Trade Deadline 2020

I must admit that I've paid very little attention to baseball in 2020. Not only are there more dire and important things going on in this country - a still-raging global pandemic, an ever-increasing number of police brutality cases, which our governments are unable/unwilling to address, white supremacy-motivated violence in the streets, incited by the president, and the upcoming battle for the future of our nation's democracy in November. And while all those things are still at the forefront of my mind (and probably those of most Americans), I still can't help but be fascinated by the MLB trade deadline. Sure, it's happening a month later than usual, which happens to be just less than two-thirds of the way through the 60-game 2020 season. But player movement gives us a chance to check in on which teams are surging, which teams are struggling, and who is primed to make the most impact in the most unique MLB playoff push in history.

Here's a position-by-position lineup of the top players who changed teams at or near this year's deadline, evaluated by my favorite fantasy point system. They're also listed with some fun color-coded information, including offseason acquired status (first name highlighted in Yellow, to go with the Cyan that indicates a midseason acquisition), and my personal favorite bit of triviality: each player's astrological sign.

After making his MLB debut last year, Austin Nola emerged as Seattle's top catcher when Tom Murphy went down with a foot injury. The Capricorn Nola was acquired by the Padres, moments after they also picked up lefty-swinging Jason Castro (120 points, 6.7 points-per-game) from the Angels, solidifying their backstop platoon. When you consider that the Friars sent Luis Torrens to the Mariners as part of the return for Nola, and also traded Austin Hedges to Cleveland in a blockbuster trade, San Diego was involved in four of the five catchers to change teams during the 2020 deadline. (The only outlier was Robinson Chirinos, who went from the Rangers to the Mets.)

Speaking of San Diego, they also scored the top overall fantasy point-scoring trade deadline acquisition in Mitch Moreland. After years of languishing in the bowels of the Virgo depth chart behind the likes of Paul Goldschmidt, Joey Votto, and Freddie Freeman, the 34-year-old Moreland finally found his power stroke during his fourth year playing for the Red Sox. Again, he's only had about 80 plate appearances this year, but Moreland's career-high marks in batting average, on-base, and slugging percentages earned him a trade to a contender out west.

The next two infielders on the lineup also qualified at first base, but they'll be occupying second and third base, respectively, for the purposes of this project. In addition to positional eligibility, another thing that Tommy La Stella and Todd Frazier have in common is that they're both Aquarians, which has historically been the worst performing fantasy sign of the baseball zodiac (at least over the last 30 years, which is as far back as my comprehensive astrology baseball database stretches). Rounding out the infield is Jonathan Villar, who was traded from one surprise contender (the Marlins) to another (the Blue Jays). Miami's plan to play the Taurean infielder in center field this year didn't exactly pan out, but perhaps he'll become a backup outfielder in Toronto Buffalo after he's done filling in for the injured Bo Bichette at shortstop.

Libra has had a crazy strong outfield alignment for the last ten years, from Andrew McCutchen, Jose Bautista, Carlos Gonzalez, and Matt Kemp from the early 2010s, to Mookie Betts, Bryce Harper, and Starling Marte of today. Marte's time in the desert was brief, having been acquired by the D-Backs during the offseason, and now he should solidify Miami's outfield as they unexpectedly push for a playoff berth. The other two outfielders also have center field eligibility dating back to 2019, but both Kevin Pillar and Brian Goodwin have spent their 2020 seasons in the corners flanking some pretty high-level defenders: Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mike Trout, respectively. Rounding out the starting nine, infielder Ty France is neck-and-neck with outfielder Jose Martinez (186 / 7.8) for the DH spot, the universal adoption of which is one of the only positive developments I can see coming out of the debacle that is the 2020 MLB season.

In terms of 2020 stats, Taijuan Walker is the top performing starting pitcher to change teams at the deadline. The Leo starter, who was drafted and developed by Seattle, returned to his original team in the offseason after three years in Arizona, before the Mariners shipped him off to the Blue Jays. But the top pitcher moved in terms of star power is Mike Clevinger, who went to the ever-active Padres from the Indians. The Sagittarius starter known as "Sunshine" made headlines (and missed time) earlier in the season for violating the team's COVID protocols, but I guess he was given a clean bill of health prior to his trade to sunny California. Clevinger's Sagittarius teammate Ross Stripling joins him on this All-Acquired team, after the Dodgers were finally able to deal him. (Remember, they tried and failed to send "Chicken Strip" to the Angels as part of the first iteration of the Mookie Betts deal.)

Neither of the two lefties that round out the rotation have had very impressive 2020 seasons, although  to be fair, Mike Minor has a recent track record of excellence, and Tommy Milone's allowed less than 4 runs per 9 innings with the Orioles until his disastrous first start with the Braves (7 runs allowed in 2 1/3 innings) pushed his ERA to 5.68. In the opposite circumstance, Minor's last start with Texas, before he joined the Athletics, was a masterpiece against the Dodgers... although he still failed to pick up his first win of the season (0-5, 5.60 ERA). I feel like I should mention Cal Quantrill in this section, since he served as a starter in his debut year of 2019, but he has pitched almost exclusively out of the bullpen with the Padres, before going to Cleveland as part of the return for Clevinger.

Trevor Rosenthal finally gets to star in the big comeback story that he has been trying to author since 2017, his last season as the closer for the Cardinals. The Gemini known as Big T is yet another player heading to the Padres, and he'll be joined by Cancer cusper Taylor Williams, who emerged as the Mariners' closer, after being picked off waivers from the Brewers during the offseason. The next two relievers on this list are both Leo closers: Archie Bradley, who went from Arizona to Cincinnati, and Brandon Workman, who joined the Phillies from Boston. Speaking of the Phillies, they also acquired David Phelps (185 / 15.4) from Milwaukee, and also Heath Hembree (110 / 6.9) in the same deal as Workman. Other honorable mentions are a pair of relievers traded from the Orioles: Miguel Castro (187 / 11.7) to the Mets, and Mychal Givens (152 / 12.7) to the Rockies.

Those are the lineups: now a few words about some further Astrology implications. Of the 66 players traded at the deadline, 47 of them have appeared in the majors in 2020. Of those 47, the relative majority (8) were Leos. However, curiously, five other signs had exactly 5 players represented: Gemini, Libra, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. One of these, Pisces, is one of only two signs to not have a player in my "starting lineup" pictured above. The other is Aries, which had only one player traded this deadline season (outfielder Cameron Maybin (88 / 6.3) who went from Detroit to the Cubs). This is also particularly curious because Aries has been the top scoring sign of the last several years - when taking into account a similar "starting lineup" configuration (although with just three relievers). I'll be going into some more big picture detail later, but until then, stay safe, practice social distancing, and hope that your favorite team doesn't get any(more) positive COVID tests.