The first trade deadline in the history of Five Tool Talk is now in the books and what a historic deadline it was!

It would be journalistic malpractice to start anywhere other than San Diego, where general manager A.J. Preller pushed all his chips onto the table and consummated the most consequential trade in trade deadline history, among many other seismic moves.

Let’s just sum it all up real quick:

Padres acquire:	Padres surrender:
OF Juan Soto 1B Josh Bell LHP Josh Hader UTI Brandon Drury LHP Jay Groome	SS C.J. Abrams LHP MacKenzie Gore OF Robert Hassell III OF James Wood RHP Jarlin Susana LHP Robert Gasser OF Cory Rosier OF Esteury Ruiz INF Max Ferguson 1B/DH Luke Voit RHP Dinelson Lamet LHP Taylor Rogers 1B/OF Eric Hosmer

So, for those keeping score at home, the Padres acquired the best player overall on the market, the best closer in baseball, and arguably the best first baseman in baseball this season, along with a utility outfielder having a monster year, and a left-handed reliever for posterity.

In return, the Padres surrendered their incumbent closer, who trailed only the guy he was traded for in terms of saves this season, two limited first basemen who were made expendable by the acquisitions of Bell and Drury, a struggling former top prospect in Lamet, and, oh right, EVERY TOP PROSPECT THE PADRES OWNED.

Okay, that’s not completely true, but it damn-near is.

In the three deals combined, San Diego surrendered four of their top five prospects and five of their top eight, according to FanGraphs. In all, they surrendered nine of their top 26 prospects and two of their three Top 100 prospects, retaining catcher Luis Campusano (ranked 52nd, as per MLB.com) … for now.

But while the overall cost is exorbitant and worthy of its own story, the only thing anyone wants to hear about is Juan Soto.

Soto, the Padre

We now live in a world where Juan Soto has been traded at age 23, 2 ½ years before he’s due to hit free agency and just three years removed from having brought a World Series title to DC, and that is fucking bonkers.

The trade of Juan Soto is one that will haunt Washington Nationals fans both in the short-term and the long-term, so any kind of return for his services will pale in comparison to the feeling of watching a team that won the World Series just three years ago deal away a generational talent of Soto’s ilk before he’s even hit his prime.

Baseball writers the world over pontificated for weeks as to what a potential Soto trade would look like – what kind of return would be considered fair?

Four top prospects? Six? Eight? Twenty?

The answer is no offer would be fair. The only possibilities were shit returns, bad returns, and the least bad returns.

In a piece published here just four days ago, I talked about Soto’s perfect fit in San Diego and the rare advantage the Padres had in being able to offer so many top prospects without totally gutting the farm system or mortgaging the future.

But for the Nationals, the least bad return probably rested in St. Louis with guys like outfielder Dylan Carlson, second baseman Nolan Gorman, and third baseman Jordan Walker being the most prominent pieces in a potential deal. But the Cardinals balked at Washington’s asking price and that left only San Diego and, lurking in the shadows, the Dodgers.

The Nationals could have done much worse, but they probably could have done better.

San Diego sacrificed some amazing young talent, but they almost all carry with them significant risk/concern with them.

Abrams has produced a measly .232/.285/.320 slash line in his first 139 MLB plate appearances and, fair or unfair, has begun to make scouts wonder if he’ll ever fulfill his promise as a hitter. Defensively flexible, Abrams is going to be given every opportunity to silence his doubters, but his inclusion as a headliner here must be, at minimum, a bit concerning.

Gore just went down with elbow inflammation and is opting for rest and rehabilitation over surgery in hopes of returning this season. He’s been a top prospect for years and carries with him significant upside, but no one wants to hear about balky elbows in young star prospects.

Hassell, 20, was in Hi-A at the time of the deal and Wood, 19, was in Lo-A.

There’s tons of potential and just no certainty to be found in this trade on Washington’s side.

Cost of doing business

The Padres paid a monumental price for all they acquired, but if October glory finds its way to the home of Ron Burgundy, no one there will utter a peep about the prospects that once were.

It was amazing enough to pry Soto away, but to nab Josh Bell as well? Padres fans ought to be over the moon at what Preller and his front office has accomplished.

No team this season has put more into competing for a World Series title than San Diego, and while that guarantees nothing in terms of gold, it certainly guarantees a level of excitement never-before-seen on a day-to-day basis.

A lineup that now features Soto, Bell, and Drury with a returning Fernando Tatis Jr. next month will strike fear in the hearts of pitchers across the league and elevate the Padres to headliners across MLB.tv and beyond.

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Who disappointed this year?

Chicago White Sox

Acquired: LHP Jake Diekman

Lost: C Reese McGuire

The White Sox are 52-51, 2.0 GB in the AL Central and 2.0 GB of the third and final Wild Card spot… and they punted on making any changes in 2022.

Well, okay, sorry – they brought in Diekman, a 35-year-old left-handed rental piece for the bullpen who is currently leading all qualified pitchers in walk rate at 17.5%.

At this moment, according to FanGraphs, the White Sox somehow still have the best shot in their division at winning the AL Central at 41.1%, and the greater odds of winning the World Series at 1.4%.

Yet, despite obvious holes at second base, center field, and with needs throughout their middling pitching staff, the Sox stood pat and are gambling on self-improvement to help capitalize on their championship window, which feels like it ended in Game 4 of the ALDS last season.

Considering where the club was at the start of the 2021 season and where they are today, no team with championship aspirations has been this frustrating in a long time. Their decision to let Carlos Rodon walk this winter was bizarre, and the total faith they placed in the roster as constructed was ill-fated from the jump.

The White Sox stood still while division rival Minnesota added to their rotation and back end of the bullpen to ensure that the two-game gap separating Chicago, Cleveland, and Minnesota only grows from here.

Not a banner day for White Sox GM Rick Hahn and the rest of that front office.

Chicago Cubs

Acquired: RHP Saul Gonzalez, RHP Ben Brown, RHP Hayden Wesneski, RHP Raynel Espinal, INF Zach McKinstry

Lost: RHP Mychal Givens, RHP David Robertson, RHP Chris Martin, RHP Scott Effross, INF Dixon Machado

The Cubs were busy dismantling their bullpen of veteran arms on one-year deals on deadline day, but it’s who they didn’t trade that has me up in arms.

The North Siders clearly overplayed their hand after the traumatizing experience of trading away the most consequential players in team history at last year’s deadline for a return that could be best described as other humans.

So with that in mind, the Cubs set out to ensure that they secured a higher return for Willson Contreras, their All-Star catcher who is having a career year, and outfielder Ian Happ, who is controllable through 2023.

After all the emotion of what was supposed to be their last game at Wrigley Field together, the Cubs have now chosen to hang on to their most profitable assets so that they can watch one leave as a free agent this winter and the other one can field a lesser return for only a year of team control, or worse, just a couple of months.

The Cubs botched their World Series contention window after 2016, botched the tear down of their title roster, and are botching it all still.

But that won’t likely change what I hear from Cubs fans routinely in the face of all this losing – hey, we still have the title in 2016!

Yes. Yes, you do. Cubs ownership thanks you for your complete and total lack of expectations.

San Francisco Giants

Acquired: 3B J.D. Davis, LHP Thomas Szapucki, RHP Carson Seymour, LHP Nick Zwack, OF Tristan Peters, SS Ford Proctor, RHP Michael Stryffeler and C Andy Thomas

Lost: 1B Darin Ruf, RHP Trevor Rosenthal, RHP Jeremy Walker, LHP Matthew Boyd and C Curt Casali

So the Giants sold veteran pieces for prospects of various levels and prestige and clearly pivoted away from contention in 2022.

At 51-53, they’re 19.5 GB in the NL West and 5.0 GB for the third Wild Card spot. So far, this matches up.

But the Giants didn’t sell their biggest pieces, like Carlos Rodon or Joc Pederson, despite their impending bouts of free agency.

In fact, the Giants didn’t statistically get much worse after subtracting all of these big league pieces for minor league parts.

They reportedly listened on Rodon, but the asking price was exorbitant and too rich for anyone inquiring. So the Giants are either the West Coast Cubs, or they’re intending to re-sign Rodon and Pederson to a long-term deal.

As a veteran team with plenty of key pieces still in place, I’ll reserve my harshest judgment until I see how it plays out, but they still lost this deadline simply for confusing everyone.

Thems the breaks.

Baltimore Orioles

Acquired: RHP Yennier Cano, LHP Cade Povich, LHP Juan Rojas, RHP Juan Nunez, RHP Chayce McDermott, and OF Brett Phillips

Lost: 1B/DH Trey Mancini, RHP Jorge Lopez, and cash

It was always going to be a tough deadline for the Orioles, but their recent surge into Wild Card contention shocked everyone – including GM Mike Elias and the Orioles front office.

But while many wanted to see the Orioles go for it or stand pat and let them hash it out, the Orioles remained bullish and stuck to the plan.

It was cold and difficult, but dealing Mancini, an impending free agent, the longest-tenured Oriole and its beloved face of the franchise, was ultimately the right move, even if it sucks wholeheartedly. It was good business and bad baseball; you can reconcile that however you please.

Lopez was controllable through 2024, so that deal really feels like a slap in the face because of how unnecessary it was. It didn’t cost the Twins any premier prospects, just a gaggle of mid-tier guys, and it robs the Orioles of one of their primary strengths, which is the bullpen.

Who won the deadline?

Minnesota Twins

Acquired: RHP Tyler Mahle, C Sandy Leon, RHP Jorge Lopez, and LHP Michael Fulmer

Lost: S Spencer Steer, 3B Christian Encarnacion-Strand, LHP Steve Hajjar, RHP Ian Hamilton, and RHP Sawyer Gipson-Long

The Twins did exactly what they needed to, acquiring valuable arms for the rotation and the back end of the bullpen.

After their historic investment in shortstop Carlos Correa, the Twins needed to make sure that they did as much as they could to improve their postseason odds without sacrificing their future.

The prospect price they paid wasn’t nothing, but it was light years away from what Seattle paid for rotation help, or the Yankees for that matter.

Minnesota’s deadline was smartly played, but will that translate to the postseason, where the Twins haven’t won a single game, much less a series, since Ulysses S. Grant was president?

At this rate, the Twins will host all three games of their Wild Card series, so the odds are certainly well in their favor.

New York Yankees

Acquired: RHP Frankie Montas, RHP Lou Trivino, OF Andrew Benentindi, OF Harrison Bader, RHP Scott Effross, RHP Clayton Beeter

Lost: OF Joey Gallo, LHP Jordan Montgomery, LHP JP Sears, LHP Ken Waldichuk, LHP Luis Medina, 2B Cooper Bowman, RHP Hayden Wesneski, RHP Beck Way, LHP T.J. Sikkema and RHP Chandler Champlain.

The Yankees addressed every issue on their roster with precision strikes on the trade market, shifting quickly after losing out on Luis Castillo to nab Montas from Oakland along with Trivino, a struggling bullpen piece with a far more favorable track record than his ’22 season would indicate.

But the additions of Benentindi and Bader will improve their defense exponentially, and upgrading from Gallo to Benentindi, in particular, is simply not fair.

Gallo, since being acquired from Texas in June 2021, managed to hit .159 for the Yankees with 25 home runs, 46 RBIs and 194 strikeouts in 421 at-bats. He was as large a black hole as any on a contending team, and yet, the Yankees have rolled.

Now with Benentindi, the Yankees replace that production with a .305 batting average and a .761 OPS.

Benentindi is all about contact and creating chaos for the opposing defense. He’s a Gold Glove outfielder, so there won’t be any drop-off from Gallo’s sterling defense, and most importantly, he erases the black hole in New York’s lineup.

Because the Yankees are so far out in front of the competition in the AL East, none of these trades move the needle much for them. But come playoff time, these additions will be massive. Frankie Montas gives the Yankees a clear number two starter behind Gerrit Cole and relieves some pressure from Luis Severino to be The Other Guy behind Cole.

As with any gaggle of trades, they guarantee nothing, but they improve their odds exponentially.

Cincinnati Reds

Acquired: C Austin Romine, SS Victor Acosta, SS Spencer Steer, 3B Christian Encarnacion-Strand, LHP Steve Hajjar, SS Noelvi Marte, SS Edwin Arroyo, RHP Levi Stoudt, RHP Andrew Moore, 2B Hector Rodriguez, RHP Jose Acuna

Lost: RHP Luis Castillo, CF Tyler Naquin, LHP Phillip Diehl, RHP Tyler Mahle, UTI Brandon Drury, and cash

What – you thought only contenders can win these things? Think again.

The Reds added an enormous amount of young, exciting talent, including new top prospect Noelvi Marte, and two Top 100 prospects (Marte and fellow shortstop Edwin Arroyo).

They added depth, versatility, and tons of star potential to their system and now will look to capitalize on that in the years to come.

This was a brilliant deadline for one of the more prominent sellers in baseball. Rebuilding is never fun, and one could argue that its Cincinnati’s cheap ownership that caused this to happen in the first place (and that argument would be successful), but it is what it is and the Reds’ front office did the best job possible.

Seattle Mariners

Acquired: RHP Luis Castillo, LHP Matthew Boyd, 3B Jake Lamb, C Curt Casali

Lost: LHP Anthony Misiewicz,  RHP Michael Stryffeler, C Andy Thomas, SS Noelvi Marte, SS Noelvi Marte, SS Edwin Arroyo, RHP Levi Stoudt, RHP Andrew Moore, and cash

The Mariners paid a steep price to end the longest playoff drought in North American sports, which dates back to [checks notes] [makes the yeesh face] 2001.

Seattle currently holds a one-game lead for the second Wild Card spot over Tampa Bay, but is only two games ahead of fourth-place Cleveland.

Acquiring a sure-fire ace like Castillo gives Seattle one of the more formidable rotations in baseball, joining Robbie Ray, Logan Gilbert, Chris Flexen, George Kirby, and Marco Gonzales in a six-man setup that will go far towards limiting Kirby’s innings and giving Seattle some more punch at the top.

Especially in a three-game Wild Card series, the Mariners are setup to go with Castillo, Ray, and Gilbert, which should give them considerable comfort moving forward.

Lamb and Casali are nice depth pieces, and Boyd gives the Mariners yet another southpaw to move around the rotation or the ‘pen, though he has yet to throw a pitch this season as he continues to recover from flexor tendon surgery last season, so his addition is a sort of low-cost, risk-free kind of deal.

But the Mariners’ acquisition of Castillo is the headliner here, as it should be.

Seattle could have stood to add some more punch to the lineup, but this deal certainly cost more than enough and should help keep them above water in the ever-thickening Wild Card race.

Houston Astros

Acquired: 1B/DH Trey Mancini, RHP Jayden Murray, C Christian Vasquez, and LHP Will Smith

Lost: RHP Jake Odorizzi, OF Jose Siri, RHP Chayce McDermott, 2B Enmanuel Valdez, and OF Wilyer Abreu

The Astros addressed their needs at catcher, first base, as well as their lack of left-handed relief.

The beauty is that with left fielder Michael Brantley still hurt and operating without a timeline for his return, the Astros can use Mancini in left and hope that Yuli Gurriel’s July resurgence is the real deal.

This way, the Astros avoid a clubhouse issue with long-established and accomplished stars like Gurriel feeling like they’ve been shoved aside midseason.

The addition of Vasquez adds a considerable amount of offensive punch to a team long-accustomed to receiving next to none from the backstop, and will allow the older Martin Maldonado to get some much-needed rest.

Cashing in on their considerable starting pitching depth by dealing away Odorizzi straight-up for Smith is a win-win for both Houston and Atlanta, and doesn’t rob Houston of their younger, more cost-controlled rotation pieces.

Minus center field, the Astros addressed every pertinent issue and, if Brantley can return before the end of the season, will be an issue that potentially solves itself with an outfield that could consist of Brantley in left, Mancini in right, and Tucker in center.

Like the Yankees, the Astros didn’t move the regular season needle much considering their divisional lead and output to date, but the postseason is where these kinds of moves-on-the-margins pay off.