MLB Trade Deadline Superlatives

Biggest Buyers

With the trade deadline quickly approaching, the question on everyone's mind is which World Series contender will win the deadline? This season it appears the general consensus is that the Baltimore Orioles will be that team. With a plethora of young talent already contributing at the MLB level and a seemingly endless supply of promising prospects in the minors, the climate is right for the O’s to solidify their roster via trades. While the needs here are very few there is room for improvement at the top of their starting rotation and first base. A trade for Tigers Ace Tarik Skubal seems very likely and Jackson Holliday is rumored to be available for the right price. Pitching will be the top priority for this team and the cost of shoring up the rotation should determine the budget for another quality bat. Should they truly decide to go all in the prospect capital is there if All-Star Pete Alonso or Vladimir Guerrero Jr. became available. A revamped rotation including Cy Young favorite Tarik Skubal and a lineup with another quality bat would transform this team into a legitimate World Series favorite. The only question is how much of their future are they willing to mortgage to win this season?

Most Impactful Reinforcements

At this point in the season reinforcements coming back from the IL can have as much impact as a major trade, and no team currently has more star power gearing up to return in the second half than the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the month of August the Dodgers should be returning position players Mookie Betts, Max Muncy and Miguel Rojas along with starting pitchers Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw. This alone is a massive infusion of talent for a team that has been holding their own while missing a ton of key pieces. Shortly after, in early September, comes the expected return of Star rookie pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Even with a record of 61-41 there is reason to believe that the best is yet to come for this squad, which is a scary thought for other top teams in the National League.

Biggest Surprise Contender

In recent seasons we have seen incredible postseason runs from teams like the 2019 Washington Nationals and the 2023 Arizona Diamondbacks just last season. In 2024 there is one particular squad that has the potential to make another one of these surprise World Series runs. The Boston Red Sox, like the aforementioned Nationals and D-Backs have many of the pieces one would look for in a potential Cinderella team. One of the most surprising position groups is the young starting pitching. Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello and Kutter Crawford have been outstanding thus far and should be a strong enough rotation to match up with anyone in the playoffs. Offensively, they have gotten incredible contributions from overlooked newcomer Tyler O'Neil and young stars Jaren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela. Combine that with a legitimate superstar veteran like Rafael Devers and you have a similar makeup to recent teams who have overachieved in the postseason.

Most Likely to Collapse

This answer may surprise some as the most popular pick for the second half implosion seems to be the Seattle Mariners. However, I think there is a team in the National League that shows greater potential for a major second half fall off. Unlike the Red Sox who are getting great contributions from their veteran bats and young guys, the Cardinals have two aging stars who are having down years to this point in Goldschmidt and Arenado. The team needs to get contributions from both players in order to compete for a wildcard spot, and both are showing signs of a decline in productivity. While their starting pitching has been serviceable, outside of Sonny Gray it is not the kind of group that can carry a team that is currently 23rd in the MLB in runs per game. Currently St. Louis is sitting half a game out of the third wildcard spot in the National League with only a few days until the trade deadline, a position that could give the front office the confidence to make a move for badly needed reinforcements on offense. Barring this I predict the Cardinals will finish the season in 3rd or 4th place in the division and far from contention for a playoff spot.

Who will be the biggest sellers?

The Rays are a team that seems to either contend for a World Series or sell every season, with this year landing them in the latter position. Late Thursday night Tampa Bay shipped Randy Arozarena to Seattle in exchange for two prospects and a player to be named later. This comes on the heels of the two less significant trades of Aaron Ciavle and Phil Maton earlier in the month. With three moves in the books it appears that the team is prepared to move pitchers Zach Eflin, Zach Littell, Pete Fairbanks and Jason Adam along with position players Issac Parades and Yandy Diaz if the right packages are offered. It may seem odd for the Rays to tear it down while still sitting a game above .500, but the “develop and flip” style of management has been the organization's m.o. for as long as most of us can remember. The losses of Zach Eflin and Aaron Ciavle will be remedied by the return of Jeffery Springs, Drew Rasmussen and Shane Baz this season along with Cy Young candidate Shane McClanahan in 2025. The team will likely get plenty of prospects to pack even more talent into an already deep farm system that is known for their stellar player development skills. I would expect Tampa Bay to return to contention in 2025 regardless of how many contributing pieces they ship out.

John Siebels is the owner of Springhill Sports Cards, he collects and sells sports cards on Ebay, you can find him on Instagram and his Ebay store here