MLB Trade Rumors: Latest Reports Before 2023 All-Star Game
The 2023 MLB All-Star break, headlined by Tuesday night's All-Star Game, is an opportunity to celebrate the game of baseball.
It's also a time in which front offices can get together and iron out their plans for the upcoming trade season.
With only a few weeks remaining before the trade deadline, teams should have a good sense of who's buying, who's selling and which players are up for grabs. Luckily, a few plugged-in reporters have some of those answers, too, making this the perfect time to dive into baseball's latest trade buzz.
White Sox Are Selling Almost Everyone
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This was supposed to be the season in which the Chicago White Sox re-asserted themselves as the team to beat in the AL Central. Instead, the 2021 division champs finished the first half 16 games below .500 and fourth in the AL Central standings.
Disappoint to this degree, and changes are inevitable. Chicago's front office has reportedly already reached that conclusion.
The White Sox "are opening up for business as a seller," per Jon Heyman of the New York Post, and they could have something close to a liquidation sale. As Heyman relayed, the South Siders "plan to seriously consider deals" for everyone other than Dylan Cease, Eloy Jiménez, Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Vaughn.
That means there are a slew of trade candidates on the roster, though Heyman labeled free-agents-to-be Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo López and Keynan Middleton as the "most likely to go in trade." The Cincinatti Reds and Texas Rangers are among the teams expected to have interest in Giolito, who entered the break with a 3.45 ERA and 117 strikeouts against 34 walks in his 112.1 innings pitched.
Skepticism About Angels' Willingness to Trade Shohei Ohtani
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Over six MLB seasons, Shohei Ohtani has emerged as baseball's biggest star, a true one-of-one talent with elite hitting and pitching skills. The 29-year-old is the league-leader in both slugging percentage (.663) and batting average allowed (.189).
In this same stretch, the Los Angeles Angels have yet to reach the playoffs and haven't exactly dropped any hints about stopping their playoff drought. They entered the All-Star break with a seven-game deficit behind the AL West-leading Texas Rangers and without Mike Trout, who's recovering from a broken left wrist.
Earlier this season, ESPN's Jeff Passan said Ohtani, a free agent after this season, could be traded and "will definitely leave" if the Angels' struggles continued. Despite the team's inability to gain traction, though, there's still skepticism about L.A.'s willingness to give him up.
"Logic says Ohtani has to go, but trading arguably the greatest player ever goes beyond an analytic calculation, and two people who know Angels owner Arte Moreno said Sunday that they still don't believe he will ultimately pull that trigger," Heyman reported.
Even as a rental, Ohtani would command a colossal return. If the Angels know he's likely leaving after this season anyway, they have to at least gauge his market. As painful as it would be to let go of the league's greatest talent, losing him for nothing could be catastrophic.
Salvador Perez Could Allow Trade for Chance to Contend
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As an aging All-Star on one of baseball's worst teams, Salvador Perez seems like an obvious trade candidate. But since he has the power to veto any trade away from the Kansas City Royals, he has control over whether that's actually the case.
Well, teams with a void at catcher might want to start looking at the 33-year-old, who earned his eighth All-Star selection this season. Per Heyman, "sources suggest [Perez] might consider [waiving his veto rights] for a chance at another ring."
If Perez, who tallied 15 homers and 40 RBI before the break wants to win, he needs to leave Kansas City. The Royals entered the break 19.5 games out of first place in the league's worst division and are one of only two teams, along with the Oakland Athletics, to have a sub-.300 winning percentage.
