With the 2025 MLB Postseason around the corner, let’s take a look back at how the 2023 MLB Trade Deadline influenced the playoffs two years ago — and how it affected the league today.
Back in 2023, one of the wildest trade deadlines of the last 10-15 years took place, one that saw future Hall of Famers and eventual Cy Young contenders change teams. And, it also saw the eventual World Series champions make several moves to solidify their status as top contenders.
The Mets’ Big Sell-Off
After a 101-win campaign in 2022, the Mets headed into the winter with many notable free agents. Edwin Diaz, Brandon Nimmo, Chris Bassitt, Seth Lugo, and Jacob deGrom were all eligible to hit the market. Given those potential losses, it was poised to be an eventful winter in Queens.
It was. The Mets did re-sign Diaz and Nimmo, plus extend Jeff McNeil through at least the end of the 2026 campaign. However, that rotation received a shakeup. deGrom left for the Rangers, leaving the only organization he was with in his pro career at the time. Bassitt went to Toronto, while Lugo — a reliever with the Mets thanks to injury concerns — signed with San Diego.
To combat those losses, the Mets signed Kodai Senga, known for a plus-plus forkball, and then-ageless wonder Justin Verlander. Verlander, reunited with Max Scherzer, just came off a 185-strikeout campaign and World Series title in 2022.
It was a risky gambit; the Mets largely kept an offense that finished fifth in runs scored (722) intact, while hoping those new additions would click. The problem was that things didn’t hold up. After a 30-27 record over the first two months, the Mets went 7-19 in June to fall nine games back of a playoff spot.
That month led to a massive shakeup.
Rather than hold and look to compete with the same core in 2024, the Mets sold off many pieces — and players who would go on to be helpers outside the organization. Mark Canha was shipped to Milwaukee, while Tommy Pham — an offseason signing from the previous winter — went to Arizona. Both were major contributors to their respective teams down the line.
David Robertson, who took over as closer in 2023 with Edwin Diaz on the IL, was traded to Miami. And Justin Verlander, the prize of the Mets just months earlier, was sent back to Houston for Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford.
As for Max Scherzer, he locked in a player option for 2024 to complete a trade to the Rangers, one of the most active teams that summer.
The Rangers Pounced
The Rangers were one of the active teams in the free agent market each of the previous two winters. Before the 2021-22 lockout went into effect, the Rangers splurged by adding Marcus Semien and Corey Seager with massive contracts. Both were standouts on a 2022 team that lost 94 games and one that sorely needed pitching.
Texas overhauled their rotation in the 2022-23 offseason by adding three notable starters, with deGrom being the marquee addition. A two-time Cy Young winner who was nearly unhittable when healthy, deGrom was the kind of ace any team would covet. Andrew Heaney, who simplified his arsenal with Los Angeles in 2022, and Nathan Eovaldi joined deGrom.
But heading into the summer, it was clear the Rangers needed more help. deGrom went down to his second Tommy John surgery, while Martin Perez — an All-Star a year earlier — couldn’t replicate his numbers from 2022.
Scherzer was one of several additions over the course of the last five weeks before the deadline. Jordan Montgomery, a pitch-to-contact lefty with good command and ability to change speeds and looks, was also acquired for their rotation. The Rangers also bolstered their ‘pen with Aroldis Chapman, who regained his top-tier velocity with Kansas City.
Texas did have to give up significant prospect currency to pull those deals off. The Rangers traded INF/OF Luisangel Acuna, one of their best position player prospects, for Scherzer. Lefty reliever John King and infielder Thomas Saggese were moved to get both Montgomery and Chris Stratton.
And as for Chapman, the Royals received then-18-year-old outfielder Roni Cabrera and former first-rounder Cole Ragans.
At the time, Ragans was a AAAA player with good stuff but never cracked through as a regular arm for the Rangers. That changed in KC.
One Last Gasp with Ohtani
Heading into July, the Angels were 44-41 on the year. The Angels, at the time, were in the midst of a nearly decade-long playoff drought. The last time that the Halos made it back to October was 2014, a year that saw LA win the AL West before being bounced by the eventual AL champion Royals.
Aside from the fact that was the only playoff action Mike Trout saw in his career to that date but it also meant the Angels never made it to the postseason with Shohei Ohtani. And, with Ohtani — on path for a second AL MVP award — heading to free agency, the clock was ticking to make a decision.
The Angels’ playoff hopes took a major hit in early July, when Trout suffered a hamate fracture on a hit by pitch. By July 29, the Angels were 54-51, playing .500 ball in the month but five games out of the playoffs. But by that point, the Angels doubled down and added pieces.
Two days earlier, the Angels finalized a trade to acquire Reynaldo Lopez and Lucas Giolito from the White Sox. The Halos paid a steep price, highlighted by catching prospect Edgar Quero. And on July 31, C.J. Cron and Randal Grichuk were acquired, bringing the two back into the same organization that drafted them.
The hope was that those adds would be significant enough to bolster both a shorthanded lineup and the pitching staff. The end result? Cron played just 15 games for the Angels, while Lucas Giolito (10 HR over 32.2 IP) was pounded as a Halo. Lopez and Grichuk put up good numbers — but it wasn’t enough.
Their playoff hopes were officially dashed when Ohtani suffered an elbow injury and shut down in September. That would prove to be the end of his career as an Angel.
The 2023 Deadline’s Effect on Today
It’s not hyperbole to state that a prospect was the best acquisition made that summer.
Generally speaking, it takes a while for traded prospects to make an impact at the MLB level. But Ragans, who had MLB experience before the move and now had an opportunity, certainly did in Kansas City. The left-hander struck out 89 over 71 innings for the Royals after the trade in 2023. In 2024, Ragans struck out 223 and led the AL in K/9 (10.8). He finished fourth in the AL Cy Young vote.
The Royals got an ace. Ragans was the kind of dominant pitcher needed to cap off the rebuild. Still, any team will trade that for a World Series title.
Chapman got outs in the regular season and playoffs for the Rangers. He added a different element that the Rangers didn’t have in their bullpen at the time: a hard-throwing, strikeout southpaw.
He, along with Scherzer and Montgomery, the latter of whom posted a 2.90 ERA over 31 postseason innings in 2023, was a worthwhile addition.
As for the other highlights from that deadline, the Mets gained much-needed prospect currency amidst what turned into a rebuild on the fly. It did not last long; the Mets turned it on in June 2024 and notched a playoff spot that year.
To this point, none of the prospects acquired from that summer have played in the Majors for the Mets aside from Acuna. Gilbert’s now in San Francisco, after he was shipped off to Tyler Rogers. Ryan Clifford, meanwhile, could be one in 2026.
And as for the Angels, the franchise lost its (other) generational talent. Ohtani went to Dodger Stadium, and the rest is history.
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