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Did you know MLB Trade Rumors has a free newsletter?  It’s written by Cliff Corcoran, who has an extensive resume contributing to Sports Illustrated, The Athletic, Baseball Prospectus, and other outlets.  Cliff will take you through the hot stove highlights of the previous day, boiling down MLBTR’s posts into the essential stories.  It’s a great weekday morning read, perfect for keeping up with the hectic MLB trade deadline.

 

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Braves Select Carlos Carrasco

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The Braves announced this morning that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Carlos Carrasco. The move comes just days after Carrasco was acquired from the Yankees. Additionally, recently-acquired Tyler Kinley has reported to the club and is now active. A corresponding roster move wasn’t necessary to accommodate Carrasco after Atlanta traded right-hander Rafael Montero to the Tigers last night.

Carrasco, a 16-year MLB veteran, was brought in to help the Braves’ beleaguered rotation.  The 38-year-old was picking up Cy Young votes for Cleveland a decade ago, but now he’ll serve as a placeholder for a Braves club that has been decimated by injuries.  Carrasco’s bat-missing days are gone, but he has gone seven innings in each of his last three starts for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.

Carrasco joined the Yankees in a minor league deal in February, making the team’s Opening Day roster given injuries to Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil, and Clarke Schmidt.  He made six starts and two relief appearances and was designated for assignment by the first week of May.  The Yankees re-added him to the 40-man in June, but bumped him back off before he could make an appearance.  Three days ago, Carrasco was flipped to the Braves for cash considerations.

Carrasco is set to start for the Braves tonight in Cincinnati, one of only three MLB games on the docket for trade deadline day.  That Carrasco and other recent pickups Erick Fedde and Joey Wentz make up 60% of the Braves’ rotation speaks to the injuries the club has accumulated in a disastrous season.  The Braves have a full rotation on the shelf: Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach, Grant Holmes, Reynaldo Lopez, and AJ Smith-Shawver.  Smith-Shawver is out for the season with Tommy John surgery, and it’s unclear what the team will get this year from the others.

Cubs To Acquire Andrew Kittredge

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July 31: The return for Kittredge is Dominican shortstop Wilfri De La Cruz, per Francys Romero of BeisbolFR. De La Cruz was just signed by the Cubs earlier this year, securing a $2.3MM bonus, the highest of their 2025 international class. Baseball America lists him as the #20 prospect in the Cubs’ system. He’s a 17-year-old switch-hitter. Listed at 6’3″, BA speculates that he might end up at third base in the long run.

July 30: The Cubs are addressing a need in their bullpen by acquiring Andrew Kittredge from the Orioles, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

Kittredge signed a one-year, $9MM deal with the O’s last winter that also includes a $9MM club option (with a $1MM buyout) for the 2026 season.  He has pitched well enough that the Cubs would likely be inclined to exercise that option, and this extra year of control made Kittredge a particularly intriguing asset in the relief market this deadline season.

A minor knee surgery during Spring Training kept Kittredge from making his Baltimore debut until May 21, when the Orioles’ awful start to the season had already made them seem like possible deadline sellers.  Kittredge has a 3.56 ERA, 25.2% strikeout rate, and 6.5% walk rate over 30 1/3 relief innings for the O’s, with that strikeout rate a notch above his career average from his first eight big league seasons.

Kittredge is 35, and between his age and his lack of a big fastball or big strikeout numbers, this could explain why he had to settle for a relatively modest contract despite a 2.47 ERA over 182 innings during the 2020-24 seasons with the Rays and Cardinals.  Still, Kittredge brings plenty of high-leverage experience to a Chicago relief corps that has been more solid than truly reliable this season.  The emergence of closer Daniel Palencia has been a huge story for the Cubs, and the team has now backed up their young stoppage with a veteran set-up man.

Chicago has been looking far and wide for all sorts of starting and relief options, and in addition to Kittredge, brought Michael Soroka into the fold earlier tonight after a trade with the Nationals.  As pitchers in particular have been flying off the market, the Kittredge/Soroka moves will add depth to the Cubs’ staff, while still allowing the team flexibility to land one more bigger arm before tomorrow’s deadline.

The Orioles have played a big role in the pitching market, as Kittredge joins Gregory Soto, Bryan Baker, and Seranthony Dominguez as relievers dealt in the last few weeks.  Dominguez and Soto were pretty easy calls as trade candidates since they were impending free agents, but Kittredge, Baker, and infielder Ramon Urias (dealt to the Astros tonight) all had years of control remaining, indicating that Baltimore is taking a broad approach to its deadline dealings.  With several other trade chips still on the roster, Baltimore will be one of the more fascinating teams to monitor as the Orioles try to reload for 2026 after a very disappointing 2025 campaign.

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Red Sox Acquire Steven Matz

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July 31st: The trade has been officially announced by the Red Sox. Righty Hunter Dobbins has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot. Dobbins suffered a season-ending ACL tear earlier this month.

July 30: The Red Sox and Cardinals have agreed to a trade that will send left-hander Steven Matz to Boston, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports.  Corner infield prospect Blaze Jordan is headed to the Cards in return, according to the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier.  The deal will become official once both sides sign off on the medicals of the players involved.

Matz is a pure rental for the Sox, as the veteran southpaw’s four-year, $44MM contract is up at season’s end.  St. Louis inked Matz to that free agent deal on the heels of his successful 2021 season as a starter with the Blue Jays, but Matz has only started 36 of his 84 career games with the Cards.  Injuries and ineffectiveness have hampered his time in St. Louis, leading the Cardinals to move Matz into more of a swingman role, and he came essentially a full-time reliever this year (save for two spot starts in April).

While Matz didn’t live up to the expectations of his contract, he pitched pretty well in both 2023 and during this season, as the southpaw has a 3.44 ERA over 55 frames in 2025.  Typically a good control pitcher, Matz has taken it a step further with an elite 4.0% walk rate this season, and his 5.3% barrel rate is also excellent.  This ability to limit mistakes and keep the ball on the ground (44.3% grounder rate) has helped balance out more ordinary strikeout and hard-contact rates.

Left-handed batters have only a .442 OPS against Matz this season, while righty hitters have a much more productive .814 OPS.  The gap in splits will be somewhat hard for manager Alex Cora to work around since Matz has so much value as a multi-inning reliever, yet that same durability will help out a Boston pen that has logged a lot of innings bailing out its shaky rotation.  It’s possible the Sox could even turn to Matz again as a part-time starter, though the Red Sox are expected to land more significant starting help prior to tomorrow’s deadline.

Matz is now the fifth left-hander in Boston’s pen, along with Aroldis Chapman, Justin Wilson, Brennan Bernardino, and Chris Murphy.  This depth could give the Sox some flexibility in swinging a trade to a team in need of relief help, with Boston then addressing another need in return.

Chaim Bloom was Boston’s chief baseball officer back when Jordan was selected in the third round of the 2020 draft, and now that Bloom will be taking over at the Cards’ president of baseball operations starting next season, this familiarity undoubtedly helped pave the way for tonight’s trade.  Jordan ranks 17th on MLB Pipeline’s list of Boston’s best prospect, and MLB Pipeline had the corner infielder 24th in their ranking.

Jordan struggled at the Double-A level in both 2023 and 2024 before hitting well this season, and earning his first promotion to Triple-A.  This transition went more smoothly, as Jordan has hit .289/.333/.476 over 177 plate appearances with Worcester while seeing a lot of time at both corner infield slots (primarily third base).  Scouts feel first base is his better position, so Jordan’s future potential will hinge on how well he can keep developing at the plate.  His production in 2025 is a step in the right direction, as the 22-year-old has been much better at turning his raw power into results.

This is the second big bullpen trade of the day for the Cardinals, after Ryan Helsley was shipped to the Mets.  Both deals have brought more young talent into the St. Louis pipeline, which seemed to be the organization’s stated goal heading into last offseason, yet Bloom and current PBO John Mozeliak chose to retain almost all of the Cards’ veteran talent.  In Matz’s case, he wasn’t generating much trade interest given his $12MM salary and his rough 2024 production, so at least Matz’s bounce-back year rebuilt some of his value.

As for future trades, Phil Maton and JoJo Romero have both been rumored to be generating interesting, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see St. Louis move at least one or both relievers before the deadline.  While the Cards are in sell mode, the Red Sox are pushing for at least a wild card slot and hope to make a run at the AL East title, with pitching known to be Boston’s primary target.

Blue Jays Have Shown Interest In Phil Maton

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The Blue Jays are looking to bolster their bullpen and the Cardinals have arms available. The Jays were previously connected to Ryan Helsley, though he has now been traded to the Mets. The Jays and Cards clubs have also discussed right-hander Phil Maton, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Maton, 32, is often underrated by fans and the baseball industry. Dating back to the start of the 2020 season, Maton has tossed 322 1/3 big league innings with a 3.69 earned run average. He has struck out 27.1% of batters faced, given out walks at a 9.2% clip and induced grounders on 42.8% of balls in play. He generally does very well in terms of limiting damage, as seen on his Statcast page. His average exit velocity, barrel rate and hard hit rate are regularly near the top of the league leaderboards. He also has a 2.57 ERA in 28 postseason innings.

Despite that generally strong track record, his market hasn’t always been robust, perhaps because his velocity maxes out around 91 miles per hour. He first reached free agency ahead of the 2024 season and signed a fairly modest one-year, $6.5MM deal with the Rays. He didn’t thrive in Tampa, posting a 4.58 ERA with that club. However, he got back on track after being flipped to the Mets, posting a 2.51 ERA with that club.

He returned to free agency ahead of this year and lingered unsigned into March. The Cardinals scooped him up with a $2MM guarantee on a one-year deal. That has worked out nicely so far, as Maton has a 2.35 ERA in 38 1/3 innings for the Cards. He has a 30.4% strikeout rate, 9.5% walk rate and 50.6% ground ball rate. He’s also still inducing all that weak contact, like usual.

The Jays are clear buyers, currently sitting atop the American League East, four games ahead of the Yankees. Their relievers have a collective 3.94 ERA this year, which puts them near the middle of the MLB pack. They already added one new arm, acquiring Seranthony Domínguez from the Orioles, but are still on the hunt for more.

The Cards, meanwhile, hovered in contention for a decent chunk of the season but have clearly moved into sell mode. In the past few days, they have flipped Helsley to the Mets as well as sending Erick Fedde to Atlanta and Steven Matz to Boston. Since Maton is an impending free agent, he should be on the move today as well.

Maton’s modest salary is surely appealing to the Jays. RosterResource estimates that they have a competitive balance tax number of $280.6MM. Cot’s Baseball Contracts has them a bit lower at $273MM. The third tier of the CBT this year is $281MM. Any team that goes over that line would have their top pick in the 2026 draft pushed back ten spots, in addition to incurring a higher taxation rate.

Perhaps the Jays are looking to avoid that line. The O’s reportedly sent them some undisclosed amount of cash in the Domínguez deal. Maton only has about $650K left to be paid out on his deal, so he wouldn’t be a huge hit. The Jays also have other targets, however, including starters such as Dylan Cease, Zac Gallen and Mitch Keller. Perhaps they would look to have other clubs eat money in any other deal they line up, like in the Domínguez swap, or they could theoretically move another player off their roster in order to free up some payroll space.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images

The Opener: Deadline Day!

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Deadline day is here! The deadline is 5pm Central time, meaning there are less than 11 hours to go now. Here is a small selection of the many, many storylines we’ll be following today…

1. Miller time?

Less than two weeks ago, the Athletics were reportedly turning away Mason Miller suitors. Yesterday, there was a big narrative shift. The Yankees, Mets, Phillies and Padres were all connected to Miller in rumors. Then the A’s didn’t use Miller in a save situation last night. Manager Mark Kotsay said after the game that Miller was not available but not due to an injury, seemingly suggesting that the A’s held him back with the possibility of a trade being in the works. Will the A’s and some other club swing a blockbuster deal for Miller today?

2. Sandy in the hourglass:

It has been expected for a very long time that the Marlins would be trading starter Sandy Alcantara before tomorrow. However, his performance has made it more questionable. He has a 6.36 earned run average this year. His 45.6% ground ball rate is still good but not quite as strong as before. His 16.8% strikeout rate is well below his previous pace. Despite the struggles, several clubs are still interested, including the Astros, Red Sox, Mets and Padres. He’s signed through next year with a club option for 2027, so the Marlins could hold him if they don’t get an offer they like. Will they pull the trigger?

3. Padres have everything on the table:

The Padres have some clear needs but some notable limitations. The budget is tight and their prospect pool shallow. As such, there have been a lot of rumors suggesting they may move players from their big league roster, despite looking to strengthen the club for the stretch run. Perhaps they could move players like Dylan Cease or Robert Suarez while simultaneously trying to bring in guys like Miller, Alcantara or Jarren Duran. They haven’t yet made a trade in this deadline season but perhaps they could do several moves and significantly rearrange the deck chairs by the end of the day.

4. Pirate standoff:

The Pirates are clear sellers and it was reported over a month ago that they have very few untouchable players, with Andrew McCutchen and Paul Skenes reportedly the only guys who are off limits. They’ve already traded Ke’Bryan Hayes to the Reds, Caleb Ferguson to the Mariners and Adam Frazier to the Royals. There have been plenty of Mitch Keller rumors but the most recent reporting suggests he might end up staying. Could some other club pry him loose in the next few hours? Even if Keller stays, the Pirates could move Bryan Reynolds, Tommy Pham, Oneil Cruz, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Joey Bart, Bailey Falter, David Bednar, Dennis Santana and/or Taylor Rogers.

5. Guardians open for business?

The Guardians are just 2.5 games out of a playoff spot but have lost closer Emmanuel Clase to a gambling investigation. Perhaps the outlook is dire enough that they will sell. Reportedly, they are shopping outfielder Steven Kwan and starter Shane Bieber, a couple of very interesting additions to the market. Will either or both of them be sent out of Cleveland today?

6. Snakes alive, in the seller lane:

The Diamondbacks have been one of the most aggressive sellers this year. They’ve already flipped Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez, both to the Mariners, in addition to sending Randal Grichuk to the Royals. They still have several other impending free agents who should be available today. Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly are the headliners, but the Snakes also have Shelby Miller, Jalen Beeks and Kendall Graveman. Beeks and Miller are currently on the injured list but could still be traded. Arizona could also consider moving controllable guys such as Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Alek Thomas or Jake McCarthy.

7. Orioles flying the coop:

The Orioles are another club active in the seller lane. They have already traded Bryan Baker to the Rays, Gregory Soto to the Mets, Seranthony Domínguez to the Blue Jays, Ramón Urías to the Astros and Andrew Kittredge to the Cubs. They still have more work to do today. Ryan O’Hearn, Cedric Mullins, Charlie Morton, Zach Eflin and Tomoyuki Sugano are all impending free agents who should be on the move today. Ramón Laureano’s deal has a 2026 club option but he’s likely available as well.

8. The Robert staredown:

There has been some suggestion that the White Sox could hold Luis Robert Jr. past the deadline if they don’t get an offer they like. He is in the final guaranteed year of his contract but there are two club options for 2026 and 2027, each valued at $20MM with a $2MM buyout. Theoretically, they could trigger the first of those options and then try to trade Robert in the offseason or at next year’s deadline. However, that’s a risky stance to take. Robert has been hurt and/or underperforming for much of the past two years. There’s a decent chance he is injured or struggling again down the stretch, which will make it tough to justify spending an extra $18MM on him a few months from now. He’s actually been performing well in recent weeks, so the Sox should arguably cash him in now while he has a bit of momentum.

9. Twins splitting:

The Twins have leaned hard into sell mode. They were clearly going to be moving impending free agents but made a big splash yesterday by flipping Jhoan Durán, who is controllable through 2027, to the Phillies in exchange for prospects Eduardo Tait and Mick Abel. Will they move another controllable guy like Griffin Jax or Joe Ryan? Even if not, they should be shopping impending free agents Willi Castro, Danny Coulombe, Harrison Bader, Ty France and Christian Vázquez. They already traded Chris Paddack to the Tigers.

Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images

Mariners To Acquire Eugenio Suarez

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The Mariners and Diamondbacks are reportedly in agreement on a trade that’ll send Eugenio Suárez back to Seattle. The D-Backs are getting rookie first baseman Tyler Locklear, reliever Juan Burgos and minor league pitcher Hunter Cranton in return. The deal is expected to be officially announced on Thursday.

Seattle has made a Suárez reunion their top deadline priority. They’ll get their man, bringing back a two-time All-Star who combined for 53 home runs in a Mariners uniform between 2022-23. The M’s made the regrettable decision to trade Suárez away after the ’23 season. That netted hard-throwing middle reliever Carlos Vargas but was primarily motivated by a desire to shed the $13MM that remained on the third baseman’s contract at the time.

While Suárez started his Arizona tenure slow, he’s been one of the best hitters on the planet dating back to the middle of last summer. Over the past calendar year, Suárez has hit 53 home runs with a .273/.332/.589 slash line. He’s tied with Kyle Schwarber and teammate Cal Raleigh for third in MLB in homers during that stretch. Only Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge have hit more. Suárez went on such a tear in the second half last year that the D-Backs had an easy call to bring him back on a $15MM club option that once looked likelier to be bought out.

Suárez has shown no signs of slowing down at age 34. He has mashed at a .248/.321/.577 clip across 433 plate appearances. He and Raleigh are tied for the MLB lead with 87 runs batted in. Only Raleigh, Ohtani, Judge and Schwarber have more home runs. He’d led the American League in strikeouts during both seasons in his first run with Seattle. The 12-year big league veteran has trimmed his strikeout rate by a few percentage points in Arizona. There’s still a decent amount of swing-and-miss, but it’s not at the same rate that surely alarmed the M’s front office a couple years ago.

The Diamondbacks were on the fringe of the NL Wild Card race as recently as two weeks ago. A sweep at the hands of the Astros sealed their fate as deadline sellers. Houston’s division rivals have ironically been the big beneficiary. The D-Backs began their sell-off by dealing Josh Naylor to Seattle last week. He displaced Luke Raley as the starting first baseman. Suárez rejoins him as an impact corner infield tandem. It’ll likely push light-hitting rookie infielder Ben Williamson back to Triple-A.

Seattle now runs out a lineup including Raleigh, Suárez, Naylor, Julio Rodríguez, Randy Arozarena, Jorge Polanco and J.P. Crawford. Right fielder Dominic Canzone has mashed since being called up from Triple-A in early June. It’s the imposing lineup that Seattle has tried for years to build alongside their elite rotation.

The M’s are nevertheless far from guaranteed to make the playoffs. They’re currently tied with the Rangers for the AL’s last Wild Card spot and sit five games back of Houston in the division race. They’ve poked around the market for another late-inning reliever. Seattle added left-hander Caleb Ferguson to the bullpen on Wednesday evening, but he’s more of a complementary piece. If the Mariners have another big move in them, it’d probably be in the late innings.

The Mariners are taking on nearly $5MM in salary still owed to Suárez for the stretch run. They assumed almost $4MM on Naylor and close to $1MM for Ferguson. It’s a significant change from an offseason in which ownership left the front office without much budgetary flexibility. They’re all-in as they try to capitalize on Raleigh turning in one of the greatest seasons ever by a catcher. Suárez and Naylor might be the two best impending free agent hitters to move. The acquisition should be very well received in the clubhouse, as Suárez is a highly-regarded teammate with whom much of the roster is familiar.

Seattle gave up a trio of players to make that happen. Locklear, 24, is the most intriguing. He’s a righty-hitting first baseman who could replace Naylor as Arizona’s long-term answer at that position. Seattle took the Virginia Commonwealth product in the second round in 2022. The 24-year-old doesn’t have much big league experience. He appeared in 16 games last season, hitting .156 while striking out 20 times in 49 plate appearances.

Plenty of hitters struggle in their first look at MLB pitching. Locklear has posted excellent minor league numbers. He’s a career .291/.392/.502 hitter against minor league arms. That includes a huge .316/.401/.542 showing in Triple-A this season. Locklear has connected on 19 home runs in 434 plate appearances. Seattle just recalled him this afternoon to replace Raley, who went down with back spasms. Instead, he’s off to Arizona, where he’ll probably jump directly onto the MLB roster.

Burgos, 25, could also get an MLB look in the near future. Seattle called up the 6’0″ righty in late June. Burgos didn’t get much of a look over a three-week stint in the big league bullpen. He made four appearances, working 6 2/3 frames of three-run ball with eight strikeouts. Burgos showed a five-pitch mix built around a low-90s cutter and a mid-90s sinker.

He doesn’t have elite velocity for a bullpen prospect, but he has punched out an above-average 26.1% of batters faced over 31 innings between the top two minor league levels. Burgos has an absurd 0.87 earned run average in that stretch. Baseball America ranked him 25th among Seattle prospects, while he placed 17th at MLB Pipeline. Both outlets feel he’s a low-variance middle relief type.

Cranton is further off. Seattle drafted him in the third round last summer out of the University of Kansas. He was an underslot signee as a senior draft pick. MLB Pipeline ranked the 6’3″ righty as the #16 prospect in the Seattle system. He placed 23rd on Eric Longenhagen’s writeup at FanGraphs last month. He did not rank among BA’s top 30. Cranton has an upper-90s fastball and a slider. He was on the minor league injured through the end of June after being struck in the head by a comebacker during Spring Training, Longenhagen notes.

None of the three players are top-end prospects. The lack of a true headliner might come as a disappointment to Arizona fans, but it reflects teams’ general reluctance to give up elite young talent for rentals. The D-Backs added a pair of controllable players who could play meaningful roles as they try to return to competitiveness in 2026. In the meantime, they’ll eventually get their first real look at third base prospect Jordan Lawlar. Lawlar isn’t quite ready to return from a June hamstring injury that sent him to the Triple-A injured list, but he should get 4-6 weeks of everyday playing time to close the season.

Arizona has traded three impending free agents: Naylor, Suárez and Randal Grichuk. They’ll move at least one and possibly both of Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly tomorrow. They could also try to move an outfielder or short-term relievers like the currently injured Shelby Miller or Kevin Ginkel. There’s plenty more to come from the Snakes over the next 18 hours.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the Mariners were reacquiring Suárez. Daniel Kramer of MLB.com had the return going to Arizona. Images courtesy of Imagn Images.

Kotsay: Mason Miller “Unavailable Tonight,” Not Injured

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Athletics closer Mason Miller was “unavailable tonight,” according to manager Mark Kotsay, who also said the decision was not injury-related.  The A’s held a 5-3 lead over the Mariners entering the ninth inning at Sutter Health Park tonight and elected to stick with rookie Jack Perkins rather than go to the flamethrowing closer Miller, who hasn’t pitched since Saturday.  The heavy implication is that a trade may be in the works for Miller, who is known to be of interest to the Padres and Yankees among others.

The Mets and Phillies were linked to Miller earlier today.  The Phillies have since acquired Jhoan Duran from the Twins, while the Mets subsequently added Tyler Rogers and Ryan Helsley (plus Gregory Soto five days ago).  The list of potential suitors for Miller is likely extensive, though the young talent required to get him will be significant.

Miller, 27 in August, is under team control through 2029.  He’s also one of the game’s best relievers.  Miller’s 39.1 K% ranks second among all relievers, as does his average fastball velocity of 101.2.  Some might say Miller has slipped a bit from last year’s breakout All-Star performance, but his 3.76 ERA in a 38 1/3 inning sample will hardly deter interested GMs.  Miller’s walk rate has worsened, and he’s been barreled up a good amount this year, but he’s still an impact stopper who’s under control for four-plus years.

In Tim Dierkes’ mailbag last week, he attempted to find comps for a reliever of Miller’s caliber being traded.  Tim concluded, “Even going back a decade to identify those comps, there’s not a great match for Miller, trading one of the game’s best relievers at the deadline with four-plus years of control remaining. Unless the waters are muddied with, say, Luis Severino’s contract, I’d expect two very good 55/60 grade prospects, and perhaps an equivalent player with MLB experience, to be required.”

As J.J. Cooper of Baseball America outlined yesterday, typically about three top-100 prospects are traded at the deadline each year.  We’ve seen one thus far, with #50 Eduardo Tait heading to Minnesota to headline the Duran deal.  Mick Abel, the secondary piece in that trade, “very much is on the very cusp of the Top 100” according to Cooper.  Keep in mind that Duran is under team control for two-plus years, while Miller is under control for four-plus.  Miller’s arbitration salaries will only begin next year.

We haven’t seen a top-25 prospect traded since the Padres included a pair in the 2022 Juan Soto deal.  I’d have to think Miller would require at least one such player, such as Zyhir Hope, Josue De Paula, or Dalton Rushing of the Dodgers or George Lombard Jr. of the Yankees.  It’s been eight years since a team parted with a top ten prospect at the deadline; Padres President of Baseball Operations & General Manager A.J. Preller holds one such chip in #5-ranked Leo De Vries.  It’s also possible that contenders could win the bidding by including valuable players off the big league roster.  The Padres have one of those in play in rental starter Dylan Cease; it might require a third team and a lot of creativity (and more players) to spin him into Miller.  We’ll find out in less than 17 hours.

A potential Miller trade would take place in a time of uncertainty for the Athletics, who are playing in a minor league ballpark in Sacramento in the first of what is meant to be three seasons.  A’s owner John Fisher held a symbolic groundbreaking for his new Las Vegas stadium back in June, though it’s still unclear how that will be financed.

Red Sox Had Interest In Eugenio Suarez For First Base Vacancy

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Eugenio Suarez is headed back to the Mariners, removing deadline season’s biggest bat from the market.  Several other clubs besides Seattle were known to be interested in Suarez’s services, but The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Jen McCaffrey add a somewhat surprising team to the mix in the aftermath of the tonight’s trade.  The Red Sox had some talks with the Diamondbacks about Suarez with the idea of using Suarez not at his customary third base position, but across the diamond at first base.

Suarez has made exactly one career appearance as a first baseman, which came just earlier this week in Arizona’s 1-0 win over the Pirates on July 24.  Suarez moved from third to first in the bottom of the tenth inning amidst some other defensive changes for the D’Backs, so we can probably rule this out as some kind of unofficial audition for any Red Sox scouts that might’ve been in attendance.

Public defensive statistics have been mixed on Suarez’s third base glovework over his career.  The Defensive Runs Saved metric has been giving him negative grades in each of the last seven seasons, while the Outs Above Average metric has him at a +9 OAA over that same timespan.  In 2025, Suarez has been getting a thumbs down across the board, with -5 OAA and -4 DRS over 877 2/3 innings at the hot corner.  The 34-year-old’s defensive future could be an interesting subplot to his free agent market this winter, as it remains to be seen if Suarez will want to remain at third base or perhaps consider a position change.

The Rafael Devers parallels are hard to ignore.  Devers’ refusal to play first base (after being more or less forced from his old third base job into a DH-only role) in the wake of Triston Casas’ injury in early May hastened the chain of events that led to the shocking trade that went Devers from the Red Sox to the Giants in June.  It is hard to imagine that the Sox would’ve explored a trade of this magnitude without first getting some okay from Suarez’s camp that he was fine with changing positions, given how the Devers situation went south in such a public manner.

As Moneyball fans can tell you, learning to play first base is incredibly hard.  It may have been a lot to ask for Suarez to pick up essentially a new position mid-season, while on a new team and in the pressure of a pennant race.  The Red Sox might not have minded subpar glovework if Suarez continued slugging home runs, yet there have been plenty of past examples of players whose hitting suffered due to a preoccupation with defense.

Abraham Toro and especially Romy Gonzalez have hit well in splitting the bulk of first base duties since Casas’ injury, so even this relative weak link position has still been pretty solid.  The rest of Boston’s lineup has also been so productive that the Sox can likely get away without having a big first base bat, though the club may yet be considering an upgrade for the position at the deadline.  Most recent reporting on the Sox has focused on their search for pitching, though the team is known to have interest in Yandy Diaz or Brandon Lowe if the Rays decide to sell at a larger scale.

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