Predicting the 2025 MLB Trade Deadline's Most Active Teams
Major League Baseball's 2025 trade deadline is just three weeks away. With an All-Star break between now and July 31, that means each team only has around 17 games remaining until judgment day.
Some of the clubs on the proverbial bubble will wait as long as possible before picking a lane. Others have already emerged as a near sure thing to do a lot of buying or a lot of selling.
While it's likely that every team eventually will be involved in at least one trade, we've identified eight teams who figure to be more active than most—four clear buyers with multiple needs and four sellers probably willing and definitely able to put together quite the fire sale.
Things could still change, of course. Over the past two weeks, the Toronto Blue Jays went from a possible seller to a motivated buyer, while the Cleveland Guardians devolved from a potential buyer into a cellar-dwelling seller. But given what we know today, these are the teams we expect to make several significant moves by the end of the month.
Active Sellers: Pittsburgh Pirates
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Intriguing Two-Month Rentals: UTIL Isiah Kiner-Falefa, LHP Andrew Heaney, LHP Caleb Ferguson, OF Tommy Pham, 2B/OF Adam Frazier
Controllable through 2026: RHP David Bednar, RHP Dennis Santana
Longer Term Possibilities: RHP Mitch Keller, LHP Bailey Falter, 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes, OF Bryan Reynolds, OF Oneil Cruz
It'd be quicker to just list the players Pittsburgh wouldn't be willing to trade, who are pretty much Paul Skenes, Andrew McCutchen and their trio of highly touted pitching prospects.
On the rental front, Kiner-Falefa and Heaney are the big-ticket items, though the latter has cooled off drastically since boasting a 2.91 ERA through his first 10 starts. Ferguson is also having the best season of his career, and left-handed relievers worth even half a darn are always in high demand at the deadline.
None of those three are exactly needle-movers, though.
Where the Pirates could really make some noise is with their pair of closers who have one year of arbitration eligibility remaining (Bednar and Santana) or any combination of their three players with known salaries for the next few years (Keller, Hayes and Reynolds).
Keller has made a dozen quality starts this season, including going seven scoreless innings against the Cardinals this past Wednesday. If he stays relatively hot for the next few weeks, Keller—who is owed $16.9M next season, $18.4M in 2027 and $20.4M in 2028—could rival Sandy Alcantara as the most in-demand long-term option on the trade block.
Active Buyers: Chicago Cubs
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Biggest Need: Starting Pitching
Secondary Needs: Third Base, Bullpen Arms
For a team that's leading the majors in run differential, can't imagine there are many Cubs fans out there getting excited about the potential pitching matchups coming their way against the Phillies and Dodgers in October.
Even if Matt Boyd stays healthy and even if Shota Imanaga continues to defy what is the biggest FIP (4.84) to ERA (2.78) differential among all big leaguers with at least 50 innings pitched, you're still talking about some combination of Cade Horton, Colin Rea and Jameson Taillon in the other spots in the rotation, going up against fellow No. 3/4 starters the likes of Jesús Luzardo, Ranger Suárez, Tyler Glasnow and Shohei Ohtani.
Worse yet, if Chicago wins the NL Central but ends up with the No. 3 seed, it would probably need to burn Boyd and Imanaga in the wild-card series and then hope for the best with perhaps Horton on the road against Zack Wheeler or Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 1 of the NLDS.
With all due respect to the highly touted rookie, good luck with that.
That can and likely will change at the trade deadline, though, as there are plenty of pitchers available who are good enough to become Chicago's No. 3 starter, if not its new ace.
And with a decent stockpile of top prospects in their farm system, the Cubs have the means to make it happen.
Beyond adding a starting pitcher, they may look to shore up the hot corner, as Matt Shaw hasn't even managed a .500 OPS since the beginning of June. And while Daniel Palencia has been more than adequate in the ninth inning, they may target a closer with a more established track record.
Active Sellers: Washington Nationals
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Intriguing Two-Month Rentals: RHP Kyle Finnegan, RHP Michael Soroka, 1B/DH Josh Bell, IF Amed Rosario, LHP Andrew Chafin, IF Paul DeJong
Controllable through 2026: 1B Nathaniel Lowe
Longer Term Possibilities: OF Alex Call, RHP Jake Irvin
Finnegan is the big one everyone has had circled for a while. Save situations have been nonexistent for Washington over the past month, but Finnegan was flirting with leading the majors in saves with 18 of them less than a week into June. Both his ERA and WHIP are better than any previous season, and he's only going to cost $2 million for two months. He's the most noteworthy closer on the block, unless you're enamored with David Bednar.
But what looked like a "Finnegan and Bust" situation for a while has gotten more interesting for the Nationals as an impending fire sale team.
Soroka has been healthy for a change over the past two months, going through a stretch of nine starts with a more than serviceable 4.20 ERA, 0.97 WHIP and 9.7 K/9. He could be a fifth starter or a bulk reliever for a playoff hopeful.
At the same time, Josh Bell has turned quite a corner and could be on the move for what would be the fourth consecutive summer. After batting .151 through Washington's first 54 games, he hit .282 with more walks (10) than strikeouts (nine) over the course of his next 29 games. Got to believe another flyer will be taken on the veteran switch hitter.
Whether Washington goes any further than unloading its rentals remains to be seen, but Alex Call could drum up some serious interest.
The 30-year-old outfielder is batting .312 in 90 games played since the beginning of last season and is arbitration-eligible through 2029, but he's arguably more valuable to the Nationals as a trade chip than as a part of the long-term plans for a club that has James Wood, Dylan Crews, Jacob Young and a couple other decent outfield prospects at its disposal.
Active Buyers: New York Yankees
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Biggest Need: Starting Pitching
Secondary Needs: Third Baseman, Middle Relief
The good news for the Yankees is that 2024 AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil is gearing up for a minor league rehab assignment and could make his 2025 debut somewhere around the trade deadline.
The bad news is they recently lost Clarke Schmidt to what will likely be Tommy John surgery and are now facing dire straits in the 60-ish percent of games not started by Max Fried or Carlos Rodón.
By the time Gil makes it back, they might be banking on him to help carry them back into playoff contention.
Or maybe the recent six-game losing streak and the free-fall into a possible "playing road games at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa Bay in the wild card round" scenario is just the kick in the pants they needed to go do something slightly drastic about their rotation.
As far as top prospects go, the Yankees don't have a ton to offer. But even though they're already on track to pay a hefty luxury tax bill, money should be no object for them and they could go get a pricy-for-multiple-years guy like Sandy Alcantara, Mitch Keller or—should the Cardinals continue to falter and embrace a fire sale—Sonny Gray.
And, well, if they're already calling about Gray, they might as well ask about Nolan Arenado, Phil Maton and Ryan Helsley while they're at it, as those are the other problem areas the Yankees might need to address.
Active Sellers: Baltimore Orioles
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Intriguing Two-Month Rentals: DH/1B/OF Ryan O'Hearn, CF Cedric Mullins, RHP Zach Eflin, RHP Charlie Morton, RHP Tomoyuki Sugano, RHP Seranthony Domínguez, LHP Gregory Soto, C Gary Sánchez
Controllable through 2026: OF Ramón Laureano, RHP Andrew Kittredge, LHP Trevor Rogers, 1B Ryan Mountcastle, IF Ramón Urías
Longer Term Possibilities: RHP Félix Bautista
Will the 40-49 O's actually throw in the towel? And how aggressive are they willing to be about it?
Including Bautista as a "longer term possibility" is probably a bit much, as the Mountain has two years of arbitration eligibility remaining, with Baltimore surely planning on getting back to the playoffs before he reaches free agency.
If, say, the Phillies are feeling desperate enough about their bullpen situation to put together a monster offer for Bautista, though, anything's possible.
And what's wild is the Orioles could trade away all 14 players listed above and still have a contender for the next two seasons.
Without even attempting to account for what they'd be getting in return for those 14 players, they'd still have a lineup consisting of Adley Rutschman, Jackson Holliday, Gunnar Henderson, Coby Mayo, Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser, Tyler O'Neill, Heston Kjerstad and top prospect Samuel Basallo, plus a rotation of Grayson Rodriguez, Kyle Bradish, Dean Kremer, Tyler Wells and Cade Povich with Yennier Cano at closer.
So, yeah, they can get mighty aggressive in unloading anyone and everyone who isn't part of the long-term future.
Even if they keep it to just the rentals, though, they can put together an impressive fire sale in the quintet of O'Hearn, Mullins, Eflin, Sugano and even Morton, as he's posting a 2.76 ERA over the past two months out of nowhere.
Combine the prospects they could get for them with the possibility of getting the No. 1 pick in next year's draft and Baltimore ought to be back in the mix for 100-win seasons in a hurry.
Active Buyers: Seattle Mariners
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Biggest Need: Bats in General
Secondary Needs: Left-Handed Pitching
Though Cal Raleigh isn't quite as much of a one-man offense for Seattle as Bobby Witt Jr. was for Kansas City last year, let's just say that opponents are growing increasingly comfortable with pitching around him.
Randy Arozarena's presence behind the Big Dumper has been enough to keep the intentional walks to a minimum, but the back half of this lineup isn't scaring anyone, even with both Dominic Canzone and Donovan Solano putting up good numbers over the past month.
The unfortunate news for Seattle is this is shaping up to be a rough year for buyers looking for bats.
If the Braves (Marcell Ozuna), Orioles (Ryan O'Hearn) and Diamondbacks (Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez) all pack it in and unload their rentals, there are certainly options. Seattle could also go the multi-year route again (see: Luis Castillo, Randy Arozarena, etc.) and go for Nationals first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, or one of the outfielders in Boston's logjam.
However, the demand is likely to far outweigh the supply, and we shall see how far into their deep bag of top prospects they're willing to go to try to ensure this doesn't become the fourth time in five years that they win at least 85 games and still miss the postseason.
It's just a hunch, but aggressive could be the name of the game for the M's. Whether that means one big splash for someone like Wilyer Abreu or a platter of moderate upgrades at RF, DH and an infield spot or two remains to be seen, but Seattle should be highly motivated to not let another "what could have been" season slip through its fingers.
Active Sellers: Miami Marlins
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Intriguing Two-Month Rentals: RHP Cal Quantrill
Controllable through 2026: N/A
Longer Term Possibilities: RHP Sandy Alcantara, RHP Edward Cabrera, RHP Anthony Bender, OF Kyle Stowers, OF Jesús Sánchez, RHP Ronny Henriquez
As we've already seen with the Nationals, Orioles and Pirates, the vast majority of fire-sale candidates tend to be loaded with players on expiring contracts.
The Marlins, on the other hand, have literally one player on their roster who isn't under team control through at least 2027—and with nary a quality start to his credit through 17 starts this season, Quantrill isn't exactly the most coveted rental out there.
Nevertheless, the Marlins—who have never been shy about trading away players several years before they reach free agency—could swing a handful of MLB-for-several-MiLBs types of deals this summer.
Sandy Alcantara is the big one we've all been speculating about since before the season began. And after a miserable first couple of months fueled by an abnormally high walk rate (5.1 BB/9, 1.4 K/BB), he has been much better since the beginning of June, posting a 3.35 FIP, 1.5 BB/9 and 4.5 K/BB. Still not his vintage, Cy Young stuff, but good enough to intrigue a lot of potential buyers.
If the Fish are willing to deal multiple starters, teams are bound to come calling about Edward Cabrera, too. After a slow start of his own, he has a 1.64 ERA over his last eight starts, including back-to-back outings in which he completed seven innings. The injury history might scare teams away, but the talent has always been there.
Beyond that, pick a player not named Agustín Ramírez or Eury Pérez and the Marlins are probably willing to listen to offers.
Active Buyers: San Francisco Giants
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Biggest Need: Starting Pitching
Secondary Needs: Home Run Hitters
Yes, the San Francisco Giants already made a colossal move to acquire Rafael Devers.
No, they're not done in their efforts to piece together a viable World Series contender.
The one-two punch of Logan Webb and Robbie Ray in the starting rotation has been marvelous, and Landon Roupp has been an adequate middle/back-of-the-rotation starter. But Justin Verlander has yet to register a win in 14 starts and Hayden Birdsong has a 5.79 ERA and 1.55 WHIP over his last eight starts.
While you can get by in the postseason with 2.5 quality starters, the Giants need to actually get to the postseason first. To do so, sprucing up the back of the rotation is a near must.
And while Devers was a nice big step in the right direction, the Giants have gotten a sub-.600 OPS from the catcher, first base and second base spots in their lineup, ranking near the bottom of the majors in total home runs hit.
Playing home games at Oracle Park has been somewhat of a factor there, but they're not usually this limited in the home run department—and they did rank second in the majors in home runs hit in 2021, so let's not act like it's Mission: Impossible for this club to hit for power.
