T10YL - 2014 MLB Trade Deadline, Part 1
Our first set of deadline moves from those who went shopping early.
The 2024 MLB trade deadline was on July 30 (yesterday, at time of press). There will not be any more baseball trades until after the World Series. Things were different in 2014 — first, the deadline wasn’t until July 31. Then, teams had the opportunity to make post-deadline “waiver trades” until the end of August.
Rather than counterprogramming live coverage of the flurry of trades from 2024, we are celebrating the passage of time by sliding our MLB deadline coverage into what used to be part of baseball’s deadline season. We’ll discuss 19 trades over the next week or so, all of which took place between July 22 and July 31, 2014. Then, we’ll still have nine more MLB trades that occurred at some point in August.
July 22, 2014 (9 days pre-deadline)
The Names: New York Yankees receive: Chase Headley, cash. San Diego Padres receive: Yangervis Solarte, Jose Rafael De Paula.
The Team Context: The Padres were still interviewing candidates for their vacant GM position and were just a few days removed from sending Huston Street to the Angels. They were continuing the obvious course of action by trading away any players who wouldn’t be around past the 2014 season.
The Yankees were just a few weeks removed from acquiring Brandon McCarthy, a trade that was already paying dividends. There was still work to do for the team to be competitive in the strong AL East. The Yankees had been employing stopgap solutions at third base throughout the 2014 season as a result of Alex Rodriguez’s yearlong suspension and needed to add more capable hitters to their lineup.
The Player Context: Chase Headley was poised to be both an obvious and slightly heartbreaking trade candidate. He was drafted by the Padres in 2005, debuted in 2007, and had been an entrenched starter since 2009. Headley’s career year came in 2012, when he was 45% better than the average hitter by OPS+ and led the NL with 115 RBIs, hit 31 home runs, and received the only Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards of his career. This was obviously an outlier in the context of Headley’s career with hindsight, but when he battled injuries and took a step back to his normal level in 2013 (about 16% better than league average), the breakout was still so recent that it wasn’t clear which version of Headley teams could expect going forward. The Padres made an attempt to lock him down ahead of the 2014 season with a three year extension in the “$33-$39M range,” but that offer “f[e]ll way short of what Headley [was] expecting to receive on the open market,” setting the stage for him to leave San Diego in the offseason. When the Padres proceeded to play terribly and fire their GM, the stage was set for Headley to leave San Diego even sooner.
Chase Headley was doing his part to contribute to the Padres’ disappointment in 2014. He had been 11% worse than league average and posted the worst offensive numbers of his career, ranking 145th in OPS among 163 qualified hitters. Headley was still capable at playing third base from a defensive standpoint, but might have been kicking himself for rejecting the Padres’ extension offer.
Headley’s value had fallen off precipitously enough to minimize the trade value required to acquire him at the deadline. The only true prospect headed to San Diego was Jose Rafael De Paula, a pitcher who was presently struggling in High-A as a 23-year-old. De Paula first attracted scouting attention in the summer of 2008, when he was pitching under the false identity of Rafael De Paula Figueroa, an alleged 16-year-old. Shortly after Rafael De Paula Figueroa turned 17, he was suspended for a year by MLB for actually being the 19-year-old Jose Rafael De Paula. De Paula still received a $500,000 bonus from the Yankees, but the whole “prior false identity” situation held up his U.S. visa paperwork and prevented him from signing a pro contract until March of 2012, by which point he was 21 years old in a baseball pipeline that typically whisks players away at 17. De Paula shot up prospect lists as he carved through much younger competition on the strength of his overpowering fastball, then started to slide back down prospect lists as it became evident that throwing a fastball was all he was good at.
Yangervis Solarte was the incumbent third baseman for the Yankees, getting his first taste of MLB action. He turned 27 a few weeks before the trade and had been kicking around the minor leagues since 2006, spending the first six years of his career ascending through the Twins’ system and the next two in AAA for the Texas Rangers (for the Round Rock Express, technically). Solarte had joined the Yankees for Spring Training in 2014 and ended up winning a roster spot ahead of Eduardo Nunez. Solarte took his first MLB opportunity and ran with it, getting off to a molten start as one of baseball’s best hitters. On May 14, he had a slash line of .336/.414/.521, good for a .935 OPS that was more than 200 points higher than more-famous teammates like Derek Jeter, Alfonso Soriano, and Brett Gardner. As pitchers began to identify weaknesses the regression came quickly, with Solarte’s OPS falling below .835 by May 25 and below .735 by July 10.
The Trade: This trade looked to be fairly win-win thanks to the fallen standards of both franchises. Padres fans had lived through the decline of Chase Headley’s value and were happy to bring an end to the saga, even if the return was more pitiful than it would’ve been in 2012. Yankees fans saw an opportunity to upgrade at 3B for essentially no cost, even if this particular upgrade was much less exciting than it would’ve been in 2012. Even if the trade made sense for both sides, the tough position that the Padres dealt from due to Headley’s underperformance made them the vibes-based losers of the transaction.
The Results: Jose Rafael De Paula never made it to MLB or returned to trade relevance, making this trade effectively a swap of third basemen. One month after the move, Solarte was comprehensively outhitting Headley, though the fun police were quick to point out that Headley’s superior defensive ability meant he was probably still the better player in the aggregate. But sentiments changed as Headley began to heat up down the stretch, ultimately leading to his retention by the Yankees as a free agent. Headley ended up signing a four-year, $52 million contract, giving him an extra year at the same annual salary that San Diego had offered him ahead of the 2014 season and vindicating his decision to turn down that contract.
The extension turned out to be somewhat ill-advised. Headley’s offensive production and defensive production simultaneously declined in 2015, with slight rebounds in 2016 and 2017 insufficient to render the contract worthwhile from a financial value perspective. He still earned his way into the hearts of Yankee fans thanks to his playing style and team attitude, both of which were consistently positive.
Meanwhile, Yangervis Solarte’s hot start in San Diego seemed to be just another flash in the pan. Solarte left New York with a .718 OPS, bumped his cumulative OPS up to .753 by July 30, then slowly tapered off to finish the season with a .705 figure. Solarte moved into a super-utility role for the 2015 season, but ended up topping his offensive output from 2014 across the larger sample of an uninterrupted season. He was even better in 2016, with a .286/.341/.467 slash line earning him a multi-year contract extension with San Diego.
This was another extension that would turn out to be “somewhat ill-advised.” Solarte was a below-average hitter for the first time in his MLB career in 2017 and was traded away ahead of the 2018 season.
The Aftermath: Solarte and Headley left the teams they arrived at in this trade about a month apart. Headley’s trade was first, with the Yankees sending him back to a firmly rebuilding Padres team in December 2017 along with Bryan Mitchell in what was viewed by all observers as a salary dump of the final $13 million owed to Chase Headley. Solarte was traded to Toronto in January 2018 for two prospects.
Neither of these were fun. Headley only played 27 games for San Diego in 2018 and only recorded six hits before he was designated for assignment and released in May. His final MLB hit came on May 5 of 2018, when he entered the game as an 8th inning pinch-hitter and hit an RBI single off Dodgers’ reliever Daniel Hudson. Solarte got off to another hot start in Toronto, but fell off worse than ever before in the second half. He was released in the offseason and joined the Giants on a minor league contract, playing just 28 MLB games in San Francisco and recording 15 hits before he was designated for assignment on May 10. Solarte’s final hit came on April 30 of 2019, when he hit a 1st inning single off Dodgers’ starter Walker Buehler.
Headley was content to quit baseball after playing out as much of his $52 million contract as had been allowed, but Solarte continued to grind outside the MLB. He signed with the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball after his release from San Francisco, but ended up suddenly leaving the team in September after citing a lack of motivation to continue playing baseball. That motivation returned quickly, as he spent 2020 at the Atlanta Braves’ alternate site and then began playing in the Mexican League in 2021. He started with Diablos Rojos del Mexico, then joined Algodoneros de Union Laguna in 2022. Solarte didn’t play in the 2023 regular season, but returned to action in 2024 until he was released by the Algodoneros in May. He had a brief four-game stint with Guerreros de Oaxaca, but has not joined a new team since his release on June 1.
July 23, 2024 (8 days pre-deadline)
The Names: Detroit Tigers receive: Joakim Soria. Texas Rangers receive: Corey Knebel, Jake Thompson.
The Team Context: These two teams were the recent class of the American League’s “non-championship” division. The Rangers won the AL pennant in each of 2010 and 2011, with the Tigers winning in 2012. Both teams remained competitive in 2013 and planned to be back in 2014, with both of their offseasons highlighted by the shocking swap of Ian Kinsler for Prince Fielder (a trade which tragically beat the launch of Trades Ten Years Later by like three weeks).
The paths diverged in the 2014 season. It was business as usual for the Tigers, who led their division by 6.5 games at the time of this trade and had scored the third-most runs in baseball. Meanwhile, the Rangers were living through a waking nightmare as they had a record-setting season in the limited categories of “time lost to injury.” By the date of this trade, they had the worst record in baseball at 40-61.
The Player Context: Joakim Soria made his name as an extremely successful Rule 5 Draft selection for the Kansas City Royals in 2007. He quickly took over as closer for Kansas City and notched 160 saves before an injured ulnar collateral ligament led to elbow surgery that cost him the 2012 season. Soria became a free agent and signed with Texas for the 2013 season, making his debut midway through the year and snagging the closer’s job in 2014. In addition to his 17 saves (on a team that had only won 40 games), Soria had put up 42 strikeouts against just 4 walks and 0 home runs across 33 and ⅓ innings in Texas, making him an enticing add for any competitive club at the deadline. An acquiring team would also have the advantage of a $7 million club option on Soria’s services for 2015, which would be a bargain based on his current performance.
In exchange for Soria, the Rangers acquired a pair of young pitchers with Dallas-area roots. Corey Knebel was born in Denton and had pitched for the University of Texas, where he followed in the footsteps of Huston Street as closer for the Longhorns. Like Street, Knebel had an incredible freshman year, but an attempt to take the school career saves record from Street was hindered when Knebel was suspended for a second time in the 2013 season after providing his urine to a teammate who would’ve otherwise tested positive for Adderall. Urinary indiscretions notwithstanding, the Tigers drafted Knebel with the 39th pick in the 2013 Draft, then fast-tracked him to the majors, where he made his debut against his hometown Rangers on May 24, 2014. Knebel allowed two walks and then a two-run triple against Texas, but evidently the team liked what they saw. He went back down to AAA on June 15, then re-emerged in MLB about a week before he was traded.
Jake Thompson was born in Dallas proper and went to high school in Heath, a town about 25 miles east of Dallas. The Tigers drafted him in the 2nd round of the 2012 Draft and signed him away from his commitment to TCU in Fort Worth. Thompson sailed through the low levels of the minor leagues, pitching to a 1.91 ERA in 2012 and making the Florida State League All-Star team in 2013. He had reached AA by the time of this trade, looking like he belonged at the level after two starts, and had just been named a representative in the 2014 Futures Game.
The Trade: Throughout the Tigers’ window of contention in the early 2010s, they consistently battled with an Achilles heel in their bullpen. The problem was especially pronounced in 2013, as Detroit starters held opponents to a .669 OPS compared to the .710 OPS managed by the bullpen. GM Dave Dombrowski tried to address the problem ahead of the 2014 season by acquiring new bullpen arms like Joe Nathan and Joba Chamberlain, both of whom got off to wretched starts to the season along with frustrating holdover Phil Coke.
The price seemed steep for a reliever, but Detroit fans were generally content to pay the premium in hopes of solving their bullpen woes. For a team that was clearly World Series or bust, parting with top prospects was just the cost of doing business. Dave Cameron at Fangraphs noted that the Tigers “paid through the nose” for Soria in an article that generally focused on the merits of paying such a premium for elite relievers for a team with a high level of confidence that they’d be in postseason contention.
The Results: You might recall from five paragraphs ago that Soria showed up in Detroit having allowed just four walks and no home runs in 2014. In his first appearance as a Tiger, Soria allowed a walk and two hits while getting just one out. In his second appearance as a Tiger, Soria allowed a single, then a double, then a home run, then another home run, then got a merciful groundout, then allowed two more singles before he was finally relieved. In his third appearance as a Tiger, he loaded the bases on a dropped third strike, single, and intentional walk, then hit Paul Konerko with a pitch to let another run score.
Things generally improved from there, but relief pitchers traded midseason don’t generate large enough sample sizes to normalize such a rocky start. Making matters worse, Soria got blown up in both Game 1 and Game 2 of the American League Division Series to end the first postseason run of his career with a 45.00 ERA as the Tigers got swept by the Orioles. This was much worse than the Tigers had expected from Soria when they acquired him in July, but his $7 million club option for 2015 still represented such clear value that the Tigers brought him back. Unfortunately, it turned out that Detroit really was “World Series or bust” in 2014 and had ended up with the “bust” outcome. Even as Soria returned to his typical dominance, the Tigers were bad to start 2015 and he was flipped to Pittsburgh at the trade deadline. The Tigers still have not returned to the playoffs and they won’t make it this year, either.
Neither Texas-native pitcher acquired by the Rangers ever threw an inning for the team, instead being used as prospect fuel to feed the furnace of a once-again competitive roster. Knebel was assigned to AAA upon his arrival to the organization and made nine appearances in a month before he was sidelined with a sprained elbow ligament in August of 2014. The Rangers traded him to Milwaukee on January 19 as part of a package for Yovani Gallardo. Thompson got to stick around for a bit longer, pitching well for the AA Frisco RoughRiders until he was traded in July as part of a package for Cole Hamels. The Rangers won the AL West in both 2015 and 2016 with huge contributions from each of Gallardo and Hamels. Seems like they got the better outcome.
The Aftermath: This was the first of four times that Joakim Soria would be traded at the July deadline (2014, 2015, 2018, and 2021). Corey Knebel is probably the most interesting guy who’s been traded for Soria as of this writing, so keep your expectations low for future installments of the Joakim Soria saga. After leaving Detroit, Soria was more frequently a setup man than a designated closer. He was pitching effectively in MLB as recently as 2020 (for the Athletics) and pitching ineffectively in MLB as recently as 2021 (for the Diamondbacks and then for the Blue Jays, where he got even worse). He retired after that season with 229 career saves (42nd in MLB history) and a cool $70 million in career earnings.
Jake Thompson continued to receive his accolades on his way up the minor league ladder until he reached MLB in 2016. From there, things got a lot harder. Thompson failed to impress the Phillies in his opportunities at the major league level in each of 2016, 2017, and 2018, when he was ultimately designated for assignment. He briefly went to the KBO Lotte Giants in 2019 for eleven starts, then joined the Tigers’ organization for the rest of the minor league season, where he resumed dominating non-MLB-caliber hitters. Thompson seemingly had a career mapped out as some sort of minor league ringer, but was thwarted by the cancellation of the minor league season in 2020. Fortunately, Thompson was able to pivot and become a pitcher in the Mexican League, following three years with Leones de Yucatan with a turbulent 2024 that has seen him spend time with Caliente de Durango, Toros de Tijuana, y Bravos de Leon as of July 3. He’s currently 1-1 after his first three starts for the Bravos, with the one loss coming in a tough-luck performance yesterday (allowed just one earned run in 5.0 innings).
Corey Knebel was back in MLB by May of 2015 and pitched for the Brewers for the next few seasons, ascending to become an All-Star closer by 2017. Injuries limited Knebel’s effectiveness in 2018 and completely removed his ability to pitch in 2019, as his once-sprained UCL graduated to a full tear that required surgery to repair. Knebel returned to pitch poorly in the 2020 regular season, then pitched well when available in an injury-marred 2021 spent with the Dodgers. Knebel seemingly bounced back to health with the Phillies in 2022, but then tore his shoulder capsule in August. I had thought that was a career-ending injury, but it turns out Knebel signed a minor league contract with the White Sox this winter and started pitching in games in June. He was promoted to AAA on July 9 and has made five appearances, allowing just one walk (no hits) and striking out seven. It seems quite likely that we’ll see him back in MLB this year given the state of the White Sox MLB roster. (EDITOR’S NOTE: The White Sox release Knebel 26 hours after this post was published. Do not listen to my predictions.)
Knebel has three daughters named Ledger, Halstyn, and Kollyns. I don’t really want to make fun of the first names of a bunch of girls that can’t be older than elementary-school-aged, so I’ll only do so through implication.
July 24, 2014 (7 days pre-deadline)
The Names: Seattle Mariners receive: Kendrys Morales. Minnesota Twins receive: Stephen Pryor.
The Team Context: Both of these teams were perennial disappointments in the American League. Neither team was in playoff position on July 24 and neither would get there by the time the season ended. This outcome was more unacceptable from Seattle’s perspective, as the team was in the first year of Robinson Cano’s megacontract and enjoying stellar seasons from peak-strength Felix Hernandez and Kyle Seager. Each of those three players recorded more than 6 WAR for the Mariners in 2014; the 4th best player on the Mariners (Michael Saunders) only had 2.5. In fairness, Seattle was also much closer to the playoffs, sitting just a half game back of a Wild Card spot.
The Player Context: Let’s extend some sympathetic context for Kendrys Morales before describing how exactly he was wronged by the system. Morales was born in Cuba, starring for Industriales in Havana as well as the Cuban national team as a teenager before he was banned for allegedly contacting a sports agent during Olympic qualifying matches in Panama. Morales denies that he contacted an agent, but confirms that being banned cemented his desire to leave the island. He made eleven attempts to escape before succeeding on the 12th, arriving in Florida on a raft in June of 2004. Morales established residency in the Dominican Republic (a step taken by most baseball players leaving Cuba that allows for circumvention of the first-year player draft) and signed a $3 million contract with the Angels.
Kendry Morales hit a home run against Vicente Padilla in his MLB debut on May 23, 2006. He was defensively limited to first base and didn’t get a chance to start full-time for the Angels until 2009, when he had a breakout season with 34 home runs on his way to a 5th place finish in MVP voting. On May 29, 2010, Morales experienced all the highs and lows that life has to offer in about 45 seconds. The Angels and Mariners were tied 1-1 in the 10th inning, but the bases were loaded with one out. Morales hit a walk-off grand slam, sending the stadium and his teammates into a fit of jubilee. As he triumphantly trotted down the third base line towards home plate, Morales leapt into his throng of teammates to jump onto home plate with the fervor that a walk-off grand slam deserves. Unfortunately, he landed incorrectly, cutting short the team’s celebration as it immediately became clear that he had fractured his ankle. The injury required surgery, costing Morales the rest of the 2010 season and then the entire 2011 season as he trudged through a lengthy rehab.
Just one more Kendry Morales story before we get to the real Kendrys Morales story. Ahead of the 2011 season, Morales placed an order with his Rawlings representative that requested the name “Kendrys Morales” emblazoned on his glove. The Angels’ clubhouse staff, who had known this person as “Kendry Morales” during his six years as a member of their organization, assumed this inclusion of the “s” after “Kendry” was a typo. Nope. Morales confirmed that his first name was, in fact, Kendrys, insisting to reporters that “they’ve been spelling it wrong.” The “s” isn’t silent, either, meaning that everyone had also been pronouncing it wrong. It’s not clear why it took six years to figure this out.
With his ankle healed and identity rectified, Morales returned to post a strong season with the Angels in 2012 before he was traded to the Mariners for the 2013 season. Morales posted a typically above-average line over the course of the full season, but did so in an extremely streaky fashion that made him difficult to rely on as a pure designated hitter. That offseason, Morales received a “qualifying offer” under MLB’s new collective bargaining agreement. This was only the second year of this qualifying offer system, which was designed to help teams recoup value for departing free agents. If a player received a qualifying offer (a one-year contract for about $14.1 million) and declined to sign it, any team that signed that player in free agency would have to surrender their 2014 first-round draft pick as compensation.
Morales received a qualifying offer and, like every MLB player in the short history of this concept, declined it. But the market dynamics became uncomfortable as the number of teams that would be interested in surrendering a first-round draft pick to sign a designated hitter like Morales at market value dwindled to a set of none. In December of 2013, an anonymous GM told Peter Gammons that he couldn’t see Morales signing until after the draft, at which point pick compensation would no longer be required. The problem with that concept is that the MLB Draft isn’t until June and the MLB season typically starts by April at the absolute latest. If Kendrys Morales didn’t sign until after the draft, it would mean that an above-average MLB hitter was sitting unemployed as a hyperspecific victim of an inefficient market. Indeed, that’s exactly what happened. As soon as the draft was over, the Twins signed Morales to a one-year contract on June 8 for a “prorated $12 million salary” that meant he would make about $7.4 million based on how much of the season he had already missed.
Don’t worry, there’s much less to say about Stephen Pryor. Pryor was drafted by the Mariners in the 5th round of the 2010 Draft and worked exclusively as a reliever on his way through the minor leagues. Pryor made it to Seattle by 2012 and had a strong start to his career, picking up his first MLB win as part of a combined no-hitter against the Dodgers on June 8. That was about all in terms of good news. Pryor began the 2013 season in Seattle, but had torn his lat muscle by April and missed the rest of the season. He required triceps surgery that offseason and slogged his way back to the majors in 2014, returning to make one appearance (against the Twins, naturally) on July 9. Kendrys Morales was the second batter that Pryor faced; he reached on an error. Pryor turned 25 one day before this trade was completed.
The Trade: It was already clear that the Twins were not serious contenders when they signed Kendrys Morales on June 8, stoking expectations that he would essentially use his time in Minnesota as an MLB-level rehab assignment to work himself up to game speed before being traded at the deadline. Morales showed substantial signs of rust in his limited time in Minnesota and little indication that he was shaking any of it off. His 39 games as a Twin were sufficient to produce -0.7 Wins Above (Below) Replacement and just one home run (against the Angels, naturally).
The Mariners had made a series of attempts to re-sign Kendrys Morales even after he rejected the qualifying offer, though these had been consistently rebuffed. While the Twins were in town to play the Mariners and Morales was reaching base against Stephen Pryor, Morales told Seattle media (through an interpreter) that “he just didn’t really want to come back here and be in the same spot.” In fact, he was liking Minnesota so much that he had “gushed” about his desire to stay in the city on a long-term deal.
As we can see, things almost immediately turned out the opposite of how Morales would have preferred. Ken Rosenthal put a particularly depressing spin on the dynamic, noting that “Morales would not return to #Mariners several times when he had choice - including for reported offer of 3 [years]/30 [million dollars]. He had no choice this time.”
The Results: Morales was quite mediocre down the stretch for Seattle, putting up a .632 OPS as the Mariners missed the playoffs again. Fortunately, he had set expectations so low with his atrocious stint in Minnesota that this looked like a comparative improvement. Stephen Pryor never pitched in MLB again after this trade, which I suppose is also useful at providing enough perspective to rationalize the acquisition of Kendrys Morales. To the extent that anybody won this trade, it was Seattle, though I’d prefer to say that all teams and all players lost.
The Aftermath: Kendrys Morales went on to enjoy enough success that we don’t need to feel that bad about his misfortune in 2014. First, he was ineligible to receive another qualifying offer at the end of the season as the result of this midseason trade. He went on to sign a two-year, $17 million contract with the Royals that attracted some ridicule and resulted in total vindication after the Royals went on to win the 2015 World Series. He hit well enough that season and in a follow-up campaign in 2016 to earn a three-year, $33 million contract with Toronto. The first two of these seasons went pretty well and the third season was a disaster during which Morales was dumped to Oakland and then to the Yankees to close out his career. His final game was actually a pretty strong performance that featured two singles and a double, sufficient to raise his slugging percentage from .236 to .253.
