The 2020 trade deadline has come and gone—and every team made some news in some capacity. Here’s a breakdown of the National League West at the August 31 deadline, including the new faces you’ll soon see and the old faces you’ll see less often:
First up: the Rockies, of course.
Colorado Rockies
Kevin Pillar (from BOS) - Red Sox return in Kevin Pillar trade with Rockies revealed | NBC Sports Boston
Mychal Givens (from BAL) - Mychal Givens Is Headed to the Rockies | FanGraphs
Kevin Pillar held a .274/.325/.470 slash while in Boston this year, and with David Dahl battling a core injury, the Rockies gain an outfielder with lots of experience. Pillar has been in the league since 2013, making postseason appearances in 2015 and 2016.
Mychal Givens has some serious stuff of his own. He’s got a changeup that induces lots of ground balls, he’s got almost 300 appearances under his belt with 20 saves, and however you wish to spell ‘Mychal’, he’s got one of the cooler renditions.
While Colorado’s bullpen gets stronger with the righty Givens, the left-handed void remains. Lefties James Pazos and Phillip Diehl currently have ERA’s north of 10. Pazos was optioned to the alternate training site on Monday, leaving Diehl as the only left-handed reliever. (Righty Antonio Santos was recalled.)
As mentioned in the Saturday night DNVR Rockies Podcast, Drew Creasman and Patrick Lyons discussed whether Ryan Rolison could fill that left-handed void in the bullpen. It would cost the Rockies a year of club control should Rolison begin his MLB clock in 2020, but doing so would permit Jeff Bridich to allocate resources elsewhere without making a Givens-esque deal for a lefty.
One team had the trade aggression like somebody might have in MLB The Show:
San Diego Padres
Mike Clevinger (from CLE) - Cleveland Indians trade ace Mike Clevinger to San Diego Padres | ESPN
Mitch Moreland (from TEX) - Padres Acquire Mitch Moreland | MLB Trade Rumors
Jason Castro (from LAA) - Trade Spree! Padres Add Jason Castro in Third Deadline Trade | FanGraphs
Aaron Nola (from SEA) - Mariners send C Nola to San Diego as part of 7-player trade | ABC Sports
Trevor Rosenthal (from KC) - Reactions to the Trevor Rosenthal/Edward Olivares trade | Royals Review (SB Nation, Kansas City Royals)
Mike Clevinger to San Diego may have been the biggest splash of the 2020 deadline. Clevinger calls the Padres the “most exciting team in baseball by far right now,” and an absolute smattering of deadline deals give the Padres a new look with 23 games to play.
Padres manager Jayce Tingler said of Mitch Moreland: “Being able to add his makeup, character, that will blend in really well into this clubhouse.” Moreland has been in the league since 2010, and has the experience of three AL pennants and one World Series ring (2018).
Jason Castro has 10 years of big league catching experience; Aaron Nola has thrown six years with the Phillies, and was the MLB leader in starts last year.
Trevor Rosenthal’s first work with the Padres came in a shutout ninth inning on Monday night, as he collected two punchouts. San Diego gained a reliever with loads of closer experience; he has 128 saves in 365 games.
The current division leader stayed relatively quiet:
Los Angeles Dodgers
Ross Stripling (to TOR) - Dodgers ship Ross Stripling to Blue Jays in quiet trade deadline for MLB’s best team | CBS Sports
CBS Sports writer R.J. Anderson says the strong performance of young right-hander Tony Gonsolin may have prompted the Dodgers to part ways with Stripling. Gonsolin has thrown 17 2⁄3 innings across four starts, allowing a single run and holding an exceptional 0.51 ERA. Stripling had a career-high ERA this year (6.95).
Stripling was sent to Boston “in exchange for a pair of players to be named later.”
This team, nine games out of first, didn’t make any “significant” moves:
San Francisco Giants
SF Giants make no major moves at MLB trade deadline. Why? | SFGate
After rumored shopping of Johnny Cueto, Kevin Gausman and Evan Longoria, Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi decides to stay relatively put.
Zaidi was the general manager of the Dodgers from 2014-2018 after holding the assistant GM post in Oakland from 2011-2014. His teams have made the postseason in seven of nine years since 2011, suggesting his mastery has worked well pretty much everywhere he’s been.
And the divisional last-place team got rid of several key players:
Arizona Diamondbacks
Starling Marte (to MIA) - Report: Starling Marte headed to Marlins in trade-deadline deal | Yahoo! Sports
Robbie Ray (to TOR) - Blue Jays land Robbie Ray from Diamondbacks at 2020 MLB trade deadline | CBS Sports
Archie Bradley (to CIN) - Reds Acquire Archie Bradley | MLB Trade Rumors
Arizona has dealt one of their best bats, a coveted starter, and a coveted reliever (and NL Wild Card offensive weapon). Starling Marte’s tenure with the Diamondbacks lasted a mere 33 games. Robbie Ray departs a five-plus-year stint in Phoenix with a 7.84 ERA in 2020. Starter-turned-reliever Archie Bradley leaves Arizona in his sixth season.
It is perhaps justifiable for a team to sell as the worst team in the division, but Arizona has parted ways with three players that reasoned as faces of the franchise. The deals come just two years after Paul Goldschmidt departed for St. Louis.
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