MLB trade deadline rumors tracker: Who’s buying, who’s selling, what will Mets, Yankees do?

The summer is heating up, and so is the MLB trade market!

Several teams have already differentiated themselves as contenders or rebuilding squads ahead of the July 30 trade deadline. The former group includes the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and Baltimore Orioles while the latter includes the Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics and Miami Marlins (who have already traded star hitter Luis Arráez to the San Diego Padres).

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Keep it here for all the latest rumors ahead of the 2024 MLB trade deadline!

July 15

Contenders desperate for starting pitchers

Virtually every playoff contender, including the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Guardians, Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers, and even the San Diego Padres “badly” need starting pitching, per FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal.

Chicago White Sox ace Garrett Crochet and Detroit Tigers right-hander Jack Flaherty are likely the best pitchers available on the trade market, though there is concern about Crochet’s durability among interested teams as he has already thrown 45 more innings this season than he has at any other point in his college or professional baseball career.

Mets still selling?

The surging New York Mets and president of baseball operations David Stern, are in an enviable — but still tough — position. The Mets, winners of 18 of their last 25, find themselves in the third N.L. wild-card spot entering the All-Star break, essentially ruling out any talk of trading star first baseman Pete Alonso, who will enter free agency after this season.

But the Mets could capitalize on their starting pitching depth and other teams’ desperation for more starters. Rosenthal says Stearns will have to weigh weather to trade from that depth as the team plans to use a six-man rotation once Kodai Senga returns from the injured list.

“Do you trade a guy when you want to with six? Do you trade a Luis Severino who has pitched really well but his strikeout rate is down? Or maybe a Jose Quintana,” Rosenthal said.

What can the Yankees do to jump-start the second half?

The Yankees are coming off a series win against the Royals after a long slump throughout June and into July, and there are many ways New York could go.

“They have a number of needs,” Rosenthal said. “Bullpen is probably the most prominent among them. They need swing-and-miss relievers, they don’t have enough of them right now, but also look at that infield. Second base is a question right now with [Gleyber] Torres, third base is a question with DJ LeMahieu, [shortstop] Anthony Volpe hasn’t hit in a couple of months,” Rosenthal said.

The Yankees are also monitoring the starting pitching market, Rosenthal said.

Teams on the fence

While teams like the White Sox and Miami Marlins are definitely going to be sellers, when it comes to which other teams might join them, front offices are using playoff odds to evaluate their chances. With playoff odds changing every week, there are three teams that are currently 12%-17% range: the Chicago Cubs, the Tampa Bay Rays, and the defending World Series champion and All-Star host Texas Rangers. They could use those low odds as a reason to sell, or look to the 2023 N.L. pennant-winning Arizona Diamondbacks, whose playoff odds stood at 13% last August, as a reason to gear up for a run at contending, Rosenthal said.

July 6

Yankees want relievers? Dodgers in on Garrett Crochet?

The New York Yankees (54-36) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (54-35) are in the same boat from a record standpoint, but the two teams are going in separate directions at this point of the season.

New York has lost 14 of its last 18 games, while Los Angeles continues to win at a steady clip. Despite their contrasting play, the Yankees and the Dodgers each have World Series aspirations. With that in mind, what moves do they want to make before the MLB trade deadline?

FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal explained what markets the Yankees are keeping tabs on ahead of the team’s Saturday afternoon matchup against the Boston Red Sox.

“The first thing’s going to be their bullpen,” Rosenthal said. “It was really good the first six-to-eight weeks, but it was a little bit of smoke and mirrors. There’s not enough swing-and-miss in that bullpen, so they, like every other contender, will be targeting relievers.

“The other area to look at will be their infield … they could be looking for someone in that category as well.”

New York’s bullpen has struggled mightily of late, as the unit entered Saturday with a combined 5.11 ERA (25th in MLB), while surrendering 1.64 HR/9 (24th) over the last 14 days. Furthermore, closer Clay Holmes has blown five saves and surrendered a run in five of his last seven appearances.

As for the Yankees’ infield, first baseman Anthony Rizzo owned a mere .630 OPS before suffering an elbow injury last month; second baseman Gleyber Torres owns a .641 OPS; DJ LeMahieu has just two extra-base hits this season; shortstop Anthony Volpe owns a .687 OPS.

What about the Dodgers, who are coming off a monumental offseason, headlined by superstar Shohei Ohtani‘s signing?

“What they would like to do is add a starting pitcher because they have questions, really, with all of their starters in one sense or another, so a guy like Garrett Crochet would be ideal,” Rosenthal said. “He has an innings question surrounding him, as well, but the way the Dodgers can operate their pitching staff and maneuver different bodies, they can fit him in even if he has to go to the bullpen or pitch in a bulk role in the second half.”

The 25-year-old Crochet has been the most bandied about starting pitcher who could be available on the trade market. In what is his first season as a starting pitcher at the MLB level for the Chicago White Sox, Crochet has posted a 3.02 ERA, 0.93 WHIP and an American League-high 141 strikeouts across 101.1 innings (18 starts).

Offseason pickups Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2.92 ERA) and Tyler Glasnow (3.47 ERA) and young right-hander Gavin Stone (3.03 ERA) have been superb for the Dodgers, but room for improvement exists in the back end of their rotation. Plus, right-hander Walker Buehler is recovering from a hip injury.

Rosenthal also speculated that the Dodgers could keep their eyes on the middle infield market, as Mookie Betts remains out with a hand injury and Gavin Lux (.211/.267/.287) struggles. Los Angeles acquired infielder Cavan Biggio from the Toronto Blue Jays last month, but he’s batting just .182 since the trade.

June 25

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. open to joining Yankees

One of the biggest names potentially available at the deadline is slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr., whose Toronto Blue Jays sit last in the American League East at 35-43 entering Tuesday. While Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said in early June that trading Guerrero and shortstop Bo Bichette “doesn’t make any sense” and the team is reportedly still not considering dealing away either player, Guerrero made waves Monday when he told Dominican outlet Virus Deportivo that he would be open to playing for the division-rival New York Yankees.

“I’m a professional,” Guerrero said. “I go out on the field to play. I talked with my dad, I talked to my family. … I’ll be happy to help any team.”

Guerrero essentially walked back head-turning comments he made in 2022 when he said he would “never sign for the Yankees, not even dead.” He also doubled down on those comments in a 2023 interview with the New York Post, calling it a “personal thing that goes back with my family.” Guerrero’s father, Vladimir Guerrero Sr., is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and was a nine-time All-Star in his MLB career, primarily for the Montreal Expos and Los Angeles Angels.

“Sometimes you say things. … It’s not like that,” Guerrero Jr. said Monday. “I don’t hold back what I said about the Yankees. But what I say is that the organization understands me, I sat down to talk with my dad and my family, and that’s that. I understand myself, and I told [my dad] I was never going to talk about that subject again.”

“I’ll be happy to help any team. Right now, I’m focused on helping my team and trying to get out of this bad streak.”

The Blue Jays are 2-8 over their last 10 games. Guerrero is a free agent at the end of next season.

Dodgers interested in White Sox’s Luis Robert Jr.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are interested in Luis Robert Jr., per The Athletic, to provide some lineup depth behind their superstar trio of Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman — particularly with Betts out until at least August due to a fractured hand.

The Dodgers and division-rival San Diego Padres are also interested in Chicago left-hander Garrett Crochet, while the Seattle Mariners also make sense as a potential destination for Robert. The White Sox have reportedly sent minor-league scouts to affiliates of all three of those clubs in recent weeks.

Athletics’ Mason Miller has ‘hefty price tag’

Mason Miller may be the best player on the soon-to-be-relocating Oakland A’s and is one of the best relief pitchers in baseball this season, leading all MLB relievers with 60 strikeouts entering Monday. That makes him a natural trade candidate for contenders who need to bolster their bullpen, but Miller is also under team control until 2030, meaning that Oakland will likely require a massive trade package in exchange for trading the dominant reliever this summer, per The Athletic.

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