Sellers to slaughtered: Hectic MLB trade deadline results in huge power imbalance across game
In the two-plus weeks since Major League Baseball’s trade deadline, buyers and sellers have gone on to assume clear-cut roles.
Windshield and bug.
An unprecedented transfer of talent from bottom dwellers to contenders has shaken up multiple playoff races, as emaciated second-division clubs have taken a pounding from their well-stocked competitors.
In 122 games played between contenders and also-rans since the July 30 trade deadline, 16 playoff hopefuls have gone 84-38 against 11 clubs who dealt away talent – a .689 winning percentage.
Yet it is not just the beats, it’s the futility that makes this stretch of schedule stand out.
Contenders have outscored their subjects by 242 runs in those games, and all but ensured a bit of ignominy that hasn’t been seen in the major leagues since 2002:
Four 100-game losers.
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The Diamondbacks (38-81), Pirates (42-76), Rangers (42-76) and Orioles (38-78) all need unlikely and unrealistic rallies to avoid 100 losses; Texas and Pittsburgh, for instance, would require at least a 21-23 finish to win 63 games.
And the way the dregs of the majors have been performing of late, it seems likelier to get worse before it gets better – whether a club is ticketed for 100 Ls or not.
Take the Cubs. An 11-game first-half losing streak compelled them to trade away franchise legends Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javier Baez, along with All-Stars like Craig Kimbrel. Well, they’re now in the throes of another 11-game losing streak – and are 2-14 since the trade deadline with a minus-54 run differential.
The Nationals were a .461 team on July 29, with a semi-respectable minus-26 run differential. But an overdue makeover that saw Max Scherzer, Trea Turner, Jon Lester, Daniel Hudson, Yan Gomes and Josh Harrison traded left the team barren – and the results reflect that. Washington is 3-13 since the deadline – a .188 winning percentage – and has been outscored by 31 runs.
While the Orioles made no significant moves at the deadline – due largely to tepid demand for their players nearing free agency – they join the Cubs in taking an 11-game losing streak into the coming week. They’re 3-12 since the deadline and getting lapped – they’ve given up at least nine runs in seven of those games and getting outscored an average of 4.4 runs per game.
This era of strategic suckery has already made it challenging for re-tooling clubs. Yet this particular deadline – in which nearly 90 players moved in the final two days – saw a pronounced effort to strip many rosters down to their foundations, leaving a challenging and at times untenable final two months to play.
“I think it is more challenging, but it’s necessary. We have to do it,” says second-year Pirates general manager Ben Cherington, who made six trades involving 11 players – including All-Star second baseman Adam Frazier and closer Richard Rodriguez – before the deadline. “Simply from a roster standpoint, it becomes more challenging after those things happen. But, I would say our mindset needs to be go into games expecting to win, execute during games with an eye on winning, and then if the game’s over, and we haven’t scored as many runs as the other team, put our energy into learning from that and bringing it back the next day.
“I’m not suggesting that’s easy, but it’s not supposed to be easy. And we’ve got to have faith in the group in the clubhouse to do that.”
The Pirates beat the Phillies in their first two post-deadline games, but then came the largely inevitable: Twelve losses in their next 14 games, leaving them just 4 ½ games away from baseball’s worst record, and a possible shot at their second consecutive No. 1 overall draft pick.
Meanwhile, life’s been far better for deadline shoppers.
Of the 16 teams within at least five games of a playoff spot at the deadline who didn’t trade everyday players, all but the Mets (5-11), Padres (7-8), Red Sox (6-10) and Mariners (8-8) have winning records since July 30. Ten of Boston’s 16 games came against the contending Rays and Blue Jays, but the Red Sox feasted on their lone seller in that stretch, sweeping Baltimore in three games this past weekend by a combined score of 30-5.
The Giants and Yankees, who mined the Cubs’ estate sale for Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, respectively, are baseball’s best teams since the deadline, each going 12-4, followed by the Braves (11-4), A’s and Dodgers (both 10-4). Meanwhile, the Brewers, A’s and Giants each won eight of 10 games against selling teams.
They know how vital it is to stack wins while you can – and the remaining schedule will have a significant impact on the stretch drive.
Take heed, Phillies fans: Your club’s 30 remaining games against deadline-devastated clubs are the most in the majors, with division rivals Atlanta and the Mets with 23 and 17 such games left, respectively.
The NL Central and wild-card races both could be impacted by the Reds’ soft road ahead – they have 26 games left against big losers, while the first-place Brewers have just 12 and the Padres six. Cincinnati trails Milwaukee by eight games in the Central but the Padres by just 2 ½ for the second wild-card spot.
And in an AL East with four teams jockeying for one to three playoff berths, the Red Sox play 21 against patsies, followed by the Blue Jays (18), Yankees (16) and Rays (13).
With four division races separated by four or fewer games, teams may bob their heads to the top of the division based on who they most recently played. The Phillies' recent eight-game winning streak that elevated them to first place was forged with a four-game sweep at Washington.
One week later, the Braves went into D.C. and swept three games, giving them a one-game division lead entering the week.
It’s great fun and high drama for the teams in contention. The flip side can be far more challenging.
“I just wanted to reiterate to those guys we’ve got to stay positive, keep our heads up and keep pushing forward,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said after meeting for nearly an hour postgame with a handful of players and staff after a loss to Atlanta on Saturday. “We’ve got a lot of young players and I want them to understand that we’ve got to teach.”
And a horde of hungry contenders are only too glad to take them to school.