Although the annual MLB trade deadline is an important leverage point for all 30 teams, some clubs hold more chips than others.<\/p>\n
Sellers with the most impactful available players and buyers with the most enticing prospects are uniquely positioned to shift the landscape of MLB, both short-term for aspiring post-season contenders and long-term for those retreating to restock the farm system. <\/p>\n
Teams often wait until the last possible moment to decide whether to buy or sell. Given this season’s congested playoff picture, the 2026 trade market has been particularly difficult to parse.<\/p>\n
The six teams vying for the final spot in the American League wild-card race are separated by 3.5 games. In the National League, the wild-card race is separated by only 2.5 games.<\/p>\n
To figure out that mess, let’s look at which potential buyers and sellers stand to define the Aug. 3 deadline. All playoff odds and farm system rankings are from FanGraphs.<\/p>\n
Milwaukee Brewers
Playoff odds: 99.8%
Greatest need: Starting pitching
Farm system ranking: No. 3<\/p>\n
Even though they’ve won their division three straight years and made the playoffs in seven of the past eight, the Brewers have historically been passive at the trade deadline. That could change this year. According to multiple reports<\/a> from MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy and Mark Feinsand, Milwaukee is “prepared to be more aggressive at the trade deadline this year.” The Brewers also have one of the best farm systems in baseball, boasting six top-100 prospects, per MLB Pipeline, giving them the resources to pursue the biggest fish on the market. Adding Tarik Skubal or Mason Miller to the No. 2 team in MLB is a frightening proposition for other contenders. Maybe the Brewers’ lopsided sweep at the hands of the Dodgers in last fall’s NLCS is enough motivation to risk it all and land this generation’s CC Sabathia.<\/p>\n Pittsburgh Pirates<\/a> With 41.5 per cent playoff odds and one game back in the National League wild-card race, the Pirates have plenty of motivation to go all in. They\u2019re within striking distance of ending the National League\u2019s longest playoff drought (10 years), have a positive run differential that indicates they might be even better than their record indicates, and have a robust, consensus top-five farm system to draw from. Add that Paul Skenes\u2019 arbitration eligibility kicks off next year, and the clock is ticking. Sure, the Pirates have Skenes under team control for three more years. But Pittsburgh going for it and even making a deep post-season run or two could show the 24-year-old reigning Cy Young winner that it’s committed to competing, help it keep him and avoid a situation like the Detroit Tigers<\/a> have with Skubal right now. \u00a0<\/p>\n New York Yankees<\/a> Brian Cashman and the Yankees are always aggressive when positioned to buy, and this season shouldn\u2019t be any exception. Last season, they made seven deadline deals that added talent to the big-league roster, including adding three significant arms (David Bednar, Camilo Doval, Jake Bird) to the bullpen. They also got out ahead of the market, filling a need at third base by trading for Ryan McMahon six days ahead of the deadline. The Bronx Bombers should be active early and often once again as they reportedly<\/a> are targeting a catcher to split duties with Austin Wells behind the dish, a bat to make up for the four-to-six weeks Cody Bellinger is set to miss, and, of course, relief pitching.\u00a0<\/p>\n Seattle Mariners<\/a>\u00a0 The Mariners have jumped the market for consecutive deadlines, trading for Randy Arozarena five days out from the 2024 cutoff and acquiring Josh Naylor seven days in advance last year. Both moves kicked off a flurry of activity, and considering the Mariners are underperforming expectations, are one of the six teams in the American League with a positive run differential and have one of the best rotations in baseball, it stands to reason they’ll be willing to bet on their 58.4 per cent playoff odds and add meaningfully to their big-league roster. Could they spark a slew of transactions again and acquire a much-needed right-handed bat? (The Mariners’ .642 OPS vs. left-handed pitching ranks 29th in MLB.)<\/p>\n Boston Red Sox<\/a> It was just over\u00a0one month ago that Red Sox pitchers Sonny Gray and Aroldis Chapman were headlining lists of potential trade candidates\u00a0as Boston sat in the basement of the American League with less than 10 per cent\u00a0FanGraphs\u00a0playoff odds. Since then,\u00a0the Sox have\u00a0gone 23-5, including\u00a0a\u00a0miraculous, franchise-record-tying 15-game win streak,\u00a0and hold the second American League wild-card spot.\u00a0Having made only one post-season appearance in the last four years \u2014 a wild-card series loss to the Yankees last season \u2014 look for Boston to augment its roster, potentially with a compelling young shortstop to replace the oft-injured Trevor Story.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Minnesota Twins<\/a> The Twins\u00a0have hung\u00a0around .500 on the periphery of the AL playoff picture and\u00a0general manager Jeremy Zoll said on Tuesday<\/a> that they will\u00a0look\u00a0to buy at the deadline.\u00a0The impact their\u00a0position\u00a0as buyers\u00a0has on the\u00a0market is as much about\u00a0the Twins\u2019 top-end talent that will no longer be available as it is about their buying power.\u00a0Joe Ryan\u00a0was set to be the No. 2 starter on the market after Tarik Skubal.\u00a0Byron Buxton would have been the best available bat. Again, both will reportedly<\/a> not be traded.\u00a0Bearing in mind that the\u00a0Twins\u2019 farm system also ranks in the top 10 by multiple outlets (MLB Pipeline, FanGraphs, ESPN), and they\u00a0could be poised to add meaningfully to their major league roster.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Detroit Tigers Despite a convincing 14-0 drubbing of the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday, the Tigers are a one-of-a-kind seller this season. Other teams that have the Tigers’ 30.7 per cent playoff odds, an easy remaining strength of schedule, plenty of games left against in-division opponents and a plus-39 run differential that indicates they’ve played better than their record might be inclined to rally. But other teams don’t have the reigning back-to-back Cy Young winner, who has been the most dominant pitcher in baseball over the last three years set to hit free agency. Failing to move Skubal and getting nothing for the most coveted trade chip on the market would be poor asset management. The Tigers are six games below .500 at 51-57. We all remember how buying went for the 2023 Los Angeles Angels<\/a> and Shohei Ohtani, and they were five games above.<\/p>\n San Diego Padres<\/a> The Padres are also a curious case of a uniquely positioned team that’s towing the murky middle. Normally, a club 1.5 games out of a wild-card spot wouldn’t be leaning toward a sell. But considering their 18.4 per cent playoff odds, it may be too difficult to resist moving high-value potential trade candidates to supplement their ailing farm system. High-velocity, bat-missing relievers have massive trade value. The best example of this is the Padres themselves, who’ve emptied their cupboards of top prospects to trade for Tanner Scott and Mason Miller the last two deadlines. And not only do the Padres have the otherworldly Miller, they also have Adrian Morejon. Miller is the hardest-throwing right-handed pitcher in MLB (101.4 m.p.h.) and Morejon is the hardest-throwing lefty (99.2 m.p.h.).<\/p>\n Miami Marlins The Marlins just lost 12 straight, dropping\u00a0into potential seller territory. And they have a pair of valuable pitchers who could fetch significant returns. Sandy Alcantara is the closest he\u2019s been to his 2022 Cy Young form since missing the 2024 season due to Tommy John surgery, recording a 2.99 ERA since the start of June with strong peripherals. He\u2019s also one of only four pitchers in the National League to pitch a complete-game shutout this season. Alcantara could start a playoff game for a contender, and that has tremendous value. And although closer Pete Fairbanks has had poor results in 2026, he still has high-end velocity, misses bats and strikes batters out, which is of paramount importance to interested clubs. Canadian catcher Liam Hicks, who’s in the midst of a breakout season,<\/a> is also now reportedly<\/a> on the block.<\/p>\n Los Angeles Angels The tier of aggressive sellers is all about teams that are clearly out of contention for a post-season berth and have the most attractive assets to clubs that are eyeing a deep October run. And the Angels might have the most enticing trade candidates outside of Skubal and Miller. Zach Neto, the Angels’ 25-year-old shortstop, is one blast away from his third straight 20-home run season, and he has 70 stolen bases over that span. Jose Soriano and Reid Detmers are both young, controllable starters with intriguing upside.<\/a> The Angels should recoup significant prospect capital in exchange for this group. <\/p>\n Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> Coming off a World Series run, the Blue Jays’ descent to a deadline seller has been shocking. However, they do have a few proven post-season performers on expiring contracts that could be appealing to aspiring contenders. Kevin Gausman was masterful last October, and his strong underlying numbers suggest his mediocre results this season have been at least slightly unlucky. George Springer’s penchant for playoff heroics is well known. And while Daulton Varsho and Shane Bieber are having down seasons, they’ve still both been there and done that on the biggest stage.<\/p>\n New York Mets<\/a> This last team was a close call between the San Francisco Giants and Mets, and while the Giants have several notable trade candidates, the Mets edge them out as deadline players due to the pair of high-end starters they could move. Freddy Peralta is having a down year, but was among the most reliable front-end starters in baseball over the previous five seasons. The Mets sent two top-100 prospects to the Brewers for Peralta’s service in the off-season, who are now reportedly<\/a> looking to reacquire him for what would undoubtedly be a significantly lower price. Currently rehabbing starter Clay Holmes had a 2.39 ERA through nine games to start the season and just threw four scoreless innings in a rehab start. And while the Francisco Lindor trade speculation seems ludicrous, you just never know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Although the annual MLB trade deadline is an important leverage point for all 30 teams, some clubs hold…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":833933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-833932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=833932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Playoff odds: 41.5%
Greatest need: Relief pitching
Farm system ranking: No. 5<\/p>\n
Playoff odds: 98.9%
Greatest need: Catcher
Farm system ranking: No. 21<\/p>\n
Playoff odds: 58.4%
Greatest need: Right-handed bat
Farm system ranking: No. 15<\/p>\n
Playoff odds: 66.2%
Greatest need: Shortstop, power bat
Farm system ranking: No. 11<\/p>\n
Playoff odds: 38.1%
Greatest need: Relief pitching
Farm system ranking: No. 4<\/p>\n
Playoff odds: 30.7%
Greatest asset: Starting pitching
Farm system ranking: No. 9<\/p>\n
Playoff odds: 18.4%
Greatest asset: Relief pitching
Farm system ranking: No. 30 <\/p>\n
Playoff odds: 12.6%
Greatest asset: Pitching and catching
Farm system ranking: No. 10<\/p>\n
Playoff odds: 0.0%
Greatest asset: Starting pitching, shortstop
Farm system ranking: No. 23<\/p>\n
Playoff odds: 5.8%
Greatest asset: Starting pitching, outfield
Farm system ranking: No. 20<\/p>\n
Playoff odds: 0.7%
Greatest asset: Starting pitching
Farm system ranking: No. 25<\/p>\n