David Lennon: Dodgers top MLB trade deadline winners; as for the losers . . .

For those who believe the Dodgers are responsible for breaking baseball, a group that likely includes a fair share of the sport’s other 29 owners, the 2026 trade deadline certainly added fuel to that fire.

As soon as the Tigers dealt the reigning back-to-back Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal to the two-time defending champs, the Dodgers not only were labeled the trigger to this December’s lockout, but the franchise to blame for an extended labor battle that many anticipate could wipe out the 2027 season.

Never before had a team merely trying to improve itself at the deadline been accused of potentially destroying the sport. And this wasn’t a case of the Dodgers, who already had spent more than $400 million on this year’s three-peat bid, simply buying the best available free agent, as they’ve done plenty of times before (see Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki, Kyle Tucker, etc.)

The Brewers and Rays certainly had the prospect capital to pull off a Skubal deal. But stripping a farm system is more costly to a smaller-market franchise, which relies on those pieces to replenish the major-league roster rather than laying out the cash for top-shelf free agents — or taking on big salaries in trades.

It’s all part of the calculus. Combine that with the Dodgers’ willingness to do whatever is necessary in the pursuit of a championship and that separates L.A. from nearly everyone else. But did the Skubal trade move us any closer to midnight on MLB’s doomsday clock? Not really. The sport already was headed full-speed for a baseball armageddon when the current CBA expires on Dec. 1.

Which also was part of the Dodgers’ motivation to grab a third straight Commissioner’s Trophy before the sport goes dark. Based on the record number of deals this year, plenty of other teams felt some degree of urgency as well.

In total, there were 104 trades between June 1 and Aug. 3, eclipsing last year’s 92, and 86 prospects were swapped in the two weeks leading up the deadline, including 62 on the final day, according to MLB. A year ago, 94 prospects changed hands, including 58 on deadline day.

As far as A-listers, this year’s deadline class was a little light, with 15 former All-Stars (with 27 combined appearances) being moved. Compare that to 23 last season (33 appearances) and the 27 in 2021 (64 appearances), which is the most going back to 1999.

Aside from Skubal, the star-wattage was somewhat lacking, as teams remained wary of sticker shock. That’s not unusual this time of year, but could be a source of regret for the teams that wind up empty-handed in October. With that in mind, here’s a snapshot of some winners and losers from the Aug. 3 deadline, even though we won’t have a fully-developed picture until the playoffs are concluded.

WINNERS

1. Dodgers

Stunner, right? Any team that emerged from this year’s deadline with Tarik Skubal was going right to the top of the winner list, and the Dodgers getting him felt inevitable once the Tigers conceded to shopping their homegrown ace. But they also nabbed starter Kris Bubic, who was an All-Star last year for the Royals, and reliever Seth Halvorsen from the Rockies. Heck, even acquiring catcher Ben Rortvedt from the Mets is probably going to be some pivotal move, just because it’s the Dodgers and everything works out for them.

2. Cubs

Grabbing David Peterson from the Mets and immediately transforming him into an impactful starter again is reason enough for the Cubs to be high up on these rankings. As of Thursday, Peterson — acquired a day before Carlos Mendoza’s firing — was 2-0 with a 1.52 ERA in his last four starts, definitely enjoying the Cubs’ elite defense behind him. But wait, there’s more. The Cubs further plundered the Mets by trading for the newly-rehabbed Clay Holmes and the lefty-crushing Tyrone Taylor, then also grabbed Kevin Gausman from the Blue Jays. As October reloads go, all the boxes were checked on the North Side.

3. Red Sox

This one might deserve an asterisk, only because chief baseball officer Craig Breslow took a couple of big swings that could backfire because of medical complications. Let’s start with All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman, who came at a huge cost — three of the Sox’s top five prospects — but was worth it just for making Yankees fans enraged  over Brian Cashman’s inability to close the deal. Rutschman probably won’t come off the IL (wrist inflammation) until later this month, but if he is fully healthy, expect a change-of-scenery rebound for the switch-hitting catcher with a career .756 OPS. Boston also could use some luck after their other big-bat acquisition, Curtis Mead, didn’t even make it through his first game with the Sox after his wrist was fractured by a pitch.

4. Phillies

Like president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski was going to resist the temptation of Luis Arraez? The Phillies needed offense, Arraez was hitting .360 with an .801 OPS for the Giants, so what did it matter that manager Don Mattingly would be stuck with shuffling his defensive alignment in potentially combustible fashion? Arraez insisted on playing second, so that bounced Bryce Harper to rightfield, a position he hasn’t played regularly since 2021. Brooks Raley (1.96 ERA) was one of the sport’s best relievers this season — plucking him from the Mets made it even sweeter.

5. Padres

Few GMs love the trade deadline as much as A.J. Preller, and the Huntington Station native — who made the stunning Mason Miller deal a year ago — generated headlines again by acquiring two of the best non-Skubal starters available in Robbie Ray and Casey Mize. Preller shipped shortstop Leo De Vries, the No. 18 prospect in all of MLB, to the A’s for Miller last season and held on to him this time around despite speculation that the Padres could opt for a massive haul. But it’s often difficult to predict Preller’s next move, and he again dealt top prospects, his No. 4 (Miguel Mendez) and No. 9 (Joniel Hernandez) to the Giants for Ray and his No. 2 (Kash Mayfield) to the Tigers for Mize.

6. Guardians

In the perpetually-mediocre AL Central, it doesn’t take much to stand out, and Cleveland made a strong push to stay above .500 — I know, low bar — by acquiring outfielder Jo Adell from the Angels, first baseman Nathan Lowe from the Reds and lefthander Foster Griffin from the Nationals. Adell and Lowe will strengthen the Guardians’ pop-gun lineup, which before the deadline ranked last in the AL in OPS (.681) and had averaged the second fewest runs (3.95). Cleveland’s rotation was a different story, as its 3.68 ERA was the AL’s fourth-best, but Griffin, who went from Japan to an All-Star (12-3, 3.06 ERA) this year, turned out to be an unexpected deadline boost as the Guardians try to fend off the White Sox for a third straight division title.

7. Yankees

This is a tough one to grade, but the Yankees squeeze up here in large part for the promotion of top prospect George Lombard Jr. (we’ll count it as a deadline move). Not so great is the fact that Brian Cashman failed to trade for two things he admittedly felt were the Yankees’ greatest needs: a righty-hitting catcher and bullpen help. Then again, his offense has been so atrocious, the GM had to find creative ways to spur his anemic lineup, and getting Luis Garcia Jr. — who owned MLB’s third-best slugging percentage at the deadline — was a smart place to start. Cashman also got lefty-smashing Heliot Ramos to take over leftfield, which helped buy some time until Cody Bellinger gets back, then presumably Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. Demoting Anthony Volpe and Jasson Dominguez were addition by subtraction, so kudos to Cashman for that, too.

8. Mets

While David Stearns gets an F for constructing this year’s $380 million dumpster fire, we’ll charitably award some points for the teardown, as he was aggressive enough to move all of his pending free agents, and even went the extra mile in dealing two relievers with team control — Luke Weaver and Huascar Brazoban — in an effort to stock a badly depleted farm system. Stearns dealt eight major-league players for a dozen prospects, including nine now in the Mets’ top 30 and a new No. 1 in Jefferson Rojas, who ranks 63rd overall in MLB’s top 100. The odds suggest few, if any, of these prospects will be productive Mets someday, but some hope is better than zero and prospect capital is a good thing going forward.

LOSERS

1. Brewers

You’d think the same franchise that benefited from CC Sabathia turning in baseball’s most epic performance by a walk-year trade acquisition would’ve tried harder to make sure Skubal didn’t end up in the Dodgers’ stable of All-Stars and MVPs hellbent to complete the three-peat. Instead, the Brewers settled for being the latest team in Dustin May’s whistle-stop tour of the majors along with adding bullpen pieces Jojo Romero and Antonio Senzatela. Milwaukee has the sport’s best record, so it’s hard to knock their strategy, but this is lining up as another October disappointment for a franchise that has won just one playoff series in its last six trips to the postseason.

2. Atlanta

It’s not that the NL East’s top team didn’t try. With its need for rotation help, Atlanta checked one of those boxes by trading for the Giants’ Tyler Mahle, who somehow had a 5.13 ERA despite being in pitcher-friendly Oracle Park. The failure here was not really of their own making because the big difference-maker on Atlanta’s radar, two-time Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom, used his no-trade clause to blow up a deal that was all but done to stay with the Rangers. A good fall-back option would’ve been Holmes, setting up a reunion with former Mets pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, but he went to the Cubs.

3. Rays

OK, maybe it’s slightly ridiculous to include three division leaders on the losers list. But since we are talking about the trade deadline here, it’s a narrow focus, and same as the Brewers, the Rays missed out on the big splash by whiffing in the Skubal sweepstakes. Was it realistic to think Tampa Bay, a franchise that relies on prospects like oxygen, would be willing to bleed their farm system for a two-month rental? Probably not. But in the rapidly tightening AL East, Skubal could’ve been a separator for the Rays. Clearly, Freddy Peralta is not.

4. Twins

The Twins rose from the ashes of last year’s fire sale — when they traded 11 players over a span of 72 hours — to put themselves just a half-game out of the AL’s third wild-card spot this season. But at two games under .500 (57-59) through Thursday, and a minus-35 run-differential, this is nothing more than another rung of the rebuild ladder in Minny, so the notion of being a “buyer” doesn’t feel all that legit when the acquisitions are Dean Kremer, Jeff Hoffman and A.J. Minter. Maybe some would count that as progress, but to use an old baseball term, it comes off as eyewash to the fan base.

5. Tigers

Ultimately, the Tigers had no choice but to cash in on Skubal after keeping him this winter. But the fact that Detroit couldn’t capitalize on last season’s momentum — the sole reason for holding on to Skubal for one more World Series try in his walk year — just cast a pall on the entire deadline proceedings. Did they get enough for the reigning back-to-back Cy Young winner? Only time will tell. But two top 100 prospects in outfielder Zyhir Hope (No. 25) and righthander River Ryan (69) seemed like a decent haul for a two-month rental. The Tigers also shipped Mize, another pending free agent, to the Padres in a package that included lefthander Kash Mayfield, San Diego’s No. 2 prospect. But overall, the whole deadline just felt like a no-win situation for Detroit.

6. Orioles

Could trading Rutschman actually be a good thing for the Orioles? It’s certainly possible. The Red Sox handed them their second, fourth and fifth-rated prospects, including righthander Anthony Eyanson, who is No. 49 on MLB’s top 100 list. But the perception of dealing Rutschman, a three-time All-Star catcher who’s just 28, stings just as much as the on-field reality, signifying yet another re-set for the woe-is-me O's after all the winter talk of being a divisional power again. Baltimore also traded Taylor Ward — part of the offseason reboot — and reliever Tyler Wells, yet is still in contention at just one game out of the AL’s third wild card through Thursday.