The 2021 All-Trade Deadline Roster
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Late Wednesday evening, a magnitude 8.2 earthquake struck the Pacific Ocean just south of Alaska. Tsunami warnings rang out across the coast. Fortunately, the largest earthquake in the United States since 1965 caused little damage to people or property. A similarly-scaled seismic event shook MLB over the following two days. This year’s trade deadline was the most frenetic and significant in memory, including ten 2021 All-Stars switching teams. The aftershocks will reverberate for several years to come, leaving no franchise unscathed (except for the Rockies, who slept in).
What follows is a 26-man roster of the best players to pack their luggage leading up to the trade deadline.
Starting Lineup
- CF Starling Marte, Marlins –> A’s: Marte completely revamped his approach at the plate this season, more than doubling his career walk rate (11.6 percent in 2021, 5.3 percent career). The result is an on-base percentage pushing .400 to go along with 23 stolen bases.
- SS Trea Turner, Nationals –> Dodgers: The irony of the Dodgers acquiring Turner, one of the best all-around shortstops in baseball, is that they activated Corey Seager from the IL a few hours later. Chris Taylor was the fill-in shortstop, and he made the All-Star team. The club has a philosophy of getting great players and figuring out where they fit later on. It almost always works out well.
- RF Joey Gallo, Nationals –> Yankees: Gallo’s .220 batting average is meaningless next to his .377 on-base percentage, light-tower power, and excellent outfield defense. Stacking him in a lineup with Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Gary Sánchez is a moonshot minefield.
- DH Nelson Cruz, Twins –> Rays: Cruz just turned 41 and he’s still hitting better than he did during any season in his 20s. The Rays put his locker next to young phenom Wander Franco‘s, who was born after Cruz had already played for two different MLB organizations.
- LF Kyle Schwarber, Nationals –> Red Sox: Schwarbaah is on the IL for the time being, but his .253/.340/.570 slash line is the best of his career.
- 3B Kris Bryant, Cubs –> Giants: The Giants may be the surprise team of the year, but both corner infielders are hurt and they’ve struggled to get production out of left field. Bryant plays all those positions as well as right and center, though not all at the same time.
- 1B Anthony Rizzo, Cubs –> Yankees: The following players have started at first base for the Yankees this season (alphabetically): Miguel Andújar, Rob Brantly, Jay Bruce, Mike Ford, Chris Gittens, D.J. LeMahieu, and Luke Voit (last season’s MLB home run leader has been hurt most of the year). Rizzo is a clear upgrade offensively and defensively over all of them.
- C Yan Gomes, Nationals –> A’s: Oakland already has Sean Murphy, who is one of the better young catchers in baseball. Gomes is enjoying an above-average offensive season with a 104 wRC+, so the two of them will work in tandem. Both will see time at DH as well to get their bats in the lineup, especially once they call up a third catcher when rosters expand in September.
- 2B Javier Báez, Cubs –> Mets: Yes, his on-base percentage is south of .300, but he can go deep at any given time. His double play partnership with Francisco Lindor (once he returns to health) will be a highlight reel waiting to happen.
Bench
- SS Willy Adames, Rays –> Brewers: The Rays shipped Adames out to make room for Wander Franco on May 21. While the rookie has not yet taken the league by storm, his predecessor has a .301/.390/.548 slash line since the deal. If this isn’t recent enough to qualify as a trade deadline move, swap Adames off this roster for Cesar Hernandez.
- OF Adam Duvall, Marlins –> Braves: Atlanta completely revamped their outfield at the deadline, bringing on Duvall as well as Joc Pederson, Eddie Rosario, and Jorge Soler.
- 2B/3B Eduardo Escobar, Diamondbacks –> Brewers: Escobar is a defensively versatile switch-hitter with 106 home runs since 2017.
- 2B/LF Adam Frazier, Pirates –> Padres: Frazier is hitting .319 this season, but the underlying metrics suggest that average is more smoke than fire. Hey, sometimes people just get lucky, and San Diego will try to ride out his hot streak.
- C Stephen Vogt, Diamondbacks –> Braves: At age 36, Vogt isn’t a particularly good player anymore. However, left-handed hitting catchers are hard to find, making him a useful backup. He’s the seventh player to don the tools of ignorance for Atlanta this season.
Starting Rotation
- RHP Max Scherzer, Nationals –> Dodgers: Having just turned 37, Scherzer’s 0.892 WHIP is the best of his career. Not the best of some random dude’s career, the best of HIS. He absolutely still has the magic. Between him, Clayton Kershaw, and David Price, the Dodgers have eight Cy Youngs on the roster (nine if you count Trevor Bauer… but he’s probably not pitching for them ever again).
- RHP José Berríos, Twins –> Blue Jays: Berríos is a legitimate #2 starter who is averaging more than six innings per start and posting career bests in ERA and FIP.
- RHP Kyle Gibson, Rangers –> Phillies: Gibson’s 2.87 ERA is the pitching equivalent of Adam Frazier’s batting average. It’s probably going to crash back to Earth sooner rather than later. Philadelphia had better hope Spencer Howard, who they traded to Texas, doesn’t have a better year going forward than Gibson does.
- LHP Rich Hill, Rays –> Mets: Are the Rays buyers or sellers? The answer is, “Yes.” It’s an adage as old as time itself, though not quite as ancient as Hill. Whatever. He’s a solid mid-rotation guy at this point in his career, as long as he remains healthy. The Mets are his 11th MLB team.
- LHP Tyler Anderson, Pirates –> Mariners: Anderson is a classic soft-tossing southpaw. He barely scrapes 90 mph, but he won’t walk many hitters and rarely allows hard contact.
Bullpen
- RHP Diego Castillo, Rays –> Mariners: Castillo has fanned 49 of the 148 batters he’s faced in 2021, surrendering only 26 hits. His fastball tops out at 98 mph.
- LHP Andrew Chafin, Cubs –> A’s: A quirky, out-of-nowhere reliever having a stellar season is the quintessential Oakland deadline acquisition. He has given up only 22 hits and one home run in 40 innings.
- LHP Danny Duffy, Royals –> Dodgers: Admittedly, this is cheating a little; Duffy has started 98 games since 2017 and relieved only twice. The Dodgers will use him in a bulk inning/swingman role once he returns from the IL and in the playoffs.
- RHP Kendall Graveman, Mariners –> Astros: The Mariners sent Graveman’s 0.79 ERA to their division rival as they attempt to make the playoffs for the first time since Ichiro‘s rookie year. GM Jerry Dipoto‘s statement as the deadline passed: “We tried.”
- RHP Daniel Hudson, Nationals –> Padres: Hudson’s elbow may be 95 percent cadaver at this point, but he somehow manifested himself into a strikeout machine. From 2009-2019, his career-best strikeout rate was 24.5 percent. This year, it’s 37.8 percent with only seven walks through 127 batters faced.
- RHP Richard Rodriguez, Pirates –> Braves: Rodriguez might not strike out many batters, but there’s no arguing with 33 total baserunners allowed through 38 1/3 innings.
- RHP Craig Kimbrel, Cubs –> White Sox: Simply stated, Kimbrel is a Hall-of-Fame pitcher having a Hall-of-Fame season. He has an 0.49 ERA with a typically Kimbrellian 46.7 percent strikeout rate. That homer problem from the past two years was just a bad dream; he has only given up one long ball so far this season.
