Early MLB 2024 trade deadline preview for all 30 teams.
We’re only about three weeks into the season, but let’s pull out the old crystal ball and look ahead three months into the future to July 30 — MLB trade deadline day.
What might happen? Who might be traded? This is a little exercise we’ll call the Way-Early Trade Deadline Extravaganza Preview. We’re going to list the one player (or sometimes, two) for each team who is most likely to be traded, focusing for the most part on major leaguers but we’ll also
include some prospects. This is an exercise of looking through rosters, surveying the players in free agent years who are more likely to be traded if a team is faltering and considering which teams will be adding — or subtracting. (That is especially difficult this year since we only have a few obvious teams that won’t be playoff contenders.)
In last year’s edition, we correctly hit on seven players who were traded during the season: Lucas Giolito, C.J. Cron, Michael Lorenzen, Aroldis Chapman, Luis Urias, Luis Patino and JJ Bleday (who was traded before the season but after we completed this exercise). Another three — Jarred Kelenic, Ryan Pepiot and Dominic Fletcher — were traded this past offseason. Shohei Ohtani, you might recall, was not traded.
Who will we be right about this year? Let’s get to it.
Trade candidates: Chris Martin/Tyler O’Neill
OK, I recently made the Carolina Reaper prediction that the Red Sox will represent the American League in the World Series. Hey, anything is possible. More likely is that they’re looking up at the playoff race come July 30 and decide to deal away a couple of their free agents-to-be — and, yes, we can already hear the outrage from Red Sox fans. Martin is your prototype trade deadline move: a
veteran reliever with postseason experience who will help a bullpen with his ability to pound the strike zone. O’Neill is also heading into free agency and is off to a blazing start. Let’s see if he can stay healthy and keep hitting, but if he does, the lack of middle-of-the-order bats available could make him one of the most sought-after position players at the deadline.
