Jeff Passan's early 2025 MLB trade deadline preview

The calls began in recent days, cursory in nature but loaded with meaning. MLB trade deadline season has arrived, and even if deals will take days, weeks, even months to manifest, plenty of them start with executives reaching out in early June.

How exciting the July 31 deadline will be depends on the next six weeks. One unfortunate victim of Major League Baseball's expanded postseason is the deadline. Because of the additional wild card added in 2022, more teams than ever see themselves as contenders -- until they unequivocally aren't.

Even if more teams jump into fray, more than a dozen executives surveyed over the past week agreed that there are unlikely to be any top-end players available at this year's deadline. Between a soft free agent class and the best of them playing for contending teams -- or at least contending for now -- there is no obvious best player available.

As teams fade in the standings, that could change. At this time last year, it looked like the New York Mets would dump players. They wound up taking the Dodgers to six games in the National League Championship Series. So consider this simply a first look at where teams are now and what they're thinking, with their ultimate tack TBD.

We've divided teams into four groups: the Unloaders (certain to move players), the Tweeners (still not sure), the Holders (unlikely to do much either way) and the Acquirers (aggressively pursuing additions).

Jump to team:

American Leaguebr/>ATH|BAL | BOS | CHW | CLEbr/>DET | HOU | KC | LAA | MINbr/>NYY|SEA | TB | TEX | TOR

National Leaguebr/>ARI | ATL | CHC | CIN | COLbr/>LAD | MIA | MIL | NYM | PHIbr/>PIT | SD | SF | STL | WSH

Unloaders

Baltimore Orioles

Objective: Forget this year ever existed.

Best player available: First baseman Ryan O'Hearn

Nobody expects general manager Mike Elias to move a core player, though -- especially after last year's deadline, when he dealt Kyle Stowers, who is primed to be Miami's All-Star this season. After two straight postseasons, this year has been a catastrophe for Baltimore. The deadline could at least salvage it from being a total waste of a season.

Colorado Rockies

Objective: Avoid being the worst team ever.

Best player available: Right-handed reliever Jake Bird

Chicago White Sox

Objective: Just be bad, not historically bad.

Best player available: Center fielder Luis Robert Jr.

This really comes down to whether they finally just cut bait with Robert, who over his past full season has been downright bad. Even with his .180/.270/.291 line this year, Robert is attractive for his speed (an AL-best 21 stolen bases) and glove (he's a legitimate center fielder). While the ceiling isn't what it once was for Robert, the floor is high enough on account of his legs and defense. Moving him will depend on whether the White Sox soften on their ask, which has remained rooted more in potential than reality.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Objective: Continue the ruse of acting like they want to win when the approach suggests otherwise.

Best player available: Not Paul Skenes

Super-utility man Isiah Kiner-Falefa has been excellent. Outfielder Tommy Pham always gets traded. Left-hander Andrew Heaney is still carving hitters. The Pirates also won't be opposed to shipping away the $36 million remaining on Ke'Bryan Hayes' deal or the $76 million still owed outfielder Bryan Reynolds. Regardless of what they do, the Pirates are keen on keeping Skenes instead of trying to get the sort of return for him that Washington did for Juan Soto.

Miami Marlins

Objective: Get as much young talent as possible.

Best player available: Right-handed starterSandy Alcántara

Beyond Alcántara, other available Marlins will include the perpetually available Jesus SánchezandEdward Cabreraas well as Anthony Bender, whose sinker-slider combination keeps the ball in the park and has led to a 1.52 ERA this season.

Los Angeles Angels

Objective: Escape the endless cycle of mediocrity.

Best player available: Left-handed starter Tyler Anderson

Want a starting pitcher? Anderson will be among the best available. A power bat? Outfielder Taylor Ward is slugging near .500. A utility man? Luis Rengifo has been terrible this year, but he has change-of-scenery candidate written all over him. A third baseman? Yoan Moncada has a 135 OPS+. A reliever? Kenley Jansen can close, and Ryan Zeferjahn has struck out 21 of the 47 right-handed hitters he has faced this year.

Between Zach Neto and Logan O'Hoppe, the Angels have a pair of good, young players to build around, but this is a team that can't walk and strikes out too much on offense and can't strike guys out and walks too many on the mound. It's ripe to be blown up, and there's no better time than now.

Washington Nationals

Objective: Start winning.

Best player available: Right-handed reliever Kyle Finnegan

There is no Soto return -- or even a fraction of it -- coming. Sooner rather than later the Nationals need to bump the payroll and complement James Wood,CJ Abramsand MacKenzie Gore, all of whom have been excellent. For now, though, the Nationals are close enough to contention to see it but far enough that it feels a ways away.

Tweeners

Arizona Diamondbacks

Objective: Figure out if there's enough pitching internally to warrant trying to win.

Best player potentially available: Right-handed starter Zac Gallen

While the Snakes' core players aren't going anywhere -- Corbin Carroll, Ketel Marte, Geraldo Perdomo -- they've got plenty more who could move. Merrill Kelly would look good in any rotation. Shelby Miller's renaissance is real, and the fastball-splitter combination plays. Third baseman Eugenio Suarez can go on heaters that carry a team through a playoff series. Jake McCarthy andAlek Thomas are perfectly capable third or fourth outfielders. The Diamondbacks should be better, but bad years happen. And if this one continues, they'll find themselves front and center come July.

Boston Red Sox

Objective: Have the whole be as good as the sum of its parts.

Best player potentially available: Right-handed starter Walker Buehler

They've got an attractive array of players. Buehler or Lucas Giolito for the rotation. Aroldis Chapman at the back end of the bullpen andBrennan Bernardinoor Justin Wilson for teams in need of a left-handed reliever. Outfielder Rob Refsnyder has an OPS 36% above league average over the past two seasons and punishes left-handed pitching.

The question is whether Boston considers going bigger. With the paucity of impact players available, one GM suggested the Red Sox could entertain the idea of moving Jarren Duran or Wilyer Abreu. They have ample outfield depth to do it -- especially with Roman Anthony ready for the big leagues -- and although dealing at the deadline limits teams compared to the winter, the July market craves high-end talent, and Boston has it.

Cincinnati Reds

Objective: Play up to their run differential.

Best player potentially available: Right-handed starter Nick Martinez

Among Hunter Greene,Andrew Abbott, Nick Lodolo, Brady Singer and Martinez, they've got one of the most productive rotations in the big leagues. Even at $7 million for the final two months of the season, Martinez is steady enough to make that investment reasonable for another team. Singer, also a free agent after the season, will put up 150-plus innings of league-average pitching. There are bullpen options aplenty as well, withEmilio Pagánclosing and Taylor Rogers and Brent Suter suitable left-handed options. Outfielder Austin Hays has been the best version of himself this season.

Should Cincinnati's offense ever right itself, this is a dangerous team. The next two months need to be a whole lot better than the first two if the Reds want to see that reality manifest itself in October.

Tampa Bay Rays

Objective: Keep one eye on the present, one on the future.

Best player potentially available: Second baseman Brandon Lowe

With Lowe down to one more season of club control (an $11.5 million club option for 2026) and Zack Littell about to reach free agency, they've got a bat and an arm that will look very attractive in this market. Closer Pete Fairbanks and left-handed reliever Garrett Cleavinger are top-tier solutions capable of pitching meaningful postseason innings.

One GM speculated that Tampa Bay could dip into its controllable starting pitching -- perhapsDrew Rasmussen? -- for teams seeking a premium arm, and while the Rays have built this team around their pitching, they rightly are willing to bet on their evaluation and development skills to keep the machine churning.

Toronto Blue Jays

Objective: Be more like 2022 and 2023 than 2024.

Best player potentially available: Shortstop Bo Bichette

Bichette is the headliner. While few contenders need a shortstop, he could shift to second and fill the need for a number of teams. Right-hander Chris Bassitt has moxie, playoff experience and an array of stuff -- and if he's going, perhapsKevin Gausman, under contract for one more season, joins him. Chad Green is a solid bullpen pitcher, as is Yimi Garcia, who's signed through 2026. AndYariel Rodríguez, with three years of club control after 2025, has been excellent out of the bullpen and could eventually emerge as a starting option on a team with fewer arms than Toronto.

Texas Rangers

Objective: Hit.

Best player potentially available: Right-handed starter Tyler Mahle

What to know: Rangers GM Chris Young is notoriously competitive, and with the Rangers looking more like last year's version than the World Series-winning outfit of 2023, they are testing his patience. He wants to add. Young believes that with Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and Mahle, Texas has the sort of rotation that can carve through playoff-caliber lineups. But with a near-even record and run differential, the Rangers have yet to warrant dipping into their farm system.

On the other hand, among Mahle and a cadre of other arms -- left-handed starter Patrick Corbin, right-handed reliever Chris Martin and left-handed reliever Hoby Milner -- they've got desirable talent. Perhaps a team tries to make a low-cost trade for outfielder Adolis Garcia, who looks lost. Either way, the Rangers were almost in the acquire category because of how Young operates, but the next two months will determine their course of action -- as happened last season, when the Rangers unloaded.

Holders

Athletics

Objective: Embrace the leap forward offensively, (eventually) address pitching and defense.

If they were to unload someone, it could be: Second baseman Luis Urías

What to know: The A's offense is tremendous fun, with rookie Jacob Wilson eyeing a batting title; power coming from Brent Rooker, Tyler Soderstrom and Shea Langeliers;and Lawrence Butler and Nick Kurtz capable of thumping at any time. It's a core worth building around. Unfortunately for the A's, their pitching has been a nightmare and their defense needs immense work. Accordingly, there aren't many options drawing significant interest from other teams. Combine that with the organizational allergy to punting and it's a recipe for a hold -- or at least a deadline with no big move.

Atlanta Braves

Objective: Play up to their talent level.

If they were to unload someone, it could be: Designated hitter Marcell Ozuna

What to know: The Braves very easily could find themselves in the acquire category. Their on-paper lineup is one of baseball's best. Their top three starters -- Spencer Strider, Chris Sale and Spencer Schwellenbach -- would form one whale of a postseason rotation. An 0-7 start hamstrung them, though, and the Braves have been just OK since.

There's a chance Alex Anthopoulos, Atlanta's aggressive president of baseball operations, sees this season not as an anomaly but as a continuation of last year and entertains moving one of the Braves' core players. Absent that, in Ozuna, an impending free agent, the Braves have perhaps the best bat that could be available. And in Raisel Iglesias, they have a closer with a 6-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. (With seven home runs allowed in 22 innings, yes.) Beyond them, everyone of value with Atlanta is under club control next year, leaving the Braves as one of the likelier candidates to stay where they are and hope they get hot at an opportune time like they did in 2021.

Milwaukee Brewers

Objective: Hit enough to stay in the wild-card race.

If they were to unload someone, it could be: Right-handed starter Aaron Civale

What to know: The Brewers are no stranger to navigating a deadline with multiple objectives. They're willing to take risks that are unpopular with their fans. They're capable, with one of the deepest farm systems in baseball, of landing a top deadline target. They are perfectly comfortable doing both -- or neither.

A week ago, the Brewers were underachievers. Seven consecutive wins later, they're back in the postseason mix. They are the quintessential middle-of-the-pack team, and there are around a dozen teams within four games of .500, which speaks to how things can -- and will -- change between now and July 31. If the Brewers stay hot, they'll be on the hunt for a bat, specifically one on the left side of the infield. They have plenty of pitching depth from which they can trade, with rookies Chad Patrick and Logan Henderson alongside Freddy Peralta, Jose Quintana, Quinn Priester, Tobias Myers and Civale, who is a free agent after this season.

Minnesota Twins

Objective: Stay healthy.

If they were to unload someone, it could be: Right-handed starter Chris Paddack

What to know: The Twins were down bad after April and proceeded to win 13 consecutive games starting May 3. Following a streak-snapping loss, they ripped off three walk-off wins in a week. This is a team that, when healthy, has more than enough pitching and is perhaps a bat or two shy from giving Detroit a run for its money in the AL Central.

But that's not the Twins' deadline style. Risk aversion is their modus operandi. Status quo is their state of play. Even if they're squarely in the playoff mix, they are not the sort of team that historically adds impact-type players at the deadline. So they need Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa to remain on the field and Royce Lewis to find himself and Matt Wallner to evolve into a middle-of-the-lineup force. External help beyond small additions here and there just isn't the Twins' way.

Cleveland Guardians

Objective: Keep poking the voodoo doll that has allowed this team to win despite being outscored.

If they were to unload someone, it could be: First baseman Carlos Santana

If the Guardians regress as their run differential suggests they should, not only would Santana be a trade candidate, he'd be joined by Lane Thomas and Jakob Junis. One year after winning the AL Central, the Guardians are treading water, and if they're not careful, they'll be taking it on soon enough.

San Francisco Giants

Objective: Figure out how real this good start is.

If they were to unload someone, it could be: DH Wilmer Flores.

This will be GM Buster Posey's first trade deadline, and the book on his transactions remains thin. He could move Flores and a handful of others: right-handed reliever Tyler Rogers, outfielderMike Yastrzemskior first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. Or he could wait and see if this is a team worthy of aggressive July acquisitions.

St. Louis Cardinals

Objective: Continue playing the best defense in MLB.

If they were to unload someone, it could be: Right-handed reliever Ryan Helsley

Considering how little they spent this winter -- $2 million to reliever Phil Maton -- the Cardinals should have financial leeway to make a deadline splash. But in order to do that in president of baseball operations John Mozeliak's final season in charge, they'll need to inch closer to the Cubs at the top of the NL Central and cajole ownership into allowing Mozeliak to make this team even better than it has surprisingly been.

Houston Astros

Objective: Get back to the postseason for a ninth consecutive season.

If they were to unload someone, it could be: Left-handed starter Framber Valdez

Houston's fate could come down to the health of Yordan Álvarez, who has played in fewer than half of Houston's games and has left a cavernous hole in the middle of the lineup. Should the Astros continue on this path, they could be the likeliest team to stand pat: good enough not to ship out guys, not good enough to merit their import.

Acquirers

Seattle Mariners

Objective: Land an impact infield bat.

Best fit: Ryan O'Hearn

What to know: The Mariners are going to be aggressive at this deadline, and they have the minor league capital to swing a deal for anyone. They're plenty willing to get creative, too, but O'Hearn is an excellent fit for a team that has gotten sub-replacement production from Rowdy Tellez and Donovan Solano at first. If O'Hearn isn't the answer, the Mariners could turn to Naylor, who, like O'Hearn, is a low-strikeout, high-average power hitter.

Seattle already looks the part of a dangerous October team -- particularly if Logan Gilbert returns healthy and George Kirby and Bryce Miller shake off post-injury rust -- and a lineup that starts J.P. Crawford, Julio Rodriguez, O'Hearn, Cal Raleigh, Randy ArozarenaandJorge Polanco is as good as Seattle has seen since the 2000s.

Kansas City Royals

Objective: Stay in contention.

Best fit: Eugenio Suarez

With the prospect of Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo and Kris Bubic starting a three-game wild-card series, it's already tough for any opponent, but adding a power bat like Suarez's would let Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro toy with different lineup variations. Regardless of where Maikel Garcia and Jonathan India wind up playing, pairing them with Bobby Witt Jr., Vinnie Pasquantino, Salvador Perez, Jac Caglianone and Suarez would make for a representative lineup. And considering the way the Royals have hit this season, that would be welcome as Kansas City looks for the same sort of magic it rode to a championship 10 years ago.

Detroit Tigers

Objective: Optimize the machine.

Best fit: Bo Bichette

While conventional wisdom suggests the Tigers could use another high-octane bullpen arm to secure outs at the end of the game, renting Bichette's services before he hits free agency would infuse the lineup with the sort of bat Trey Sweeney simply doesn't yet wield. Bichette's gap-to-gap power would play well at Comerica Park and lengthen a lineup that has scored more runs than anticipated. After a homerless April, Bichette whacked seven home runs in May and slugged better than .500. The Tigers don't need much. With their prospect depth, though, they can afford a luxury item.

Chicago Cubs

Objective: Get some pitching to complement arguably the best offense in baseball.

Best fit: Sandy Alcántara

The calculus here could change if Valdez or Gallen becomes available, but in terms of pitchers teams know will be available, Alcántara, even a slightly diminished version, is the best. With two more years of club control beyond this season, he slots nicely into the front of a rotation that lost Justin Steele to Tommy John surgery. And don't forget: The Cubs had a deal in place for Jesús Luzardo before medicals scuttled it. The teams are very familiar with one another's systems, and that always helps when trying to facilitate a trade.

New York Mets

Objective: Get Juan Soto really going and run away with the NL East.

Best fit: Cedric Mullins

Mullins has been one of the Orioles' lone bright spots this season, and as solid as Tyrone Taylor has been in center, Mullins' bat is significantly better and his glove, though admittedly lesser than Taylor's, is perfectly acceptable. Let Mullins bat for the first seven innings, put Taylor in for defensive purposes in the eighth and a Mets team with championship aspirations gets that much better.

New York Yankees

Objective: Plug the infield hole that has caused such consternation.

Best fit: Brandon Lowe

Philadelphia Phillies

Objective: Fix the bullpen.

Best fit: Pete Fairbanks

Philadelphia's bullpen torpedoed its playoff run last year. And with Alvarado and Jeff Hoffman missing, the onus is on president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski to find enough arms that can generate swing-and-miss against the gauntlet that is the NL.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Objective: Get to October with a full rotation.

Best fit: Walker Buehler

Beyond that, the Dodgers' farm system is so deep that they'll have their pick of players at the deadline. But to bring in someone who knows their system, knows their culture and knows how to show up in the biggest moments is a fit that's almost too good to be true.

San Diego Padres

Objective: Figure out left field.

Best fit: Luis Robert Jr.

What to know: Left field for the Padres has been a disaster all season. Their .191 batting average is the worst in the big leagues, as is their .245 on-base percentage. They've been mediocre in the field and on the basepaths. Turning to Robert -- who's hitting .178/.267/.288 -- would essentially be replicating that production. So why trade for him? Because surely somewhere inside his 6-foot-2, 225-pound body lurks the player who two years ago hit 38 home runs. Because take him out of center and his defense is suddenly plus in left. Because he has half as many steals himself (21) as the Padres do as a team.