SAN FRANCISCO -- For most of the morning on Major League Baseball's trade deadline day on Tuesday, Eric Hosmer was the top trending topic in the country. Just as everyone expected.
Hosmer's no-trade clause was the last holdup in the blockbuster Juan Soto trade, and it was a lose-lose situation for the veteran. If he waived it, he would end up with a rebuilding organization that he put on his 10-team no-trade list years ago. If he somehow led to the cancellation of the trade, he would go back to a clubhouse and city that knew he was responsible for keeping Soto from being a San Diego Padre.
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Everything ultimately worked out. Hosmer ended up in Boston, Soto got his trade, and the Padres got one of the best young hitters the game has ever seen. They are the clear winner of the trade deadline, no matter what happens in October.
If you have any doubts about that, just visit Petco Park sometime. The Padres' aggression has brought true life to that fan base, and the Gaslamp District during a Padres game might be the best baseball atmosphere in America right now. The Padres went all-in and they might be rewarded.
Here are some other winners, and also some losers, from the annual deadline:
Winner: Juan Soto
San Francisco Giants
For a lot of reasons, obviously, but let's just all take a second to congratulate him on being a 23-year-old who now gets to spend the next three years, and possibly a lot longer, living in San Diego. It was a muggy 91 degrees in Washington D.C. on Tuesday and a sunny 79 in San Diego. Plus, the Tin Fish is, like, right next door.
Will the Padres win it all? Maybe. Maybe not. But Juan Soto is winning at life right now.
Winner: Victor Oladipo
Raise your hand if you had the Miami Heat's fifth-leading scorer making a cameo in the biggest trade story in deadline history.
Loser: The Washington Nationals
This is an easy one. Sure, they got perhaps the best prospect haul in MLB history. But this is a team that had Soto, Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Max Scherzer and Anthony Rendon and now has none of them. Nationals ownership decided that Stephen Strasburg was the one to get the huge deal, and he has been so banged up he's made just eight appearances over the last three seasons.
Read that list again.
That's three future Hall of Famers and maybe a fourth if Turner keeps this up into his thirties. Most organizations dream of having just one position player as talented as Harper, Soto or Turner, and the Nationals have somehow watched three of them end up elsewhere, including one with a division rival and two with NL West clubs that are pushing much harder to win.
Flags fly forever and the Nationals got one of them, but the Lerner family and the front office found a way to screw up an incredible situation, and that's a slap in the face to all Nationals fans.
Winner: Braves
Give them the award for Most Hilarious Timing, as they announced a 10-year, $212 million contract with superstar third baseman Austin Riley -- who somewhat quietly leads the NL in slugging -- a day before the deadline. That means the Braves have now locked up the core of their lineup for most of the rest of this decade:
Throw in a strong starting staff and their ability to keep developing guys like Spencer Strider and Michael Harris and you have an organization that has built a sustainable winner. It looks like the NL East is set for years and years of Braves-Mets showdowns, and that's good for the sport.
Loser: The Rockies
Hello, reader. You may be upset that the Giants did not sell on deadline day, but at least you're not rooting for a team that does this:
The player, by the way, is closer Daniel Bard. He's having a career year and could have brought something pretty solid back to Denver. Instead, the Rockies gave the 37-year-old a two-year extension.
Winner: Ruf, Casali, Boyd and Rosenthal
Look, the Giants aren't dead. They have a lot of games with the Rockies and Diamondbacks in September and there's a -- slim -- path to a postseason spot. But the four veterans they traded on Tuesday ended up in much more comfortable spots.
Ruf was emotional as he left San Francisco and this will be tough on his young family, but the Mets have a real shot at a title and he should be a huge help to their bench.
"They're a great team," Ruf said. "They've had a great year. They have huge aspirations for the rest of the year and I hope to be a part of that."
The Mariners are currently in the second Wild Card spot in the AL, and it would be a massive deal in that city if they end their long playoff drought. Boyd gets the added benefit of going back to his home state, and he happened to already have a Seattle SuperSonics hat in his locker on Tuesday.
Rosenthal goes to Milwaukee after never even entering the Giants clubhouse. The Brewers, who lead the NL Central, have a long history of getting the best out of relievers and Rosenthal is expected to be ready for them in September.
Loser: Teams With Rentals
It used to be just about automatic that sellers could extract a nice return if they had an All-Star player headed for free agency, but front offices are so protective of young assets and prospects now that the market has changed. The Giants were not able to find the right deal for Carlos Rodón and the Cubs -- incredibly -- did not trade Willson Contreras after years of rumors.
Both players are likely to get qualifying offers (Rodón would have to opt out of his deal, which he will if healthy) and their teams will recoup draft pick compensation, but they needed more.
The Cubs are still deep in a rebuild and there seemed to be teams out there that needed catching help, but they couldn't match up with the Mets or Astros or anyone else.
The Giants are in desperate need of young, athletic position players who can help the 2023 roster, but they held Rodón. "Nothing lined up that made sense," president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said. The Reds (Luis Castillo) and A's (Frankie Montas) seemed to do well in trading their aces, but both players are under team control through 2024.
Winner: Giants Fans Who Like To Boo
Outside of the Dodgers, there are not a lot of visiting players who are booed at Oracle Park, but Josh Hader, who had some awful tweets emerge a few years back, has been one of the exceptions. The Giants will now see a lot of him, with the Padres swinging a blockbuster for the All-Star closer, who has had another excellent year, with one very notable exception.
RELATED: Zaidi acknowledges what hurt Giants in pursuit of Soto
It was a bit funny Monday to see national reporters tweet about Hader's rough ERA without noting that a lot of the damage was done in one ninth inning at Oracle Park. Hader has allowed 16 earned runs this season but six when the Giants hit three homers off him, including Mike Yastrzemski's grand slam, on July 15. Since that point, Hader has struck out seven and allowed one run in four appearances.
The Giants have nine games left against the Padres, including three next week at Petco Park. It's going to be a fascinating matchup, and Hader surely wants some revenge. The trade sent Taylor Rogers out of the division, but Tyler's teammates probably won't mind much; Taylor has also had a rough month but generally pitched well against the Giants this year.