We are in the second half of the season and two short weeks from the MLB trade deadline. That means it is time to talk about the flurry of trades we will be seeing.
TRADING WEST
The strongest division in baseball has the Yankees and Red Sox who are usually fighting for first place sitting in fourth and last respectively, thus they are fighting for last place. It is a high likelihood both will be buyers. The Red Sox buyers? Yep. I am saying they will be buyers because of how strong the division is. I think both teams also end up in the mix for a playoff run of some sort following the trade deadline.
With the Angels listening to offers for Ohtani the big thing to watch in the AL East is do the Yankees manage to pull off a trade for Shohei and also lock him up long term to complete the trade. In terms of landing spots for Shohei the Yankees are one of six teams not name the Angels who are expected to go after him this winter if he is not traded and they are the most likely landing spot for him during the trading season the next couple weeks.
The White Sox are definitely sellers sitting in fourth place with guys like Lucas Giolito hitting free agency this winter. Let yet another rebuild happen on Chicago’s south side. I think this will be the third or fourth White Sox rebuild in the last twenty years. Does he go to the north side, Los Angeles, or somewhere else? A third Cubs/Sox trade in two years is probably not going to happen since short of trading Marcus Stroman and maybe Cody Bellinger the Cubs are expected by many baseball analysts to stand pat over making many moves and plan for free agency moves this winter.
TRADING EAST
With the Mets sitting in fourth place in their division some think the Cubs could trade both the guys I mentioned in a package deal to the Mets. Personally, I do not see the Cubs trading any guys from the Major league squad except for Stroman because they want to make a permanent spot in the rotation for Hayden Wesneski to give him an extended run to prove himself at the major league level. It has also been suggested that the Cubs could trade Stroman to the Reds. While that would not be fun to watch him playing in Cincinnati it would not be not as bad as watching Willson Contrares sign with the Cardinals this past winter was.
Another Cub that has popped into the headlines where it comes to trade is Kyle Hendricks. As the last member of the 2016 championship team still standing I totally understand why his name has come into these conversations. However, with there being a club option this winter to keep him and the fact that he now has 10/5 rights allowing him to veto any trade I can not see Jed Hoyer driving fans crazy the next two weeks by seriously listening to offers for Hendo when he said the Cubs are looking to add as recently as this past Friday.
OTHER TRADES TO WATCH FOR
The Cardinals sitting in last place have said they are open for business. This could mean perennial All-Star Nolan Arenado is on the move again.
As I pointed out earlier, the White Sox have a number of guys that could be nearing the end of their run on the South Side the next couple weeks. The most likely of those guys, which I did not mention earlier, to be traded are Lance Lynn and Dylan Cease.
With that… it could be a slow trading season the next two weeks up until the eleventh hour when a flurry of moves happen!
If you cannot play with them, root for them!