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David SchoenfieldFeb 6, 2026, 11:00 PM<\/p>\n
Close<\/a>Covers MLB for ESPN.com Multiple Authors<\/p>\n It’s crunch time in Major League Baseball, the last days before the start of spring training for teams to make additions to their rosters.<\/p>\n While there are still some interesting free agents left on the market — most notably starting pitchers Zac Gallen<\/a>, Chris Bassitt<\/a> and Justin Verlander<\/a> — the recent three-team deal involving the Seattle Mariners<\/a>, St. Louis Cardinals<\/a> and Tampa Bay Rays<\/a> showed that trades might still be in the works, especially with some of the last significant position-player free agents like Eugenio Suarez<\/a> and Luis Arraez<\/a> now off the board.<\/p>\n While significant trades at this point are rare, they can still happen — even into spring training. Think of the Dylan Cease<\/a> trade in 2024, when he went from the Chicago White Sox<\/a> to the San Diego Padres<\/a> on March 13.<\/p>\n So, let’s play matchmaker for teams that have a surplus of talent at one position but holes at another — and, no, we’re not trading Tarik Skubal<\/a> in this exercise.<\/p>\n A Red Sox-Mets deal has felt like a potential fit all offseason — maybe even more so now that Alex Bregman<\/a> has departed the Fens for Wrigley Field. The Mets’ signings of Bo Bichette<\/a> and Jorge Polanco<\/a> leave Baty without an obvious regular position. The Red Sox have four starting outfielders and need a third baseman. Plus, these two are a perfect match in service time and projected value: Both are still pre-arbitration with four years of team control remaining. FanGraphs’ ZiPS projects 2.4 WAR for Abreu and 2.6 for Baty. That might undersell Abreu’s defense a little bit — he’s a back-to-back Gold Glove winner in right field — so maybe the Mets throw in a minor prospect to even this deal out.<\/p>\n Editor’s Picks<\/p>\n 2 Related<\/p>\n However, New York might be hesitant to make this swap for a couple of reasons:<\/p>\n Bichette has an opt-out clause after 2026, so keeping Baty is a hedge against Bichette leaving.<\/p>\n If prospect Carson Benge is ready, maybe the Mets think they’re OK in the outfield. (Baty might get some reps in left field as well.)<\/p>\n Similarly, the Red Sox might be hesitant for a couple of reasons:<\/p>\n Still, this trade makes a lot of sense. FanGraphs ranks the Red Sox 28th in projected WAR at third base and 18th at second base. The Mets, meanwhile, with Benge currently penciled in as the primary left fielder, rank 24th at the position. (Juan Soto<\/a> would presumably move there with Abreu in right field.)<\/p>\n Speaking of third basemen, the Pirates are apparently looking for one. They were in on Suarez, matching and willing to exceed the Cincinnati Reds<\/a>‘ offer of $15 million, according to reports. The Pirates rank 23rd in projected WAR at third base, with Triolo soaking up most of that projection. Well, the Astros have two third basemen in Paredes and Carlos Correa<\/a>, and as much as they might try to jam Paredes somewhere into the lineup, he’s an awkward fit. If he plays second, that means playing Jose Altuve<\/a> in left field, which is a terrible idea. If Paredes is DHing, that means playing Yordan Alvarez<\/a> in left field, which is also a terrible idea. And if he plays first base, you’re benching Christian Walker<\/a> and his $20 million salary.<\/p>\n Top MLB prospects for 2026 Where do stars of tomorrow land as we rank baseball’s best young players?<\/p>\n Top 100 prospects \u00bb<\/a> | 101-200 \u00bb<\/a> The Astros already acquired one Pirates starter this offseason in Mike Burrows<\/a> in a three-team trade with Tampa Bay, but the rotation still has questions beyond Hunter Brown<\/a>, including Cristian Javier<\/a> (coming back from injury), Lance McCullers Jr<\/a>. (his last good season was 2021) and Tatsuya Imai (transitioning from Japan to MLB). Ronel Blanco<\/a>, Hayden Wesneski<\/a> and Brandon Walter<\/a> all underwent Tommy John surgery last season. Barco doesn’t possess more than fourth starter upside but would give the Astros another rotation option, while a new-look Pirates infield with Paredes (who has two years of team control remaining and will make about $9 million in 2026), Brandon Lowe<\/a>, Ryan O’Hearn and perhaps rookie Konnor Griffin would provide Pittsburgh with much more production (the Pirates were 29th in infield OPS in 2025).<\/p>\n Astros trade 1B Christian Walker + cash to Padres for RHP Bradgley Rodriguez<\/a><\/p>\n This would be an alternate trade option to Paredes for Houston, with him then playing first base. Walker didn’t have a good first season in Houston, his OPS+ slipping from 120 to 97, although he hit 27 home runs and Statcast still viewed him as a plus defender at first base. (Other metrics weren’t as generous, but Walker won three straight Gold Gloves from 2022 to 2024, so I would be more inclined to go with the Statcast evaluation.)<\/p>\n After finishing 28th in home runs in 2025, the Padres need more power, and with Walker at first, they can slide Jake Cronenworth<\/a> on a full-time basis over to second base. The current alignment doesn’t project well, with the Padres ranking 28th in FanGraphs’ projected WAR at first base (a mix of Gavin Sheets<\/a> and Cronenworth) and 20th at second base (a combo of Cronenworth and Sung-Mun Song). Rodriguez is a big-league ready reliever who can help a Houston bullpen that is a little thin from the right side beyond Bryan Abreu<\/a>, and while the Astros would have to pay down some of the $40 million owed to Walker the next two seasons, trading him would still clear some payroll to make another move.<\/p>\n Intradivision trades of this magnitude are rare, so the Braves would have to be desperate to add a shortstop. But they might be desperate. After signing Ha-Seong Kim to a one-year, $20 million contract, Kim slipped on ice while home in Korea and tore a tendon in his right middle finger, leaving him out until June or so. The Braves can patch shortstop with utility guys Mauricio Dubon<\/a> and Jorge Mateo<\/a> until Kim’s return, but given that Kim has now been injured three seasons in a row and they’ve struggled to fill shortstop since Dansby Swanson<\/a> left for the Chicago Cubs<\/a>, maybe Atlanta will pay the price to get a more permanent solution.<\/p>\n Abrams has three seasons of team control, which arguably makes him expendable for the starting-from-scratch-again Nationals. They’re not going anywhere this season and they’re not going anywhere next season. If you’re optimistic that the Nationals might be good by 2028, that’s one year left of Abrams, assuming they haven’t signed him to an extension. The longer they keep him, the lower his trade value gets. In this deal, they get two top-100 pitching prospects<\/a> in Caminiti (No. 53) and Fuentes (No. 88) to help an organization that under the previous regime struggled to develop pitching.<\/p>\n Nationals trade SS CJ Abrams to Red Sox for LHP Connolly Early, RHP Juan Valera, IF David Hamilton<\/p>\n OK, a trade with the Braves is a bit of a reach, so this one is more likely, with the Red Sox acquiring Abrams to play second base. First off, new Nationals president of baseball operations Paul Toboni was hired away from the Red Sox, where he had served as an assistant GM the past two years and director of amateur scouting before that. He obviously knows the system, and the familiarity between the two front offices could help a deal come together.<\/p>\n Bold MLB predictions for 2026 The world champion Orioles? A Skubal trade? Here’s how the year ahead could play out. The return here is similar to the Atlanta trade proposal: two top pitching prospects (Early is No. 48 on ESPN’s top 100<\/a> and Valera No. 90) plus Hamilton, who can fill the hole at shortstop. Like Baty, Abrams is a left-handed bat, so that’s a slight negative for Boston, but this is arguably a safer trade than the one with the Mets. The Red Sox keep all four of their outfielders (there is still plenty of playing time to go around) while improving their infield without losing anybody forecast as a key contributor in 2026. (Early reached the majors in 2025, but after the acquisitions of Sonny Gray<\/a> and Ranger Suarez<\/a> this winter, he doesn’t have a place in the rotation and is behind Payton Tolle<\/a> on the prospect depth chart.) Abrams has been a consistent 3.5-WAR player for three years now, but there’s hope that there might be a little more ceiling to his game as he’s still just 25 years old.<\/p>\n Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom is on the record as looking for a right-handed outfield bat, and with Austin Hays<\/a> just signing with the White Sox, the free agent market is thin. Schneider can certainly jump on a left-hander — just ask Blake Snell<\/a> — but he has a limited role with the Blue Jays. The Kazuma Okamoto signing pushes Addison Barger<\/a> to right field, which in turn makes George Springer<\/a> the full-time DH. The Jays will want to give Anthony Santander<\/a>, entering the second year of his five-year, $92.5 million deal, a long run in left field after an injury-plagued 2025. Nathan Lukes<\/a> is still there as well and Myles Straw<\/a> is the defense\/speed backup.<\/p>\n What the Jays need is more bullpen help, and Romero is coming off a 2.07 ERA season, his second strong year in a row. He’s in his final year before free agency, which makes him the reliever the Cards are most likely to deal. The Jays have lefties Eric Lauer<\/a> and Brendon Little<\/a> in the pen, but Lauer doubles as rotation insurance (and last year’s comeback may have been a fluke anyway). Little’s wobbly command imploded in the postseason and made him unusable by the end of the World Series. Romero would give Toronto a little more certainty from the left — and potentially two excellent lefties if Little finds the strike zone again.<\/p>\n Another Astros trade? Well, general manager Dana Brown met with reporters at a media luncheon Tuesday and said he was still looking for a left-handed bat. Neither of the trade ideas above address that issue, but this one does. Meyers has reportedly been available to other teams all offseason, and while this is hardly a blockbuster, it solves a problem for both teams.<\/p>\n Stat that will define 2026 for every MLB team Here are the numbers that could make — or break — your favorite squad in the new year. The Angels need a center fielder. Their current FanGraphs projection for 2026: worst in the majors, in large part because of defense. Jo Adell<\/a> is not a center fielder. Lowe, acquired earlier in the offseason from the Rays, is not a good center fielder despite his speed. The Angels have even talked about returning Mike Trout<\/a> to center, which sounds like a typically bad Angels idea. Meyers, however, is an excellent defender, and while his bat and health have been issues, he did hit a career-best .292\/.354\/.373 in 2025, sacrificing power for some better contact.<\/p>\n Lowe’s overall numbers from 2025 weren’t good, but he did hit .242\/.307\/.420 against right-handed pitching and he’s not that far removed from a 3.7-WAR season in 2023. The Astros would have to figure out center field, but they’ve talked about trying Cam Smith<\/a> out there and Zach Cole<\/a>, who hit well in a 15-game trial in the majors, also played plenty of center field in the minors. Rookie Brice Matthews<\/a>, who played a few games in center in Triple-A, would be another possibility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David SchoenfieldFeb 6, 2026, 11:00 PM CloseCovers MLB for ESPN.com Former deputy editor of Page 2 Been with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-462383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nFormer deputy editor of Page 2
\nBeen with ESPN.com since 1995<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770386528_348_bos.png&h=60&w=60.png\")
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