With 1 week of hindsight, MLB execs recap a frenzied Trade Deadline

There is no busier day on the baseball calendar than the Trade Deadline. Executives around baseball frantically try to swing deals while they still can, reporters hustle to chase down leads, while fans anxiously await news on what their favorite teams have in store for them.

Now that the dust has settled, what kind of impact will the trades have on the rest of the 2026 season and for seasons to come?

A total of 70 trades were made between July 10 and Aug. 3 – 57 of which came during the final week and 47 on Deadline day alone – with more than 180 players changing teams. More than 50 of the 83 prospects traded were immediately inserted into their new team’s Top 30 list on MLB Pipeline, while five Top 100 overall prospects were dealt, the most since 2022.

We spoke with a number of front office executives to get their takeaways from trade season, everything from the Dodgers’ acquisition of two-time defending American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal to the Red Sox’s surprising trade for three-time All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman and more.

California dreamin’

It shouldn’t be a shock that the Dodgers’ trade for Skubal was mentioned by more executives than any other deal. The addition of the ace seemingly put the two-time defending World Series champions in strong position as they pursue a threepeat.

“Getting Skubal moves the needle,” an AL executive said.

The Dodgers sent three prospects to the Tigers for Skubal: OF Zyhir Hope (No. 25 overall prospect and Dodgers No. 5 according to MLB Pipeline), RHP River Ryan (No. 68 overall, Dodgers No. 7) and RHP Brady Smith (Dodgers No. 17). Hope jumped into the Tigers’ Top 30 at No. 2, while Ryan was slotted in at No. 5 and Smith No. 15.

There was plenty of talk about the Tigers’ return for their ace, but a National League executive noted that the perception of such a return can often be influenced by public rankings.

“On paper, the rumored return from the Brewers appeared far stronger with three Top 100 prospects, but clearly that didn’t necessarily jibe with what the Tigers had internally,” the exec said. “Much of that deal likely hinges on your evaluation of River Ryan. Given his age [27], it’s hard to consider him a true prospect, and L.A. is unlikely to feel his and Hope’s departures.”

The Dodgers’ postseason rotation could now consist of Skubal, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani and Blake Snell, with Tyler Glasnow, Justin Wrobleski and Roki Sasaki giving Los Angeles multiple options depending on health and performance.

“Obviously [the Dodgers acquiring] Skubal is scary,” an NL executive said. “Because without him, their fourth starter would have merely been the 25th-best guy in the league.”

Pitch perfect

One NL executive noted the number of available starting pitchers – especially rentals – relative to your standard Trade Deadline.

“Relievers usually rule the day at the Deadline, but that wasn’t the case this year,” an AL executive said. “Finding a starter to trade for is never easy, but there were more solid starters available than relievers. It was kind of strange.”

Skubal may have been the highest-profile starter dealt, but several other impactful arms changed uniforms:

• Casey Mize and Robbie Ray (Padres)
• Kevin Gausman, Clay Holmes and Braxton Garrett (Cubs)
• José Soriano, Jameson Taillon and Spencer Arrighetti (Blue Jays)
• Freddy Peralta (Rays)
• Foster Griffin (Guardians)
• Luis Castillo (White Sox)
• Dustin May (Brewers)
• Tyler Mahle (Braves)

“Conventional wisdom suggests that if you need to acquire three starting pitchers or four relievers to compete, you are not ready to contend,” an NL executive said. “Heading into the week prior to the Deadline, according to FanGraphs, the Cubs had a 93% chance of making the playoffs and the Pirates had a 41% chance. The Cubs acquired three starters. The Pirates acquired four relievers. A week after the Deadline, the Cubs’ playoff odds have spiked to 99%, while the Pirates’ odds have plummeted to 8%.”

It was a sellers’ market

Given how muddled the postseason picture has been for most of the season, it was only natural to think the handful of sellers would have the upper hand in trade talks. Yet as the Deadline approached, many believed those sellers’ prices were too high, leading buyers to wait them out with the idea that those asks would drop in the waning hours leading up to the Deadline.

“Sellers held high on prices which led to slow transaction activity for the days and week prior to the Deadline,” an NL executive said. “That being said, there were plenty of players out there from clear-cut sellers to be moved, so it was only a matter of time for that to happen; it just happened to be compressed.”

Many of those asking prices did come down, but the consensus within the industry is that sellers were able to squeeze out solid returns in most trades.

“The clubs who committed to selling did quite well for themselves,” an NL executive said. “A few of those clubs did so without completely taking themselves out of postseason contention.”

Threading the needle

That brings us to another takeaway a number of executives had in a post-Deadline world: with a portion of clubs on the buy/sell bubble, many of them were able to successfully navigate both sides of the market.

“In between clubs like Miami, Washington and St. Louis that are perhaps ahead of schedule on their rebuild did a combination of buying and selling to patch holes and overall improve weak spots,” an NL executive said. “But they still moved players like Luis García Jr., Lars Nootbaar and Liam Hicks at potentially peak value.”

In many cases, the gaggle of teams within four or five games of a Wild Card spot didn’t have a firm grip on their Deadline approach until the final 24-48 hours, producing another unintended effect.

“I think one of the most interesting storylines is how long some teams waited before picking their direction – in some cases changing course after being hot or cold over the course of Deadline week,” an AL executive said. “It felt more unique than normal in this regard.”

Boston market

After Skubal, the deal that seemed to open the most eyes in front offices around the league was the Red Sox’s trade for Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman, who moved from one AL East team to another.

The deal for Rutschman came one week after the Red Sox had sent starter Connelly Early to the Nationals for infielder Curtis Mead, who suffered a fractured wrist after getting hit by a pitch in his first game with Boston.

That bad luck didn’t dissuade chief baseball officer Craig Breslow from making more moves after the Red Sox won 28 of 33 games from June 25 through Aug. 2 to pull themselves back into the playoff picture.

Boston also added reliever Erik Miller and outfielder Eli White, but the addition of Rutschman was the one that stood out, especially given the price, which included three of the club’s top five prospects.

“I’m still surprised that the Red Sox got so aggressive,” an AL executive said. “Since they apparently can’t lose, it seems somewhat reasonable so far.”

Self-control

For weeks, many of the names being rumored as trade candidates included young, controllable stars including Mason Miller, Hunter Greene, Otto Lopez, Zach Neto, CJ Abrams, José Soriano, Reid Detmers, Emerson Hancock and Hunter Goodman.

There were some notable players with club control beyond 2026 traded before the Deadline: Soriano was dealt to the Blue Jays, Rutschman to the Red Sox, Luis García Jr. and Heliot Ramos to the Yankees, Liam Hicks to the Rays, Jo Adell to the Guardians and Luke Weaver to the Pirates. But most of the big-name controllable players stayed put, which executives believe was the result of exorbitant asking prices, because sellers know they can shop these players again during the offseason.

“Clubs weren’t willing to pay for that much more control,” an NL executive said. “Whether it was because of labor concerns, short-term focuses, or prospect overprotectiveness, it seems like the market segmented itself into rentals, and players with control, but that second group seemed bucketed together, whether it was two, three or four years of control.

“To me this is the continuation of a trend we saw last season where certain rentals – Merrill Kelly and Tyler Rogers stick out – had pretty strong returns, and the players with control didn’t return as much as you thought.”

In some cases, those asking prices included Top 20 overall prospects such as Boston’s Franklin Arias, Tampa Bay’s Theo Gillen or George Lombard Jr. of the Yankees, moves that were non-starters for those clubs.

“Nobody wanted to move the big-ticket prospect for the three or four years of control,” an NL executive said. “Whether it’s Neto, Goodman, Abrams or other potential targets, clubs seemed comfortable excluding their top prospects – particularly in the AL East – rather than take a big swing. To me, this signals the continuation of teams not wanting to get burnt by trading a top prospect, and prioritizing keeping them in house while shopping in lesser aisles at the Deadline.”