It’s been only one week since the MLB trade deadline, but first impressions are important, and plenty of new faces around the league have introduced themselves to their new squads with their play – for better or worse. For contending teams, that means seeing how these additions can boost the lineup, rotation or bullpen as the stakes increase with October approaching. For clubs that have fallen out of the mix, this time of the season brings opportunities for new names to establish themselves as pieces for the future.
This week’s power rankings take a look at how the players who changed threads at the deadline have fared so far and speculate on their roles for their new clubs moving forward, whether that’s for the postseason race or for next season and beyond.
Jump to a team by clicking on the links below:
1. Milwaukee Brewers (74-45)
With the Brewers having reportedly finished runners-up in the Tarik Skubal sweepstakes, right-hander Dustin May becomes a lot more compelling as Milwaukee’s lone rotation reinforcement as the team pushes for the best record in MLB. May turned in a quality start in his Brewers debut, including a notable uptick in cutter usage. Given his plus velocity and deep pitch mix, it’ll be interesting to see how the Brewers remix May’s repertoire, especially if they’re counting on him to be part of the postseason rotation.
Colorado and Sacramento weren’t the friendliest venues for Freddy Peralta to make his first two starts as a Ray, but the right-hander bounced back from a rough one at Coors Field (3 ⅔ IP, 7 ER) with solid six innings against the A’s – his longest outing since June 9. Arguably no team/player pairing has more to gain down the stretch than Peralta with his new club as he tries to rejuvenate his value heading into free agency and Tampa Bay pushes for the pennant. Also, catcher Liam Hicks hit a grand slam in his Rays debut, and reliever Tyler Wells has already struck out eight across 4 ⅓ scoreless innings. Arguably no team improved its roster in multiple facets more than Tampa Bay, and it’s showing so far.
The Dodgers rallied to get Tarik Skubal off the hook on Monday, but in his first two starts with his new team, the ace lefty was good, not great. There’s bound to be an adjustment period for Skubal as he settles into his new surroundings, and one interesting element of that will be his batterymates. With L.A.’s lead catching duo of Will Smith and Dalton Rushing both on the injured list and not expected back anytime soon, the pressure is on Ben Rortvedt and Hunter Feduccia — both acquired at the deadline — to support not only Skubal’s transition to Los Angeles but also the rest of the star-studded pitching staff as the Dodgers push for one of the top two seeds in the NL postseason field.
With outfielder Lane Thomas likely relegated to a part-time role and reliever Brent Suter suited for lower-leverage situations, the post-deadline focus for Atlanta is veteran right-hander Tyler Mahle. Despite the Braves’ reported pursuits of Skubal and Jacob deGrom in trade talks, Mahle ended up being the lone reinforcement for Atlanta’s injury-ravaged rotation. While he made a brilliant first impression, with six scoreless innings at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, Mahle has a lot to prove now pitching for a contender after an underwhelming few months in San Francisco.
The Cubs desperately needed to add pitching at the deadline and did exactly that, reeling in two starters in Kevin Gausman and Clay Holmes, plus a hard-throwing reliever in Ryan Zeferjahn. Gausman was rock-solid in his Cubs debut, completing seven innings for just the second time this season in a win Friday in Kansas City. Holmes was less stellar, allowing four runs across four innings in a loss the next day, but that was his first major-league outing after he missed nearly three months due to a right fibula fracture, so let’s see how he rounds back into form.
6. New York Yankees (66-52)
With Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton all on the injured list, the Yankees opted to upgrade their lineup at the deadline rather than bolster their pitching staff, landing two talented hitters in Luis Garcia Jr. and Heliot Ramos. Garcia electrified the Bronx crowd with a go-ahead blast in his Yankees debut, but the bullpen went on to blow that game, and neither Garcia nor Ramos has done much with the bat since (though Garcia made quite the catch over the weekend). As with any Yankees deadline addition, a balanced diet of hype and scrutiny will likely follow these players in the coming months.
7. Boston Red Sox (64-54)
Adley Rutschman‘s highly anticipated (and utterly fascinating) Boston debut is on deck with his activation from the injured list. Meanwhile, the Red Sox will wait for Curtis Mead to return from a broken wrist suffered July 27 on a hit-by-pitch in his first game with the team. Another promising development: Hard-throwing lefty Erik Miller, acquired from San Francisco for former top prospect Marcelo Mayer, looks capable of supercharging a bullpen that already features two of the best relievers in the AL in Aroldis Chapman and Garrett Whitlock.
8. Philadelphia Phillies (64-56)
Luis Arraez notched five hits, including two doubles and a rare homer, in the Phillies’ series win over Washington last week, endearing himself to the Philly faithful in a hurry. He followed that by going hitless in three of his next four games, the first such drought of the season for the hit-collecting maven, an uncommon blip amid his triumphant return to All-Star form. More concerning than this small-sample skid for Arraez is that the reliever acquired alongside him, Caleb Kilian, is already on the injured list due to an oblique strain.
The Snakes were the last team to make a trade leading up to the deadline, swinging a deal with St. Louis for outfielder Lars Nootbaar just before the buzzer but failing to land any reinforcements for the pitching staff. Nootbaar’s impact has been limited so far between left field and DH duties, but his keen eye and strong on-base skills should shine through and boost this lineup: His 18.5% chase rate is fourth-lowest in MLB among hitters with at least 200 plate appearances.
How Dustin May, Tarik Skubal and Luis Arraez, among others, impact their new teams will be among the top storylines down the stretch.
(Bruno Rouby/Yahoo Sports)
Like Peralta and Skubal, right-hander Casey Mize has already made two starts with his new club. He got blasted by the D-backs in his Padres debut (3 ⅓ IP, 8 ER) but bounced back on Monday, with six strong innings at home against the NL-leading Brewers, after which he credited the raucous Petco Park crowd as an uplifting factor. Wednesday will be veteran lefty Robbie Ray‘s turn to show a little better than he did in his San Diego debut, when he allowed four runs and five walks in a loss to Houston.
11. Chicago White Sox (61-56)
Immediately thrust into ultra-high-leverage in the late stages of Thursday’s outrageous marathon at Fenway Park, Huascar Brazobán was unable to nail down the four-out save, sending the game to extra innings and an eventual tough loss for Chicago. To begin that game, veteran righty Luis Castillo made his White Sox debut and surrendered five runs over four innings, an abbreviated outing that contributed in part to the bullpen chaos that ensued. Both Brazobán and Castillo should help this pitching staff, but whether they represent enough of a boost to ensure Chicago a postseason spot remains to be seen.
Astros outfielders combined to rank 29th in fWAR and 30th in OPS through the end of July, so it was no surprise to see Houston add a proven contributor such as Daulton Varsho at the deadline. But Varsho is in the midst of a down season by his standards and can address this glaring roster shortcoming only so much on his own. He homered in San Diego over the weekend, but he’ll really need to heat up to validate being the lone deadline addition for a Houston club desperate to return to October.
Despite getting zero innings or plate appearances from anyone acquired at the deadline, the team that traded Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize is doing just fine without them, surging in recent weeks to the AL’s best run differential and within striking distance of a wild-card spot. With their new-look rotation led by breakout righty Troy Melton and a youthful lineup headlined by Rookie of the Year front-runner Kevin McGonigle and top outfield prospect Max Clark, Tigers fans don’t need to worry too much about how the prospects acquired for Skubal are performing in the minors — though Zyhir Hope did already homer — as the big-league team continues to push for a postseason spot. Now, how badly will the Tigers miss Skubal and Mize if they indeed rally to play in October? That’s another story.
The most interesting deadline activity for Texas was a trade that didn’t happen: a reported deal to send ace Jacob deGrom to Atlanta that the right-hander rejected using his no-trade clause. With that blockbuster quashed, the Rangers ended up as nonfactors in either direction, neither buying nor selling to a meaningful degree. Perhaps Texas can help resuscitate new catcher Logan O’Hoppe‘s value, but he’s in Triple-A right now. Chase Silseth is a useful bullpen piece but not one who will change the fortunes of a shaky unit that has been leaking runs for months now. This is a tough team to figure out.
Despite hanging around on the periphery of the NL wild-card race, the Marlins subtracted from their major-league club at the deadline, sending out catcher Liam Hicks and pitchers Lake Bacher and Braxton Garrett in deals that landed prospects. But the Marlins did acquire righty reliever Victor Vodnik from Colorado, and he’s under team control through 2029. Vodnik’s four-seam fastball averages 98.6 mph, and his 55% career groundball rate is exceptional. If he can throw more strikes and lean on his slider more for whiffs — a more likely strategy pitching away from Coors Field, where breaking balls break less — Vodnik could become a high-leverage weapon for Miami.
While Jeff Hoffman and A.J. Minter are still settling into their new roles in the bullpen, Dean Kremer has already provided a surprising jolt to Minnesota’s starting staff. Kremer was a mainstay in Baltimore’s rotation the past four years, but injuries limited his availability and effectiveness this season before he was dealt to the Twins for 18-year-old outfield prospect Jhomnardo Reyes. On Monday at Target Field, Kremer greeted his old Orioles pals by allowing just one hit across seven innings in one of the best outings of his career, contributing to a Twins victory that put some distance between two clubs fighting to stay afloat in the AL wild-card race.
17. St. Louis Cardinals (59-60)
The Cardinals were awfully quiet until the last few hours before the deadline, when they unloaded rental pitchers Dustin May and JoJo Romero to Milwaukee and sent Nootbaar to Arizona. St. Louis netted some intriguing prospects in return, most notably outfielders Josiah Ragsdale and Alexander Frias. Frias is an 18-year-old with electric lefty bat speed whom some outlets already peg as a top-100 prospect. Ragsdale is an athletic, 22-year-old center fielder finally turning his physical gifts into standout production: He’s one of just three minor-league hitters with 20 homers and 30 stolen bases.
Going 1-5 after the deadline was especially disappointing after Cleveland added aggressively (by its standards), bringing in Nathaniel Lowe and Jo Adell and being the surprise landing spot for All-Star left-hander Foster Griffin. But Griffin struggled in his Guardians debut, surrendering five earned runs across four innings against the Mets — his shortest outing of the season — as Cleveland was swept at home. Lowe has provided some pop, but Adell has struck out 10 times through his first six games with his new club. The process of adding these players might have been sound, but the results haven’t been there yet.
Pittsburgh completely remodeled its bullpen at the deadline but hasn’t had many late and narrow leads to protect over the past week, meaning we’ve yet to see the new crew of Luke Weaver, Camilo Doval, Kirby Yates and Lake Bachar deployed in high-leverage circumstances. More troubling is the fact that the Pirates’ rotation ERA (4.44) is now higher than that of the bullpen (4.21), a stunning and discouraging stat that highlights the fact that the starting staff has also been sorely disappointing. What once looked like a team fully capable of ending the National League’s longest playoff drought is slipping toward irrelevance with September approaching.
Here’s another team that rebuilt its bullpen at the deadline, and the early returns have been quite refreshing. Yovanny Cruz — acquired from New York in the Garcia trade — has electric stuff that fits in the ninth inning if he can harness his command. Lefty Will Dion — acquired from Cleveland in the Griffin deal — tossed three scoreless innings on Sunday, and veteran Jake Bird threw a scoreless ninth to close out that game and complete a sweep of Cincinnati. Less encouraging: Connelly Early, the promising, young lefty starter acquired from Boston for Mead, experienced forearm tightness during a live BP session last week, so it’s unclear when he’ll make his Nationals debut.
21. Seattle Mariners (56-63)
It’s not all new right fielder Taylor Ward‘s fault that Seattle has scored eight total runs across six games since the deadline, but his 4-for-23 with zero walks — a notable number as the current AL walks leader — didn’t help matters. Nor did righty reliever Seranthony Dominguez serving up two homers against Detroit in his Mariners debut, an ominous first impression as the lone addition to a bullpen that seemed to need more of a boost. As has been the case all season, the talent on paper and the weak American League could enable a late-season surge for the Mariners, but they’re running out of time.
Toronto’s bold buy-and-sell deadline approach sent out fan favorites Gausman, Hoffman and Varsho while bringing in some exciting pieces for the short and long term, notably right-hander José Soriano, who is under contract through 2028. While Soriano’s line in his Jays debut was unremarkable – 4 ⅔ IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K – his attack plan was much different from his time in Anaheim: He registered his lowest percentage of four-seam fastballs (12%) in any outing this season while racking up a season-high 12 whiffs on his knuckle-curve.
23. Baltimore Orioles (57-62)
The stunning blockbuster sending Rutschman to the Red Sox invites scrutiny on the package of prospects headed back to Baltimore in the deal. That includes right-hander Anthony Eyanson, considered among the top handful of pitching prospects in the game, who struck out nine in his organizational debut, and 19-year-old outfielder Enddy Azocar, who posted a 1.236 OPS across his first five games for Baltimore’s High-A affiliate. These are exciting prospects, but it’ll take some time to get over the Rutschman deal, especially if Baltimore finishes with a losing record for a second straight year.
24. New York Mets (53-67)
No team added more minor-league talent at the deadline than the Mets, who netted a dozen young players across seven trades that dismantled nearly the entire major-league pitching staff. While infielder Jefferson Rojas (from the Holmes deal) — widely regarded as the best player of the bunch acquired — hasn’t done much yet, outfielder Aidan Smith (Peralta) and infielder Billy Amick (Minter) have gotten off to fast starts, with Smith homering in four of his first six games and Amick going deep five times to raise his season total to 28, tied for ninth in MiLB.
25. Cincinnati Reds (56-61)
The Reds were one of the least active teams at the deadline, despite having several expiring contracts and little hope of contending. The only player-for-player swap was sending Nathaniel Lowe to Cleveland for 19-year-old Venezuelan righty Alejandro Rivera, who is having a nice stateside debut but is years away from contributing in Cincinnati. The Reds appeared to make a statement that it was worth standing pat when they swept the A’s last week and passed the Pirates in the standings, but then news broke that ace Hunter Greene needs elbow surgery and Cincinnati was swept in Washington over the weekend. Ouch.
While there’s real excitement about some of the pitching prospects San Francisco acquired, such as Ramon Marquez (from the Arraez deal), Miguel Mendez (Ray) and Henry Lalane (Ramos), by far the most fascinating post-deadline subplot will be what the Giants can get out of Marcelo Mayer. Mayer is reportedly nearing a rehab assignment as he works his way back from a stress reaction in his left forearm and should get significant playing time in San Francisco’s infield down the stretch. Let’s see if his early-career struggles were indicative of the kind of player he is or if Boston gave up on the former top prospect too soon.
The Royals didn’t have much to deal away despite toiling in last place. It wouldn’t be shocking to see righty reliever Carlos Duran (acquired from the Dodgers for Kris Bubic) emerge in the big-league bullpen before the end of his season, nor would it be surprising to see right-handed pitching prospect Lucas Braun (acquired from Atlanta for Lane Thomas) compete for a rotation spot next spring.
28. Athletics (47-72)
The A’s did next to nothing at the deadline and then parted ways with longtime front-office head David Forst. So if we are to follow the directive of this exercise and check on the deadline acquisitions, that unfortunately is only one name: right-hander Seth Johnson, who faced four batters and recorded zero outs on Monday as the A’s squandered a late lead against the Rays. Oof.
Interim general manager John Mozeliak didn’t completely tear down this roster, but he did execute more sell-style moves than the Angels have in years. The two most significant trades — sending Zeferjahn to the Cubs and Soriano to the Blue Jays — netted two very different young position players who could blossom into core pieces: Moisés Ballesteros and Arjun Nimmala. Ballesteros is a lefty-swinging catcher/DH whose defensive limitations made him difficult to fit into the Cubs’ long-term plans, but his offensive track record is immaculate, and he has been blistering the ball with his new club. Nimmala is still just 20, has already reached Double-A and has all the tools to be an impact shortstop, but his development is going to take time. Still, the payoff could be tremendous, and he could represent an exciting next chapter for the Angels, if and when Zach Neto is traded.
30. Colorado Rockies (46-73)
He hasn’t made his Rockies debut yet, but let’s see if Connor Norby benefits from a change of scenery and Colorado benefits from buying low on the 26-year-old after he was squeezed out of Miami’s infield picture. Norby’s right-handed bat always produced in the upper minors, and there’s some real runway for him to claim the second-base job for the Rockies, who have quietly had several hitters (Mickey Moniak, Jake McCarthy, TJ Rumfield) break out with them after floundering in other organizations.
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