1 Trade Each MLB Team Should Consider Before Opening Day
It's true that consequential trades during spring training are rare, but they are far from impossible.
Indeed, it wasn't even two years ago that the San Diego Padres landed Dylan Cease in a March 2024 blockbuster with the Chicago White Sox. The right-hander had been on the market for months at that point, and the Friars finally made the Pale Hose an offer they couldn't refuse.
It is in this spirit of possibility that we're going to pitch trades that all 30 teams should at least be considering right now, with the spring training season in full swing.
For contenders, they mostly involve trading for players. For everyone else, they involve which players should be traded away.
We'll go division by division, starting in the American League East and ending in the National League West.
American League East
1 of 6
Baltimore Orioles: Isaac Paredes from Houston Astros
The Orioles have built themselves to contend on their offensive firepower, so it's not great that two key infielders are already down with injuries. Jackson Holliday broke his hamate and Jordan Westburg has a torn UCL in his right elbow.
The latter is the one that should have the O's spooked enough to inquire about Paredes. He's an iffy defender no matter where he's playing, but his outstanding pull power has produced an average of 29 home runs per 162 games since 2022.
Boston Red Sox: Nico Hoerner from Chicago Cubs
The Red Sox were actually linked to Paredes here and there at points during the offseason, but their trade for Caleb Durbin solidified their preference for run prevention over power.
If they're going to lean even further into it, Hoerner should be their next target. He's a two-time Gold Glover at second base, where his arrival would give Boston plus defenders at three out of four infield spots.
New York Yankees: CJ Abrams from Washington Nationals
Anthony Volpe was the future at shortstop not too long ago, but a dismal 2025 season and shoulder surgery have hit the brakes on that plan. José Caballero doesn't inspire a ton of confidence, either.
So, why not swing for the fences with a trade for Abrams? The 2024 All-Star is good for a 20-20 season and around 3 WAR annually, though any team acquiring him will remember his demotion after a reported late-night casino visit in Washington and expect him to avoid similar headlines in a market like New York.
Tampa Bay Rays: Yandy Díaz to a contender
The Rays are even more of an underdog than usual in the AL East this year. On top of that, the arrival of a new owner doesn't seem to have changed their financial reality. They still have to offload stars when the time is right.
Hence why they at least need to listen on Díaz. His $12 million salary is the highest on the team, and he could only have so much of his prime left to explore after he hit .300 with a career-high 25 homers in 2025.
Toronto Blue Jays: Sandy Alcantara from Miami Marlins
The Blue Jays' defense of their AL pennant is already off to a tough start. They're still the best team in the division, but Bowden Francis' UCL surgery and Shane Bieber's forearm issue have exposed the shortage of depth in their rotation.
They should be in on Alcantara just because he's a horse who could give them 180 innings or so. Even better, he's a proper ace if he can rediscover his 2022 form—which seemed to come back alive in the final weeks of last season.
American League Central
2 of 6
Chicago White Sox: Andrew Benintendi to anyone
This almost certainly isn't happening. Benintendi is still owed $32.2 million through 2027, which is a lot of money for a guy who has produced only 0.6 rWAR in three seasons on the South Side.
But at this point, the White Sox need to consider if the best thing they can do is to simply eat that money and essentially buy a prospect by dumping Benintendi on another team. It may be the only way to salvage something from the contract.
Cleveland Guardians: Lars Nootbaar from St. Louis Cardinals
The Guardians have done shockingly little to prepare a defense of their AL Central title from last season. The outfield looks like a particular weakness, with young and unproven starters to the right of Steven Kwan.
Nootbaar is a solidly above-average hitter when he's healthy, so he'd do a lot to raise the floor of Cleveland's outfield. Beyond that, he brings a certain energy and intensity that would fit well with the club's perennial underdog mentality.
Detroit Tigers: Tarik Skubal to a desperate contender
Just as a reminder, the key word in this exercise is "consider." The Tigers absolutely should not be looking to trade Skubal, but there's no harm in keeping the door open for a Herschel Walker offer.
If, say, a team was willing to offer a ready-made, controllable replacement for the two-time Cy Young Award winner, the Tigers would have to listen. So long, of course, as there were also multiple top prospects included in the package.
Kansas City Royals: Matt Shaw from Chicago Cubs
The Royals look like a major sleeper in the broader AL landscape, but they're pretty much always in need of more hitters. And with Jonathan India at second base and at least two question marks in the outfield, they could use someone versatile.
Shaw is a third baseman by trade, but he has ample pro experience at second base and has recently been prepping for a move to the outfield. And while his defense carried him as a rookie for most of 2025, he ultimately came through with a .839 OPS in the second half.
Minnesota Twins: Joe Ryan to a contender
The Twins were a long-shot contender even before Pablo López had to have Tommy John surgery immediately after arriving to spring training. There's no point chasing the dream any longer now.
Ryan is controlled through 2027 and one of the better-kept secrets among all top-of-the-rotation starters. His 3.78 ERA for the last four seasons is good stuff, and he's also posted a 4.8 strikeout-to-walk ratio in this span. He's worth a haul in a trade.
American League West
3 of 6
Athletics: Luis Severino to a contender
The last thing the A's need is even less pitching, so nobody should be counting on them trading the ace of their staff. That's especially true if they're serious about establishing contender bona fides before landing in Las Vegas in two years.
Yet the Severino signing wasn't necessarily made for purely competitive reasons, and he was vocal about having a bad time in Sacramento amid a rough 2025 season. He belongs elsewhere, and trading him could be a means for the A's to offload $25 million and get something back in return.
Houston Astros: Jarren Duran from Boston Red Sox
Though his $8 million salary reportedly gives them pause, the Astros have been a speculative fit for Duran all offseason. And they remain a good landing spot for him on paper, as they need a left-handed-hitting outfielder who adds new elements (i.e., power and speed) to the offense.
A Duran-for-Isaac Paredes swap isn't as likely now as it might have been a few weeks ago, but something to that effect might still work. To wit, Caleb Durbin can play second base just as easily as he can play third in Boston.
Los Angeles Angels: Jo Adell to a contender
It's hard to imagine this actually happening, if for no other reason than Arte Moreno has a history of quixotically pursuing contention when the Angels should be rebuilding. Because fans simply demand a winning team… no, wait… never mind.
In any case, Adell should be on the block after finally having a long-awaited breakout in 2025. It's nice that he did it, but it's too late for the 26-year-old to be counted as a cornerstone piece. Besides, a 37-homer season built on a .293 OBP is a house of cards.
Seattle Mariners: Ryan Bliss to a contender
The Mariners are the one contender in the American League that doesn't truly need anything. They have talent in all the right places, and an excellent farm system to boot.
A trade like this would more so be meant to do right by the player. Bliss is buried on the depth chart after last year's arm and knee injuries wrecked his big break as an Opening Day starter. He deserves a fresh shot with another team.
Texas Rangers: Joe Ryan from Minnesota Twins
The Rangers hung around last year largely because of their starting rotation, which led MLB with a 3.41 ERA. And by trading for MacKenzie Gore and lining him up behind Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi, they have basically doubled down.
Well, why not triple down? Ryan is the best starter they can conceivably get at this point, and a trade for him would accomplish two things: Make the rotation even more elite, and provide another security blanket for the aging deGrom (37) and Eovaldi (36).
National League East
4 of 6
Atlanta Braves: Joe Ryan from Minnesota Twins
For the Rangers, Ryan is a want more than a need. For the Braves, it's the other way around. Chris Sale is 36 years old, and after him in their rotation is nothing but a series of question marks.
That's the result of offseason inactivity clashing with early injury trouble. Either way, it's a bad situation for a team that is ostensibly a major player in the NL East and National League at large, but which also hasn't played like it since 2023.
Miami Marlins: Sandy Alcantara to a contender
This is a layup. Alcantara has had trade rumors and speculation swirling around him for years at this point, and now he's headed into the final guaranteed year of his contract.
The best argument against trading him consists of pointing out that the Marlins were on the verge of contention amid a 79-win season in 2025. But given their difficult financial reality, they can't not look for a good excuse to offload $17.3 million.
New York Mets: Mark Vientos to a contender
Speaking of best arguments against trades, the Mets may yet have a need for Vientos. He's primarily a third baseman and first baseman, and they have two starters (Bo Bichette and Jorge Polanco) who are new to those positions.
For now, though, Vientos seems sidelined in a way that fellow former top prospect Brett Baty does not. There's no harm in seeing what's out there for him, especially if someone is willing to give up pitching.
Philadelphia Phillies: Tarik Skubal from Detroit Tigers
Once again, we're treating a Skubal trade as something the Tigers should do only if another team is desperate enough to knock their socks off. And to this end, the Phillies are the only team that really makes sense.
With their core stars all getting old fast, they're not so much "win now" as "must win now." They also have the prospect depth to the Tigers to listen, especially if they were to float Andrew Painter as a headliner.
Washington Nationals: James Wood to a contender
Thought this would be all about CJ Abrams? He's fine and all as a trade chip, but he's not the kind of guy who's going to bring back the kind of haul the Nationals really need to kick their reboot into warp speed.
They'd be better off dangling Wood, who has the trifecta of youth (23), controllability (through 2030) and talent (power). You normally build around guys like that, but two things: the trade that landed him in D.C. preceded Paul Toboni's tenure, and Wood's swing-and-miss issues are a major threat to his staying power.
National League Central
5 of 6
Chicago Cubs: Matt Shaw to a contender
Nico Hoerner is the better player that has drawn trade buzz, but that's exactly why the Cubs should keep him for what they hope will be a long season in 2026. Even better, they should keep him and extend him.
Shaw, by contrast, is arguably overqualified for the super-utility role for which the Cubs have lined him up. There is a case for keeping him and letting him cook, but there might not be many objections on the North Side if he was traded for pitching.
Cincinnati Reds: Jo Adell from Los Angeles Angels
The Reds are low-key scary, as any team that has Chase Burns as a No. 5 starter is one that could be a problem in October. But if they really want to make a Cinderella run, more offense is needed.
To this end, they could hope for 40-plus homers from Adell at Great American Ball Park. And while he isn't much of a defender in the outfield, there are few places where outfield defense matters less than Cincinnati.
Milwaukee Brewers: Mark Vientos from New York Mets
This is probably just a case of wishcasting, but it does feel like the Brewers need more power. They only hit 166 home runs last year, and that's not counting when they got out-homered in both of their playoff series.
Given Milwaukee's tight payroll, it's crucial that Vientos (who homered 27 times in 2024) isn't eligible for arbitration until next year. There's also familiarity between these front offices, which has already come into play once this offseason.
Pittsburgh Pirates: Isaac Paredes from Houston Astros
As third base is also a question mark in Pittsburgh, Vientos is also an on-paper fit for the Pirates. But they may prefer Paredes, with Ken Rosenthal and Chandler Rome of The Athletic reporting earlier this month that the Bucs had expressed interest in him.
The Pirates and Astros don't seem to line up well as trading partners, but let's agree to never say never. And as much as PNC Park suppresses power, Paredes' special brand of pull power is adaptable to any ballpark.
St. Louis Cardinals: Lars Nootbaar to a contender
With Nolan Arenado, Willson Contreras, Brendan Donovan and Sonny Gray all gone, the Cardinals don't have much left to trade. Along with lefty reliever JoJo Romero (more on him in a minute), Nootbaar is basically it.
No thanks to a gnarly heel injury, Nootbaar is fresh off an offensive downturn to a .686 OPS in 2025. The track record is solid, though, and the energy he brings makes him a good finishing piece for any would-be contender.
National League West
6 of 6
Arizona Diamondbacks: JoJo Romero from St. Louis Cardinals
The D-backs did well to bring back Merrill Kelly and to wait out Zac Gallen's market. Their rotation is better for it, but there's still a problem on the pitching side: the bullpen hasn't gotten clear upgrades since posting a 4.82 ERA in 2025.
It needs another lefty to pair with Brandyn Garcia, and Romero is the most obviously available one out there. He has a standard-issue lefty reliever skill set, in that he doesn't throw hard but gets plenty of ground balls and limits hard contact.
Colorado Rockies: Victor Vodnik to a contender
To look at the Rockies' roster in search of trade chips is to gaze into the abyss and slowly feel it gazing back at you. The horror. The horror.
But since there isn't much point in cellar-bound teams carrying talented relievers, Vodnik can and should go. He averages about 99 mph on the four-seamer and gets a ton of ground balls, and his changeup had a 44.2 Whiff% last year.
Los Angeles Dodgers: Griffin Jax from Tampa Bay Rays
Pitching a Tarik Skubal trade was awfully tempting here, but the Dodgers are in too good of a place to make a desperation heave like that. And besides, it's their bullpen that needs another talented arm.
It's not clear Jax is actually available, but he is a typical Dodgers trade target. Even if the results for his career are merely OK, the combination of his stuff and command rate him as an elite reliever.
San Diego Padres: Jarren Duran from Boston Red Sox
There's been a lot of smoke on the Padres and Duran since last summer, and the fit is still there. With all respect to Ramón Laureano, you'd rather have Duran in left field if given the choice.
It obviously isn't that simple, and it's not clear what the Padres can offer that the Red Sox would accept. But since Craig Breslow isn't exactly predictable when it comes to trades, we won't mistake "hard to see it" for "can't see it."
San Francisco Giants: Ryan Bliss from Seattle Mariners
The thinking here is that the Giants need a backup plan at second base. They think Luis Arraez will be fine out there, but he hasn't been an everyday second baseman since 2023. And even when he was, he was famously bad at it.
To this end, Bliss would have more daylight to playing time in San Francisco than he does in Seattle. And in his speed, he would also bring a tool that the Giants badly need to keep up with the rest of MLB. They stole an NL-low 68 bases in 2025.
Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.
