SI:AM | The Biggest Trades Made at the Deadline

Plus, what the Mets’ moves mean for their future.

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I wonder how other MLB owners are going to react to Steve Cohen basically buying prospects at the trade deadline.

In today’s SI:AM:

🔄 Trade deadline takeaways

⚾ Mets out of Ohtani sweepstakes?

🤕 Why LSU is issuing injury reports

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Contenders load up

As expected, there was plenty of action at the MLB trade deadline yesterday. Here are a few of the most notable moves.

Paul DeJong to the Blue Jays

Toronto is lucky that the deadline was Aug. 1 this year rather than the usual July 31. Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette exited Monday night’s game with a knee injury, altering the team’s outlook on deadline day. Bichette has fortunately avoided a trip to the injured list. If he had been sidelined for any significant amount of time, that would be trouble for the Jays. He currently leads the AL with a .321 batting average, and the Jays don’t have another internal option to replace his level of offensive production. While DeJong is a below-average hitter (93 OPS+), he’s among the best defensive shortstops in the majors—and a significant upgrade over Bichette. Among 43 shortstops with at least 200 innings at the position this season, DeJong ranks sixth in Baseball Savant’s fielding run value metric. Bichette is 38th.

Even if Bichette is able to return to the lineup soon, the DeJong trade gives the Jays additional flexibility when filling out their lineup card. Bichette would be an upgrade over Brandon Belt at DH on days when Toronto wants to boost its defense by playing DeJong at short.

Justin Verlander to the Astros

This trade made too much sense not to happen, right? Even with a few key injuries, the Houston rotation has been just fine this season without Verlander. The Astros’ starters are third in the majors with a 3.81 ERA—and Framber Valdez just threw a no-hitter last night. But there’s no such thing as having too much pitching. While Verlander hasn’t been as unhittable with the Mets this season as he was with the Astros last year, he’s still plenty reliable. With José Urquidy also expected to return soon from a long injury absence, the Houston rotation is about to get a serious boost.

Jack Flaherty to the Orioles

Baltimore has the best record in the American League, but its starting rotation has been thoroughly average (ranked 16th in the majors with a 4.47 ERA). Even though he hasn’t been as dominant as he was in his 2019 breakout season, Flaherty gives the Orioles another decent starter who will be crucial during the playoffs.

Austin Hedges to the Rangers

Texas had a serious need at catcher after All-Star Jonah Heim went on the injured list Friday with a wrist strain. He’s hoping to be able to put off surgery until after the season but is still expected to miss two to three weeks. There’s no way to replace Heim’s offensive contributions, but losing Heim also has serious defensive implications. He’s an excellent pitch framer, ranked 12th in FanGraphs’ framing metric among catchers with at least 100 innings behind the plate. Hedges is a terrible hitter, but he’s better at framing pitches than any catcher in the majors. Adding him will be a boost to the pitching staff, and Texas has more than enough offensive firepower to keep itself afloat with Hedges hitting in the ninth spot.

All the trades the Yankees didn’t make

Most people aren’t going to have any sympathy for the Yankees, but it is pretty remarkable that their record (55–52 after dropping their third straight last night) would be the best in the AL Central but has them in last in the AL East. That puts them in a tough position. They’re 3.5 games out of the final wild-card spot, which isn’t an insurmountable deficit. But the team has obvious holes, particularly on offense and in the starting rotation. So should the Yankees have attempted to improve in those areas or acknowledge that they aren’t ready to compete this year and become sellers at the deadline? In the end, they did neither. New York made two trades yesterday, one for White Sox reliever Keynan Middleton and one for Rangers righthander Spencer Howard, who’s spent most of this year in the minors. It was a conservative approach that left fans fuming. These certainly aren’t the Yankees of old.

The best of Sports Illustrated

Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports

• For more on the trade deadline, check out Tom Verducci’s eight lessons learned.
• The Mets’ firesale didn’t just signal that they’re giving up on this season. Stephanie Apstein writes it also took them out of the running to sign Shohei Ohtani this winter.
• In a surprisingly candid interview, Max Scherzer gave some more insight on the Mets’ approach moving forward.
• Emma Baccellieri breaks down the Astros’ trade for Justin Verlander, which gives Houston impressive pitching depth.
• As gambling becomes a bigger factor in college sports, LSU football will begin issuing injury reports before games. Richard Johnson has more on the school’s decision and whether the rest of the SEC could follow suit.
• MLS is investigating “insensitive and inappropriate remarks” made by former U.S. men’s national team manager and current Revolution coach Bruce Arena.
• Inter Miami will host rivals Orlando City in a Leagues Cup round-of-32 matchup Wednesday, with fans clamoring to catch Lionel Messi & Co. in action as ticket prices exceed $2,200, per SI Tickets.

The top five...

… things I saw last night:

5. The Royals’ walk-off win on a balk by Mets reliever Josh Walker.

4. Giants catcher Patrick Bailey’s back pick for the final out of the game. (He also caught a runner stealing with a throw from his knees.)

3. Connecticut Sun star Alyssa Thomas’s record-setting triple double: 21 points, 20 rebounds and 12 assists. That’s the most rebounds in a triple double in WNBA history.

2. Seiya Suzuki’s antics on the Cubs bench.

1. Framber Valdez’s 93-pitch no-hitter. That’s the fourth-fewest pitches in a no-hitter in MLB’s modern era.

SIQ

On this day in 1938, the Dodgers and Cardinals played a doubleheader using an experimental, differently colored baseball. What color was it?

• Yellow
• Orange
• Red
• Pink

Yesterday’s SIQ: On Aug. 1, 1998, Bronswell Patrick became the first pitcher in nearly 30 years to hit a home run for which franchise? (It might seem random, but I think you can easily get it if you think about it.)

• Yankees
• Brewers
• Astros
• Expos

Answer: Brewers. Milwaukee was in its first season in the National League. The last Brewers pitcher to hit a home run was Skip Lockwood, who went deep in 1971, the second to last season before the implementation of the designated hitter.

Patrick, a rookie reliever for Milwaukee, hit his homer leading off the fifth inning of a game against the Diamondbacks to give the Brewers a 4–3 lead. While Patrick threw two scoreless innings, Chad Fox gave up the lead in the eighth, and Milwaukee lost.

That wasn’t the most memorable homer Patrick was involved in that season, though. In mid-September, he was the one who gave up Sammy Sosa’s 61st of the season.