trade deadline

CHICAGO — If you ask those with the Sparks day-to-day operations, not a ton has changed since they sent Kelsey Plum to Phoenix at the trade deadline.

Externally, the move to trade away one of the league’s top scorers is seen as waving the white flag on yet another disappointing season. To Nneka Ogwumike, it’s just part of the business of the WNBA and she is still hoping for a chance to compete for the league’s final playoff seed.

“I’m just locking in and staying focused on being able to manage the variables of a season,” she said ahead of the team’s loss to Sky in Chicago on Wednesday. “I’ve been doing this a long time, so nothing that’s happened has really surprised me per se. Maybe in the context of this season, yeah, a few things have. But being professionals, coming out, understanding as we did last game, that no matter what, like a game has to be played, so you might as well win.”

The Sparks were supposed to be back in playoff contention this season after bringing in Ogwumike, Ariel Atkins and Erica Wheeler. Instead, they are six games behind Washington for the eighth playoff spot after a six-game losing streak ahead of the trade deadline that was finally snapped with a win at Portland on Sunday. A loss to Sky on Wednesday night didn’t help.

The Sparks ownership group fired general manager Raegan Pebley in mid-July, seemingly changing direction near the deadline. Shortly after, Plum informed the team she wouldn’t return after her contract expires this season.

“It’s also different when someone feels like they maybe want to fit somewhere else,” Ogwumike said. “I’ve been in situations where it was unexpected for everyone. It wasn’t so unexpected for us. We want her to be happy. We want her to be healthy, so I think that there’s a bit of comfort for everyone knowing that, and also being able to get it done in a way where I feel like everybody’s OK with it. It breathes a little bit of life into the situation.”

Head coach Lynne Roberts noted that since the Sparks have been without Plum since June 24 with a lower left leg injury, they had already adjusted to what life would be like without her on the court for the rest of the season.

“It would have been more of an adjustment to add her back,” she said. “So we are just building on what we’ve been doing the last month.”

The Sparks got good value for Plum in guard Monique Akoa Makani and a first-round pick in this year’s draft that, like their own, is likely to be a lottery pick.

“She can play the one and the two,” Roberts said of Akoa Makani. “She’s comfortable with both of those. What I like is that it’ll take some pressure off of Ariel and (Wheeler). They’re playing too many minutes, but Makani’s a tremendous defender, and (she brings) her on-ball ball screen defenses, her analytics, it’s elite. So that would be a huge boon for us. She was a starting point guard for a team in the WNBA Finals last year as a rookie. She’s a talent, so she’s going to fit in quickly and easily.”

The Sparks Nneka Ogwumike claps hands with Rae Burrell against the New York Liberty on July 28.

(Katelyn Mulcahy / Getty Images)

If the Sparks don’t make the playoffs, they will likely pick sixth overall, since the WNBA weighs results of two combined seasons to come up with the odds. They would have an outside shot at the first overall pick, where USC star Juju Watkins is expected to be the top pick should she choose not to return to school for another college season.

Ogwumike didn’t seem ready to declare the season lost, even while acknowledging that things have gone wrong.

“We’ve been playing better,” she said. “We want to be able to turn that into some kind of streak.”

BALTIMORE — Tyler O’Neill and Coby Mayo hit successive homers in the fourth inning, Trevor Rogers took a two-hitter into the seventh and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Angels 5-2 Wednesday night.

Despite unloading several key players before Monday’s trade deadline, the Orioles remain in the thick of the AL wild-card race after winning the first two games of this series against the last-place Angels.

Baltimore (56-58) will seek to complete a three-game sweep on Thursday. With a victory, the Orioles will move within a game of .500 for the first time since April 30.

It’s a surprising scenario for a team that traded catcher Adley Rutschman, outfielder Taylor Ward and pitchers Tyler Wells and Dean Kremer.

Angels starter Reid Detmers (3-8) issued a one-out walk to Gunnar Henderson in the fourth before O’Neill ripped a fastball far over the left-field wall — his ninth homer of the season and second in two days.

Mayo followed with a shot to the same vicinity, only slightly farther at an estimated 436 feet.

Leody Taveras tacked on a pinch-hit, two-run homer in the eighth to help seal the Orioles’ 17th win in 27 games.

Rogers (7-7) was lifted after giving up a leadoff single in the seventh. He gave up two runs, had a season-high nine strikeouts and walked none.

Alex Hoppe, obtained from Boston in the trade for Rutschman, took over and yielded a pinch-hit RBI single to Wade Meckler that got the Angels within 3-2.

Yennier Cano worked the eighth and Andrew Kittredge got three out for his fifth save.

Jose Siri homered for the Angels, who have lost 10 of 12.

CHICAGO — Just a few days ago, new Dodgers pitcher Tarik Skubal was on the other side, on a mid-market Detroit Tigers team that had hoped to unseat the Dodgers from the top of the league, before a disappointing season made them sellers at the trade deadline.

Still, with that perspective, he wasn’t going to entertain any talk about the Dodgers ruining baseball.

“I don’t really sympathize with people that blame the Dodgers for anything they’ve done,” Skubal said from the Barrel Room at Wrigley Field on Monday. “They’ve developed a really good organization. They draft well. They acquire talent really well. They retain talent. It’s a winning organization. Now the complaints seem to be [happening] because they’ve won the last two World Series. I don’t think it was like that three years ago. So I don’t really sympathize with people that are complaining. Because the Dodgers do all the right things.”

Skubal didn’t want to talk about his impending free agency. And he said he did not have any conversations with Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris about preferring to be traded to the Dodgers. Before the trade, he told Tigers reporters that he wanted to remain with the only team he’d known and compete for a championship there.

“Initial reaction, there was a lot of emotions,” Skubal said. “I spent eight years with the Detroit Tigers. That place will always be special to me no matter what. In the same breath, I’m excited to be here with these guys. When you watch them from across the way, see them do their thing on TV, you just have a lot of respect because they play the game the right way.

“The entire focus of this organization is on winning championships and that is my entire focus — playing baseball — so we’re very much aligned. I’m ready to go out there and compete and give this organization and city everything that I’ve got.”

The Dodgers put the final touches on their trade deadline, adding catching depth as Dalton Rushing went on the 10-day injured list with a sprained left elbow. The Dodgers added two backstops they’re already familiar with in Ben Rortvedt and Hunter Feduccia. They also added left-hander Kris Bubic, who is dealing with a shoulder injury.

It was clear all along, however, that Skubal was going to be the biggest splash of the deadline — for any team, really. And fuel for frustrated baseball fans upset about the Dodgers acquiring another star player.

“I think the Dodgers have done a fantastic job in player development,” said Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, who also engaged in trade talks for Skubal. “They have a really good farm system, and Scott [Harris] did the best thing you could do for the Tigers and got a lot of talent back. And obviously they did the best thing for their team.

Dodgers pitcher Tarik Skubal throws in the outfield before the team’s game against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Monday.

(David Banks / Associated Press)

“And he’s an incredible pitcher. I mean, there’s no question about that. And I guess we’ll see firsthand. But I know there’s been a reaction around baseball about it, but they put themselves in positions to do that deal, and they did, and that’s exactly what they should be doing.”

Skubal had accepted by the end of his last start that he was going to be moving on.

“Losing that game kind of felt like that was kind of it for me in Detroit,” he said. “So not surprised, but that didn’t make the news any easier because I love a lot of those people there. I’ve got a lot of respect about what they do and how they go about their business. A lot of those guys are like my best friends on and off the field. I wish those guys nothing but the best. I’ll be rooting for them, unless we’re playing.”

He officially starts a new chapter Tuesday, taking the mound for the Dodgers at Wrigley Field.

“They’ve been a pretty good baseball team without me,” he said. “So I’m going to show up and kind of be a chameleon in a sense and fit right in with these guys and just jell with them. They’ve got the winning recipe. They know what it takes to win.”

No date will ever top Oct. 27, 2002, the date the Angels won their lone World Series.

We could talk about Sept. 30, 1984, the date Mike Witt threw the Angels’ lone perfect game. Or June 9, 2009, the date the Angels drafted the best player in franchise history, Mike Trout. Or July 29, 2018, the date Vladimir Guerrero became the first player to wear an Angels cap on a Hall of Fame plaque.

Or, if you care to look at it from a cynical angle, that fateful fall day in 1979 when then-general manager Buzzie Bavasi said he could replace Nolan Ryan, who had just gone 16-14 in his final year in Anaheim, with “two 8-7 pitchers.”

This isn’t about trivia. This is to say that Monday might well be remembered as one of those significant dates in Angels history.

In recent years, the Angels have deluded themselves and their fans with such beliefs as: they had assembled a young core that could win; Shohei Ohtani really wanted to stay; and the universally and consistently poor rankings of their minor-league system should be dismissed.

On Monday, John Mozeliak changed all that. The Angels’ interim general manager traded seven players off the major-league roster ahead of the trade deadline, including five within the final nine hours. Mozeliak imported nine prospects, only one of which will report to the major-league team.

It was one thing for owner Arte Moreno and new team president Molly Jolly to recruit Mozeliak six weeks ago and promise that he could embark on a desperately overdue rebuild.

To see it actually come to fruition? Maybe there really are Angels in the outfield.

“What’s really impressive for me is just the amount of trust I’ve been granted,” Mozeliak said.

The Angels finished in last place last year, and the year before that. They are on pace to lose 100 games this season, for the first time in franchise history. Their postseason drought is about to hit 12 years, the longest in baseball.

But now there is a plan, not just a bunch of ifs and hopes, even if the Angels might have to take another step back to take two steps forward.

“I would say we took a step forward today,” Mozeliak said on a videoconference after the trade deadline passed.

Prospects! Tell me more!

Arjun Nimmala takes part in batting practice for the Toronto Blue Jays on July 14, 2023.

(Vaughn Ridley / Getty Images)

The only top-50 prospect the Angels acquired: shortstop Arjun Nimmala, 20. The Toronto Blue Jays swapped him and two other minor leaguers for pitcher José Soriano. Mozeliak said Nimmala is about two years from the majors.

The only prospect coming to the majors: catcher/designated hitter Moises Ballesteros, whom Mozeliak said would DH in two of the next three games.

That means Jorge Soler won’t be the DH for the moment. Who was traded?

Soriano, outfielder Jo Adell, catcher Logan O’Hoppe and relievers Ryan Zeferjahn, Brent Suter, Kirby Yates and Chase Silseth. All but Suter and Yates were under the Angels’ control beyond this season.

And who was not traded?

In addition to Soler, pitcher Reid Detmers and shortstop Zach Neto (“We definitely listened to offers, but we were not comfortable with the offers we received”) and first baseman Nolan Schanuel (“He was asked about, but not to the level of others”).

Mozeliak had said last month that a Trout trade was “not happening.” He said Monday that he had invited Trout to observe the team’s war room ahead of the trade deadline.

“He’s the face of this franchise,” Mozeliak said. “From where I stand, from being around him, we want to get this better for him, and for others. Our fans want to see winning.”

Mozeliak had said the Angels should not need a total rebuild because the resources available to a major-market team should mitigate the need to tank and just play kids. Does he believe the Angels could be better next season?

Hear it from him: “We need to remain disciplined and patient to a process and not just try to rush some people to the big leagues. … If they’re not ready, and we’re not ready to compete with that group, that’s where we’re going to augment using more of the free-agent model.”

This is starting to sound like a long-term plan. Is Mozeliak here for the long-term, as most inside the industry believe he is?

Mozeliak insists he hasn’t decided if he wants to stay, and he hasn’t yet met with Moreno and Jolly to discuss the matter. But he said two things that stuck out to me.

One: “It’s fun being back in the game. I didn’t realize how much I missed it.”

Two: “We have made a difference. Change has been real.”

NEW YORK — Lost amid the headlines about Tarik Skubal, the Dodgers face this unexpected reality as the trade deadline looms: They would like to add a starting pitcher, but they need to add a catcher.

Will Smith has not played in six weeks. In a “best case” scenario, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Friday, Smith would miss another month.

That left Roberts to make a jolting admission, when I asked him if the team really can count on Smith returning this season.

“We don’t know,” Roberts said, “but we certainly are counting on it.”

Would it be nice for the Dodgers to get their three-time All-Star catcher back in time for October? Of course.

Should the Dodgers count on it? Of course not.

The Dodgers won’t know where Smith stands by the Aug. 3 trade deadline. That means now is the time to acquire a catching option they may or may not need later.

Dalton Rushing, the primary catcher in Smith’s absence, has a .799 OPS. Among the 24 major league catchers with at least 200 plate appearances entering play Friday, Rushing ranked fifth in OPS.

He is hitless in his last 13 at-bats. His batting average: .266 before Smith’s injury, .233 since then.

On defense, Rushing ranks next-to-last in defensive runs saved among major league catchers, ahead of only the Angels’ Logan O’Hoppe. On Friday, in the Dodgers’ 2-1 victory at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees scored their only run on Rushing’s passed ball.

In past Octobers, the Dodgers have prioritized defense at catcher. In the 2020 World Series, Austin Barnes caught ahead of Smith in four of the six games, including the final two.

In 2025, with Smith recovering from a hand injury, Ben Rortvedt started ahead of Rushing in the Dodgers’ first four postseason games. Rortvedt was a trade deadline acquisition last summer, picked up with pitcher Paul Gervase from the Tampa Bay Rays for catcher Hunter Feduccia.

Will Smith bats for the Dodgers against the San Francisco Giants on April 22.

(Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)

Rortvedt, currently playing in triple-A for the New York Mets, fits the profile of what the Dodgers need now: a defense-first catcher with major league readiness. With Smith injured, the Dodgers first tried and then cut minor league journeyman Chuckie Robinson at backup catcher. Their current backup, Eliezer Alfonso, made his major league debut in his ninth professional season; he is hitless in nine at-bats.

Could the Dodgers pursue an established catcher, say Ryan Jeffers of the Minnesota Twins or Francisco Alvarez or Luis Torrens of the New York Mets? Possible, but probably not necessary.

Rushing could be their guy. Smith could be back.

Smith has started and re-started baseball activities, only to find out that the inflamed disk in his neck flares up.

“He hasn’t been able to get over the hump,” Roberts said.

The Dodgers are trying another round of complete rest before asking him to try hitting or throwing again.

“We felt that, if he’s inactive, it gives it a good chance to get all the inflammation out, the soreness out, the pain, increase flexibility, all of it,” Roberts said. “Then he has a fighting chance to work his way back. Trying to do everything — even at a lesser dosage — just wasn’t feasible.”

Trying to trade for Skubal might not be feasible, at least so long as his Detroit Tigers remain in the American League wild-card race. The Tigers won seven of their final 10 games in the first half, and they face teams with losing records in 13 of their 16 second-half games ahead of the trade deadline, starting with the Angels this weekend in Anaheim.

The Dodgers do not need a depth starter. However, they might do well to find someone they would feel comfortable starting the third or fourth game of a playoff series, lest they count on Blake Snell (elbow) and Tyler Glasnow (back) and Shohei Ohtani (knee) all returning to the mound healthy and effective.

Important, yes. As important as another catcher, no.

For a team that will spend almost half a billion dollars on its player payroll and luxury tax this season, its most important trade deadline pickup could be a catcher making maybe $1 million.