The July 31, non-waiver MLB trade deadline had officially passed.
Plenty of big names changed teams on the 31st, from Chris Archer and Tommy Pham to Brian Dozier and Wilson Ramos.
There were also plenty of players who stayed put despite their names circulating in the rumor mill.
Detroit held on to Mike Fiers. Ditto Cincinnati and Matt Harvey.
San Diego kept Tyson Ross, Craig Stammen and Kirby Yates, while the Rays didn’t find takers for Sergio Romo, Carlos Gomez or Adeiny Hechavarria.
So, who are the biggest winners of the deadline?
We have you covered.
(It should be noted that this is only taking into account deals made on the 31st. For earlier deals, see this piece.)
Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays picked up Tommy Pham (as well as international slot money) for three pieces who weren’t key to their future.
Justin Williams made his Major League debut this season, but Pham is a short and long-term upgrade over the 22-year-old in the outfield.
Meanwhile, Genesis Cabrera and Roel Ramirez have upside, but Tampa Bay has a deep farm system, especially from a pitching standpoint, so sacrificing the two to snag Pham is an easy pill to swallow.
In return, the Rays are getting a player who only last season had a 6.1 fWAR and will enter arbitration for the first time this winter.
Even if he’s half as productive as he was last year for St. Louis from an fWAR standpoint, this is a definite win for the Rays.
Of course, this is all without mentioning the Chris Archer blockbuster, which netted the Rays a pair of potential building blocks in Austin Meadows and Tyler Glasnow.
Bringing in the duo, along with Pham, will make the Rays dangerous for years to come—especially with all the talent they have close to the Majors.
Detroit Tigers
Detroit signed Leonys Martin to a Major League contract last offseason on the heels of what was his worst Major League season.
The outfielder had a -0.3 fWAR, a 35 wRC+ and a .224 wOBA in 138 plate appearances split between Seattle and Chicago.
He looked much more like the player he was in 2012, 2013 and 2016 in the first half with Detroit, contributing a 2.1 fWAR, a .730 OPS and ISO (.158) and BB% (8.6%) outputs that are on track to be career-bests.
The Tigers did well to flip him, along with 25-year-old MiLB pitcher Kyle Dowdy, to Cleveland for infield prospect Willi Castro.
Castro was a well-regarded prospect in Cleveland system, with many of the prospect evaluating sights rating him positively compared to other farmhands in the organization.
Minor League Ball’s March rankings had him third-best behind only Triston McKenzie and Francisco Mejia—as well as ahead of Shane Bieber. MLB.com’s MLB Pipeline ranked Castro eighth while FanGraphs had him 10th.
Of course, prospect rankings aren’t the be-all-end-all, but Detroit’s front office did its job in terms of rehabbing Martin’s value and shipping him out for a potential future piece.
The Tigers didn’t end up trading Fiers or any other veteran pieces, but could conceivably return to the trade market to flip the veterans in August if the right trade presents itself.
Miami Marlins
The Marlins were able to get out of the contracts of Giancarlo Stanton, Dee Gordon, Marcell Ozuna and Christian Yelich this past offseason in their attempt to shed payroll.
They were still stuck with Junichi Tazawa and Brad Ziegler’s expiring deals on their docket.
While Miami was unable to unload Tazawa onto another team, eventually releasing the reliever in late May, they did flip Ziegler to Arizona for relief prospect Tommy Eveld.
Ziegler has helped his trade value by pitching better as of late, but the Fish did well to get something in return for the veteran.
Miami also extracted a prospect and international bonus pool money for veteran rental Cameron Maybin (91 wRC+, .304 wOBA, 0.8 fWAR), who they signed in the offseason.
Philadelphia Phillies
Injured or no, getting Wilson Ramos for a PTNBL or cash considerations is a definite win.
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers upgraded second base in notable fashion Tuesday, bringing in Brian Dozier from the Twins.
Logan Forsythe and Chase Utley simply weren’t getting the job done at second, so Dozier’s addition certainly helps.
He’s having a down year but is capable of torrid streaks at the plate and is just a half season removed from a 5.0 fWAR campaign in 2017.
In fact, from 2013 to 2017, Dozier turned in a 21.7 fWAR that was topped only by Jose Altuve and Robison Cano.
It’s also worth noting that so far in 2018 he’s posted very similar walk and strikeout numbers to last year, with his BABIP taking a significant hit.
Dozier could be in line for bounce-back second half with the Dodgers.
Brian Dozier in 2017: 11.1 BB%, 20.0 K%, .300 BABIP, 125 wRC+, .362 wOBA.
Brian Dozier in 2018: 10.0 BB%, 20.8 K%, .252 BABIP, 91 wRC+, .308 wOBA.
Agree with the winners? Is a team missing?
Drop a line on either Twitter (here or here) or in the comment section with your thoughts.
