MLB trade deadline: Ranking the top 50 deals of the deadline, from Paul DeJong to Erick Fedde to Jazz Chisholm Jr.

 July is the time for wheeling and dealing among the 30 MLB teams, and the days leading up to Tuesday’s trade deadline were no different.

With a hard deadline at the end of the month, trade season usually kicks off in earnest following the All-Star Game. Sure, you get the occasional early-season blockbuster, such as San Diego’s deal for Luis Arraez back in early May, but for the most part, nothing gets cooking until after the break. This year, the first big move came when Kansas City acquired reliever Hunter Harvey fromWashington on the Saturday before the All-Star break, the inaugural swap of this season’s deadline-related action. Then things really picked up last week, unleashing a steady flow of transactions punctuated by an absolute rush of activity in the hours and minutes leading up to Tuesday’s 6 p.m. ET deadline.

Now that the dust has settled, it’s time to take a deep breath and review what has transpired. While we’re a long way away from knowing exactly how these deals will work out for the teams involved, there’s something to be said for how trades are received and processed in the moment and the response they elicit when initially reported. As such, consider this a ranking of the deals that evoked the strongest reactions from around the baseball industry in the immediate aftermath of their completion, organized into tiers that best describe the genre of the trades. For the top 10 trades, I’ll also assign a letter grade for the teams involved.

RENTAL BATS, PART 1

50. Royals acquire Paul DeJong from White Sox for Jarold Rosado

49. Giants acquire Mark Canha from Tigers for Eric Silva

48. Orioles acquire Eloy Jimenez from White Sox for Trey McGough

47. Dodgers acquire Kevin Kiermaier from Blue Jays for Ryan Yarbrough

46. Dodgers acquire Amed Rosario from Rays for Michael Flynn

Some highly recognizable names were on the move here, though they all project to contribute to their new teams in part-time roles: DeJong as infield depth, Canha and Jimenez as platoon quasi-sluggers vs. LHPs, Kiermaier as a left-handed CF option and Rosario roving around the Dodgers’ thinned out infield.WHAT ARE THE CHAMPS DOING?

45. Rangers acquire Carson Kelly from Tigers for Liam Hicks, Tyler Owens

44. Rangers acquire Andrew Chafin from Tigers for Chase Lee, Joseph Montalvo

43. Royals acquire Michael Lorenzen from Rangers for Walter Pennington

I’m a bit confused (and amused) by the Kelly and Chafin acquisitions being completely separate trades just two days apart. Why not lump ‘em together? Chafin feels like a reliever who could have helped a ton of teams and instead ends up bolstering a Texas bullpen that needed far more than just one arm. I’m assuming Texas thinks its best chance to make a run is to simply get healthy and ride with the talent already in-house, but it was pretty odd to see the Rangers fail to pick a real lane at the deadline.

BULLPEN MUSICAL CHAIRS

42. Astros acquire Caleb Ferguson from Yankees for Kelly Austin and international bonus pool money

41. Twins acquire Trevor Richards from Blue Jays for Jay Harry

40. Mets acquire Ryne Stanek from Mariners for Rhylan Thomas

39. Cardinals acquire Shawn Armstrong from Rays for Dylan Carlson

38. Cubs acquire Nate Pearson from Blue Jays for Josh Rivera, Yohendrick Pinango