MLB Trade Deadline grades: Live analysis and grades for every major 2026 deal
It’s the MLB trade deadline! The most speculative, bizarre, and usually personally disappointing day in the baseball calendar is upon us, and I’m grading every major deal as they happen. From prospect hauls to rental pitchers all the way to the Dodgers probably trading for the Star Wars force ghost of Ted Williams (or something like that), I’m here for the intrigue and chaos all day. Let’s have some fun!
This story will be updated as new deals are reported.
Los Angeles Dodgers receive: LHP Kris Bubic
Kansas City Royals receive: RHP Carlos Duran
Dodgers grade: B+
Bubic has fallen way back to earth after a stellar 2025, but the Dodgers can afford to gamble on a player they are conceivably hoping to turn back into an All-Star. There’s very little risk with a player making so little money on a one-year deal, so this is well worth it.
Royals grade: C+
Apparently Bubic’s reputation in the league was not much, but I still thought the Royals could have gotten more for a lefty rental from a needier team. Evidently, they could not.
San Diego Padres receive: LHP Robbie Ray
San Francisco Giants receive: SS Joniel Hernandez, RHP Miguel Mendez
Padres grade: C
You can only make so many “win now” trades without actually winning now. The Padres just traded their fourth-overall prospect, Mendez, to a division rival for a 34-year-old starter rental with San Diego still on the outside looking in to the playoff picture. I understand this team isn’t exactly primed for a rebuild, but this seems to be heading down a very specific street: it either works or AJ Preller is fired. That’s a dangerous spot for any organization.
Giants: B+
Robbie Ray is going to do effectively nothing for the Giants anymore as their season descends into nothingness, but he has been one of the best pitchers in baseball since June even if his underlying data hasn’t been all that great. He’s not the star he used to be but clearly still has real value to a desperate Padres team. Even in division, I like the return for San Francisco.
Tampa Bay Rays receive: C Liam Hicks
Miami Marlins receive: INF Brayden Taylor, RHP Jacob Kisting, SS Adrian Santana
Rays grade: B
Hicks is a fine defensive catcher and very controllable bat with bizarre underlying metrics. He has showed excellent plate discipline and slugged a good amount in 2026 but with really low bat speed for how much power he’s creating. He also has zero opposite field power, pulling all 14 of his home runs sharply to right field. He could be a good, long-term option for Tampa, or this could be a major overpay.
Marlins: A-
Brayden Taylor was a first-round pick and a 50 FV prospect who will need to develop his plate discipline if he’s going to make it as a big leaguer. The Marlins probably feel that an infielder with pedigree and fixable issues is a solid return for their perplexing catcher, a presumption I agree with.
Philadelphia Phillies receive: 2B Luis Arraez, RHP Caleb Kilian
San Francisco Giants receive: RHP Ramon Marquez, RHP Marty Gair
Phillies grade: B
The Phillies certainly had to do something, and reconfiguring the ever-living heck out of their infield appears to be that thing. Arraez will slot into second base, moving Bryce Harper into the outfield as Alec Bohm ends up at first. Arraez immediately becomes Philadelphia’s third-best offensive player on a team seriously wanting for contact hitting. He’s become a really interesting player, and one I’ve come to believe in as an asset. Still, they gave up a real guy to get him.
Giants grade: A-
To net a Top 100 pitching prospect in Marquez for a player you signed to a one-year prove-it deal after it became clear he had zero market is an absolute win. It’s just a shame that this Giants team, which was banking on a lot of shaky propositions from the jump, couldn’t ultimately benefit from such a great signing. But in terms of price to value? This is a slam dunk situation.
Seattle Mariners receive OF Taylor Ward
Baltimore Orioles receive: RHP Alex Hoppe, RHP Harrison Kreiling, RHP Brock Moore
Seattle Mariners grade: B+
The Mariners got a solid player in Ward for a cheap rental price in what looks to be a last-ditch effort to save their season. He’s been startlingly consistent the past few years, a 3.0ish WAR guy who walks a lot and hits to both fields. The Mariners must now do the harder thing than trading for 32-year-old rentals: winning enough games to get back in the AL Wild Card race.
Baltimore Orioles grade: C+
They were never going to get anything for Ward, who was almost certainly going to walk after this season, and so this is a pure “thank you for your service” type trade. Nothing really special going on here for Baltimore, who appears to be packing it up for 2026 in more ways than one.
Chicago Cubs receive: RHP Kevin Gausman
Toronto Blue Jays receive: CF Brett Bateman, 2B Ty Southisene
Cubs grade: A
The Cubs needed a starting pitcher, and they got one. He may be a 35-year-old rental, but in the grand scheme of rental pitchers, you could do a lot worse than Gausman. The Cubs believe they can win the NL this year, and Gausman will be key to any chance they have against the Dodgers and the Brewers.
Blue Jays grade: B
As with every one of these rental pitchers, you’re just not going to get major beans for a guy with every ability to walk after 50 games. Both are 35+ grade prospects, so we’re not really reinventing the franchise here. The Blue Jays are all-but cooked in 2026, so getting something (anything really) for Gausman is good stuff.
Blue Jays receive: RHP Jose Soriano
Los Angeles Angels receive: SS Arjun Nimmala, OF Eddie Micheletti, RHP Angel Rivero
Blue Jays grade: D-
???. I’m not sure Soriano is the kind of guy you want to be trading Top 50 prospects like Nimmala for, as the inconsistent righty had an unhittable start to 2026 before massively tailing off. Trading Gausman was an admission of defeat, but getting Soriano (who is more controllable and thus more expensive) feels like a step backward. Was there no better option in the starter market? Could they not have waited until the winter?
Angels grade: A
I love this for the Angels. Soriano’s beginning of the season was a total mirage, and Nimmala is the kind of prospect that will allow the Angels to reset their timeline somewhat. If we just accept that the Mike Trout Era is not likely to yield results, we need to be talking future — like, the far future. Trading a questionable starter for serious value is excellent work.
Tampa Bay Rays receive: RHP Freddy Peralta
New York Mets receive: CF Aidan Smith, RHP Gary Gill Hill, 2B Emilien Pitre
Rays grade: B-
The Skubal backup plan could have been worse, but Peralta has been legitimately terrible in 2026 after the New York Mets invested in him as their big-name addition. The Rays needed to add to their rotation if they want a prayer in October, though, and it’s hard to think Peralta will continue to be this bad after his Brewers tenure so recently. A necessary move, but a sour consolation after losing out on Skubal.
Mets grade: D+
An admission of defeat in a season filled with nothing but defeats. The Mets got some decent pieces back in the trade given that Peralta is a rental, but the whole fiasco deserves a low mark. It could not realistically be going worse for the Mets in 2026, and Peralta is the image of that failure.
New York Yankees receive: 1B Luis García Jr.
Washington Nationals receive: RHP Yovanny Cruz, RHP Jake Bird, RHP Jack Cebert, RHP Ben Grable
Yankees grade: A-
A healthy Yankees roster does not want for power hitting, but this is not a healthy Yankees roster. They gave up a pretty serious prospect haul for Luis Garcia Jr., who only has one more year of team control after this, but it’s necessary in a year when the American League is so up for grabs it may as well have a sign pinned to it that reads “FREE” like a couch on the curb. Garcia has seen a major production spike this season, and the Yankees will hope it continues this fall.
Nationals grade: B-
I flirted with including Garcia Jr. in some previous trade candidates list, but I felt they would be best served hanging onto him as part of their young core. Of course, he would be worth even less next season as a true expiring deal, and then you’re in real trouble. If they knew they couldn’t sign him when he hits the open market, it’s not the worst idea to get the Yankees premium price while you still can.
Los Angeles Dodgers receive: LHP Tarik Skubal
Detroit Tigers receive: OF Zyhir Hope, RHP River Ryan, RHP Brady Smith
Dodgers grade: A+ (obviously)
Oh, what, you thought there was some other angle to this? Nope. The Dodgers traded a comparatively low sum for the best pitcher on planet earth and have ascended from “overwhelming World Series favorite” to “overwhelming World Series favorite.” Huh, maybe it’s not an A+ (sarcasm).
It’s obviously pretty lame that the Dodgers once again got the best player available, but honestly, who cares at this point? Until some kind of salary cap takes shape, the Dodgers will be the presumptive favorites to sign every really-super-duper good player on the market until the end of time. And short of a cap, there appears to be nothing anyone can do about it.
Tigers grade: B-
The Tigers are getting some bad press for this trade given Ryan is 27 years old and it feels unlikely that neither the Tampa Bay Rays or Milwaukee Brewers could have beaten that offer. Conspiracy theories that the Dodgers are being gifted all the best players to convince fans of the necessity of a salary cap are hilarious but ultimately absurd; if the Brewers and Rays wanted to beat that offer, they would have, so why didn’t they?
No reporting suggests this is the case, but as a theory: I wonder if Skubal’s camp made it clear that he would be signing with the Dodgers this offseason and other teams refused to give up real value for what was truly a 1/3rd of the season rental. The calculation of “just make the Dodgers give up something for the guy before they sign him anyway” would explain why nobody trumped that offer, and the Dodgers still have no special advantage in signing him. You can’t really get above a B when you’re giving up a godly player, but for such a franchise-altering trade, the Tigers surely netted the best deal they could get for their ace.
