On the 'Human Element' of Baseball's Trade Deadline
José Berríos couldn't sleep for weeks ahead of the 2021 trade deadline.
He knew his name lingered on the trade market and talks were ongoing. In the days leading up to his Toronto trade, the righty was anxious and found it hard to clear his mind.
"Those nights were tough for me," Berríos said.
So, when the 28-year-old finally found out where he was going, he could relax—but only for a moment. The next day, Berríos was on a flight from St. Louis to Toronto and his wife and kids were back in Minnesota, packing up a life’s worth of belongings, moving out of the house, and relocating from a city they lived in for over five years.
Berríos' chaotic deadline experience is one plenty of MLB players will experience over the next two days, and one a few other Blue Jays are well acquainted with.
“I think one of the things that gets overlooked a little bit is kind of the human element of it,” reliever David Phelps said.
Phelps knows the tolls of a mid-season swap better than most. The 10-year MLB veteran has been on seven different teams, traded four times, and moved at the deadline thrice. Even with his transaction familiarity, the uncertainty of a deadline can be a grind for Phelps. But it’s the trade fallout that’s often worse because that falls on the families left behind.
When Phelps was traded from Miami to Seattle in 2017, he found out at 1 p.m. and was on a flight five hours later. His wife and children were left to pick up the pieces, packing up and moving their lives to a new city. Sometimes you can expect the move, like when Phelps was warned by Charlie Montoyo that teams were calling on him ahead of the 2019 deadline, but it doesn't make the family aspect much easier.
Explaining to his children why they're moving across the continent is difficult, Phelps said. When he’s been traded in the past, his kids see it as a “new adventure,” with a new city and a new organization, but the first few times he was traded they still didn’t really understand what happened.
"It's interesting, from their perspective, to hear 'this new team wants dad,'" Phelps said. “But that upheaval is definitely still challenging.”
Berríos faced the same challenge of explaining to his three kids why they were moving from Minnesota to Toronto last summer. They know daddy played for the Twins and now he plays for the Blue Jays, Berríos said, but can’t really grasp the why or how.
And then there’s the Blue Jays traded with children on the way. When Ross Stripling joined Toronto at the 2020 deadline, his wife, Shelby, was 14 weeks pregnant in the middle of a pandemic. Stripling had to catch an overnight flight from Los Angeles to Miami to meet the Blue Jays while his wife stayed behind.
“It was like, alright, I'll see you in a couple of months, hope you start feeling better,” Stripling said. “It was stressful. I say it lightly now, but it was really stressful at the time.”
Kevin Gausman heard his name out there a few times before he was ultimately dealt in 2018. There’d been rumblings of a Carlos Gonzalez swap with the Rockies earlier in his career and the Cubs were after him a few times, maybe dangling Javier Baez at one point, Gausman said. In 2018, though, it was the first time he was fairly confident he wasn’t going anywhere. So, naturally, that’s when he was shipped off to Atlanta, finding out about the move as he was stretching in a New York bullpen before a game.
Gausman’s wife, Taylor, was pregnant with their first child at the time, but their transition was made a little easier because of some scheduling luck. Gausman was able to stay in New York, as the Braves came to town to face the Mets the next day. A week later, Atlanta had a series in D.C., too, so Gausman could hop back over to Baltimore to finish packing up and gathering his things from home. But even still, the 2018 deadline was a stressful time for Gausman, and he understands other players' situations are often worse.
Gausman and his wife have talked about the need for an organization to help players transition to new clubs during mid-season trades. The couple has discussed starting one up after Gausman's playing days are over—reaching out to players with pre-planned housing options, helping the move logistics, and easing players and families into a new city. Within days, players and families have to find new living accommodations for the final two months of the season (with the flexibility for three, if playoffs are in the cards), and often can't get out of leases in the cities they're leaving. While teams have player relations staff and travel managers, much of the help still falls on new teammates.
When Gausman was traded to Atlanta, he was lucky his Orioles teammate Brad Brach was swapped to the Braves a few days earlier. The reliever immediately texted Gausman when he was traded, telling him what app to download to access the team chat and files and everything else he had to know. Baseball is a small world, but Berríos, Gausman, and Phelps all mentioned how difficult the first few days in a new clubhouse can be. Even with the most welcoming of groups, having a familiar face or a former teammate can make the move a lot easier.
Let's be clear, a deadline trade isn't all negatives and obstacles. Some players immediately benefit from the change of scenery and often a deadline deal at the MLB level means you’re going to a contending team to play meaningful baseball. And, as Stripling put it, getting used to moving around is part of the baseball job. But, when your favorite team adds that power pitcher or bench bat at the deadline, they're adding a person, too.
"People talk about teams winning or losing trades based on what they got in return or the performance of the guy," Phelps said. "But at the end of the day, we're people. There's someone's life or career just getting completely uprooted, and that can always be challenging."
Mitch Bannon is a baseball reporter for Sports Illustrated covering the Toronto Blue Jays and their minor league affiliates.Twitter: @MitchBannon