{"id":34327,"date":"2025-07-24T18:18:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T18:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/34327\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T18:18:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T18:18:10","slug":"what-were-hearing-on-the-mlb-trade-deadline-sandy-alcantara-zac-gallen-and-the-pitching-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/34327\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re hearing on the MLB trade deadline: Sandy Alcantara, Zac Gallen and the pitching market"},"content":{"rendered":"

With a week remaining until Major League Baseball\u2019s trade deadline, pitching-needy clubs acknowledge the options are fairly limited. The Ace, which has long been an archetype of the trade deadline<\/a>, exists more in baseball history, or even mythology. That singular talent, multiple league sources briefed on those conversations told The Athletic, is simply unavailable.<\/p>\n

Sandy Alcantara and Zac Gallen should be in that discussion but are not currently performing at that level, and it is questionable whether they can recapture that form in time to help a team win the 2025 World Series. Even a progressive organization with big ideas on how to fix those pitchers might have trouble implementing significant changes in the middle of a playoff race. That uncertainty is an emerging theme for the July 31 deadline, which is trending toward finding insurance and filling roster holes more than delivering impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of names,\u201d one club official observed. \u201cBut all the guys are going to have a little bit of warts on them. You just got to figure out what you\u2019re willing to deal with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Major-league evaluators expressed concerns with how the Miami Marlins handled the rollout of Alcantara, a Cy Young Award winner who underwent Tommy John surgery after the 2023 season. Even with Wednesday\u2019s dominant performance<\/a> \u2013 Alcantara allowed one unearned run and no walks in seven innings during a 3-2 victory over the San Diego Padres \u2013 his ERA is 6.66.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s possible something has suddenly clicked for Alcantara, performance isn\u2019t the only issue. After not throwing a single major-league pitch last year, he has already logged 104 innings this season. Any team hoping to play through the end of October has to be wondering: How much does he have left in the tank?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Zac Gallen\u2019s experience and competitiveness make him a pitcher worth pursuing, one source said, adding, \u2018Zac wants the ball.\u2019 (Matthew Stockman \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Gallen\u2019s role in helping lead the Arizona Diamondbacks to the 2023 World Series is not a distant memory. That postseason experience is a compelling reason to acquire him \u2013 and a cautionary reminder for an Arizona franchise that will not easily concede. The 2023 Diamondbacks team won only 84 games, but that group went on a hot streak at the right time and captured the National League pennant.<\/p>\n

Gallen is very much a pitcher who operates by feel, but that sense has come and gone too often this season (7-11, 5.58 ERA). While his metrics are largely similar to previous years, a veteran hitter pointed out that even a slight dip in velocity can dilute his pitch mix, which relies on sequencing and sharp contrasts.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, league sources said, Gallen is viewed as a pitcher worth pursuing.<\/p>\n

\u201cZac wants the ball,\u201d a league source said. \u201cHe finds the chip and puts it on his shoulder and keeps going. He\u2019s the type of guy who\u2019s also very honest with himself about how he\u2019s doing and what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

With both Gallen and Alcantara, it will be a question of whether their respective teams would trade them for what they are now, or what they once were at their peaks. The Padres, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros and Toronto Blue Jays are among the clubs that could play in this part of the pitching market. Gallen can become a free agent after this season, making him a rental player, but the Diamondbacks aren\u2019t looking for faraway prospects to sell a long-term rebuild.<\/p>\n

The Marlins are still stuck in that process, but they could elect to restore Alcantara\u2019s trade value over the final two months of the season and market him this winter. By that point, more clubs might find his contract terms \u2013 which include a $21 million club option for 2027 \u2013 more attractive.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, it feels like the whole industry is not close on anything,\u201d Cubs manager Craig Counsell said late Wednesday morning at Wrigley Field. \u201cThe deadline, that\u2019s what creates the action.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this pitching void, expect more trade speculation about Joe Ryan, though league sources expressed doubt that the Minnesota Twins would actually deal an All-Star pitcher who remains under club control through 2027.<\/p>\n

Mitch Keller is another popular name, but he is also an example of the many available pitchers who are seen as solid rather than spectacular. To make a deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates, an organization would have to absorb the rest of Keller\u2019s contract \u2013 the balance of his $15 million salary this season, $16.5 million next year, $18 million in 2027 and $20 million in 2028 \u2013 and give up top prospects.<\/p>\n

Keller was an All-Star in 2023, and he\u2019s having another good season on a bad team (4-10, 3.53 ERA). Executives, however, will have to weigh whether the overall cost is really worth it for a pitcher who profiles like a middle-of-the-rotation guy more than a Game 1 playoff starter.<\/p>\n

Amid all this uncertainty, Kansas City Royals pitcher Seth Lugo did his job in Wednesday\u2019s 8-4 win over the Cubs, beating a team that already had him on their radar as an intriguing trade candidate. On a 92-degree afternoon, Lugo contained an explosive offense for six innings (two runs) as the Royals earned a much-needed series victory.<\/p>\n

With a 50-53 record, Kansas City is one of several bubble teams that are still on the buy-or-sell fence but also within striking distance of a playoff spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is our team, and I\u2019m part of it,\u201d said Lugo, whose contract contains a player option worth $15 million for next season. \u201cI want to be here, through thick and thin. It\u2019s a good clubhouse. It\u2019s a good team. We just got to be more consistent, and keep playing like we can, and we\u2019ll be all right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within Wrigley Field\u2019s visiting clubhouse, Kansas City first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino gestured toward Lugo\u2019s locker, alluding to the sense of urgency that will heighten in the next week across the entire baseball industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d really like to see him with a Royals jersey on for his next start,\u201d Pasquantino said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to make that happen. That\u2019s up to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 The Athletic\u2019s Ken Rosenthal contributed reporting<\/p>\n

(Top photo of Sandy Alcantara: Carmen Mandato \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With a week remaining until Major League Baseball\u2019s trade deadline, pitching-needy clubs acknowledge the options are fairly limited.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[2317,2111,371,374,479,2318,2319,2320,1230,372,373,2321,2322,2323,2324,2325,2326,363,1189,369,2327,480,2240,2328,2329,481,99,1231,974,2330,364,2331],"class_list":["post-34327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-arizona-diamondbacks","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-cincinnati-reds","tag-cleveland-guardians","tag-colorado-rockies","tag-detroit-tigers","tag-houston-astros","tag-kansas-city-royals","tag-los-angeles-angels","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-miami-marlins","tag-milwaukee-brewers","tag-minnesota-twins","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-mets","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-oakland-athletics","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-pittsburgh-pirates","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-seattle-mariners","tag-sports","tag-st-louis-cardinals","tag-tampa-bay-rays","tag-texas-rangers","tag-toronto-blue-jays","tag-washington-nationals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}