During the offseason, rumors about major league players dominate the headlines. Fans and analysts alike discuss potential landing spots for major league free agents and trade candidates. With so much of the focus on big name MLB players, the subject of which top prospects could change hands falls into the background.
The players below are some of the most valuable trade assets in the game who have not yet lost their rookie eligibility. MLB Pipeline considers each of them to be among the top 25 prospects in baseball. They all play for teams that are firmly in “win now mode”. Indeed, all five of them belong to teams that finished with a top four record in baseball last season. It’s safe to say that, were they to dangle their respective prospects as trade bait, each of those teams could fill nearly any need on their big league roster.
Victor Robles, OF (No. 2 Overall Prospect): Nationals
The Nationals signed Victor Robles out of the Dominican Republic at age 16, and he’s met little resistance throughout his development. The Nats promoted him to the majors for the first time in September of 2017; he even made the club’s NLDS roster. In his 24 regular season at-bats, Robles managed six hits, including three for extra bases. The Nationals are in need of another starting pitcher, and the 20-year-old outfielder could easily bring back an elite arm. Washington’s outfield picture for 2018 seems reasonably clear, with Adam Eaton, Michael Taylor and Bryce Harper all under contract and Brian Goodwin as a solid fourth outfielder option. However, Robles is practically major league-ready right now, so it might not make much sense to trade him when he could easily contribute this season. eIt’s especially important to note that Eaton, Taylor and Harper all dealt with injuries last season. With that in mind, the Nationals might prefer to deal their second-best prospect, outfielder Juan Soto, instead.
Kyle Tucker, OF (No. 7 Overall Prospect): Astros
Houston took Tucker out of H.B. Plant High School in Tampa, FL with the fifth pick in the 2015 draft. The young outfielder proceeded to rocket through the club’s minor-league system, reaching the Double-A level midway through 2017. Tucker’s hit tool is one of the best among minor-leaguers, but the Astros already have other left-handed outfield options at the major league level. Josh Reddick and Derek Fisher both bat primarily from the left side, while George Springer, Marwin Gonzalez and Jake Marisnick figure to be ahead of Tucker on the depth chart heading into 2018 as well. That’s not to say that Tucker isn’t more talented than those players, but it seems like a lot would have to happen for him to stumble into significant playing time next season. On the other hand, the Astros don’t have a clear hole on the major league roster outside of the bullpen, and Tucker is far too valuable to trade for a reliever. The organization has also reportedly been stingy about trading any of their top prospects lately, so perhaps it’s unlikely we’ll see him moved.
Francisco Mejia, C (No. 13 Overall Prospect): Indians
Mejia’s development has been a somewhat slow process; the Indians signed him out of the Dominican Republic all the way back in 2012. However, he’s vaulted up prospect lists after incredible success across the past two seasons, including a 50-game hit streak during the 2016 campaign. The best catching prospect in baseball is only 21 and has an elite hit tool from both sides of the plate. Cleveland decided to give him a bit of seasoning at the major league level this past September, which seems to imply that they think he could be close to MLB-ready. The Indians already have catchers Yan Gomes and Roberto Perez under contract for the foreseeable future, so Mejia could be a good candidate to be exchanged for help at first base if Carlos Santana signs elsewhere. But the Indians are also testing Mejia out at third base in the Arizona Fall League, a position he could more easily claim on the Tribe’s roster at some point in 2018.
Triston McKenzie, RHP (No. 20 Overall Prospect): Indians
After McKenzie struck out 157 batters in 91 innings during his senior year in high school, Cleveland selected the right-hander in Competitive Balance Round A of the 2015 draft. The lanky 20-year-old stands at 6’5″ and throws his fastball in the low 90s, though most scouts believe he could pick up even more velocity as he grows stronger. McKenzie struck out double-digit batters in six different games at the High-A level in 2017, including a 14-strikeout effort on May 9th. Overall, the Royal Palm Beach High School product pitched to a 3.45 ERA (and a 2.67 FIP) while punching out 11.71 batters per nine innings. With the Tribe’s window of contention seemingly at its peak, and McKenzie highly unlikely to reach the majors in 2018, the righty could potentially end up being an excellent trade chip. Even if the young righty were MLB-ready, the Indians already have a stacked rotation that will include Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Trevor Bauer and two of Danny Salazar, Josh Tomlin and Mike Clevinger. McKenzie could be dangled for help at first base (should Santana depart), or elite bullpen help such as Brad Hand or Felipe Rivero.
Alex Verdugo, OF (No. 23 Overall Prospect): Dodgers
The Dodgers took Verdugo in the second round of the 2014 draft, and the left-handed outfielder has done well at every level of the minors. His power isn’t prolific and his speed is average, but his hit tool is excellent. Verdugo is patient at the plate and is great at hitting to the opposite field. While fellow Dodgers prospect Walker Buehler is excluded from this list due to his proximity to the majors and a fairly clear opening in LA’s rotation, Verdugo could be more of a luxury than a vital asset. Chris Taylor and Yasiel Puig are set to man center field and right field, respectively, and it’s unclear whether the Dodgers are ready or willing to give up on Joc Pederson yet, especially following a strong postseason performance. Verdugo could potentially be used to land a strong second baseman. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that he could be used to acquire a more proven outfielder, either. Still, the Dodgers have four other top 100 prospects outside of Buehler and Verdugo. Even if they attempt to make a blockbuster trade during the offseason, they might prefer to move someone a bit further away from the majors.
What do you think? Which of these top 25 prospects is most likely to be with another organization by the time spring training rolls around? (Poll link for app users)
Lewis Brinson if Milwaukee decides to trade for an ace rather than sign a free agent one
That’s a pretty big “if”. They were quite reluctant to even talk about him at all in July.
I think it’ll more than likely be Robles or Tucker. Both teams are contenders and will be looking to add more players that are ready right now. They won’t care what price it costs.
To me Robles seems like the one most likely to stay put with Harper nearing free agency.
I agree muscle man. If Harper leaves, Robles will be there to take his place
The Astros will care. There NOT gonna trade away any top prospects. The Astros will see Tucker on there team soon enough
Tucker is not being traded anywhere this offseason. I believe that Fisher is the more likely trade candidate. Tucker will no doubt be ready for a roster spot in 2019. It makes more sense to keep him around for when Springer departs via feee agency in a couple years.
I dont think any of them do. I think we see a lot of Cardinals prospects changing hands, a Red Sox prospect or 2, and maybe some kids in Atlanta’s system.
Is Verdugo for Hernandez on the Phils a possibility? Not sure how Hernandez has done recently but he was a pretty high value piece last time I checked.
Idk if the dodgers would
Give verdugo up just for Hernandez and I don’t see the Phillies need for another outfielder. But I guess you can never have enough depth.
Dont see the dodgers need for a second baseman with forsythe in place. Not to mention hedges or kikè Hernandez could play second base in a pinch
I don’t think any of them move either. Astrid need Tucker’s cheap salary in the years to come due to all the salary demands that are going to come, Robles to replace Harper. I doubt the Indians move anyone after moving a couple for Miller.
robles should be kept in hopes of replacing Harper
Agreed
Werth is gone too and who knows if Taylor and Goodwin can play everyday.
Robles because the Nats are going to go all in Harpers last year
Yep because Harper is 100% leaving DC. Everyone knows that. All my friends who follow the Nats (a lot of them) say he’s definitely gone. They’re upset about it but also understand why he wants to go.
Another “going all in” comment. Well why not keep Robles since Harper will be gone after next year
Verdugo hands down.. he’s in a position of depth for the Dodgers and he’s already been past by a couple
Verdugo passed by which players? He is the Dodgers no. 2 prospect.
I don’t think he’s been necessarily passed, but the emergence of guys like Toles, Taylor, even Diaz on the minor league side have made Verdugo somewhat expendable. His defensive and hit tools fit so well for a corner, in which he profiles best as, but that ability or inability to hit for power is going to hurt his value. You also have to question the maturity issues, both physically and mentally. His ability levels are ahead of his readiness to play 162. I like Verdugo I think he’ll hit maybe even for power with juiced balls and his willingness to make adjustments, but he’s just not in the same vein as Seager and Bellinger. Even BA’s comps weren’t to encouraging. If they have an opportunity for controllable major impact, I don’t have a doubt Verdugo and Alvarez could be potentially first on the block.
Plus the Dodgers wouldn’t include him in the Darvish deal
Because they didn’t have to for a half season rental
I agree totally.
The one on Dave Dombrowski’s team
^
Reyes, Kelly, Flaherty, Bader, O’Neil I would say could potentially be swapped in a deal…
Reyes would be a tough move at this point coming off Tommy John surgery. It would be selling low at the moment.
The Cardinals would probably have a little trouble moving O’Neill. The kS% would be a tough sell, just as it was for the Mariners.
Reyes
and Kelly won’t be traded!
The Dodgers don’t need a 2nd baseman
The Indians trading for Hand could solve two of their issues with the pen and at 1st as well.
Hand and one of Pirela, Solarte, or Dickerson even to man 1st solves those two issues. All 3 have some experience playing 1st with Pirela and Solarte coming off good seasons.
Padres have a logjam in the OF-Jankowski, Renfoe, Margot, Dickerson, Pirela, Cordero and INF 2B/3B- Spangy, Asuaje, Solarte, Villanueva- currently
Packaging players would be one way to clear the log jam.
God how I missed the Brad Hand trade proposals….
Well did you watch the playoffs? It was abundantly clear that every team’s bullpen could have use a Hand.
Very true
Oh you mean the top 100 prospect in the 50-100 range plus 1 prospect (organizational 10-15 range) or 2 prospect (organizational 15-20 range)? For the best available relief pitcher on the market that comes with 2 more years of control via arbitration……those trade proposals?
Preller just got done watching the Dodgers, Nationals, Yankees, Cubs, etc pens blow their chances at a WS- his asking price just went up.
Yankees went out and got Robertson- who gave up 5 runs in the ALCS……Kahnle gave up 3.
The cubs pen YIKES in the NLCS
Dodgers pen was awful in the WS of all times LOL
Nationals wasted trading for Kintzler who cost them the NLDS LOL
Even the Rockies in the wildcard and Diamonbacks in the NLDS could have used Hand.
“The top 100 prospect in the 50-100 range plus 1 prospect (organizational 10-15 range) or 2 prospect (organizational 15-20 range)”
Ah, I remember those trade proposals. What you said right here was basically what we deducted it down to and then when nothing happening at the deadline, we were all left scratching our heads.
Now that the playoffs revealed some holes that still lie within certain contender’s bullpens, it will be interesting to see how differently they view Hand in the offseason compared to the Deadline.
Every article you are talking about Hand. Yes he is really good. But the yankees and cubs lose with or without hand. Watson and Cingranit pitched well in the WS who was there instead of Hand. Dodgers may win with hand but its unrealistic to expect an in division trade. Hand has never pitched a significant game in his life. You never know how he could react. The playoffs proved the stage can get too big for some guys. You also act like Hand in a different environment would be good too which you just dont know. He pitches in the grand canyon on a team with no pressure. Look what happened to Justin Wilson. Get over the fact you didnt get Gleyber Torres for Hand
Kintzler is not the reason the Nats lost. The Nats also showed that you can find relief help without giving up top prospects.
Plus the bullpen isn’t why the Dodgers lost, it was their rotation not going deep enough into the games. So I am not sure Hand’s price went up. If anything the price for controllable starters went up.
You can’t not make a trade because you assume the pressure will be too big for him. Hand has nasty stuff that can get anyone out no matter what team he plays for. No one can know for sure if the Dodgers having hand would of been the difference maker, however one can assume hand would only help the bullpen because of how good he is. Watching the World Series only justified the importance of a solid bullpen. If the Dodgers don’t wanna trade good prospects then they’re not gonna get good bullpen arms, it’s as simple as that. The only other way is to open up your wallets and spend $$$ which Dodgers ownership doesn’t wanna do
If the Dodgers got Hand they would not have got Watson and Cingrani. Watson and Cingrani were major contributor to their playoff run. Hand would have done nothing unless they got him in addition to those guys. And they dont need to give up major prospects or money to find a bullpen arm. Morrow was a minor league signing. Freidman knows how to find good bullpen arms for cheap. Relivers are too much of a crapshoot to deal major stuff for unless they are chapman or miller types. Hand is not. In 2 years he could go back to being mediocre
same thing happened with kimbrel.
think the best offer was mateo plus prospects from the yankees for kimbrel gyorko and some cash.
low and behold kimbrel wound up getting margot allen guerra asuaje.
rockies may lose greg holland. hand to the rockies for pint, hampson, and tyler helps both teams.
get over we didnt get torress for hand? LOL i nor many padres fans never thought we’d get torress for hand.
LOL you got reading issues walker? I clearly stated what the return from hand would look like.
alsp I brought up hand because hand was brought up in the article as a potential trade with the indians for tristian mckenize LOL.
how you managed to comment and be completely oblivious to all of this is astonishing LOL
game 3- cubs vs nats cubs win 2-1. kintzler gave up the go ahead run
game 5- kintzler gave up the 8th run and solis the 9th run. cubs win 9-8.
he cost them big time in two key games.
Your trade packages for Hand are delousional. Riley Pint really??? What a joke. You expect the rockies to trade him for a relief pitcher in that ballpark. lol pure comedy. How about Hand for Trout? Is that good enough for you
The Nats lost because they couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat in the post-season! The bats just went totally cold!
If you dont like people making fun of your literacy skills I suggest you do a better job reading before commenting.
I like how you criticize but dont have the balls to say what a hand trade would look like. typical LOL. your parents would be ashamed of you.
go be a disappointment elsewhere walker. you have no business being here. you’ve proven that already.
the rockies have enough to compete but need pen help. either they trade for pen help or scrap heap cause nobody is going to pitch there unless they overpay by a lot.
Ok this is what a hand trade would look like. I will use 3 teams that could use him and this would be a reasonable return
Astros- Yordan Alvarez, Colin Moran and a pitcher in the latter half of the top 30.
Red Sox- Michael Chavis and Roniel Raudes
Twins- Fernando Romero, Kohl Stewart and Mitch Garver Those are my examples of realistic returns.
Verdugo is most likely to be traded because the Dodgers have such amazing depth.
The rest don’t really make much sense.
If Toles comes back healthy more likely that Verdugo could be traded. Otherwise, more likely they would move Pederson, although he wouldn’t bring nearly the return.
Pederson has been not good since his rookie year. He still has some potential though, and might benefit from a change of scenery.
I’ve long thought that Pederson could be interesting with a different team
With Robles you also have to take into account that Harper will be a free agent soon and they might not want to pay him the $ he wants.
Great work as usual, Kyle. I remember you from our Wahoo’s on First Days!
Hey Michael! And the championship of our WoF fantasy baseball league of course! Haha.
Oh man that was a brutal competition until the very end hahaha
My guess is Michael A. Tater gets the trade over Robles, then in turn Robles becomes the starting OF. With Eaton coming back they’ll have to clear room and they might as well opt for the cheaper, younger player and maybe save a couple dollars to try and throw an Harper after 2018 concludes. This is a mighty cold take, as you can tell.
You don’t trade starting pitching. McKenzie isn’t going anywhere.
Exactly, and neither is Mejia for a 1B. If Santana doesn’t return they will go with a 1B by committee approach or sign a guy to a 1 year prove it deal from the scrap heap.
I would normally agree but they traded Justice Sheffield in the Miller trade so they aren’t afraid to do it. I almost never view anyone as untouchable but would think both those guys fall into the “only in a perfect deal” situation.
Sheffield was moved because they had depth at starting pitching. If Santana walks they’ll sign someone like Duda or maybe a reunion with Napoli. Mejia and Mckenzie aren’t going anywhere
Right on, neither will be moved in the offseason for a 1B. They will shop at the usual scratch and dent sale for somebody to fill that role if and when Santana signs elsewhere.
I think the Dodgers will trade Grandal and Verdugo if the right player is available wether it’s a pitcher or a every day outfielder. Wouldn’t surprise me if they trade Pederson as well since they have outfield depth in the minors and Toles is coming back next year ask
Dodgers should trade joc in a deal for Stanton
Dodgers don’t need another outfielder though. Need a starter and a second baseman.
would you rather have Stanton next to taylor/puig, or any of the alternate options we got?
Take Tucker off this list. Set chance he is traded. Fisher and Marwin would be dealt well before Tucker.
zero chance*
Yeah there is absolutely no chance Tucker gets traded. They won the WS. Theres no reasom to deal him.
Exactly. Not going to trade best prospect with big pieces possibly leaving in next several seasons. Trading Marwin for a reliever instantly opens up playing time for Tucker. Neither Fisher or Marisnick are ahead of him on depth chart in any form.
The Astros aren’t trading Marwin. Makes no sense. Even if he regresses, he’s still super valuable to the team as a utility everyday starter.
He’s also an impending free agent and will be signing elsewhere for a lot more money than Houston will pay him.
But he wasn’t on WS Roster and so wasn’t other Tucker.
I agree. He’s not on the 40 man yet, and could still go for another year of seasoning. In the meantime, the Astros have Fisher, Marisnick, and Marwin to man left field.
I’d say twins Nick Gordon. The new staff sees Royce as the SS of the future, and need to get an arm.
Nice call.
Probably Greg Blosser
I feel like the nats would trade Soto before Robles mainly because Robles can play center unlike Soto and they should play eaton in left because he wasn’t a good defensive center fielder before the injury and theirs no way he’ll be better now. Taylor is a great fourth outfielder and could start on a bad team but not for a World Series caliber team and the same for Goodwin.
Bobby Bradley.
Probably, but he’s nowhere near the caliber of prospect this article was looking at
Not happening unless they make a big FA signing, and that’s not a good idea. Then you’ve got EE & Santana declining and locked up to big deals.
I’d rather give Bradley one more year in AAA and get a cheap stopgap. Sign Napoli again and see if he can find his mojo
Out of these 5, I guess McKenzie feels the most likely to me, just because he’s an A-ball pitcher, and I could see Cleveland deciding that their abundance of pitching and the fact that he’s still a year or two away could make him worth cashing in while their window is wide open. Really though, I’m not sure I see any of these guys moving. I could see either of Brinson or Rodgers traded if Milwaukee or Colorado elect to push the chips way in for a starting pitcher, but I think there’s a good chance none of that top 25 referenced gets moved this off-season
He’ll be ready for the rotation just when the current staff breaks up and a slot opens up for him. He’s not going anywhere.
I’m not sure why an elite bullpen arm would be of importance to the Indians who had one of the best bullpens in ’17 but if accurate then I could see a package of Betances and one of Tyler Austin, Garrett Cooper or Mike Ford for McKenzie and a couple of other prospects being viable. You get a legit set up/closer with history for 2 more years at arb market value and a decent young fringe 1b options to battle it out in spring training.
No way. Trade a top prospect Starting pitcher for the Yankees scraps? Not happening
Jurickson Profar
Is not a prospect but I agree it’s time for a change of scenery for him.
Profar is already only a few years away from free agency. He has not qualified to even be a prospect for years
Archer is about the only player I see the Dodgers being willing to talk about Verdugo on…
Not really sure who the Astros would even be targeting to send Tucker to. They obviously don’t value relievers that highly. Unless a team is trading a top 5 reliever under team control for many years exists. Right now all I see are Knebel and maybe Green/Kahnle on the Yankees. The track record isn’t there and I don’t think either team would be trading them.
Brad Hand and Brittons lack of team control, does not warrant their top prospects wen they have the depth to acquire either with other prospects.