Baseball’s non-waiver trade deadline went with a whimper Friday, all the talk of three-way deals and blockbusters fizzling into the Mets acquiring Yoenis Cespedes and the San Diego Padres holding onto every one of their numerous assets. Most of the activity came in the days prior, and it kept the deadline busy enough to warrant the breathless talk about it.

Here, then, are one-sentence summaries of every team’s deadline dealings, with a few getting an extra paragraph to encapsulate their activity.

New York Yankees: They whiffed going after Craig Kimbrel, who would’ve made their bullpen the finest three-headed monster since Ghidorah, but are calling up Luis Severino to join the rotation, so the AL East’s first-place team just got better.

Verdict: Good job, good effort.



Boston Red Sox: For all of the calls they made – and though they kept quiet, they were trying to get creative – they didn’t have any impending free agents worth much and didn’t want to deal from a core in which they still believe.

Verdict: About right.



Tampa Bay Rays: Got rid of Kevin Jepsen and David DeJesus, and will be a frequent target for teams looking to deal this offseason because of their honey hole of starting pitching.

Verdict: Fine.



Baltimore Orioles: Added Gerardo Parra to their rotating troupe of outfielders, a fine move but not one that brought the impact sort of player a team with a handful of free-agents-to-be needed.

Verdict: Could’ve done more.



View photos David Price was the best pitcher on the market. (AP) More

Toronto Blue Jays: Crushed a case of Labatt and went shoppin’!

Oh, and: If you’re going out, like GM Alex Anthopoulos might be, best to go out trying to win a pennant. The Blue Jays are in complete flux, with CEO Paul Beeston gone at season’s end and the failed hire of Orioles GM Dan Duquette for the position in the offseason showing little faith in the incumbent GM. Still, ownership allowed Anthopoulos to raid the Jays’ farm system in getting the best pitcher traded (David Price), the best hitter traded (Troy Tulowitzki), two arms to help a bullpen in need of it (Mark Lowe and LaTroy Hawkins) as well as the outfielder they needed (Ben Revere). It was classic Anthopoulos, swashbuckling his way through transactions, hopeful this time works out better than his last big run of maneuvers.

Verdict: They’d better make the postseason …





Kansas City Royals: Really, legitimately, truly bought at the deadline, which is still a shock, because these are the Kansas City Royals.

Oh, and: What they bought is really good. Next to the Blue Jays, the Royals received the greatest boon of short-term talent in Johnny Cueto and Ben Zobrist. Cueto is the starter Kansas City coveted. Zobrist is the Swiss Army knife they desired. And the team with the best record in the AL wasn’t happy to rest on its first-half performance. It’s going for the World Series again.

Verdict: Bravo.





Minnesota Twins: All they did was trade for Kevin Jepsen, which isn’t exactly the sort of thing a team looking to hold onto its playoff spot does when the team directly behind it in the standings does what Toronto did, but the Twins recognize giving up future talent for this year would be foolish.

Verdict: Understandable.



Chicago White Sox: Did nothing.

Verdict: Makes sense.



Detroit Tigers: Sold what they needed to sell.

Oh, and: They did a rather excellent job of the selling. Few teams had better assets to offload than the Tigers, and they may have gotten the most of any deadline dealer in future talent. Getting three hard-throwing left-handers, headlined by Daniel Norris, was a reasonable return for David Price. The Mets overpaid for Yoenis Cespedes, sending Michael Fulmer to Detroit. And even JaCoby Jones, the return for Joakim Soria, has a big ceiling. In 72 hours, Dave Dombrowski completely remade Detroit’s bad farm system into something worth following.

Verdict: Two thumbs up.





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