Adding lots of talent at the deadline helps your Elo... but only a little

Change in Elo rating after July 31 versus net WAR added minus subtracted at/just before the trade deadline, since 1986

(Please use a modern browser to see the interactive version of this visualization)

A player was considered a deadline acquisition if he joined a new team after the season began and played fewer than 50 percent of his games with that team.

Chart: Neil PaineSource: Baseball-Reference, FanGraphsGet the dataCreated with Datawrapper