple of weeks ago or so, an executive telling me, you guys, reporters are going to be disappointed because this is not going to be good. But what happens is this is one of the few times of the year, Alana where transactions are made, right the winter meetings. The winter in general is another time. But if you don't make trades here, you don't have an opportunity to do that in the final two months. So you have to go. And most of these teams realize that the Padres certainly did, the Yankees certainly did any number of other teams as well. No, I'm not getting to everyone here, but I would say the deadline was far busier, far more active, far more exciting than I thought it would be. And again it goes to show you that for all our supposed expertise, me, you, everyone else in the media, everyone else in front offices, we never know what's going to happen. And that's the beauty of the deadline. That's why we love it so much.

00:12:25
Speaker 2: No question about that. A lot of questions still coming up in Grill and Ken. That's next in terms of our segment here on Fair Territory with Ken Rosenthal will be right back.

00:12:34
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00:13:39
Speaker 2: As I look at their chat here right now on this trade deadline fair territory with Ken Rosenthal, it seems like the Cubs and the Red Sox fans are pretty pretty pretty perturbed. Mike g wants to know Alta please press Ken on the Cubs at some point and tell him Cubs fans do not want him to hold back. Do not hold back, and Rosenthal stand up for the Cubby fans.

00:14:00
Speaker 3: What do you make about what the Cubs did or did not do well?

00:14:03
Speaker 1: When I wrote my biggest storylines piece going into the deadline day, the Cubs were one of a topics and the Red Sox were another. Now, let's start with the Cubs. What did they add? Mike Soroka, Andrew Kittridge for the bullpen, Taylor Rogers for the bullpen, and Willie Castro. What's missing there? A big time starting pitcher. Now, the only defense I will give the Cubs here on this particular issue is that a lot of big time starting pitchers were not traded. Dylan Cease was not traded, Zach Gallen was not traded, Sandy al Contrado was not traded, Edward Cabrera was not traded. Mitch Keller. We went through that the prices were excessive, and evidently the Cubs did not feel it was worth meaning the price. Now here's the problem. There are times in a franchise's evolution when a team has to overpay. The Cubs did this in twenty sixteen when they went out and got a roll as Chapman. What happened. They won the World Series. This might be the Cub's only year with Kyle Tucker, only year he's eligible for free agency. I don't know that many of us expect the Cubs to re sign him. In my view, this was a year in which they had to overpay. Their rotation is vulnerable, was vulnerable, and will be vulnerable. I don't see them quite in the harshest light as I do with the Red Sox. I see them in the harshest light. But this was a disappointment in terms of not getting the starting picture that so many of us thought they needed to get. And again there's the caveat where not many of the group's starting pitchers were even moved.

00:15:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, you brought up the Red Socks.

00:15:37
Speaker 2: Let's bring it up because the fans are clamoring they did nothing. They got Steven Mattz, they got Dustin May. That is not enough, Ken Rosenthal, especially when the Yankees doing what they're doing. Ken, don't tell me Red Sox only got his says justin May. But it is Dustin May. We're right handed hitter tvd as. I mean, they did nothing. This is a massive disappointment for the Red Sox and their fan base.

00:15:59
Speaker 1: Epic fail comes off an epic fail last year's deadline with Craig Breslow, and this was an epic fail as well. Now again they met the same problem that the Cubs ran into. Joe Ryan is another starting pitcher who wasn't traded. But my understanding is any talks that they had with the Twins were feeble at best. They didn't come at them hard. The Red Sox are one of many teams that uses modeling and tries to figure out what the best values are, and it's all about efficiency and getting the best deal and this and that and the other thing. At some point you've got a fire. It's the same thing we're saying with the Cubs. And they did not even address first base, which I know they've gotten decent work out of Rome Gonzalez and Abraham Toro, but my goodness, that was a position where they had to act. They tried for Suarez, Ajohano Suarez, and they tried with the idea of playing him at first base. Didn't get him. Didn't get a starter other than Dustin May who has not been a very successful starter for the Dodgers, and in their bullpen with Steven Mattz, he's a swing guy. Be effective. But my goodness, they needed more. This is a team that is on the rise. And again they may say, oh, we're going to be better next year. Our young guys will be that much better. Yeah, that's what the Orioles were saying a year ago. There is no guarantee in this sport or any other. So the Red Sox, I don't get it. I don't understand it. And there's going to be some people in Boston, a lot of people in Boston questioning what the heck they did?

00:17:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, they did nothing, And I can tell you living in this area that it is. You should listen to the sports talk radio right now in the Boston area about what they did not do. As far as the trade deadline is concerned. Let's talk about the Nlcentral Again, we mentioned that the Cubs didn't do much, but what about the Brewers. Did the Brewers even discuss a trade for a bat? Shelby Miller is a nice, low key bullpen edition, but feel they needed a bat. This is from d trained riot Maker. What is your take on what the brew crew did or did not do?

00:17:55
Speaker 1: First of all, Shelby Miller is I believe still in the injured list. He's coming back, but who knows what he'll be so as far as that being their big bullpen addition, when other teams were loading up on relievers left and right, not impressed. Also not impressed that they didn't get another bat. Listen, it's hard to criticize them. They make the most of what they have. They do a wonderful job, and my goodness, the team that they've put out there this year. It's fun, it's exciting, and it's successful. But it seems to me that more effort was needed. And this is another team you look at and you wonder if there was an opportunity lost. And the good news for the Cubs is that the Brewers didn't go crazy, not that they were ever going to go crazy, but these two teams when compared now to the Padres, to the Mets who got Hellsley and Tyler Rodgers and Cedric Mullins, to the Phillies who got John Durant and Harrison Bader. To the Padres, of course we've discussed them, and of course the Dodgers, the Mighty Dodgers not looking so good, not looking good at all.

00:18:57
Speaker 3: And the Dodgers didn't do much either.

00:18:58
Speaker 2: Now, is that because they felt going into the season they were going to do everything in the off season going into twenty twenty five, and they're just hoping that their biggest addition at this trade deadline is Blake Snell coming back and their guys getting healthy. What do you make of the lack of movement? I mean, Brock Stewart, okay, whatever they trade James Outman, but what do you make of it?

00:19:21
Speaker 1: This was the plan and they were not going to go crazy at the deadline. They never wanted to go crazy at the deadline. That's why they spent all that money. The question I have with the Dodgers is they're expecting all of this to come together, for Snell to be healthy, for show Hate to stay healthy, for maybe Sasaki to come back, for their bullpen to get healed and hole, and then for their hitters who are struggling or at least not performing to the where they have in the past, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and others. They expect it all to come together. There's no guarantee of that. That's my concern with them and Alana. I want to go back to not just the Dodgers here, because the Dodgers, clearly you're trying to win the World Series. We know that, but the goal of every team should be to win the World Series. And the teams that didn't go all out, that's the question I have for them, the contenders, are you trying to win the World Series? Even the Tigers, now I didn't love their bullpen moves. Kyle Finigan was one, Paul Sewall was another. I felt they needed more swing and miss. But they also acquired Chris Paddock and then Charlie Morton for their rotation. Okay, it's modest relatively speaking, but it's not bad and it reinforces what has been their strength to pitching. Are they going all out? No, but at least they're making moves to try to win the World Series. Some of these other teams are not looking at it like that, and that's the problem. I know, the playoffs are random. I know with an expanded postseason they're even more random. But the goal of this sport should be to be the last team standing. I don't know that enough teams look at it that way.

00:20:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree with you.

00:21:00
Speaker 2: I mean that should be the goal of every single team going into spring training. It's like our goal is to win the World Series. It seems like some of these teams just kind of well, if we're competitive grade. If we're not, that's okay too, you know. But we didn't even talk about the Mariners, and they made some nice additions too. You knew it was going to be, you know, Jerry Depoto and Aj Preller like bing bing being trying to go after one another in in terms.

00:21:20
Speaker 3: Of the amount of moves.

00:21:21
Speaker 2: All right, we're going to come back after this quick break with dude and dork of the deadline, We'll be right back.

00:21:27
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00:22:29
Speaker 2: All right, Time now for dude and dork of the Deadline Ken Who is your dude?

00:22:34
Speaker 1: We've talked about Brian Cashman, We've talked about aj Preller, but I'm actually going to go with an owner Jim Crane and the Houston Astros. Now, the Astros don't necessarily operate in ways that some of us think they should at times. But even while they've lost all their players in recent years, not all of them, but Bregman and Tucker and Correa, Crane has always tried to put the most competitive team on the field he can usually some salary restrictions. By getting Correa back, I don't know if it's a great move, but it's a cool move. It makes his team interesting, and certainly Correa is going to be welcomed back like a hero to Houston. Remember, they didn't sign him, they didn't they make him that competitive an offer in free agency, and now they bring him back. So, Jim Crane, I know I've been critical of you in the past, and at times for very good reasons, but today you're the dude of the week.

00:23:26
Speaker 2: It's funny too, because Julia morells Clark does a tremendous job as a sideline reporter for the Astros, and we have a text thread of like six or seven sideline reporters that just like talk back and forth, and she's like, we're going to Boston and New York this week.

00:23:38
Speaker 3: I have a feeling.

00:23:39
Speaker 2: We're going to get booed with Carlos Carea back on the team. But I love that for them and good for him. All Right, you is your dork of the deadline, Ken Rosenthal.

00:23:50
Speaker 1: It has to be Craig Breslow. And I know it's a hard job, and I have a great deal of respect for all the people who do these jobs, all the people who do every job in baseball. It's more difficult than all of us on the outside think. But he had a clear mission here. He knew what was at stake. He has a team that a lot of us think is capable of doing big things, and he did not deliver. Craig Breslow has got to be my dork of the week.

00:24:16
Speaker 3: I mean, I can't.

00:24:16
Speaker 2: I can't disagree with you one thousand percent. They did nothing. This is a team that rattled off ten straight wins going into the deadline. They're fighting, they're scratching, their clawing. They got rid of devers and dumped that salary. They could have done a lot of things and they chose not to do so. All right, So Ken is live for Major League Baseball Speedway Classic on Fox. Don't forget Dodger's Territory follows this show. Ken is back with a brand new episode, A Fair Territory with Ken Rosenthal on Monday. I want to give a shout out to Jonathan Miller who purchased not only fair Territory stuff, but foul Territory merchandise as well. Ken, get some rest, try to take a breather, have a glass of wine. Thank you for all that you do. We appreciate you very much, my friend. We'll see you on Monday.

00:24:59
Speaker 1: Thanks a lot a lout. I don't have a great weekend everyone.

00:25:01
Speaker 3: All right, bye everybody.

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