Yankees, Mets on opposite sides of trade deadline winners and losers

As baseball’s players and owners talk through the game’s future, with this current collective bargaining agreement expiring on Dec. 1, let’s hope they remember the glory of this 2021 trade deadline.

Are they sure they want to temper this by expanding the postseason next year and beyond?

For if this campaign featured a 14-team playoff, the notion that Major League Baseball has fancied for a while now, then the Cubs would’ve started play Friday two games out of the final National League wild-card spot (that’s with them already dumping some pieces), and the Nationals four. Would these two proud franchises have called it quits, or would they have geared up for one more run?

Of course, if you’re a Nats or Cubs fan, you very well might prefer the latter scenario. Yet baseball features the undisputedly best trade deadline of any sport — the most exciting buildup, the biggest names switching clubs and the most tantalizing post-transaction storylines — because of its high standard for an October invitation. Mediocre teams can employ many intriguing players ripe for a swap. Less so terrible teams. Last year, when it made sense to deploy a 16-team postseason to align with the COVID-shortened, 60-game schedule, the deadline proved lamer than “Another 48 Hrs.”

Yes, broadcasters love playoff games and both players and owners love money. But if the deadline can’t generate the same sort of revenue as playoff games, can’t something be said about dominating the sports landscape (all the more so in non-Olympic years) for a week?

OK, time to get off the soapbox and determine this deadline’s winners and losers:

Winners

Losers

1. Mariners: You record your biggest win over the season, over the rival Astros, on Monday. On Tuesday, you trade your closer, Graveman, to the Astros. Facepalm emoji. While Seattle wound up replacing Graveman by getting Castillo from the Rays, why would you mess with a group vying to end the longest playoff drought (20 years) of any North American professional sports team?
2. Rockies: Remember back in June, as the Cubs and Nationals hung in there, when it looked like Trevor Story would be the best player traded? Instead, he stayed put, and afterward told The Denver Post, “I’m confused and I don’t have really anything good to say about the situation and how it unfolded.” Yeesh. The best-case scenario will be the Rockies connecting on a compensatory draft pick after Story rejects the qualifying offer, no easy mission. Colorado also retained free-agent-to-be Jon Gray and reportedly hopes to sign him to an extension.
3. Red Sox: The biggest surprise team of the AL picked up the currently injured Kyle Schwarber from Washington and a pair of low-profile bullpen arms, former Met Hansel Robles from the Twins and Austin Davis from the Pirates, a haul that paled in comparison to the Rays, Yankees and Blue Jays.
4. Mets: I’ll allow for the possibility that Javy Baez could be a season-changing and -saving arrival. He’s that sort of special player. Though he’s not a perfect positional fit, at least once his pal Francisco Lindor heals his oblique, and Jacob deGrom’s setback cast a harsh light on the Mets’ inability to find starting pitching help beyond Rich Hill and Trevor Williams.
5. Padres: To be fair, they brought in Adam Frazier from the Pirates and Daniel Hudson from the Nats. However, general manager A.J. Preller has developed a reputation for big-game hunting, and in this instance, the biggest game (Scherzer and Berrios) went elsewhere, Scherzer to the rival Dodgers, while the stunning Giants added Kris Bryant.