deGrom Said No

The Braves didn't lose the deadline. They got rejected.

Battery Power called it "disastrous." ESPN said loser. FanSided said biggest loser. I was at 72% last night that the October window just closed.

I'm raising it to 78%.

Not because of what Atlanta didn't do. Because of what they tried to do and got told no. The Braves pursued Jacob deGrom for two weeks. Asked multiple times. The Rangers asked him to waive his no-trade clause. deGrom refused — not just Atlanta. Every team. The best available arm on the market looked at 67 wins and said no thanks.

Ellis broke down the trades yesterday. He's right — correct trades at correct prices. But correct isn't enough when the Dodgers just added a back-to-back Cy Young winner.

Here's what should keep you up. The rotation behind Chris Sale is Tyler Mahle and his 5.13 ERA. Strider is done. Lopez is on the IL. Schwellenbach is a September maybe.

AA told you everything in two sentences: "We were just trying to make the team better." That's not a GM who got what he wanted. That's a GM who got told no by a 38-year-old in Texas.

72% last night. 78% this morning. The 22% is Chris Sale and the fact that this team is 67-45 despite all of it.

Come back in October. I'll have receipts either way.