8 Trades We Wish We Would Have Seen at 2026 MLB Trade Deadline
The MLB trade deadline passed on Monday, and the last thing anyone can accuse it of being is boring. There were dozens of trades in the last 72 hours or so before the buzzer sounded.
And yet, it's OK to look back and wish there had been more. Or that things had happened differently. Or both.
Which brings us to the upcoming list of trades that we wish we would have seen before the deadline went by on August 3. Seven of them concern players who stayed put. The other is a hill we're willing to die on with a player who should have gone to a different team.
Along the way, we'll specifically discuss how realistic each deal was and why the outcome would have been cool.
We'll start with one that was always more outrageous than it was likely to happen.
Rafael Devers to the San Diego Padres
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How Realistic Was It?
Truth be told, this was only ever realistic in the sense that the idea crossed A.J. Preller's mind.
As reported by Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the Padres' president of baseball operations "at least considered" trying to get Rafael Devers from the San Francisco Giants. It would have been easier said than done, but not impossible.
As a bat-only player who's still owed $203.5 million through 2033, Devers' surplus value is deep underwater. But swaps of bad contracts do happen, and Preller may have had it in mind to do one of those with Buster Posey.
Why It Would Have Been Cool
Would this have been cool, though? Were Padres fans really jonesing to see their team land yet another post-prime player with a limited skillset?
Perhaps not, but sometimes it's OK to root for maximum chaos. And that's what we would have had here. Devers would have been traded for the second time in as many years, and to an NL West rival no less.
Besides, it wouldn't have been an awful fit. The power in Devers' bat has produced 23 home runs, whereas the Padres have gotten all of seven long balls from the DH spot.
Joe Ryan to the Atlanta Braves
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How Realistic Was It?
If the Braves were truly interested in Joe Ryan, it either never leaked or yours truly could find no evidence of it.
What's for sure, though, is that the righty was a popular speculative target for Atlanta in the weeks leading up to the deadline. And goodness knows the Braves needed him, as Chris Sale has been forced to go it alone as the only top-of-the-rotation starter on their roster.
As far as Alex Anthopoulos may have been concerned, the real problem concerned how well the Minnesota Twins began playing once the calendar turned to July. A 15-9 record for the month didn't end speculation that they would sell, but it clearly convinced the front office not to. The Twins were buyers at the deadline.
Why It Would Have Been Cool
This would have been cool if for no other reason than a trade to Atlanta would have raised Ryan's profile. He's been underrated for years at this point. Getting to be a featured part of the NL East leader's rotation would have changed that.
Beyond that, who doesn't like a good Johnson and Schilling-style pairing?
Sale and Ryan would have fit the bill as A) a lefty-righty ace duo who B) completely dominate the strike zone. They rank fourth and fifth among qualified starters in K/BB ratio this year.
Hunter Goodman to the Tampa Bay Rays
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How Realistic Was It?
This is where we start getting into "Oh yeah, that totally could have happened" territory.
There were trade rumors aplenty surrounding Hunter Goodman before the deadline, and the Rays were consistently linked to him. At one point, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic wrote that the Colorado Rockies considered the two-time All-Star catcher to be worth Tampa Bay's No. 1 prospect, outfielder Theo Gillen.
So yeah, no wonder the Rays pivoted to Liam Hicks. Yet the Rockies' ask was one the Rays could have afforded to pay, as B/R's Joel Reuter ranked their farm system at No. 3 in MLB coming out of the All-Star break.
Why It Would Have Been Cool
There are only seven players with 30 or more home runs right now, and none of them play on the same team.
That would have changed if Goodman and Junior Caminero had teamed up on the Rays. They're also 30-homer sluggers from the right side of the plate. In 2026, that's akin to having a pair of literal unicorns in a lineup.
Plus, Goodman would have been just a bit more powerful than the catchers the Rays had been using prior to the deadline. Rays catchers had hit six home runs all year through August 2.
George Kirby to the Chicago Cubs
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How Realistic Was It?
The first thing that needed to happen was for the Seattle Mariners to change their tune about listening on their starters. That happened in the final days before the deadline, and George Kirby instantly became a hot commodity.
Even after they got Kevin Gausman in a trade on Sunday, Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic reported that Kirby still interested the Cubs. The dream didn't really die until they instead got Clay Holmes in the final hours before the deadline.
What could have made a Kirby trade a banger is that the Cubs may have had to give up parts from their major league roster. The Mariners didn't need prospects. They needed, say, Matt Shaw and/or Seiya Suzuki.
Why It Would Have Been Cool
Precisely because they had the major league pieces to deal with Seattle, it's possible that Kirby was the best starter the Cubs could have realistically acquired before the deadline.
He isn't a household name as a Mariner, but Kirby may have become one as a Cub. He's arguably the best command artist in the game, and it's a seven-pitch arsenal headed by a fastball and sinker that touch the high 90s.
Basically, Kirby would have been a Game 1 starter for a Cubs team that arguably still doesn't have a good pick for the role.
CJ Abrams to the New York Yankees
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How Realistic Was It?
The Yankees did make a trade with the Washington Nationals, acquiring Luis García Jr. as part of a five-player deal on Saturday.
Before that, though, Spencer Nusbaum and Will Sammon of The Athletic reported that the Yankees had "checked in on" CJ Abrams. And there might have been a deal to be made, assuming the Yankees were willing to go all-out.
To wit, a package headlined by Jasson Domínguez or Spencer Jones likely would have been a non-starter for the Nats. They were well within their rights to ask for George Lombard Jr.
Why It Would Have Been Cool
Since the Yankees passed on Abrams and have since called up Lombard to play shortstop instead, there is a case for this as an "All's well that ends well" sort of thing.
Yet to come to that conclusion requires downplaying just how darn good Abrams has been this season. A .911 OPS and 28 home runs are good numbers, period. For an everyday shortstop, they're ridiculous.
Abrams wouldn't have been just a shortstop upgrade for the Yankees. With Aaron Judge's potential return this year still in limbo, Abrams was the best possible security blanket the Yankees could have acquired.
Zach Neto to the Boston Red Sox
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How Realistic Was It?
The Red Sox gave up a heck of a lot to get Adley Rutschman. If nothing else, that proved how much of an appetite they had for making a seismic deal amid their rapid rise up the AL standings.
But rather than a catcher, you really got the sense that they wanted a shortstop. They were linked to all the big ones, and Zach Neto most prominently.
According to Tim Healey of The Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Angels were asking for a package headlined by shortstop Franklin Arias. B/R's Joel Reuter has him ranked as the No. 4 prospect in MLB, so that may have been the moment that Craig Breslow knew to move on.
Why It Would Have Been Cool
The Red Sox are averaging a sturdy 5.3 runs per game during their 29-5 run since June 25. And rather than one or two guys driving the bus, it really has been someone different every night.
If nothing else, Neto would have been another option for the hero role. More importantly, he would have been an instant and massive upgrade for a shortstop spot that produced just 0.7 rWAR and seven home runs. Neto has averaged 26 homers per 162 games as a big leaguer.
Also, he's a right-handed hitter whose Pull AIR% has risen every year. He would have been a match made in heaven for the Green Monster.
Mason Miller to the Philadelphia Phillies
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How Realistic Was It?
There was plenty of pre-deadline buzz about the Phillies adding to their bullpen, and they ultimately did with trades for Caleb Kilian and Brooks Raley.
Mason Miller did enter the conversation for a second there, however. And since trading for stars is kind of Dave Dombrowski's whole thing, it made sense.
The San Diego Padres had other ideas, of course. Wins in eight out of nine before the deadline took them out of sell mode. And according to Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times, San Diego's ask was for a Kade Anderson-level prospect. Or literally Kade Anderson in Seattle's case, and some consider him MLB's No. 1 prospect.
Why It Would Have Been Cool
There are only three qualified relievers averaging over 100 mph on the fastball this season, and two of them are Miller and Jhoan Duran.
Simply on that account, the two of them together in Philadelphia would have been a show worthy of the Las Vegas sphere. The two of them have also combined to allow 12 earned runs in 84.2 innings, good for a 1.28 ERA.
Basically, having the two of them would have allowed the Phillies to turn postseason games into seven-inning sprints.
Tarik Skubal to the Milwaukee Brewers
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How Realistic Was It?
Tarik Skubal ended up going to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and for a prospect package that didn't quite seem worthy of a two-time Cy Young Award winner.
We don't know for sure that the Brewers could have beaten the Dodgers' offer, but it's reasonable to expect as much. According to Adam McCalvy of MLB.com, Milwaukee offered the Tigers a three-player package headlined by shortstop Luis Peña.
For reference, B/R's Joel Reuter has Peña ranked as MLB's No. 18 prospect. The lead prospect in the Dodgers' package was Zyhir Hope, who ranks at No. 38.
Why It Would Have Been Cool
Dang it, Tigers. You robbed us of a chance to see Skubal and Jacob Misiorowski starting Games 1 and 2 of a playoff series.
Each has a strikeout rate north of 30 percent since the start of last season, and that's an exclusive club with only eight members in it among pitchers with at least 150 innings. Each also has a max speed on the fastball well in excess of 100 mph.
If anything was going to get the Brewers to their first World Series since 1982, it was this pairing. But now, who knows?
Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.
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