Our first week post-trade deadline is in the books, and already conventional wisdom has been tossed into the wood chip. Oh, the Los Angeles Dodgers are inevitable after adding Tarik Skubal? Six losses in seven games later, the NL feels as wide-open as ever — while Skubal’s former team, the Detroit Tigers, have caught fire and vaulted right back into the thick of the AL Wild Card race.
And while the surest of sure things are sputtering out of the gate, it’s instead been some under-the-radar moves that look to be having the greatest impact on the playoff picture as we prepare for the stretch run.
RHP Dustin May, Milwaukee Brewers
Much of the baseball world is still busy relitigating whether the Brewers did or did not make a strong enough offer for Skubal as they attempt to finally get over the hump and back to the World Series for the first time since 1982. But while the jury remains out on that decision, it’s worth noting that the starter Milwaukee did acquire comes with significant upside of his own.
May’s debut with his new team was a successful one, firing six innings of two-run ball while allowing just three hits and three walks in a win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. It feels like forever ago, but May was at one time one of the brightest pitching prospects in the entire sport, derailed only by the injury gods. Now back healthy and pitching in front of a sensational Brewers defense, he feels like exactly the sort of arm that this front office and coaching staff can take to a new level. And if that is indeed the case, a rotation of May, Jacob Misiorowski, Kyle Harrison and Logan Henderson could let Milwaukee forget about Skubal after all.
OF Jahmai Jones, Boston Red Sox
Technically this deal came a couple weeks ahead of the deadline, but since the Red Sox and Tigers only decided on the player to be named later on Aug. 1, we’ll count it here. Plus, Jones has been that important to Boston’s midsummer revival, posting a 1.474 OPS in his first 23 plate appearances — almost all of which have come against left-handed pitching.
Which is the lone reason the team acquired him in the first place. Jones was brought in to fill what had previously been the Rob Refsnyder role, the short side of a platoon to complement lefties like Wilyer Abreu, Jarren Duran and Masataka Yoshida. A Boston lineup that was awfully righty-heavy now has better balance — the emergence of Caleb Durbin and Ceddanne Rafaela has helped here too — and suddenly what was one of the worst offenses in the sport is now rocketing back into AL East contention.
RHP Tyler Mahle, Atlanta Braves
Few fan bases were left with more discontent in the wake of the trade deadline than Atlanta, which watched Alex Anthopoulos do … seemingly not a whole lot to get his beleaguered rotation ready for a postseason run. But while I understand the questions around who will take the ball after Chris Sale in a playoff series, the one starter Anthopoulos did acquire, Tyler Mahle, sure looked ready for October in his Braves debut.
Mahle was brilliant against the Yankees on Friday night, striking out nine over six shutout innings. Yes, it’s just one start, and yes, New York’s offense is down all kinds of bad right now, but it was also a reminder of what Mahle can do when he’s healthy and locked in. We’ve seen the righty reach these sorts of highs before, first with the Reds and then with the Twins and even last year with the Rangers. Staying on the mound has always been the trouble, but his velocity is all the way back and his stuff looks as sharp as ever. Only time will tell whether the Braves made the right call at the deadline, but it’s hardly crazy to think Mahle could start Game 3 and at least give Atlanta a real chance to win.
C Liam Hicks and RHP Tyler Wells, Tampa Bay Rays
It was hard not to come away a bit disappointed by Tampa’s deadline haul, as rumors of Tarik Skubal and Adley Rutschman were replaced by Freddy Peralta and Liam Hicks. But while Peralta’s debut was a disaster, the other two pieces the Rays added look like ideal solutions at positions of need.
Start with Hicks, who was the bargain option at catcher after the prices for Rutschman, Hunter Goodman and others proved too astronomical for Tampa to bear. He’s been scalding the ball with his new team, posting an OPS over .900 and stabilizing what had been the most glaring weak spot in this lineup. And Wells might be the sleeper of the entire deadline, thriving upon being moved to the bullpen in Baltimore this year and picking up right where he left off post-trade. Suddenly, the AL’s most balanced roster looks even more complete.
RHP Ryan Zeferjahn, Chicago Cubs
Okay, so he gave up a homer to Shohei Ohtani during the Cubs’ sweep of the Dodgers last week, but he’s hardly the first pitcher to make a good pitch only to be victimized by one of the greatest hitters to ever live. And other than that, Zeferjahn looked exactly as advertised, allowing just one hit over 1.2 innings in two appearances against L.A. The stuff was every bit as electric as it was with the Angels, particularly a fastball/sweeper combination that the league simply has not figured out yet. It’s a legitimate high-leverage profile, and Chicago’s bullpen could sorely use more of that right now.
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