Before trade rumors heated up and dream scenarios were briefly envisioned, before the Dodgers were linked to a string of big names who all wound up anywhere but Los Angeles, the team’s front office foreshadowed what proved to be a rather straightforward, unremarkable trade deadline on Thursday afternoon.

“This group is really talented,” general manager Brandon Gomes said last week. “I would argue it’s better than the team that won the World Series last year.”

“It’s really about our internal guys, and the fact that these are veteran guys that have well-established watermarks,” echoed president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, amid a July slump that fueled deadline speculation about what the team would need.

“I think the fact that we see the work they put in, how much they care, just makes it easier to bet on.”

Read more:MLB trade deadline tracker: Live updates, news and every major move

On Thursday, maintaining faith in their current group is exactly what the Dodgers did.

The team did address its two main needs ahead of MLB’s annual midseason trade deadline. In the bullpen, it reunited with right-handed veteran Brock Stewart in a trade with the Minnesota Twins. In the outfield, it added solid-hitting, defensively serviceable 30-year-old Alex Call in a deal with the Washington Nationals.

But compared with the flurry of blockbuster deals that reverberated around them in the National League — from a head-spinning seven-player shopping spree by the San Diego Padres, to a bullpen arms race between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies — the Dodgers’ moves were mild, tame and certainly cost-conscientious.

They didn’t splurge for one of the several established closers that were dealt for sky-high prices throughout the league. They didn’t remake their lineup by landing someone such as Steven Kwan, or any other hitter with anything close to All-Star pedigree.

In fact, the Dodgers hardly gave up much at all, content to round out the margins of their roster while parting with little in the way of prospect capital.

High-A pitchers Eriq Swan and Sean Paul Liñan (the 16th- and 20th-ranked players in their farm system by MLB Pipeline) were shipped to Washington. But otherwise, the only other departures were 40-man roster players unlikely to factor much into the team’s late-season plans: James Outman, who went to Minnesota in exchange for Stewart; Dustin May, who was dealt to the Boston Red Sox for a prospect a few months before entering free agency; and minor league catcher Hunter Feduccia, who was part of a three-team deal late Wednesday night that netted the Dodgers two pitching prospects and a journeyman catcher.

Compared to last year — when the Dodgers added Jack Flaherty (their eventual Game 1 starter in the World Series), Tommy Edman (the eventual National League Championship Series MVP) and Michael Kopech (a key piece in a bullpen that carried the team to a World Series title) — it all felt rather anticlimactic.

Which, as the Dodgers’ top two executives had noted the week before, appeared to be perfectly fine by them.

In Stewart, the team got a lower-cost addition in what was an expensive seller’s reliever market.

The 33-year-old has only two career saves, and is unlikely to fix the Dodgers’ ninth-inning problems. But, he is having a strong statistical season with 14 holds and a 2.38 ERA, 14th-best in the American League among relievers with 30 innings. He will give the Dodgers a stout option against right-handed hitters, who have just a .104 average and .372 OPS against him. And he comes with familiarity in the organization, still thought highly of after starting his career with the Dodgers from 2016-2019 — back before he reinvented himself with a fastball that now sits in the mid-to-upper 90 mph range.

In Call, the Dodgers gave themselves more versatility in the outfield.

Read more:Dodgers begin deadline with minor trade, while still seeking upgrades in bullpen and outfield

The right-handed hitter has appeared in just 277 career games over four MLB seasons with the Nationals and Cleveland Guardians.

But the former third-round draft pick is having a nice 2025 season, highlighted by a .274 batting average, .756 OPS and decent (if unspectacular) defensive grades at all three outfield positions.

While Call’s role wasn’t immediately clear, he could factor into a platoon with recently resurgent left-handed hitting outfielder Michael Conforto. He also gives the Dodgers another option in center field, specifically, which would allow Andy Pages to spend more time in a more naturally suited corner outfield spot.

For those Dodgers, the moves checked off their two big priorities: Adding another dependable right-handed reliever in the bullpen, and improving their defensive options in the outfield.

What was missing from the Dodgers’ deadline, however, was the kind of big splash so many other contenders reeled off this week. The Padres acquired Mason Miller, Ramon Laureano, and Ryan O’Hearn without sacrificing any key big-league pieces. The Mets added Tyler Rogers, Ryan Helsley and Gregory Soto to their already stout bullpen, while the Phillies upgraded theirs with the addition of Jhoan Durán.

Already this year, the rest of the NL was keeping pace with what was billed as a seemingly invincible Dodgers team. Suddenly, the competition looks that much stronger, not only for the club to defend its World Series, but even to preserve the narrow three-game lead it holds over the Padres in the NL West.

The Dodgers, however, see internal improvement as the key to the rest of the season.

Read more:Shohei Ohtani leaves pitching start because of cramping, Dodgers go on to lose to Reds

Already, their pitching staff is getting healthy. Tyler Glasnow, Blake Treinen and (as of this coming Saturday) Blake Snell are all back from extended injuries. Michael Kopech, Brusdar Graterol, Tanner Scott and Roki Sasaki are also scheduled to return over the final two months.

Offensively, the club is confident that slumping stars Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Tesocar Hernández will get back on track, and that Max Muncy will provide a jolt in his return from injury next week. All that — coupled with the MVP-caliber play of Shohei Ohtani and Will Smith — they believe should yield a lineup capable of repeating a run to the World Series.

“It’s always tricky when you’re in the midst of a swoon in team performance, because in those moments you feel like we need everything,” Friedman acknowledged leading into the deadline, with the team enduring a 10-14 slide in July. “So for us, it’s about, all right, let’s look ahead to August, September. Let’s look at what our best-case scenario is. Let’s look at, if we have a few injuries here and there, what areas are we exposed? What areas do we feel like we have depth?”

Apparently, the Dodgers still liked what they already had, rolling the dice on their current group while other contenders stocked up all around them.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Yankees extended their winning streak to three games on Thursday afternoon, as a pair of early-inning homers helped them outlast the Rays in a rain-soaked 7-4 victory at Yankee Stadium.

Here are the takeaways...

-- It didn't take long for the Yankees to inflict damage on Rays starter Ryan Pepiot. After a lucky one-out double to shallow left from Paul Goldschmidt -- the high fly was lost in the sky and found grass between four fielders -- Cody Bellinger continued his torrid pace at the plate with an RBI single to right-center that broke the ice. The swirling Bronx winds didn't impact the ensuing at-bat for Giancarlo Stanton, however, as the veteran slugger bumped the first-inning lead to 3-0 with a mammoth two-run homer to left that traveled 432 feet.

-- The Yankees posted another three-spot off Pepiot in the second. Following back-to-back one-out walks from Ryan McMahon and Anthony Volpe, leadoff man and catcher Ben Rice ripped a cutter to right-center that landed in the bullpen for a three-run blast. The 410-foot shot was No. 16 on the season for Rice, who finished July with just two homers in 56 total at-bats. The Yankees jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the third, when newly-acquired outfielder Austin Slater grounded into a fielder's choice that scored Jazz Chisholm Jr., who sparked the brief rally with a one-out walk of his own.

-- The early and ample run support appeased Marcus Stroman, who managed to hold the Rays hitless through three innings with three strikeouts across 38 pitches. But the groove didn't last for the veteran right-hander, as he gave up a leadoff single to Brandon Lowe in the fourth that snowballed into a five-hit, four-run rally and cut the Yankees' lead to three. Stroman needed 28 pitches to complete the frame, and it marked his first start with four-plus runs allowed since returning from the injured list on June 29.

-- Heavy rain began to fall in the top of the fifth, and Stroman worked quick enough to produce three outs on eight pitches and make the game official. While play resumed after a mid-inning chat between a grounds crew member and umpire, the tarp was rolled out shortly thereafter with runners on the corners for the Yankees and one out. Rather than handing the Yankees a rain-shortened win, the league made both teams sit through a nearly three-hour delay, and the prolonged fifth inning ended with a double-play groundout from Slater.

-- Yerry De Los Santos was tasked with bulk relief duty following the delay, and didn't disappoint the Yankees. He faced the minimum through three innings of work, punching out five across 33 pitches. Jonathan Loaisiga then handled the ninth inning, and worked around a leadoff double to earn his first save of the season. The Yankees' offense produced just a pair of singles after the rain showers.

Game MVP: Ben Rice

Rice's three-run shot in the second inning wound up providing just enough cushion, as the Yankees' seven-run lead was cut down to three by the fourth. It was welcomed power from Rice, who's hitting just .228 over his last 30 games.

Highlights

GIANCARLOOOO pic.twitter.com/v1FmrtgEx2

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) July 31, 2025

Ben Rice with a three-run blast! pic.twitter.com/Cw7NUE4GiT

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) July 31, 2025

Austin Slater with his first RBI as a Yankee pic.twitter.com/8NFlCAsbno

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) July 31, 2025

What's next

The Yankees (60-49) will fly down to South Beach and begin a three-game weekend set with the Marlins on Friday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.

LHP Carlos Rodón (11-7, 3.18 ERA) is slated to take the mound, while the Marlins have yet to name their starter.

The Yankees continued their quest to bolster the bullpen just minutes before the end of the trade deadline.

According to multiple reports, the Yankees have acquired Giants reliever Camilo Doval. The Yankees traded No. 19 prospect Trystan Vrieling, No. 25 prospect Jesus Rodriguez, Parks Harbor, and Carlos De La Rosa.

Doval has had a solid season for the Giants. In 47 appearances, he's pitched to a 3.09 ERA to go along with 50 strikeouts in 46.2 innings pitched. He's also closed 15 games for the Giants.

It's a nice bounce-back year for Doval, who pitched to a 4.88 ERA last season and lost the closer's job. But he's not far removed from his All-Star season in 2023 when he saved 39 games and pitched to a 2.93 ERA.

The Doval trade culminates an active deadline for GM Brian Cashman, as he brought in a total of three relievers to remake the bullpen, including former Pirates closer David Bednar and former Rockies reliever Jake Bird.

Like Bednar and Bird, Doval will be under Yankees control for multiple seasons. Doval is arbitration-eligible for two more seasons before becoming an unrestricted free agent in 2028.

The Yankees made a move to add some versatility and speed just before the 6 p.m. trade deadline, acquiring utility man Jose Caballero from the Tampa Bay Rays, per Jack Curry of YES Network.

In exchange, the Yanks are sending Everson Pereira and a player to be named later to Tampa.

Caballero, 28, won’t have to travel far to arrive with this new team, as the Yankees and Rays were still playing each other in the Bronx following a lengthy rain delay.

This season alone, Caballero has played 17 games at second, 27 games at third, 31 games at short, and 35 games in the outfield.

He also brings elite speed to the Yanks' roster, as he's stolen 34 bases in 42 attempts this season. Last season, Caballero was successful on 44 out of 60 stolen base attempts.

The former Ray will likely be a do-it-all player off the bench for the Bombers, taking the spot of Oswald Peraza, who was traded to the Los Angeles Angels earlier in the day.

Oswald Peraza's time in the Bronx is up.

According to multiple reports, the Yankees are trading the young infielder to the Los Angeles Angels, minutes before the trade deadline. New York will receive 18-year-old minor league outfielder Wilberson De Pena and international money from the Angels in the return.

Peraza was a highly touted infield prospect in the Yankees system alongside Anthony Volpe. However, the combination of injuries and poor performance in the majors caused Peraza to fall out of favor in the organization.

After a cup of coffee in 2022, Peraza was beaten out for the starting shortstop gig by Volpe the following season. However, he would appear in 52 games as a bench player. Injuries derailed his 2024 campaign as he appeared in just four games for the Yankees, but after having no more options, he broke camp with the team this year. In 71 games this season, mostly as a bench player, Peraza slashed just .152/.212/.241 with an OPS of .453 to go along with three home runs, five doubles and 13 RBI.

As for De Pena, the Dominican native has spent two seasons in the Angels' developmental league. This season, he's slashed .227/.306/.493 with four home runs and six doubles to go along with his .799 OPS.

What Craig Breslow said after another underwhelming trade deadline day originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

One hour after the buzzer sounded across Major League Baseball on Thursday night, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow addressed the Boston media via Zoom to share his side of what happened — and didn’t happen — before the trade deadline.

Breslow swung two deals in the 24 hours before that deadline, acquiring reliever Steven Matz from the Cardinals late Wednesday and getting starter Dustin May from the Dodgers in the final minutes before the actual deadline arrived at 6 p.m. on Thursday.

Boston sent outfield prospects James Tibbs III (who had been acquired in the Rafael Devers trade) and Zach Ehrhard to the Dodgers for May, and they sent corner infielder Blaze Jordan to St. Louis for Matz.

Breslow, leading Boston’s baseball department at a deadline for the second time, made additions but didn’t make any significant additions that will alter the Red Sox’ postseason chances. He even said as much himself.

“We were pursuing multiple impact players,” Breslow said. “And obviously, on the other side, teams that were operating as sellers were trying to juggle different concepts. And for whatever reason, we weren’t able to line up.”

As a result, the Red Sox will hit the home stretch of the season without significant reinforcements as they try to earn a postseason spot for the first time in four years.

Here were all of the major points hit by Breslow in his 20-plus meeting with reporters.

Red Sox were “uncomfortably aggressive,” but teams still didn’t like their offers

According to Breslow, the Red Sox entered the deadline with no untouchables in their farm system. Everyone was on the table, and the team made aggressive deals, but potential trade partners weren’t satisfied with the offers.

“We’re happy with the guys that we brought in with Steven and Dustin, but we also pursued real impact players that we felt like could improve our team in ’25 and beyond. Like I said, we were kind of uncomfortably aggressive in trying to pursue them and the players that we were willing to put into deals,” Breslow explained. “And ultimately, you know, it wasn’t from a lack of effort. Other teams needed to say, ‘Hey, that’s enough [to get a deal done].’ You know, ‘That crosses the line.’ But like I said, it wasn’t about an unwillingness to talk about our whole system.”

Breslow said that the team used the offseason’s Garrett Crochet deal, which saw Boston send top catching prospect Kyle Teel and three other prospects to Chicago, as a model for how to make a trade with a major impact at the deadline. 

“That was instructive in terms of how we approached this deadline,” Breslow said of the big swing for Crochet. “But ultimately, we didn’t line up with other teams in those pursuits.”

The major league roster was pretty much off limits

While the whole farm system was in play, the MLB roster was more or less off the table when it came to making trades. After months of public discussions about the outfield logjam and speculation on Jarren Duran potentially being the odd man out, and with Aroldis Chapman being someone who could have had a hefty price tag attached to his left arm, Breslow said the big league club has performed too well for any of the players to be shipped away.

“I think over the last two to three weeks, it became clear that all 26 guys on our roster were contributing to what we were doing, and we weren’t willing to take a hit to our major league team and potentially impact the 2025 season in favor of trying to repackage or repurpose in a way that might have improved the future,” Breslow said. “And there weren’t really opportunities to both trade off of our major league team and improve our 2025 outlook. So we felt like it was best to kind of leave that group as it was and try to use what I think is a strong and deep system to try to improve the team.”

On Chapman specifically, Breslow said, “We recognize what trading somebody like like Chappy would mean, and so didn’t have the appetite to go down that path.”

So is the farm system bad?

With Breslow repeating several times that other teams weren’t interested in Boston’s offers, it begged the question: Were you surprised that the players you offered up in trades weren’t appealing to other teams?

“I don’t know if that is surprising,” Breslow said. “I think a lot of the industry does appreciate the young players that we have in our system. And, you know, we try to work through different combinations of guys and didn’t approach some of these conversations as though any players were off limits, and we couldn’t line up.”

Breslow reiterated: “I do think that there’s pretty widespread sentiment across the industry that we have a really solid group of young players, many of whom are already impacting our big league club. And so I think the outlook is really good, not just for 2025 but beyond.”

The Red Sox do have a number of young players contributing at the big league level, including Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer (prior to his injury), Wilyer Abreu and Carlos Narvaez. Yet with the Red Sox’ unwillingness to move players off the big league roster, the “widespread sentiment across the industry” seemed to be that the rest of the system wasn’t particularly alluring for other teams.

When can Dustin May start for the Red Sox?

The 27-year-old May has been through a lot in his career. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2021, and then went through a Tommy John revision procedure two years later in 2023. He also suffered a torn esophagus in the summer of 2024, forcing him to undergo emergency surgery.

He returned to the mound this year, but he’s struggled. He went 6-7 with a 4.85 ERA for the Dodgers, and his ERA has jumped from 4.20 in April and May to 5.59 in June and July.

With all of that, plus May getting traded to a team 3,000 miles away, Breslow said the team won’t rush the righty to start ASAP.

“I think we’re still working through when the right time is to get him into the rotation, just given a bit of a whirlwind day, I’m sure, for him,” Breslow said. “And sometimes, having to get somebody to travel and settle in and then take the ball in a start could be a hefty ask. But we’ll work through that.”

Breslow also said that May is “a guy who really limits hard contact [and] keeps the ball on the ground at a strong rate.”

“He’s battle-tested, has premium stuff, and a bona fide starter that can take the ball for us every five days,” Breslow added.

Breslow also said that there won’t be any restrictions placed on May, even though at 104 innings pitched, he’s close to doubling his previous career high of 56 innings.

And Steven Matz?

The 34-year-old Matz was a starter for most of his career but has operated almost exclusively as a reliever this season (30 relief appearances, two starts). Despite the history, Breslow sees Matz working as a late-inning reliever in Boston.

“He’s served multiple roles in the big leagues, but it seems like out of the pen, the stuff has ticked up,” Breslow said. “He’s got a really good fastball that plays to both sides. He’s a great strike thrower who’s been in kind of pressure situations before, so we feel like he’s someone that Alex [Cora] can call upon in the seventh, eighth, ninth inning, and get really big outs for us. And if you kind of look at what he’s done out of the pen, he’s been really, really good.”

What about other teams getting better?

The Red Sox are in possession of an American League wild-card spot. But just about every other playoff contender in the AL made bigger moves ahead of the deadline. Breslow was asked if that’s a concern.

“Yeah, we can’t ignore what other teams are doing. At the same time, our focus today was identifying and pursuing the players that we felt like were good fits for our team. And ultimately, we’re all going to be defined by what happens from tomorrow through our last game of the season and potentially the playoffs,” Breslow said.

“I think it’s really easy to sit here today and evaluate the trades that were made and how much better we think teams got on paper. Ultimately, those questions are going to be answered for us. Like I said, we were as aggressive as we could possibly be in pursuits. Some of them worked out and some of them didn’t, and that’s the nature of a trade deadline.”

Did the Red Sox pursue offensive help?

The Red Sox needed pitching help, but they also could have used some pop in the lineup. Alex Cora’s dual move of making Roman Anthony bat leadoff while putting Jarren Duran in the three hole has provided a bit of a spark, but there’s still been a notable lack of thump ever since the Rafael Devers trade.

So … did the Red Sox try to pursue a bat at the deadline?

“Yeah, we spent pretty significant time trying to add a bat,” Breslow said. “But someone, again, that could impact the roster, and represent a meaningful upgrade over the guys that we have, either on our team or potentially in Triple-A that we feel like would immediately improve the roster. We weren’t able to line up.”

Notably, in terms of corner infielders, the Padres acquired Ryan O’Hearn from the Orioles and the Mariners got Eugenio Suarez from Arizona.

Aggressive, aggressive, aggressive…

When Breslow and Sam Kennedy spoke with the media after the Rafael Devers trade, the buzzword was “alignment.” This time, it was “aggressive.”

Despite the tepid moves, Breslow really stressed that he and his fellow front office employees were aggressive in their efforts to bolster the 2025 team. Like … really, really aggressive.

Here are all the times Breslow used the word:

” … it wasn’t from a lack of trying to be as aggressive as possible [or] from an unwillingness to get uncomfortable.”

“Like I said, we were kind of uncomfortably aggressive in trying to pursue them in the players that we were willing to put into deals.”

“None of the deals that didn’t end up being executed, in my opinion, came from a lack of being aggressive or an unwillingness to get uncomfortable.”

“Like I said, we were as aggressive as we could possibly be in pursuits.”

“The decisions that were made at this deadline, they weren’t driven by, like I said, an unwillingness to be aggressive.”

“We were aggressively pursuing acquisitions that could help us in 2025 and they didn’t line up.”

“We tried to put the most aggressive offers that we could in hopes that they were going to end in deals.”

The bottom line: Breslow wants you to know the team was aggressive. Really, really aggressive … even if the end result doesn’t indicate that being the case.