Have you caught your breath yet? This trade deadline did not disappoint. We waited and waited and waited for moves, and then they came, fast and furious.
Now that the dust has settled on the 2022 trade deadline and I’ve shared my grades for all 30 teams, let’s have some fun with deadline superlatives.
So here are my 39 picks for the best, worst and everything in between from this year’s trade season, starting with the historic blockbuster that captivated sports.
Best trade: Padres and Nationals. The best player ever traded at the deadline (Juan Soto) for the best prospect ever moved at the deadline. What more could you ask for?
Worst Trade: The Angels. They traded their closer, Raizel Iglesias, who they signed to a four-year, $58 million deal last offseason, to the Braves for a journeyman middle reliever (Jesse Chavez) and a sixth or seventh starting pitcher on a winning team (Tucker Davidson).
Biggest surprise trade: The Yankees and Cardinals came together in a trade just before the deadline that sent left-hander Jordan Montgomery to St. Louis for center fielder Harrison Bader, who is on the injured list.
Weirdest trade: The Mets traded JD Davis, Thomas Sappucci, Carson Seymour and Nick Zuack for Darrin Roof. Not sure why they had to give up four players for a platoon hitter with huge holes at the plate.
Top buyers: The Padres, Yankees, Mariners, Astros, Twins and Phillies, in that order.
Top sellers: The Nationals, Reds and Orioles, in that order.
Best Buyer and Seller (Simultaneous): None. The Red Sox and Giants tried to do this and failed.
Best Job: The Guardians. Yes, I gave them a low grade at the trade deadline, but at least they kept all their prospects. Cleveland’s future is bright.
Worst job: White Sox. I think they needed to add an attack or improve their team to give this team a boost.
Best position player traded: Soto. That’s why.
Best starting pitchers traded: Luis Castillo and Frankie Montas.
The Mariners did their best to land Luis Castillo. (Brad Penner/USA Today)
Best substitutes: Iglesias and Jorge Lopez.
The most common “under the radar reliever”: Scott Efros, who went from the Cubs to the Yankees.
Best lineup: Soto, who will eventually be sandwiched between Ferrando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado in the Padres’ stacked lineup, so teams won’t be able to battle around him like they did when he was with Washington.
Worst Positional Matchup: Tommy Pham with Boston. The Red Sox have Alex Verdugo, whose best position is left field, and JD Martinez is their DH. Pham just isn’t a great fit on defense.
Power hitter who will gain the most from the trade: Right-handed hitter Trey Mancini, who left spacious left field at Camden Yards for the cozy left field confines of Minute Maid Park.
Pitcher to gain the most from the trade: Castillo, who no longer has to make half his starts at Great American Small Park.
Teams that improved their defense the most: The Yankees, who acquired Gold Glove outfielders in left field (Andrew Benintendi) and center field (Bader), and the Phillies, who added shortstop Edmundo Sosa and center fielder Brandon Marsh.
Teams that improved their rotation and bullpen the most: The Yankees, who added Montas to their rotation and Lou Trivino and Efros to their bullpen. The Twins, who added Tyler Malle to their rotation and Lopez and Michael Fulmer to their bullpen, and the Phillies (Noah Syndergaard, David Robertson) also pitched well.
Most creative GM: Padres president of baseball operations AJ Preller, who found a way to move Eric Hosmer to Boston after San Diego had to trade Luke Voight in a trade with the Nationals because Hosmer used his no-trade clause to waive the original transaction.
GM who did the best rebuilding job without having Soto to trade: Nick Krall of the Reds. When I was GM of the Reds, my last assignment was King as a trainee. He made me proud this deadline, especially when he made the significant trades with Seattle and Minnesota that put the Reds on the right track to rebuilding their franchise.
Best use of unlimited texting: Yankees GM Brian Cashman, who made four blockbuster acquisitions that put the Yankees in their best position to win a World Series since their last in 2009.
A manager who benefited most: Bob Melvin, who now has Soto, Josh Bell, Brandon Drury and Josh Hader available. Not too shabby.
Best contract extension: The Braves, who signed third baseman Austin Riley to a 10-year, $212 million contract. Riley is one of the best right-handed hitters in the game and a complete player. This extension should also help the Red Sox in their ongoing contract negotiations with third baseman Rafael Devers.
Worst contract extension: The Rockies, who extended Daniel Bard’s release (two years, $19 million) instead of trading him and then re-signing him as a free agent after this season.
GMs who asked for too much in trades: Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer and GM Carter Hawkins. They missed a cash opportunity after they couldn’t trade All-Star catcher Willson Contreras, who will be a free agent after this season.
Player who should have been traded but wasn’t: Carlos Rodon. Based on the return the Reds got for Castillo and the A’s for Montas, the Giants may have missed out on a significant prospect for a pitcher they likely won’t be able to re-sign after this season if he opts out as expected.
Player who was traded that shouldn’t have been: Christian Vazquez. The Red Sox were caught between buying and selling, but I think they were close enough in the wild card race that they should have kept Vazquez given his value to their team and clubhouse.
Best job at getting other teams to pay players’ salaries: The Giants, who were able to move Matthew Boyd to the Mariners and Trevor Rosenthal to the Brewers despite both players being injured.
Best early comeback: Drury, who hit a grand slam in his first at-bat for the Padres.
Team that did the most damage to club morale: The Red Sox, whose team leader Xander Bogaerts was publicly unsure of what his front office was doing.
Team that did the most to improve clubhouse morale: The Padres — no further explanation needed.
Best traded player who has been to IL: Bader, who has plantar fasciitis in his right foot and is not close to returning.
Fastest traded player: Jose Siri, who went from the Astros to the Rays as part of a three-team trade that also included the Orioles. Siri ranks in the 100th percentile for sprint speed. He can fly.
Best traded base stealer: Whit Merrifield, who went from the Royals to the Blue Jays. Merrifield has 55 stolen bases in 62 attempts over the last two years.
Player most disappointed at the deadline: Eric Hosmer, who was originally part of Soto’s package headed to the Nationals, but they were on his no-trade list and he declined the move. He was then traded to the Red Sox. He didn’t want to leave San Diego.
Best Haircut: It’s a tie between Syndergaard and Bader.
Fan base that drank the most champagne: Seattle. For the first time in 21 years, they appear headed for the postseason after acquiring Castillo, arguably the best starting pitcher to be traded.
Fan bases that heard crickets: White Sox (one trade), Rangers (one) and Rockies (zero).
Okay, now I need your help. Please join the fun and add to this list of superlatives in the comments section.
(Top photo of Juan Soto: Orlando Ramirez/USA Today)
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