The 2024 Major League Baseball trade deadline arrived at 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday and wrapped up a chaotic week that featured several big deals. Some teams improved. Others did not.
Here are six of the biggest losers from this year’s deadline:
Chicago White Sox
In the weeks leading up to the deadline, the White Sox looked like a team that had a chance to completely revamp their farm system and chart out a new path with a brighter future, especially if they made outfielder Luis Robert Jr. and starting pitcher Garrett Crochet available.
But when Tuesday’s 6 p.m. ET deadline came and went, Robert Jr. and Crochet remained on the team, while their other biggest trade chips (starting pitcher Erick Fedde and outfielder Tommy Pham) were dealt for an extremely underwhelming return. It just seems like a big missed opportunity and continuation of a completely lost season that is steamrolling toward a historic loss total.
Tampa Bay Rays
Prospect fans will look at what the Rays did at the deadline and give them high marks for restocking their farm system. Maybe they did get great value. But the reality is they have a winning record, are within a couple of games a playoff spot and completely sent up the white flag by giving up on their season. Maybe it will work out long-term, but a lot of things have to go right for that to be the case. In the short term, it is shameful for a team so close to playoff contention to not even try.
Detroit Tigers
The Tigers trade deadline could probably be best described as underwhelming. They did not trade ace starting pitcher Tarik Skubal (which is probably a good thing because they had no pressure to do so) and instead made a couple of smaller deals involving veterans. Jack Flaherty and Mark Canha were among the players to move. What puts them in the loser column is the return for Flaherty — probably the best starting pitcher to actually move at the deadline — seemed smaller than some of the lesser starting pitchers to move. Overall, it just seems like a team that is stuck in no-man’s land.
Minnesota Twins
The Twins entered Tuesday clinging to a wild-card spot in the American League and within striking distance of the Cleveland Guardians for the top spot in the AL Central. Instead of doing something to bolster their roster to either hold onto that spot, or perhaps make a run at Cleveland, the Twins mainly stood pat only pitcher Trevor Richards from Toronto. With so many teams around them improving, the Twins decided to roll with what they have. It is a risk.
Oakland A’s
Like the White Sox, this just seemed like a big missed opportunity. They had some of the biggest potential trade chips in the league in DH Brent Rooker, outfielder J.J. Bleday and closer Mason Miller. Miller’s trade value may have been tanked a bit by his recent injury, but Rooker and Bleday could have been big trade pieces. Especially given how far out of it the A’s are and how Rooker probably does not fit into the long-term plans given his age.
Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers acquired three pitchers in the month of July, adding Aaron Civale, Nick Mears and Frankie Montas just before the trade deadline. On one hand, yes, that is adding something to the roster. But did they add quality? All three pitchers had ERAs over 5.00 at the time of their arrival, and none of them seem to really move the needle in a meaningful direction. They went for quantity over quality.
