Whether you’re a contender trying to strengthen the weak parts of your roster or a rebuilding team trying to expedite your next competitive window, the trade deadline is a time to aim high and dream big with offers and counteroffers.
With that in mind, here are six trades we want to see before the 2024 MLB trade deadline passes at 6 p.m. ET Tuesday.
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Royals acquire OF Randy Arozarena from the Rays for IF Javier Vaz, C Carter Jensen, RHP Hiro Wyatt and RHP Ben Kudrna
The low-budget Rays do not let their stars reach free agency. Often, they ship off quality players via trade as said players begin to garner high arbitration salaries. That dynamic is the only justification for trading Arozarena, the scintillating outfielder who is under team control for two seasons after this one. Given that the Rays already dealt two big leaguers — starter Aaron Civale and reliever Phil Maton — for prospects, the team looks likely to continue selling to some extent. And for Arozarena, who has recovered his value with a magnificent past few months after he struggled to start the year, Tampa Bay could get a haul.
Kansas City, meanwhile, is very much in the mix. The Royals hold a tenuous grasp on the final wild-card spot in the American League, despite a punchless outfield that has struggled to make an impact. Arozarena would be exactly the injection of energy and October experience that the Royals need. Actually, the Royals just need another imposing bat to pair with Bobby Witt Jr., Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez.
Their farm system, unfortunately, is pretty barren, which means the only way to catch a big fish such as Arozarena is to part with a host of their highly ranked prospects. Kudrna is K.C.’s best pitching prospect, a well-built righty with a three-pitch mix who just appeared as the Royals’ Futures Game rep. Jensen projects as a high-OBP, average-power, low-average every-day catcher, something the otherwise stocked Tampa Bay system is bereft of. Vaz, an undersized infielder who seemingly never swings and misses, is as Rays-y as it gets. And Wyatt was a cold-weather high school draftee last year who would be a nice developmental project for Tampa, which is always happy to take its time with pitchers. — Jake Mintz
Dodgers acquire LHP Garrett Crochet from the White Sox for C/1B Dalton Rushing, SS Trey Sweeney and RHP River Ryan
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman is always on the lookout for a blockbuster deal, and this season is no different. But this time around, it’s starting pitching where his team has the biggest need, so acquiring a pitcher of Garrett Crochet’s caliber makes sense. So far this season, Crochet has been as dominant as any AL starter not named Tarik Skubal.
Granted, Crochet’s already career-high workload and his potentially being unavailable to start in the postseason is something L.A. and other teams are thinking long and hard about. But getting one of the AL’s best starters for two more seasons after this one makes this opportunity difficult to pass up.
The crown jewel of any trade for the White Sox would be acquiring the Dodgers’ top prospect, Dalton Rushing. Rushing is the type of blue-chip prospect the White Sox would need to receive to move their ace, and he could be a productive part of their order for years to come. Shortstop Trey Sweeney provides Chicago with middle-infield depth and top prospect upside. And throughout the White Sox’s rebuild, they’ve prioritized pitching, and right-hander River Ryan gives the Sox another big-league-ready option. — Russell Dorsey
Orioles acquire RHP Max Scherzer from the Rangers for OF Kyle Stowers, 1B Creed Willems and RHP Brandon Young
The Orioles need starting pitching like Gollum needed that ring. Season-ending surgeries for the trio of John Means, Tyler Wells and 2023 fourth-place AL Cy Young finisher Kyle Bradish have decimated an already vulnerable rotation. Yet despite the injury bug, Baltimore’s starters have performed admirably, posting a 3.71 rotation ERA that’s tied for seventh in baseball. Still, this is a team in desperate need of another playoff starter to pair with Corbin Burnes and Grayson Rodriguez.
Enter Mad Max. Scherzer has been swapped at the deadline twice before: from Washington to Los Angeles in 2021 and from Queens to Texas a year ago. Even though recent slides from both the Mariners and Astros have the defending World Series champs just three games back in the AL West, there’s a strong chance Texas sells at the deadline. And if general manager Chris Young decides to pull the plug, Scherzer, a free agent at season’s end, would be a prime candidate to be moved.
Texas’ farm is relatively bereft of impact hitters, while Baltimore has an embarrassment of riches on the offensive side and could give up a cornucopia of sluggers without pillaging its own system. Scherzer would provide the Orioles with his trademark competitive edge and a track record of postseason success, both things Baltimore was sorely lacking in its ALDS sweep loss to Texas last autumn.
As far as the return, don’t expect the Birds to trade away their top three hitting prospects: Jackson Holliday, Samuel Basallo and Coby Mayo. That’s particularly true in a return for two months of a 40-year-old Scherzer, future Hall of Famer though he might be. Stowers has prospect pedigree, impressive minor-league numbers and some big-league time. But he lacks a clear path to playing time with the Orioles, whereas the Rangers would love to supplement their hitting-light system with a young slugger to support another playoff run a year from now. Willems, a massive, bad-bodied first baseman/DH in High-A, is more of a long-term offensive project. Young is a close-to-the-bigs hurler with a relatively low ceiling who could slot in at the back of a rotation. — Mintz
Brewers acquire RHP Erick Fedde from the White Sox for 3B Luke Adams and RHP Bishop Letson
The Brewers won’t be the only team going after starting pitching at the deadline, but their rotation feels especially thin among current contenders, and it’d be nice to see them deal from a deep farm system to address that. Fedde is one of the more intriguing breakout stories of the season and, in turn, one of the more attractive starters on the trade market. After a largely forgettable tenure with the Nationals, Fedde went to Korea and excelled for the NC Dinos in 2023, winning MVP of the KBO. He turned that sensational season into a two-year, $15 million deal with Chicago this past winter, and his newfound success has since carried over.
Under contract at an ultra-reasonable $7.5 million for 2025, Fedde’s durability and diverse pitch mix make him appealing to more than just the teams targeting rentals. For Milwaukee, he would not only help cover much-needed innings over the remainder of this season as they try to stave off St. Louis for the division title but also likely represent an upgrade as a potential postseason starter behind ace Freddy Peralta.
If Chicago is willing to play the long game with this rebuild and not insist on getting back near-MLB-ready players, it widens the net of potential players worth targeting. In this swap, the Sox receive two lower-level prospects with the potential to become impact players a bit further down the road. Adams was drafted in the 12th round out of a Chicago-area high school just two years ago and is tracking like an OBP-driven, corner infield prospect. The Sox have historically loved acquiring players with local ties, and Adams, who is 20 and hitting well in High-A, might be just scratching the surface of his offensive potential if he can access more power to complement his exceptional on-base skills.
Letson signed for nearly $500,000 in the 11th round of last year’s draft, and he checks all the boxes of what you’d want in a projectable, young right-hander, with the ideal frame to hopefully add velocity to accentuate an arsenal currently led by a standout slider. He doesn’t turn 20 until September and has been one of the more effective starters in the Low-A Carolina League. — Jordan Shusterman
The Braves have just not looked like themselves this season. What has been a consistent, powerful offense the past several years has been a shell of itself in 2024, and at this point of the season, it’s definitely more than a trend. Atlanta has also been decimated by injuries, with last year’s NL MVP, Ronald Acuña Jr., out for the season due to his second torn ACL, center fielder Michael Harris II out until mid-August due to a hamstring injury and second baseman Ozzie Albies out for at least eight weeks due to a broken wrist.
Atlanta’s offense could use a left-handed bat, particularly one that could assist in the outfield and platoon with Adam Duvall, and there might not be a better player for that role than Nationals outfielder Jesse Winker. Winker was one of the better left-handed hitters in the NL during his time with the Cincinnati Reds, but injuries cost him both time and production in his failed stints in Seattle and Milwaukee. This season, however, the 30-year-old outfielder has stayed healthy and seen his numbers revert to old form.
Right-hander Darius Vines hasn’t been able to stick in Atlanta in his handful of appearances, but a new opportunity in Washington could provide him with a chance to cement himself in the bullpen in a starting or relief role. Vines is the type of return the Nats could expect for a rental player such as Winker, who will be a free agent at season’s end. — Dorsey
Dodgers acquire OF Luis Robert Jr. from the White Sox for OF Josue De Paula, INF Alex Freeland, RHP Ben Casparius and LHP Ronan Kopp
I expect the Dodgers to be active in seeking upgrades on both sides of the ball, but one hole is especially glaring: Dodgers center fielders collectively rank dead last in both fWAR and bWAR, making Robert an ideal target. I’d be hesitant to go all-in on him if I were a team with a bad offense hoping he can be a singular salve — he’s too streaky and injury-prone to be the headlining star on a contending team — but for the Dodgers, he’d be a perfect luxury addition who would strengthen the middle of the lineup and provide some stability at a premium position for the foreseeable future (Robert is under contract for $15M in 2025, with $20M club options for ‘26 and ‘27).
At the very least, a healthy Robert provides excellent defense in center field and plenty of slug to balance out the heavy dose of whiffs. At his best, he’s a power-speed dynamo and one of the top all-around outfielders in the league. He’s the kind of talent worth cashing in some real prospects to acquire, especially when you have other certified stars already in place.
As for the return, I think the White Sox need to shoot for significant offensive upside if they are to part with such a dynamic hitter who is under club control long enough that he could theoretically be around for the next good White Sox team (in an ultra-optimistic outlook on their rebuild). For that reason, De Paula makes sense as a headliner. Although he doesn’t project as a center fielder, De Paula is one of the more precocious teenage hitters in the minor leagues, an advanced left-handed bat with exceptional plate discipline and burgeoning power. He was promoted to High-A about a month ago, not long after his 19th birthday, and is widely considered to be a top-30-to-50 prospect in the game.
Parting with De Paula would not be easy for L.A., but he’s the most compelling headliner they have to offer, and he could lessen the sheer quantity of prospects they’d need to part with otherwise. Plus, arguably no team in baseball boasts a more exciting group of teenage position-player prospects than the Dodgers. So while De Paula is the fast-rising name right now, don’t be surprised if the next wave of high-profile Dodgers international signees, such as Joendry Vargas, Emil Morales and Eduardo Quintero, show up on top-100 prospect lists at this time next year.
Beyond De Paula in this deal, Freeland has been a favorite of mine dating to his amateur days. He’s a switch-hitting shortstop with strong OBP skills and solid speed that we’ve finally started to see manifest into stolen bases in pro ball. Turning 23 next month, he has been one of the more productive hitters in the Dodgers system this year and has been performing well in Double-A since early May.
Casparius and Kopp are two arms who could help at the big-league level in the not-so-distant future, but each will need some help to get there. Kopp’s command is very poor right now, but he has some of the loudest stuff of any southpaw in the minors, the kind that could handle high-leverage relief innings if he can find a way to rein in the wildness. Casparius is a 25-year-old righty with a deep arsenal fronted by an excellent slider. He has methodically climbed the minor-league ladder and is succeeding in Triple-A as a starter, but he too will need to improve his control if he wants to be a viable rotation option at the highest level. — Shusterman
