Outside The Confines: A legend has passed

Today was going to be a big news day anyway with the trade deadline, but then this happened:

It’s too bad the Dodgers were in San Francisco when the news broke, but Scully’s famous even-handedness would not have allowed any home favoritism by insisting on dying during a home game. And even Giants fans were eager to show their appreciation for a baseball life like no other.

• Anthony Castrovince has MLB’s obituary for Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully.
• The LA Times’ obituary for Scully.
• Reaction from around baseball to Scully’s passing.
• Bill Plaschke writes that although he may be gone, Scully’s voice will forever be a part of Los Angeles.
• Bill Shaikin writes about the bond formed between Scully and the people of Los Angeles through the transistor radio.
• Here’s what Al Yellon wrote on this site about Scully back when he retired in 2016.
• Manny Randhawa lists Vin Scully’s greatest calls.
• Dodgers broadcaster and pitching legend Orel Hershiser got emotional talking about what Scully meant to him, Los Angeles and baseball.

• Now on to what we thought would be the lead story today: the trade deadline. And in specific, the deal that sent Nationals outfielder Juan Soto to the Padres.
• Was this the biggest deadline deal ever? And what does it mean for the Padres and the NL West? An ESPN roundtable discussion.
• Hannah Keyser writes about how Soto and his Nationals teammates handled the trade talk and wonders if the Nationals future will ever be as bright again without Soto.
• Thomas Boswell explains that the trade of Soto marks the end of an era in Washington, but that a new era will come sooner than you might expect.
• Ben Clemens evaluates the Soto deal. He thinks the Nationals did about as well as they could have.
• R.J. Anderson hands out grades the Soto trade. He hates the deal for DC.
• David Schoenfield grades the Soto trade. (ESPN+ sub. req.) He’s not a fan of the trade from the Nats perspective.
• Zach Kram argues that the Padres just pulled of an “historic heist.” You can guess his evaluation from the title.
• Keith Law, on the other hand, thinks the Nationals got a historic haul for Soto and that the Padres may regret giving up so much. (The Athletic sub. req.) He compares the deal to the “Herschel Walker” trade in the NFL back in the eighties.
• Bill Plaschke writes that the Padres are going for it and the Dodgers dropped the ball here.
• Dayn Perry outlines the Padres lineup with Juan Soto and Josh Bell in it. Oh man, I didn’t even mention that the Padres got Josh Bell in the deal as well.
• The Padres also got Brewers closer Josh Hader in exchange for their previous closer, Taylor Rodgers, plus prospects. R.J. Anderson breaks down that deal for the Brewers and Padres.
• I’m not going to be able to look at every deal that was made over the past two days. But mlbdotcom has them all listed here.
• Emma Baccellieri has trade deadline winners and losers.
• Michael Baumann has trade deadline winners and losers.
• Bob Nightengale has trade deadline winners and losers.
• Mike Axisa has trade deadline winners and losers.
• Will Leitch writes for mlbdotcom, so he just has trade deadline winners.
• Zach Crizer and Jack Baer have trade deadline winners and losers.
• Crizer also breaks down and grades every big deal that went down at the deadline.
• Anthony Castrovince presents the biggest surprises of the trade deadline.
• Jay Jaffe looks at the trade that sent outfielder Joey Gallo to the Dodgers.
• Jaffe also breaks down the deal that sent pitcher Tyler Mahle from Cincinnati to Minnesota.
• Eric Longenhagen evaluates the minor leaguers the Athletics got from the Yankees for pitchers Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino.
• Longenhagen is lukewarm on what the A’s got in trade from New York, but Keith Law really thinks the A’s got fleeced. (The Athletic sub. req.) Law, in that article, also thinks the Cubs did really well in the Scott Effross deal with the Yanks.
• One of the weirder stories of the trade deadline was Eric Hosmer being included in the deal that sent Soto and Bell to San Diego. But Hosmer had a limited no-trade clause and the Nationals were on it, so he rejected the deal. In the end, the Padres substituted Luke Voit for Hosmer and then the Padres traded Hosmer to the Red Sox, who were not on his no-trade list.
• Dan Szymborski evaluates the deal where the Yankees traded left-hander Jordan Montgomery to the Cardinals in exchange for outfielder Harrison Bader.
• The Royals traded infielder Whit Merrifield to the Blue Jays, which is interesting because Merrifield can’t enter Canada because he’s not vaccinated for COVID-19. Merrifield now has a big decision to make.
• There were two big contract extensions. The Padres extended right-hander Joe Musgrove for a new five-year/$100 million deal.
• And in bigger news, the Braves extended third baseman Austin Riley for 10 years and $212 million.
• And finally, Matt Monagan has a look at the most-traded player in MLB history: left-handed reliever Jesse Chavez, who was traded for the 10th time in his career this week, going from the Braves to the Angels. You might remember that the Cubs traded Chavez to Atlanta earlier this season.

Thanks for all the great baseball memories, Vin. God bless and rest in peace.