The 2024 Major League Baseball trade deadline is July 30, so we're now officially less than three weeks away. And still, there is a bunch to be sorted out regarding which teams are buyers and sellers. There has been some separation in the last month or so, but we're still looking at more teams within striking range of a playoff spot than the obvious sellers, so we could use a bit more sorting out.
Let's sort out where everything with stands with the 30 teams as of July 11.
Obvious sellers
White Sox - They still haven't even won their 30th game and might not for a little bit.
Angels - Double-digit deficits in both the division and wild-card race means yet another playoff-less season for Mike Trout's Angels.
Athletics - Still far away from contender, but they do have a few attractive pieces who could be sold.
Marlins - The Fish made the playoffs last year, but everything has fallen apart this season and it happened right from the jump with their 0-9 start.
Rockies - I'm not sure they have a ton to sell, but it's another terrible Rockies team.
Obvious buyers
Orioles - The most position-playing prospect depth in baseball sits here with a first-place team that needs more pitching depth, both starting and relieving. We don't know how aggressive Mike Elias plans to be, but the trade for Corbin Burnes -- who is a free agent after this season -- should indicate they're going for a World Series title this season.
Yankees - Given that they are the Yankees and haven't won the World Series since 2009, they should be all in. Given that Juan Soto is hitting free agency after the season, there should be plenty of urgency anyway. And now, after having the best record in baseball, the Yankees are stumbling, which means something needs to be done.
Guardians - They are currently in a battle for the best record in the American League and they are doing so with one of baseball's worst rotations. They've made the playoffs five times in the last eight seasons and haven't won it all, extending their longest-in-MLB drought. Gotta strike while the iron's hot!
Twins - The Twins finally got the proverbial monkey off their backs last season by winning a playoff series. This team has the look of one that could make a deep playoff run if everything broke right.
Royals - The top team just outside an AL wild-card spot, the Royals have been mildly aggressive the last year in adding players to the big-league roster to push for a playoff berth, so why stop now? They are right there!
Mariners - The Mariners finally snapped their playoff drought two seasons ago, but they still haven't been to the ALCS since 2001 and have never been to the World Series. Their 10-game lead from just a few weeks ago has been whittled down to two games and the anemic offense is downright offensive. Jerry Dipoto has been on the job since 2015. Enough is enough. Sell the farm to give that outstanding pitching staff some run support.
Astros - They've been in seven straight ALCS and are right on the cusp of taking back control of the AL West. C'mon. Of course they'll try to buy. Starting pitching should be a focus due to all their injuries, but a power bat at first base couldn't hurt.
Phillies - Two straight NLCS and the best record in baseball. Even if they don't have to do much, do the math.
Brewers - They've already traded for Aaron Civale. Don't expect huge moves, but they'll tweak at the margins.
Cardinals - Their offseason moves signaled a "win now" approach and they've been playing good baseball for a while now after a slow start.
Dodgers - Obvious playoff team with seemingly endless resources and an injury-depleted pitching staff.
Padres - With the Joe Musgrove injury and Yu Darvish personal leave, the rotation needs help again and the Padres have the look of a playoff-caliber team. You know A.J. Preller will try hard to make moves.
That's 12 obvious buyers and five obvious sellers. Uh oh. More teams could enter the fray in what'll be a seller's market, though.
Trending toward sellers
Rays - They already traded Civale, but that could be justified to make room for Shane Baz. There's enough here to say the Rays can still climb back into contention. They've also proven most of the season they are just mediocre at best, and aren't far off from being out of the wild-card race. Something to watch: Randy Arozarena is heading toward his second year of arbitration.
Blue Jays - We've heard from the general manager that their preference is to extend Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. instead of trade them, but it's shaping up to be a seller's market and those bats would be mighty attractive to several teams looking to make a splash. This group is stale at this point after two playoff disappointments and just looks downright bad most of the time. A shakeup is needed, so I suggest they start with the big names.
Tigers - We can start to see the foundation of their next contender starting to take shape around Riley Greene, Tarik Skubal and even Colt Keith. Maybe Spencer Torkelson will get his act together. Reese Olson also seems like part of the answer. Still, the Tigers can trade off veterans like Kenta Maeda and Jack Flaherty.
Rangers - The defending champs are starting to heat up and will continue to get more healthy in the rotation as the season progresses, but we've already seen reporting that they are open to selling and that could include Max Scherzer and Nathan Eovaldi. If the Rangers continue to heat up and make the AL West a three-team race, surely they'll move into buyer territory, but for now, there's a chance they'll deal a few veterans and look to reload before 2025. They are 6.5 games out.
Nationals - The Nats are up-and-comers and were right in contention through mid-June, but they've stumbled since and have fallen back down to where many expected they'd be. They obviously won't touch any of the young core, but some veterans could be moved, such as Trevor Williams, Kyle Finnegan, Jesse Winker and maybe even Lane Thomas.
Cubs - The Cubs entered 2024 with high hopes and this roster isn't really built to be a seller in terms of where all the contracts are. They had been a bad team, especially ever since starting 17-9, but now they've won five of six and are only 3.5 games out of a Wild Card spot. If they fall back, it creates an interesting situation.
Cody Bellinger has two big player options after this season and perhaps there would be concern that he won't test free agency again as he's having a middling season, but he could make sense to trade. Maybe someone looking for power would want to take Christopher Morel if the Cubs are fine to move on from him. Jameson Taillon still has two more years on his deal, but it's possible a team would be interested. If the Cubs really wanted to make a splash, I suppose they could dangle Justin Steele. He's ace-caliber at times and is 28 years old while being under team control through 2027. Such a move by Jed Hoyer would be admitting, however, that his initial build failed and seems unlikely unless he got multiple majors-ready pieces back.
If they continue this recent trend of winning, however, surely they'll be ready to add. This is a very interesting team to watch.
Trending toward buyers
Red Sox - Most expected the Red Sox to finish last this season, but instead they are in playoff position. They could probably use a frontline starter and more power on offense, so it'll be fun to see how new executive Craig Breslow operates here in his first deadline in charge.
Pirates - Jared Jones is hurt, but it isn't a long-term injury. Paul Skenes is already an ace. Mitch Keller is the veteran of this threesome that would make for 75% of a great playoff rotation. Bryan Reynolds is their All-Star position player while Oneil Cruz is the type of player who could carry an offense in the playoffs. This is to say that the Pirates feel like a team on the rise and they are close enough to contention that they should absolutely not sell off. It isn't clear how much money and/or prospects they'd be willing to spend in adding, but surely they'll try to improve in some fashion and attempt to make a playoff run.
Diamondbacks - They just made the World Series and added some key pieces this past offseason. Being right in wild-card contention again means they'll likely try to improve the ballclub and make it two straight postseason berths for the first time since 2001-02.
Could truly go either way
Mets - With a new front office boss in David Stearns in addition to possible rental players like Pete Alonso, Jose Quintana, Sean Manaea, Luis Severino, J.D. Martinez, Harrison Bader and Adam Ottavino -- not to mention players controlled through 2025 like Starling Marte -- the Mets entered the season looking like the biggest seller out there. This remained the case into early June. Then they got hot and temporarily looked like a playoff team. Then they lost five of seven. Now they've won four of five. What gives?
There's no way Stearns could justify dismantling a team within a few games of, let alone in, playoff position. They are a half game out right now. But what if they fall on hard times?
The Mets are the team to watch here because they could completely take over the seller's market if they lose enough to fall out of contention. They could also get hot again and decide to spend a ton of money in taking on tradeable contracts from other teams.
Of course, if they hang around pretty much exactly where they are right now, they'll be a minor buyer and just try to improve on the margins.
Keep an eye on them these next two weeks.
Hold?
Reds - The Reds are very young and have been hit hard by key injuries this season. If they were to sell, there are only a few players that would make sense. They aren't too far out of contention to consider buying, but how aggressive will they be if they end up something like six games out of the playoffs with five teams between them and a spot come late July? They feel like a team that'll be very quiet.
Giants - Blake Snell has returned from injury. Alex Cobb will be back soon and Robbie Ray has thrown three innings in rehab action. Will those be their additions? I certainly don't think they'll sell, even if they fall back pretty far. They are more likely to buy if they hang around.
