Outside The Confines: Houston doesn’t have a problem

I get the unenviable task of covering all the deals from the trade deadline. Of course, that’s impossible, but I’ll try to get to all the big ones. If I missed your favorite, I apologize. Unless your favorite is the Jeimer Candelario deal, which we’ve already covered around here enough.

• Before we get to the trades, Astros pitcher Framber Valdez threw a no-hitter last night against the Guardians. Only a walk in the fifth kept Valdez from throwing a perfect game.
• OK, now on to the trade deadline. If you want to check out all the trades, mlb dot com has a list of all of them.
• Tom Verducci has eight thoughts about the trade deadline.
• Mike Petriello ranks the top 23 deals of the deadline.
• Matt Snyder has the trade deadline winners and losers.
• Zach Kram has the trade deadline winners and losers.
• Bradford Doolittle has the trade deadline winners and losers. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Bob Nightengale has the trade deadline winners and losers.
• Stephen J. Nesbitt, Andy McCullough and Grant Brisbee has the winners, losers and “snoozers” of the trade deadline. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Will Leitch has the seven winners of the trade deadline. He has no time for losers.
• Keith Law doesn’t think anyone did particularly well or poorly, but he does have teams who did things he liked and ones he wasn’t fond of. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• R.J. Anderson grades every team for their deadline moves.
• Here’s a link to an index page of every trade graded by The Athletic. You’ll need a subscription to read the articles linked, of course.
• Gabe Lacques ranks the top eight World Series contenders after the trade deadline.
• Sam Dykstra ranks all 40 minor league prospects dealt at the deadline.
• One trade that didn’t get made was Tigers left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez, who invoked his no-trade clause to block a deal to the Dodgers.
• Reportedly, Rodriguez vetoed the deal for family reasons.
• Manny Randhawa has other blockbuster deals that “almost” happened throughout history.
• Emma Baccellieri says the return of Justin Verlander was just what the Astros needed,
• Jay Jaffe looks at what the Verlander deal means for the Astros and the Mets.
• Chandler Rome writes that the Verlander trade reveals that Astros owner Jim Crane is always in “win-now” mode. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Max Scherzer reveals that he agreed to the trade that sent him to the Rangers after he was told by general manager Billy Eppler and team owner Steve Cohen that the Mets would take a step back in 2024 and would try to compete in 2025 and 2026.
• Ken Rosenthal has more details on Scherzer’s conversations with the team. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Anthony DiComo looks at how the Mets have admitted their big spending spree this past winter has failed. Can you imagine if they’d have added Carlos Correa and his 1.0 bWAR for $315 million?
• Stephanie Apstein believes that the Mets teardown this year may cost them the chance to sign Shohei Ohtani.
• The Yankees acquired right-handed reliever Keynan Middleton from the White Sox . . .and nothing else.
• Gabe Lacques argues that just getting Aaron Judge back from injury won’t fix what’s wrong with the Yankees.
• Since the Yankees neither bought or sold at the deadline, Mike Axisa asks where do the last-place Yanks go from here? The Yankees have finished in last place just twice in their history—1990 and 1966. They also finished last in 1912 and 1908, but that was before they were called “The Yankees.” Of course, this year they could finish last with a winning record, which is a little bit different.
• OK, now I’m just going to link to some Fangraphs analysis of trades. Not all of them, but I’m sure you can find the others if you look. Jay Jaffe looks at what the Orioles can expect out of their new pitcher, Jack Flaherty.
• Eric Longenhagen believes the Cardinals opted for quantity over quality in the prospects they got back from Baltimore.
• The Padres have also underperformed after a big spending spree this past winter, but unlike the Mets, San Diego is buying, not selling. Michael Baumann looks at the deal that send lefty Rich Hill and first baseman Ji Man Choi from Pittsburgh to San Diego.
• Michael Baumann examines the two deals the Marlins made in the final minutes before the deadline.
• Baumann also checks out the deal that sent outfielder Randal Grichuk and first baseman C.J. Cron from the Rockies to the Angels.
• Ben Clemens evaluates a pair of deals the Diamondbacks made.
• In a Jack Nicholson special, the Marlins and White Sox dealt “The Two Jakes” for each other—Burger to Miami and Eder to the South Side.
• Davy Andrews breaks down the deal that sent right-hander Michael Lorenzen from the Tigers to the Phillies. Andrews suspects the All-Star Lorenzen could be heading to the bullpen in Philly.
• OK, a quick pause from trade analysis as Sarah Langs examines what it means when a team is in first place on August 1.
• And finally, more trades. But these are historical ones. Anthony Castrovince has the five biggest deadline deals in history. Plus a bunch of honorable mentions.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.