Broadcast schedule<\/a><\/p>\nAt this time last year, the Padres paid a steep price to acquire MLB\u2019s best closer, parting with a deep prospect package headlined by Leo De Vries. And now, with playoff odds south of 15 per cent, San Diego\u2019s ever-active GM AJ Preller could look to recoup some of that cost.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Paying luxury prices for relievers \u2014 particularly ones who push physical limits with fastballs in the high 90s, let alone the low 100s, where Miller sits \u2014\u00a0is always a gamble, considering the player pool\u2019s extreme volatility in health and performance. But Miller demonstrated what a post-season difference-maker he can be during San Diego\u2019s wild-card series loss to the Chicago Cubs last October, striking out eight of the nine batters he faced.<\/p>\n
Buxton\u2019s exceptional talent has been frequently undercut by injury throughout his career. But despite five short-term IL stints since the beginning of 2024, Buxton has still managed to hit 78 home runs with a 140 OPS+ over that span, making him a top-10 offensive player league-wide.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And even at 32, he\u2019s still one of the fastest players in the sport and an above-average defender in centre field. Buxton\u2019s 10-and-5 rights will allow him to veto any trade Minnesota makes. But if he agrees to a deal, Buxton could be the top position player moved.<\/p>\n
4. Joe Ryan, SP, Minnesota Twins<\/p>\n
It was a surprise when Ryan wasn\u2019t traded a year ago as Minnesota stripped its roster to the studs. And after another all-star season of reliable, rotation-fronting work, the feeling will be similar if Minnesota sells and he isn\u2019t moved this time around.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 30-year-old flies under the radar a bit, thanks to the underwhelming team he pitches for, but Ryan is easily a top-20 starter and ought to be part of any team\u2019s post-season rotation. He\u2019s under team control through 2027 as well, either through a $13-million mutual option or arbitration if it isn\u2019t picked up, making him more valuable than your typical deadline rental starter.<\/p>\n
5. Zach Neto, SS, Los Angeles Angels<\/p>\n
A dead-pull power hitter, Neto capitalizes on enough mistakes to make up for a 30-plus per cent strikeout rate and proclivity to chase. His offensive production over the last three years has been remarkably stable in spite of his all-or-nothing approach, which is the opposite of his defensive work, which has been all over the place. But shortstops who hit 25 homers aren\u2019t often available on the market. So, when one does pop up \u2014\u00a0particularly one with three more years of team control \u2014\u00a0they tend to draw plenty of interest.<\/p>\n
6. Luis Arraez, 2B, San Francisco Giants<\/p>\n
Arraez deserves a wealth of credit for the way he\u2019s reinvented himself defensively, receiving high glovework grades across the board this season at second base after years of the polar opposite at first, second, third and left field. That makes his all-contact, no-pop, little-speed offensive approach easier to fit into various rosters, which will widen the field of potential suitors for his services should he be traded at this deadline. No player in the game is better at getting bat to ball, an outlier skill that can be highly valuable in certain post-season situations.<\/p>\n
7. Freddy Peralta, SP, New York Mets<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a bizarre season for Peralta since the Mets acquired him from the Brewers in January in a bold move for a pair of top-100 prospects. Like most things at Citi Field, the right-hander has significantly underwhelmed, pitching to a 4.99 ERA with a 12.7 per cent K-BB rate, numbers that pale in comparison to the 3.30 ERA and 20.6 per cent K-BB rate he posted with Milwaukee across the five seasons prior.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A slight drop in fastball velocity and loss of action on his breaking pitches hasn\u2019t helped, but a .313 BABIP, 3.86 xERA, and the lowest barrel rate of his career suggest he\u2019s experienced some hard luck on balls in play. The Mets won\u2019t recoup commensurate value to what they gave up for Peralta if they move him \u2014\u00a0he\u2019s only two months from free agency. But they\u2019ll get something decent from a team betting all the 30-year-old needs is a change of scenery to rediscover his prior form.<\/p>\n
8. Reid Detmers, SP, Los Angeles Angels<\/p>\n
Detmers has had an uneven career to this point, bouncing between the rotation and bullpen while pitching to a 91 ERA+ over the last six seasons. And his 4.05 ERA this year may not seem like much of a departure. But every predictive indicator we have \u2014\u00a03.31 xERA, 3.27 FIP, 3.54 SIERA \u2014\u00a0suggests he\u2019s been unlucky and deserves better results than he\u2019s experienced.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s backed up by 20.1 per cent K-BB rate that ranks top-15 among qualified starters and second in the 27-year-old\u2019s career after 2025. Statcast grades his slider as the second-most valuable in the sport, and he\u2019s throwing his fastball harder on average than in any other season he spent in the rotation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are promising raw materials here for a team that believes it can do a better job helping pitchers get the most out of themselves than the Angels. And while he\u2019s pitching well enough today, the two additional years of club control he comes with provides plenty of runway for him to get even better.<\/p>\n
9. Jose Soriano, SP, Los Angeles Angels<\/p>\n
Speaking of pitchers with compelling stuff who haven\u2019t been able to maximize it under the Angels tutelage, Soriano has multiple secondary pitches generating whiffs at a 40 per cent rate or greater to throw off a fastball averaging 97-m.p.h. from a funky arm slot with extension. He gets a groundball over half the time balls are put in play with a sinker that drops five inches more than ones of comparable velocity and release. And, earlier this season, when he allowed only a run over his first six starts, Soriano demonstrated how dominant he can be when putting it all together.<\/p>\n
But career-long control issues have resurfaced since and the Angels have never been able to help him get a handle on them. Even if he isn’t able to, Soriano is still a durable starter with a 3.77 ERA since he joined the rotation in 2024. And in a post-season bullpen role, with his already-electric stuff playing up in short bursts, he could be a force. His two remaining years of club control allow plenty of runway for a savvy team to help him realize his potential as well.<\/p>\n
10. Casey Mize, SP, Detroit Tigers<\/p>\n
When acquiring trade deadline rentals, teams aren\u2019t seeking projects. They\u2019re looking for players performing their best right now who can make the greatest impact on their post-season push in what will likely be a brief organizational tenure.<\/p>\n
And one of the better present-day performers available is the 29-year-old Mize, who\u2019s pitched to a 2.20 ERA with a 20 per cent K-BB rate over his last five starts. Lacking a singular overpowering weapon, the 2018 No. 1 overall pick leans into the depth of his arsenal, mixing and matching almost evenly with four pitches to righties and three to lefties. Strong control and command give him a plethora of sequences as he turns lineups over, making him extremely difficult to gameplan for \u2014 a unique advantage during the post-season when hitters are as dialled in as ever.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the true factor that will have the Tigers fielding numerous calls about Mize this week is his salary. The pending free agent is owed around $2 million over the rest of the season, allowing smaller-payroll contenders the Brewers, Guardians, Rays and White Sox to get involved.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Boston Red Sox and Washington Nationals swung the most substantial trade we\u2019ve seen in the lead-up to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":827265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-827264","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\/827264","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=827264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/827265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"MLB](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Vladimir-Guerrero-Jr-640x360.jpg\")
MLB on Sportsnet<\/p>\n