The non-official trade deadline ended with the Boston Red Sox shipping Alejandro De Aza to the San Francisco Giants nearly fifteen minutes before the clock struck midnight. August 31st is the deadline for teams to set up their postseason rosters. Technically speaking, teams can make trades all the way until the end of the season, but players traded after today cannot appear for their new teams in the playoffs.

It should be noted that the Royals added Jonny Gomes and the Dodgers added Justin Ruggiano and Chris Heisey, but those players are strictly platoon players, so they really don’t register on the fantasy Richter Scale. De Aza has been a near regular for most of the year, so he may have a fantasy impact late in the year depending on how deep your league is.

Why the Giants make this trade

The Giants only surrendered a minor league lefty (Luis Ysla) in the deal to get De Aza. For the season, De Aza’s numbers are not tremendous, but they were better than Justin Maxwell’s. For the year, he has a .261/.319/.436 slash line and is capable of playing all three outfield positions like Marlon Byrd. Byrd has been very productive since coming to San Francisco and they are hoping De Aza can give them a similar shot in the arm. With Hunter Pence on the shelf, they can use all the offense they can get their hands on.

De Aza has a very robust .292/.347/.484 slash line since leaving Baltimore. Based on his career numbers, that .831 OPS would seem to be a bit of a stretch. This is especially true considering he is leaving Fenway Park and headed to AT&T Park. I’d bet the under on those numbers, but considering we are only talking about a month, the Giants may get lucky and add one more potent bat down the stretch.

Why the Red Sox make this trade

There are a couple of pervasive thoughts going on at the same time for the Red Sox. For one, they do get a prospect out of this deal. However, the numbers suggest that Ysla is only a prospect in the general sense of the word. He struggled this season with a 6.21 ERA and 12.3 hits per nine innings in A ball. He did strikeout 10.7 hitters per nine innings, so maybe there is something there to work with. More importantly, this was probably more about shedding a contract and player that wouldn’t be with them next season.

The more prevailing thought is that the Red Sox have already hit the reset the button on 2015 and are beginning to look towards 2016. They’ve already decided to move Hanley Ramirez to first base and wanted to find room for Rusney Castillo, Mookie Betts, and Jackie Bradley Jr. in the same outfield. Getting rid of guys like De Aza and Shane Victorino have allowed them to do that.

How does this trade effect you

It actually effects you in multiple ways. Most importantly, it clears the deck for Rusney Castillo and Jackie Bradley Jr. to play more often. One or both of them may be a decent add at this point if they haven’t been already. De Aza is probably a secondary consideration at this point. He may continue to play well in San Francisco, but the odds are probably against it. For San Francisco it may raise the tide for all of the hitters slightly since the lineup will be a little deeper.