With at least 21 teams still sniffing contention and a possible lockout casting a shadow over everything, this year’s MLB trade deadline is shaping up to be a seller’s market with barely anything on the shelf. Yahoo Sports published a ranked list of 25 potential trade targets this week, and the tone from the jump was less fireworks and more damp sparkler — a thin pool of expiring contracts and maybe-available arms that could thin further with every three-game sweep and blown hamstring between now and July 31.
Sitting at No. 1 is Giants second baseman Luis Arraez, who checks every box a contender wants: expiring deal, career year, playing for a club going nowhere. The three-time batting champion has posted 3.1 WAR and a 136 adjusted OPS despite just four home runs, and Yahoo notes he has improved to Gold Glove caliber at second base — though Arraez has indicated he’d prefer to stay put at the position rather than shift for a trade.
The Mets surface twice in the top 15. Reliever Luke Weaver, ranked second, has been untouchable since June 1 — two hits, zero earned runs across 14 appearances, with a 19-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He closed for the Yankees through the 2024 World Series and is owed a manageable $8 million this year and $11 million in 2027. The question Yahoo raises is whether New York would deal him with an eye toward a 2027 push. Closer Devin Williams lands at No. 12 — serviceable of late with six saves in his last eight chances and a 3.07 ERA, but carrying $30 million across the next two seasons.
Giants lefty Robbie Ray ranks third. Five years removed from his 248-strikeout Cy Young season, Ray is averaging just 7.6 strikeouts per nine, but he posted a 3.38 first-half ERA with two starts of eight scoreless innings. A 41-55 San Francisco club went 12-7 in his starts — the kind of line that makes a contender pick up the phone.
Royals right-hander Michael Wacha sits fourth, held back only by limited no-trade protection. An All-Star this season with a 1.19 WHIP on a 38-59 Kansas City club, Wacha is guaranteed $15 million in 2027. Yahoo calls him the deepest-games starter potentially available.
The most fascinating name on the board is Padres closer Mason Miller at No. 5. San Diego is 3½ games out of a wild-card spot, draws sellout crowds, and has a pending ownership sale — hardly the ideal moment to ship out the most dominant closer in baseball. But general manager A.J. Preller’s appetite for roster chess is well documented, and Yahoo suggests the return could exceed what the Padres gave up to acquire Miller in the first place.
Nationals lefty Foster Griffin, ranked seventh, is the list’s wild card. Back from three years in Japan with an eight-pitch mix, a 2.77 ERA, and an unlikely All-Star nod, Griffin represents the kind of find that rebuilds are built around. Washington was near .500 for much of the first half before a pre-break sweep by the Yankees brought reality into focus. Trading him, Yahoo argues, would let the Nationals recoup value without gutting the core around All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams.
Tarik Skubal, the Tigers’ ace and reigning AL Cy Young winner, lands at No. 9 — less because Detroit wants to move him and more because the next three weeks will determine whether the Tigers stay close enough in both the AL Central and wild-card races to keep him. Detroit sits 6½ out of the division and 3½ out of a wild card, with a second-half schedule Yahoo describes as favorable.
Bo Bichette, now with the Mets, checks in at No. 15. He holds a full no-trade clause on a three-year, $142 million deal with opt-outs in 2027 and 2028. His 88 adjusted OPS and .300 OBP this season are underwhelming, but Yahoo’s argument is blunt: the man can still hit, and a fresh start could matter in October.
The rest of the list includes Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson, Rockies outfielders Jake McCarthy and Mickey Moniak, Cardinals righty Dustin May, Diamondbacks starter Eduardo Rodriguez, and Astros find Peter Lambert — a mix of rentals, reclamation projects, and contract complications that, taken together, tell you what kind of deadline this is. Not a blockbuster bonanza. More like a clearance rack where you’d better know your sizes.
The film doesn’t lie: 21 teams think they’re in it, the available talent is thin, and the lockout noise isn’t going away. Somebody’s going to overpay for a middle reliever. That’s just how this works.
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