Major League Baseball’s trade season got off to an early start this year when the San Diego Padres and Miami Marlins completed a rare May trade for two-time batting champion Luis Arraez. That move kicked off what will be a wild deadline day on July 30, with teams full of great players expected to turn into sellers.
With the 2024 MLB Trade Deadline exactly two months away, we at Newsweek Sports wanted to provide an early primer for the best players at each position who could be moved at this year’s deadline.
The reigning All-Star Game MVP is having a career year in 2024, slashing .299/.343/.431 with an OPS of .774. He’s a 33-year-old impending free agent catcher on one of baseball’s worst teams. The Rockies would be foolish not to trade him.
The Chicago Cubs have been freefalling in the standings of late and could surely use a boost.
A boost that may come in the form of slugger Pete Alonso.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported Thursday that Chicago is “the obvious potential suitor” if the New York Mets decide to trade Alonso. Heyman noted a rival of the Mets also listed the Houston Astros, Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays as possible landing spots.
It’s not particularly surprising New York may look to trade Alonso.
After all, he is playing in the final year of his contract and could leave in free agency during the upcoming offseason. If the National League East team is going to get something in return before a potential departure, it will need to trade him ahead of the July 30 deadline.
The Mets also appear well on the track to seller status with a 22-33 start to the season, which has left them in fourth place in the National League East and 16 games behind the first-place Philadelphia Phillies.
The Mets also appear well on the track to seller status with a 22-33 start to the season, which has left them in fourth place in the National League East and 16 games behind the first-place Philadelphia Phillies.
As for the Cubs, they are in need of an offensive boost.
They are 21st in the league with a .676 OPS and 18th in the league with 55 home runs. Alonso, who hit a combined 86 home runs in 2022 and 2023, is the type of power bat they are largely missing in their offense.
Chicago is also 4-12 in its last 16 games and will quickly fall out of contention in the National League Central if it doesn’t turn things around in the near future. It is in third place, 5.5 games behind the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers and closer to the last-place Cincinnati Reds than the top of the NL Central.
It might be time for a change if the front office plans on realistically competing for the 2024 campaign, and Alonso would be a significant change.
Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter ranked the Cubs’ farm system as the best in the league last month, so they should also be able to outbid other suitors if the Mariners, Astros, Blue Jays or others become involved in trade discussions.
It could be a win-win move with Chicago having a better chance this year with Alonso in the middle of its lineup and New York having the opportunity to restock some of its farm system.
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