Other Notable Deadline Transactions: Cespedes, Mets, Pirates, Padres, More

san diego padres logo featureSome of the deals that came down to the wire today that weren’t otherwise written up with a full post …

  • The biggest deadline deal saw the Mets finally get an outfield bat, this time in the form of Yoenis Cespedes from the Tigers in exchange for righty pitching prospect Michael Fulmer and lefty Luis Cessa. The Mets have improved a great deal over the past two weeks.
  • The Pirates have quietly done quite a bit to help augment their roster, too, adding reliever Joakim Soria yesterday, and then 1B/bench bat Michael Morse and lefty starter J.A. Happ today. And they did it all without giving up anything too costly.
  • (It came overnight, but you could discuss the Mike Leake trade here, too – the Giants, like the Mets and Pirates, probably did more to improve at this deadline than did the Cubs. I’m not sure that’s necessarily a bad thing or a mistake by the Cubs; I’m just pointing it out.)
  • The Padres behaved strangely at the deadline. Despite being 7.5 games out of the second Wild Card spot behind four teams, they did not trade away a soul. Instead, they added lefty reliever Mark Rzepczynski. Okey dokey. Best of luck, I guess. I can understand not trading Craig Kimbrel and Tyson Ross and Andrew Cashner – those are all guys who can help next year. But holding onto Justin Upton, Ian Kennedy, and Will Venable for a, what, 5% shot at a playoff spot? Seems like a big mistake, especially when you consider how many prospects they traded away in the offseason.
  • Kevin Jepsen ended up being the only reliever the Rays traded, and he went to the Twins.
  • The Blue Jays added MORE by picking up Ben Revere for a couple really nice pitching prospects in Alberto Tirado and Jimmy Cordero (they also picked up reliever Mark Lowe from the Mariners). The Jays really, really want to make the playoffs. Good for them. I hope they do.
  • The buzz of the deadline was the possibility that younger, controllable starters could be dealt … but none of Tyson Ross, Carlos Carrasco, or Alex Wood (among others) was actually traded today.
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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