MLB trade deadline: Sorting out the 30 buyers and sellers

Summer is almost upon us, which means the MLB trade deadline lurks in the distance. This year, pencils are down at 6 p.m. ET July 31.

And for the first time in awhile, the trade market is missing an obvious centerpiece. All the superstar free agents-to-be — Kyle Tucker, Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso, Kyle Schwarber, Framber Valdez — are playing for contenders (or whatever Boston is). That leaves this year’s deadline without a crown jewel.

That doesn’t mean things will be quiet. It means teams will have to get creative; shuffling role players, uncovering upgrades in the margins, acquiring players with more service time left.

This deadline won’t be flashy, but it’ll be weird.

Jump to a team by clicking on the links below

11 buyers likely to be active — some with more urgency than others

New York Yankees

• What they need: Second base and bullpen.

The good news: DJ LeMahieu is healthy and playing. The bad news: He’s lost a step. That’s OK! Time is inevitable! He’s 36! And the 15-year vet would still be valuable as a bench piece, but using him as the everyday second baseman feels unwise. That’s been the biggest weak spot in an otherwise stellar Yankees offense. Fortunately, general manager Brian Cashman has options thanks to Jazz Chisholm Jr., who can be slotted in at either third or second. The bench, too, could use a small upgrade after Oswaldo Cabrera’s unfortunate season-ending injury. Neither Pablo Reyes nor Oswald Peraza are impactful enough at the plate.

On the pitching side, Luke Weaver is expected to miss at least a month with a hamstring issue. The Yankees likely won’t splurge for a pricy back-end arm, but could reinforce the ‘pen with another solid high-leverage reliever.

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers currently have one and a half reliable playoff starters: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Dustin May when the wind is right. Their pitching infirmary currently has 16 patients if you include the still rehabbing pitching version of Shohei Ohtani. Somehow, this injury barrage is even worse than the one L.A. overcame last season to win the World Series. Right now, they need to acquire at least one playoff starter, maybe two, depending on how much faith they have in Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell’s recovery timeline.

Detroit Tigers

• What they need: A scary right-handed bopper and a veteran depth arm.

The team with the best record in baseball has achieved that status with an offense more than the sum of its parts. It’s a very interchangeable lineup with lots of positional flexibility, which should give team president of baseball operations Scott Harris a plethora of options at the deadline. Besides a depth starter, something that most contenders could use, Detroit would benefit from adding one more middle-of-the-order bat.

New York Mets

• What they need: Center field? DH? Rotation?

The Mets are in an interesting spot. Their areas of weakness could be solved simply by waiting for players to get healthy. Offensively, the impending returns of Jose Siri and Jesse Winker would shore up their two lineup holes. Rotation-wise, Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas Jr. will be back at some point. Do the Mets frame those injury comebacks as deadline additions or does president of baseball operations David Stearns get more aggressive?

Philadelphia Phillies

• What they need: Bullpen, dear lord the bullpen.

Philly has the sixth-worst bullpen ERA in baseball, and that includes 20 innings of 2.70 ERA ball from the since-suspended José Alvarado. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski likes to have at least four reliable late-inning arms and right now the Phils have about two and a half. Fairbanks seems like a particularly perfect fit.

Chicago Cubs

This bullpen was looking like an Achilles heel in the early going, but has been sensational over the past six weeks. The bench, on the other hand, remains underwhelming. Jon Berti and Vidal Bruján are redundant pieces. Justin Turner doesn’t have juice anymore. This lineup can rake, but the Cubs, like all teams, are always an injury or two away from having to dip down the depth chart.

San Diego Padres

The San Diego stars-and-scrubs fantasy team rolls on. Padres outfielders have a combined .536 OPS, the second-lowest mark in baseball. An upgrade there feels necessary. The Elias Díaz/Martín Maldonado combo behind the plate has been a disaster. It’s really hard to upgrade at that position in-season, given how important catcher-pitcher relationships are, but the Padres may have no choice. How general manager AJ Preller goes about improving his roster despite a farm system that’s been left relatively barren by years of win-now moves will be fascinating. San Diego’s top two prospects, catcher Ethan Salas and shortstop Leodalis De Vries, are legit, but it’s very light behind that duo.

Houston Astros

• What they need: Good health and a second baseman.

Free-agent acquisition Christian Walker, and franchise cornerstones Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez have combined to produce -1.1 bWAR this year. And somehow the Astros are in first place in the AL West. The Astros can’t upgrade at those spots — 1B, LF, DH — because they’re committed to that trio. Getting Alvarez healthy would be enough of a boost, but Houston could use another rotation arm and an upgrade at second base.

Seattle Mariners

• What they need: First base, third base, right field and bullpen.

A rough stretch has dropped the Mariners to second place in the AL West. This lineup, surprisingly, has been a strength — ranking inside MLB’s top 10 in park-adjust offensive metrics. Still, Seattle could use an upgrade at either corner infield spot, where Ben Williamson and Rowdy Tellez haven’t provided consistent production. Injuries to Victor Robles and Luke Raley have created a hole in right field that waiver pick-up Leody Tavares hasn’t filled. Meanwhile, a traditionally sturdy bullpen has been relatively average all year. Another late-inning arm would be a nice addition.

Kansas City Royals

This offense is a mess. Vinnie Pasquantino is heating up and Jac Caglianone’s arrival should help, but this team still needs help. Royals outfielders have posted a combined -0.6 bWAR. Yikes. KC is probably hoping a team like Toronto, Arizona or San Francisco falls out of contention and it can swing a deal for Bo Bichette to play second or a Gurriel or a Yastrzemski to help the outfield.

Atlanta Braves

• What they need: Rotation and bullpen.

The Braves entered Thursday six games under .500, 11 back in the NL East and six back of a wild-card spot. Their playoff odds, however, according to FanGraphs, remain at 40.3 percent. And given the state of their roster and GM Alex Anthopoulos’ track record of aggression, it’s hard to imagine the Braves selling at the deadline. How much they try to upgrade will be determined by where the team stands come late July. The departure in free agency of Max Fried has been exacerbated by injuries to Reynaldo López and AJ Smith-Shawver, and the understandably gradual recovery of Spencer Strider. Finding a way to upgrade in left field, where Alex Verdugo has been predictably punchless, is another important item on the to-do list.

8 sellers before MLB trade deadline

Colorado Rockies

The Rockies, winners of three in a row, still might be the worst baseball team of all time. For most organizations, that would warrant a tear-down and a rebuild. But the Rockies, my dear friends, are not like other franchises. They’ve held onto valuable trade chips for no apparent reason many times before, which has people around baseball skeptical that we’ll see anything resembling a Mile High firesale. Other clubs will call about SP Germán Márquez, RP Jake Bird and maybe even 3B Ryan McMahon, but they don’t expect the Rockies to be particularly active.

Chicago White Sox

The Sox did most of their tear-down dirty work over the past two seasons, which leaves the current roster light on trade pieces. The biggest one left is Luis Robert Jr., who has been healthy but horrible. How Chicago prices the former All-Star center fielder will dictate whether or not he gets moved.

Miami Marlins

The Marlins are in a similar spot to the White Sox, having traded most of their big pieces over the past calendar year. Sandy Alcantara, a former Cy Young winner who missed all of 2024 recovering from Tommy John, has been extremely disappointing. A few strong starts from Alcantara could see his value spike back up, but the Marlins don’t have to trade him right now as he’s not a free agent until 2027.

Baltimore Orioles

The Birds are hot right now, winners of five straight entering Thursday. If that continues and this downtrodden club somehow catapults itself back into the October mix we can adjust the outlook, but as of now their playoff odds are at 3 percent. Calculate that ruthless GM Mike Elias won’t hinge his team’s season on such a long shot. And if he chooses to play seller, he’ll have a lot to sell. Cedric Mullins, Ryan O’Hearn, Zach Eflin, Tomoyuki Sugano, Andrew Kittredge, Seranthony Domínguez and Ramón Laureano are all impending free agents who could help a contender.

Pittsburgh Pirates

No, the Pirates aren’t trading Paul Skenes, but another disappointing spring in the Steel City means another summer of selling. Andrew Heaney, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Dennis Santana are likely candidates to get shipped out of town. Franchise icon Andrew McCutchen, who is essentially on a rolling one-year deal, still rakes. Whether he’d be open to playing a few months of meaningful baseball before an inevitable reunion with the Pirates this winter is unclear.

Athletics

The Athletics, who entered the season as a cheeky dark-horse wild-card pick, have won three games since May 6 entering Thursday. They have only six impending free agents on the roster and only two, Luis Urías and Miguel Andujar, have been anywhere near league average. This franchise has a nice core of young hitters to build around, none of whom they’ll trade away, so expect this to be a pretty sleepy deadline for the A’s.

Washington Nationals

A stronger offseason might have put the Nats closer to contention and despite an impressive past few weeks their playoff odds are still under 2 percent. They have a few interesting guys to deal, namely Amed Rosario, Michael Soroka and Josh Bell. Closer Kyle Finnegan would seem like an obvious trade chip, but other teams are a bit spooked by how aggressively the Nats have worked the righty over the past few years.

Los Angeles Angels

The Angels might not lose as much as people thought they would, but they’re still an October long shot despite a payroll above $200 million. Kenley Jansen has struggled, but would probably welcome a change of scenery. Tyler Anderson could help every contender as a depth starter. Yoán Moncada, somehow, looks incredible and the Angels would be smart to capitalize on that now.

4 teams in the sleepy middle

Minnesota Twins

The Twins are typically conservative at the deadline, so even though they have 67.3 percent playoff odds don’t expect a flurry of transactions. If they fall out of contention, Harrison Bader and Chris Paddack will attract attention.

Toronto Blue Jays

This farm system isn’t very good, so it’s difficult to envision how the Jays would go about upgrading their roster beyond a depth starter to shore up the rotation. Toronto has been playing well recently, but if that changes, free-agent-to-be Bo Bichette will be a hot commodity.

San Francisco Giants

How good are the Giants? More importantly, how good do the Giants think they are? Both questions are unclear. Besides Mike Yastrzemski and Tyler Rogers, San Francisco doesn’t have a lot to trade away. If the Giants choose to go for it, first base is an area to upgrade now that they’ve cut ties with LaMonte Wade Jr. Ryan O’Hearn fits here.

Cleveland Guardians

Is outperforming one’s run differential to this extent impressive or unsustainable? For a team like Cleveland, that does so many of the little things well and uncovers value beneath every stone, we lean towards the former. They’ll probably treat the impending return of former Cy Young Shane Bieber like a deadline boost. They don’t have a real center field defender on the roster, which could make this an interesting landing spot for say, Harrison Bader, if the Twins tumble.

3 teams in the active middle

Tampa Bay Rays

The Rays will add and subtract at the same time like they usually do. Closer Pete Fairbanks is the likeliest piece to get dealt. As always, Tampa could use one more slugger in its lineup. Expect the Rays to pull off something funky. One difference for them this year: The returns of Ha-Seong Kim and Shane McClanahan from injury.

Milwaukee Brewers

Nobody threads a needle around deadline time like the Brew Crew, who once traded away all-world closer Josh Hader despite being in contention. Rhys Hoskins has been Milwaukee’s best hitter, but the Brewers would probably trade the impending free agent if they felt like they were getting good value.

Boston Red Sox

It’s unclear what Boston, with its disjointed, talented roster, will do at the deadline. The Red Sox could buy. They could sell. They could buy and sell. But it’s a near certainty that Boston will do something. The stakes are too high for chief baseball officer Craig Breslow to stand pat.

4 teams in the who-the-heck-knows middle

Cincinnati Reds

Projection systems hate the Reds, who have a paltry 3.4 percent chance at the playoffs according to FanGraphs. They are still only two games under .500 and just four back in the wild-card, but this lineup needs a lot of help. If Cincy sags down the standings, Austin Hays, Nick Martinez, Taylor Rogers and Austin Wynns could be on the move.

Arizona Diamondbacks

This rotation has been supremely disappointing, which is why Arizona is .500 despite a top-shelf offense. The next month will dictate what the D-backs do at the deadline. If they buy, it’ll be all about the rotation and bullpen. If they sell, Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez will garner a lot of interest. There’s also a chance the Snakes are still flirting with .500 a month from now and this front office ends up sitting on its hands.

St. Louis Cardinals

Teams expected this Cards club to be the superstar of the deadline. Instead, St. Louis is winning baseball games. That means, as of now, Ryan Helsley, Nolan Arenado, Miles Mikolas, Steven Matz and Erick Fedde won’t be on the block. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak is retiring after this season and likely wants to go out with a bang. Meanwhile, POBO to be Chaim Bloom is waiting in the wings, likely pushing his club to hold on to its biggest prospects. If the Cards are aggressive, they could use bullpen help and a corner outfielder.

Texas Rangers

What an odd ballclub. The Rangers have the third worst wRC+ in baseball and the second-best rotation ERA. POBO Chris Young held his cards last deadline, which backfired somewhat as the Rangers sludged through the second half and missed the playoffs. Will he try that approach again or will he pull the plug on impending free agents? Starter Tyler Mahle has been brilliant. Basically all of Texas’ bullpen hits the market this winter, but Chris Martin and Hoby Milner will be the most sought after.