You may have heard that the trade deadline is coming down the pike, scheduled for Monday at 6 p.m. ET. It's of significant interest to the baseball world, both the real one and the Fantasy one, but the impact on each is different.
The biggest difference? The players who are actually dealt are of the most interest in real baseball, but the ones left behind tend to matter more for Fantasy, particularly in instances of a new closer or a new call-up.
On the subject of call-ups, there may still be a delay in their arrival, even for those with a new path open to them. By holding out just a couple more weeks (inside of 45 days to go, basically), a team can preserve a potential call-up's rookie eligibility for 2027, thus keeping certain draft pick incentives intact. Such call-ups are still worth highlighting as potential risers, but understand that their impact may not be immediate.
With that in mind, here are the players whose Fantasy value could be altered most at the deadline, for better or worse. To avoid repetition, I've grouped players by particular trade scenarios rather than highlighting them individually.
Kade Anderson/Emerson Hancock/Luis Castillo
Somehow, someway, the Mariners need to get Kade Anderson on their roster for the stretch run. He's the most-stashed prospect in Fantasy, and for good reason (just look at the numbers). Presumably, he's seventh in the rotation pecking order, which would normally make for an easy "in" over the six-month slog, but the attrition that normally comes for a pitching staff has somehow skipped over the Mariners. Could a trade be what opens the door? The Mariners are reportedly listening on both Luis Castillo and Emerson Hancock, with the former being of interest only to contenders but the latter to most everybody. Both pitchers' stock would slip almost anywhere they went given how favorable T-Mobile Park is to pitchers. The gap between Castillo's home and away splits last year was particularly large.
Jake McCarthy/Mickey Moniak
The Rockies have been surprisingly stout offensively this year, putting them in the unlikely position of needing to free up a path for some up-and-comers. The most likely choices to go are Mickey Moniak and Jake McCarthy, if only because, by dealing them, the Rockies would be cashing in on players that they bought low. Of course, Moniak's and McCarthy's resurgent stock owes a little something to the hitter's paradise that they call home, one would think, and in fact, one doesn't even have to think when the actual numbers are available. Moniak is batting .227 with a .652 OPS on the road compared to .312 with a 1.033 OPS at home. Those splits were nearly as egregious last year. McCarthy gives me a little more hope, batting .272 with a .749 OPS on the road compared to .321 with a .925 OPS at home, but that's still a sharper contrast than you'd prefer. I wouldn't say their downfall is inevitable if the Rockies trade them away, but I'd be shopping them now to safeguard against that possibility.
Charlie Condon/Zac Veen
When I mentioned the Rockies needed to clear a path for some up-and-comers, Charlie Condon and Zac Veen were who I had in mind. Both have gone a long way to restoring their former top prospect standing, delivering the kind of numbers at Triple-A that would have already earned them a promotion in most organizations. They could take over in the outfield corners if Moniak and McCarthy are moved, becoming immediate pickups in five-outfielder leagues for the kind of impact they could have down the stretch. If the Rockies were to free up only one spot, Veen might take priority since he's already on the 40-man roster, but Condon is the better bet to develop into something worthwhile.
Mason Miller/Adrian Morejon
Perhaps it's just past trade deadline trauma talking, but is there any chance Mason Miller lands with a team that doesn't make him a closer? He's the best reliever in baseball, of course, but the same was true last year, when he ended up becoming the setup man for Robert Suarez following a deadline deal. It was questionable at the time how studly of a closer Suarez was -- and you'll notice he himself went on to sign as a setup man -- but what if Miller went to, say, the Phillies? Would they remove someone like Jhoan Duran from the role to accommodate him? Such worries border on paranoia, I'll admit, so perhaps the focus here should be on left-hander Adrian Morejon, who could take over as Padres closer if Miller is indeed traded.
Luke Weaver
One of the few things to go right for the Mets this year is Luke Weaver, who's putting up closer-caliber numbers in his first year of a two-year deal. That makes him a pretty easy trade candidate for a team that's going nowhere, and I'll remind you that he does have closing experience. His came when the stakes were at their highest, too, during the Yankees' march to the World Series in 2024. Plenty of contenders -- from the White Sox to the Cubs to the Pirates -- need a closer, so if one of them were to acquire Weaver, it might just be for the top role, which would revolutionize his Fantasy value.
James Tibbs
James Tibbs has been pushing for a call-up ever since homering seven times in his first eight games of the season, but the Dodgers haven't been in a position to give him one on account of their embarrassment of riches. They're of course, the biggest buyers of all at the deadline and, with Tibbs, could offer instant gratification to a club with its sights set on next year. They probably wouldn't miss him either, with higher-end outfield prospects like Josue De Paula, Mike Sirota and Eduardo Quintero just a step or two down the ladder. They already bought low on Tibbs in a deal with the Red Sox last year, so he represents house money to them.
Dustin May/Quinn Mathews
If the Cardinals are out for 2026 (which is something that still needs to be sorted out), then Dustin May becomes an easy choice to go, seeing as he'll almost certainly be a free agent this offseason (he has a mutual option, but those are never picked up). This entry is less about him, though, than who's waiting in the wings: Quinn Mathews. The left-hander, whose stock has taken a hit since his 202-strikeout 2024, seems to be back on the right path with a 1.55 ERA, 0.78 WHIP and 10.1 K/9 in his past nine starts. Granted, Matthew Liberatore's struggles present a compelling case to call up Mathews even without a trade, but removing May from the picture would make it a fait accompli.
Reid Detmers/Jose Soriano
Reid Detmers and Jose Soriano are known to be on the market and, with the Angels having no shot at postseason play, among the most likely of the players mentioned in this article to be traded. Both have stood out in recent years for underperforming their talent level -- especially Detmers, whose ERA has consistently tracked well above his xERA and FIP -- making them appealing change-of-scenery candidates. The Angels aren't exactly known for their pitching development, after all. A move to the Brewers, Dodgers or Rays, among other organizations, would be enough to rekindle interest in either one.
Other starting pitcher targets
I've listed them by how prized they'd be on the trade market rather than by how much they'd be impacted by a trade. Presumably, Tarik Skubal's Fantasy value wouldn't change at all, for as seismic as that move would be in real life. Really, it's the bottom four that I could genuinely see being impacted by a deal. Freddy Peralta is so lost right now that I think he could use a fresh start, perhaps even landing with a team that could help him recapture his slider. Michael Wacha has a 4.07 ERA on the road compared to 3.03 at home, so leaving Kansas City could be a net negative for him, even if it helps to right his win-loss record. Kevin Gausman and Trevor Rogers seem like wild cards at this point. I can't make sense of when they're up or when they're down, but the dichotomy is stark. If the disruption in routine flips the script for either one of them, it wouldn't surprise me.
C.J. Abrams/Luis Garcia
C.J. Abrams and Luis Garcia rank this far down the list because the Nationals are technically in the playoff picture themselves and have no urgency to trade the two, who are each under control for at least one more year. On the other hand, the Nationals don't really have the pitching to mount a serious challenge and could decide to get while the getting is good on two players who have never been as valuable as right now. It helps that the organization has a number of middle infield prospects on the way, from Seaver King and Devin Fitz-Gerald in the upper minors to Eli Willits and Chris Hacopian further down, but even so, the Nationals could decide that they're close enough to contending to see Abrams and Garcia through. I'm not sure either would gain or lose much Fantasy value if traded, but hey, he'd no longer be part of the highest-scoring lineup in baseball.
Matt Shaw/Pedro Ramirez/James Triantos
The Cubs have now graduated three infield prospects in the past two years despite having no openings on their infield. That arrangement simply cannot stand. They can't allow Matt Shaw, Pedro Ramirez and James Triantos to wither on the vine. They can't send Alex Bregman, Dansby Swanson or Nico Hoerner to the bench. Maybe they regret signing the latter trio to long-term deals now that the former trio is at the ready, but alas, it's a lot easier to trade the cheap players than the expensive ones, particularly to a team with nothing to play for in 2026. Any of Shaw, Ramirez and Triantos would become an immediate starter on a rebuilding club (maybe not Shaw since he's on the IL). My favorite is Ramirez on account of his strong exit velocity readings and bat-to-ball skills, but Triantos has some Hoerner-like qualities and Shaw was the most decorated prospect of the three.
Walker Jenkins/Kaelen Culpepper
The Twins are actually in the thick of the wild card race right now but are the longest of long shots to remain there, which means they may cut to the chase and sell off everything that isn't stapled down. I've mentioned Joe Ryan already, but Trevor Larnach would also be pretty easy to move. And any outfield opening would make for an easy path for Walker Jenkins, the former fifth overall pick who has spent much of his minor league career injured but is showing superlative plate discipline with strong exit velocity readings at Triple-A. As for Kaelen Cupepper, I'm not sure he even needs a trade to have a path, given the way Ryan Kreidler has fallen off, but any shedding of infield excess (Kody Clemens, maybe?) makes that path a little wider.
