15 of 17 Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images Chicago Cubs Get: LHP Cole Hamels and cash Getting a four-time All-Star and the 2008 World Series MVP is a heck of a way to solve a back-end rotation problem. Granted, Hamels has mostly looked past his prime over the last two years. But between his rising velocity and low contact rate, there's hope he'll be rejuvenated in the National League. The Cubs also gave up nothing of consequence to get him. Grade: B+ Texas Rangers Get: RHP Eddie Butler and RHP Rollie Lacy Taking a flier on Butler, a former top prospect, didn't pay dividends for the Cubs. It probably won't for the Rangers either. And while Lacy has been making waves in the low minors this year, he's already 23 years old. So, this looks like little more than a salary dump for Texas. Grade: C Arizona Diamondbacks Get: 3B Eduardo Escobar The Diamondbacks needed an infield upgrade even before Jake Lamb suffered another shoulder injury. Escobar is the best guy they could have asked for. He has a versatile glove and a bat that produced an .852 OPS and 55 extra-base hits in Minnesota. And it cost Arizona little to rent him. Grade: A Minnesota Twins Get: RHP Jhoan Duran and OFs Gabriel Maciel and Ernie De La Trinidad This was an odd trade for the Twins, as three guys who are all in the low minors isn't going to help them bounce back in 2019. Still, there's some upside. Duran has a good arm and a projectable 6'5" frame, and Maciel can run and hit (albeit not for power). Grade: B- Philadelphia Phillies Get: 2B/SS Asdrubal Cabrera The Phillies aren't going to get good defense out of Cabrera at shortstop, but they'll live with it if he hits. The .817 OPS he had for the Mets is way better than the .613 OPS the Phillies have gotten out of their shortstops so far. And it only cost Philadelphia an expendable prospect to rent Cabrera. Grade: B New York Mets Get: RHP Franklyn Kilome Contrary to what the Mets got for Familia, Kilome is a legit prospect. Though it doesn't show in his 7.8 strikeouts per nine innings in the minors, he has a big arm attached to his 6'6" frame. The Mets will be celebrating this trade for years if they can unlock Kilome's potential and use it to beat up on a National League East rival. Grade: B+ Houston Astros Get: RHP Ryan Pressly After missing out on Britton, this was a case of the Astros going off the board for a late-innings reliever. Pressly doesn't have much name value, but he did have a 3.40 ERA and 13.0 strikeouts per nine innings in Minnesota. He can get even better if the Astros maximize his talent for spin and not just in 2018. He's around through 2019. Grade: A Minnesota Twins Get: RHP Jorge Alcala and OF Gilberto Celestino Though neither Alcala nor Celestino is a blue chip in his own right, together they're a solid return for a year-and-a-half of Pressly. Alcala has a hard fastball to guide his way. Celestino doesn't have much power, but he can hit, run and field. Grade: B Milwaukee Brewers Get: 3B Mike Moustakas Moustakas has been just OK since a hot start, yet he still had a .778 OPS and 20 homers at the time of this trade. This after he hit 38 homers in 2017. The real issue is that he's bumping Travis Shaw from third base to second base. That's a downgrade in a vacuum, and Shaw's lack of experience at second base could further hurt the Brewers. Grade: C+ Kansas City Royals Get: OF Brett Phillips and RHP Jorge Lopez Rather than go for the top prospects in the Milwaukee system, Kansas City went for two plug-and-play prospects. Phillips is more glove than bat at this point, and Lopez has a classic relief profile: big arm but small control. Both of them are projects for the Royals to work on. Grade: C- Atlanta Braves Get: RHP Brad Brach With this trade coming on the heels of the team's lesser deal for Jonny Venters, the Braves effectively patched their beleaguered bullpen. Brach has had a rough season, but he was an All-Star in 2016, and he's been adding velocity over time this season. Plus, he cost next to nothing to rent. Grade: B Baltimore Orioles Get: International bonus pool money Given how much Brach's stock had been damaged, this might have been the most the Orioles could get for him. It's also an encouraging play, as it indicates Baltimore is prepared to end its frustrating unwillingness to engage on the international market. Grade: B+<doc-sep>Already registered? Click here to log in By registering with theweek.com , you accept and hereby explicitly consent to our processing of your Personal Information in accordance with the terms of our Privacy Policy You've read 4 or more articles this month. To continue reading for free, please join other loyal fans of The Week by registering below. If you are an existing subscriber to The Week magazine please register with the email address you subscribed with. For assistance or further information please contact us. Log in You've read 4 or more articles this month. To continue reading for free, please log in below. Email address Password Login A link has been emailed to you - check your inbox.<doc-sep>It's Christmas in July for baseball fans with the MLB non-waiver trade deadline. The baseball world was rocked by several big trades ahead of July 31, and there were even more on Tuesday before the 4 p.m. ET deadline. FAGAN'S DEADLINE WINNERS, LOSERS: Bucs among those who get a W Here are the trades that were been made before the deadline. MORE: The greatest pitching performance you've never heard of MLB trade tracker Players involved: 2B Jonathan Schoop to Brewers; IF Jonathan Villar, minor league RHP Luis Ortiz and minor league SS Jean Carmona to Orioles Date: July 31 Analysis (Jason Foster): The Brewers (and Orioles, for that matter) have been busy this trade deadline, having now added Mike Moustakas and Schoop. Though Schoop is having a down year, his bat has awakened since the All-Star break. It's possible the change of scenery will boost his offense even more. Either way, the Brewers' lineup is pretty loaded. Players involved: RHP John Axford to the Dodgers; minor league RHP Corey Copping to the Blue Jays Date: July 31 Players involved: RHP Chris Archer to Pirates; Austin Meadows, Tyler Glasnow and a player to be named to Rays Date: July 31 Analysis (Ryan Fagan): Archer has been in the rumor mill for a couple years now. The Pirates, who were sellers in the offseason, were not seen as a prime suitor to land the Rays' right-handed ace until very recently. The fact that Archer's contract includes team options for 2020 and 2021 makes him desirable to a club like Pittsburgh; the Pirates are 15-4 in their past 19 games and have climbed back into the wild-card race, and having Archer on board means they're not just adding a boost for this playoff push, but playoff pushes in the next couple years, too. Players involved: LHP Jake Diekman to Diamondbacks; minor league RHP Wei-Chieh Huang and a player to be named to Rangers Date: July 31 Players involved: RHPs Kevin Gausman and Darren O'Day to Braves; RHP Evan Phillips, minor league IF Jean Carlos Encarnacion, minor league C Brett Cumberland, minor league LHP Bruce Zimmermann and international bonus slot money to Orioles. Date: July 31 Analysis (Foster): Though the Braves didn't land the kind of frontline starter they wanted, Gausman offers them rotational depth at a relatively minimal cost. Moving away from the AL East could be just the boon Gausman needs to succeed. Getting Gausman alone would've made this deal a winner for the Braves, but they also managed to snag O'Day, a veteran reliever who could potentially help boost Atlanta's bullpen in 2019. But he's out for the rest of 2018 with a hamstring injury. Players involved: 2B Brian Dozier to Dodgers; IF Logan Forsythe, minor league OF/1B Luke Raley and minor league RHP Devin Smeltzer to Twins Date: July 31 Analysis (Fagan): This hasn’t been his finest season, but Dozier has averaged 35 home runs in the past three seasons, and he’s been a bit better lately, with an .776 OPS with 21 RBIs in 25 games in July. And remember, Dozier was much, much better in the second half last year, posting a .985 OPS and popping 21 homers after the All-Star break. He makes a lot of sense for the Dodgers. Players involved: C Wilson Ramos to Phillies; player to be named or cash considerations to Rays Date: July 31 Analysis (Joe Rivera): The Phillies added a great bat to their lineup — Ramos is in the middle of his best offensive season and is on pace for a career-high WAR, as he currently sits at 2.4. While catcher Jorge Alfaro has been hot, any time you can add a power bat like Ramos into a lineup, you do it — and the Phillies did it in slam-dunk fashion, not having to give up any bodies (yet) in the deal. Players involved: RHP Brad Ziegler to Diamondbacks; minor league RHP Tommy Evald to Marlins Date: July 31 Analysis (Rivera): The Diamondbacks bring Brad Ziegler back to Arizona, where he pitched to a 2.49 ERA in his first campaign with the team. While Ziegler's numbers overall with Miami haven't been great — he's pitched to a 4.36 ERA in 106 games — he's returned to form since June 1, pitching to a 0.93 ERA. The Diamondbacks have done a good job of reshaping their team in the last few weeks, acquiring Rays' Matt Andriese and infielder Eduardo Escobar from the Twins. With the Diamondbacks and Dodgers within bad-breath distance of one another in the NL West, these moves could serve Arizona well. Players involved: OF Leonys Martin and minor league RHP Kyle Dowdy to Indians; minor league SS Willi Castro to Tigers Date: July 31 Analysis (Rivera): The Indians were hot after center-field help in recent days, as reports surfaced saying Cleveland was after Cameron Maybin and others. Martin is the in the midst of the best offensive season of his career and is a plus defender in center field. The Indians have reworked their bullpen and lineup and are going to make another run at the whole thing this year, probably their last true year of contention. Players involved: OF Tommy Pham to Rays; OF Justin Williams, LHP Genesis Cabrera and RHP Roel Ramirez to Cardinals Date: July 31 Analysis (Rivera): Whoa. That's really it. The Rays aren't competing in 2018, but perhaps they feel good enough about their 2019 roster and beyond after making this move. Pham, who played to MVP levels in 2017, turned down a contract with the Cardinals before the season. He is under team control through 2021, something the cash-strapped Rays value. Players involved: OF Adam Duvall to Braves; OF Preston Tucker and RHPs Lucas Sims and Matt Wisler to Reds Date: July 30 Players involved: RHP Keone Kela to Rangers; minor league LHP Taylor Hearn and player to be named to Rangers Date: July 30 Analysis (Rivera): Kela has been awesome for the Rangers out of the bullpen this year, converting 24 of 25 save opportunities in what has been an up-and-down season for the Rangers. Taylor Hearn, a top-10 prospect in the Pirates' farm system, heads to Texas. Hearn is still a year or two away, and the Rangers are going to be in an awkward spot of having to figure out if they're coming or going. Players involved: 2B Ian Kinsler to the Red Sox; minor league RHP Ty Buttrey and minor league LHP Williams Jerez to Angels Date: July 30 Players involved: RHP Lance Lynn to Yankees; 1B/OF Tyler Austin and minor league RHP Luis Rijo to Twins Date: July 30 Click here for complete trade analysis. Players involved: RHP Zach Duke to Mariners (from Twins), RHP Adam Warren to Mariners (from Twins); RHP Chase De Jong, minor league IF Ryan Costello to Twins (from Mariners); International signing money to Yankees (from Mariners) Players involved: RHP Roberto Osuna to Astros; RHPs Ken Giles, David Paulino and Hector Perez to Blue Jays Date: July 30 Players involved: RHP Brad Brach to Braves Date: July 29 Analysis (Rivera): Brach is pitching to a 4.85 ERA at the time of the trade, a run and a half higher than his career 3.18 ERA. He had some very good years with Baltimore, but was having a difficult year in 2018. Going back is an international bonus signing slot that the Braves weren't going to be able to use. A wise move to lengthen the bullpen, and a great gamble should Brach revert to his pre-2018 form. Players involved: LHP Chasen Shreve and RHP Giovanny Gallegos to Cardinals; 1B Luke Voit to Yankees Date: July 29 Analysis (Tom Gatto): Shreve and Gallegos become the latest pieces in the Cardinals' midseason bullpen shuffle. The sidewinding Shreve, 28, has been less than stellar this season, as evidenced by his 4.26 ERA in 38 innings, but he is averaging 10.9 strikeouts per nine innings. Gallegos, 26, pitched in four games for the Yankees in 2018 after making his major league debut with them last year.<doc-sep>
Another day (or night, rather), another series of trades. As we get closer and closer to the deadline, contenders continue to bolster their rosters. Let’s round up and grade Saturday’s (and Friday night’s) notable deals, including a curious infield addition in Milwaukee and a stealthy bullpen move in Houston. Brewers get: 3B Mike Moustakas Royals get: OF Brett Phillips, RHP Jorge Lopez Congrats to Milwaukee for making the first galaxy brain trade of the summer, picking up the veteran Moustakas from last-place Kansas City for a pair of prospects late Friday night. It’s a curious move for the Brewers, given that the team’s biggest holes right now are in the starting rotation and at second base and shortstop, not the hot corner already occupied by the quite good Travis Shaw. Here’s where the real radical thinking kicks in though: Milwaukee’s plan is to install Moustakas at third base and move Shaw over to second. Has Shaw played even a single inning at the keystone in his professional baseball career? Nope. I know what you’re thinking: Why not just get a regular second baseman instead? It’s not like the market has been short on those. The same day the Brewers picked up Moustakas, Asdrubal Cabrera and Eduardo Escobar—both with actual experience at second—were dealt to the Phillies and Diamondbacks, respectively. Neither cost a fortune in prospects. If Milwaukee didn’t like either of those choices, there were other options: the Twins’ Brian Dozier, the Orioles’ Jonathan Schoop, the Angels’ Ian Kinsler, and the Reds’ Scooter Gennett were probably all available to varying degrees. Maybe the Brewers just liked Moustakas more than those players (or found his price more manageable). But the 29-year-old hasn’t had a huge season, hitting .249/.309/.468 with 20 homers, a 111 OPS+ and 2.2 Wins Above Replacement (Baseball-Reference version). The power is nice, and defensively, Moustakas ranges anywhere from good to acceptable. But his game is full of holes. He’s allergic to walks, drawing a free pass in just 7.2% of his plate appearances. A lefty-swinger, he’s pull-happy, which plays right into defensive shift strategies—and wouldn’t you know it, he sees an extra infielder on the right side 61.6% of the time this season, which is 30th among all hitters with 100 or more plate appearances in 2018. His weighted on-base average with the shift off is .371; against it, that number plummets to .304. There’s also the fact that Moustakas is going on three straight months of subpar production. In March and April, he hit a strong .302/.336/.578 with eight homers in 122 plate appearances. Since then, though, he’s put up a mediocre .225/.298/.420 line in 295 trips to the plate. That includes a brutal month of July in which he’s hitting .191/.276/.426. Oh, and he’s a painfully slow runner, ranking in the lowest quartile of the league in Sprint Speed—and that’s a massive improvement from 2017, when he was in the bottom 10% overall. For this, the Brewers will monkey around with Shaw, who’s having a similar but better season: .246/.344/.468 with 19 homers, a 114 OPS+ and 2.9 WAR, as well as good glove work at third. In essence, the Brewers went out and got the older, less patient version of Shaw in order to make the current one play a harder defensive position that he has to learn on the fly in the middle of a pennant race. That doesn’t exactly scream “good idea.” And on top of that, Milwaukee gave up two of its best trade chips in Phillips and Lopez. The former is a 24-year-old snagged from Houston three years ago as part of a package for Carlos Gomez (along with Josh Hader and Domingo Santana; think the Astros want that one back?). He entered the season as the team’s No. 10 prospect on MLB.com’s rankings after hitting .305/.377/.567 in Triple A last year, but a second tour of that level hasn’t gone as well in 2018, as he’s slumped to a .240/.331/.411 line. Phillips is prone to strikeouts—his whiff rate in Triple A is an ugly 31.4%—but he does offer power and top-flight defense in the outfield—and the best laugh in baseball. Lopez, meanwhile, was once of the Brewers’ top pitching prospects, only to be derailed by a nightmare 2016 season in Triple A: a 7.49 ERA and 55 walks in 79 1/3 innings. That prompted a switch from the rotation to the bullpen, though the 25-year-old Puerto Rican righty still has issues with command.