1 week Ago By Zachary D. Rymer
They call MLB's offseason the "hot stove season," but this one is taking its time to heat up. The best thing to do in times like these is conjure up hypothetical trades. And right here and now, we're going to do so with buy-low stars who either need a change of scenery or who could get one whether they like it or not.
In focus are guys such as Minnesota Twins shortstop Carlos Correa, whose trade candidacy has been pondered by Joel Sherman of The New York Post and Jon Morosi of MLB Network: Other sources include trade candidate lists compiled by Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors and Mike Axisa of CBS Sports. In any case, the sources aren't as important as the format: One player, one team, one proposal.
In other words, this isn't about endlessly listing potential trade partners. It's about picking the best suitor for each player and pondering what they could offer. We'll proceed in alphabetical order.
Note: Prospect rankings are according to B/R's Joel Reuter . Age: 33 2024 Stats: 152 G, 635 PA, 16 HR, 2 SB, .272 AVG, .
325 OBP, .394 SLG 2025 Contract Status: Year 7 of nine-year, $275 million deal Why He Fits with Boston The Red Sox have a solid lineup, but it would be better if it was more balanced and offered quality defense in addition to offensive thump. Even at this stage of his career, Nolan Arenado could be a boon to Boston on both fronts.
Though he hasn't won a Gold Glove since going 10-for-10 in his first decade in the majors, Arenado proved this year that he's still got it in the field. He was good for nine Outs Above Average to rank third among third basemen. If the Red Sox had Arenado to play the hot corner, they could move Rafael Devers across the diamond to first base.
This has felt like an inevitable shift for a while now, as Devers isn't exactly getting more reliable defensively at third. As for the other side of the ball, one thing the right-handed-hitting Arenado still does well is pull fly balls to left field. He'd be in Heaven in the haven for righty pull power that is Fenway Park, where the Green Monster looms as an ever-present target.
Trade Proposal: Boston Red Sox get 3B Nolan Arenado; St. Louis Cardinals get DH Masataka Yoshida This would be a bad contract swap, albeit one in which the Cardinals would save $18.2 million.
That would align with the franchise's current goals . Plus, Chaim Bloom would get to acquire Yoshida all over again . If nothing else, he would make the Cardinals a tad younger and infuse more contact into their offense.
Age: 29 2024 Stats: 130 G, 569 PA, 18 HR, 9 SB, .266 AVG, .325 OBP, .
426 SLG 2025 Contract Status: Year 1 of 1-year, $27.5 million deal, with 2026 player option Why He Fits with Kansas City If the Royals are going to build on their return to the playoffs, they need to improve an outfield that practically had visible stink lines coming off it in 2024. Said outfield was worth a total of 1.
0 rWAR . And per Runs Created , it was the worst in MLB from an offensive perspective. The Royals' challenge in addressing this problem via free agency is twofold.
First, money is likely tight, with their payroll already set to rise in 2025. Second, Kauffman Stadium isn't the most inviting place for hitters. Trading for a hitter may, therefore, be more feasible.
This brings us to one thing about Cody Bellinger: He doesn't have no-trade protection. The 2019 NL MVP would otherwise suit the Royals well because he's a good athlete whose offensive game doesn't revolve around his power. He's made himself into a very good contact hitter, ranking in the 85th percentile for strikeout rate in 2024.
Trade Proposal: Kansas City Royals get OF/1B Cody Bellinger, 2B Pedro Ramirez (Cubs No. 10); Chicago Cubs get RF Hunter Renfroe Here we have another bad contract swap that would favor the seller. This would equate to $20 million in savings for the Cubs, which they could then reinvest elsewhere.
In this case, though, the Royals would be in their rights to ask for a prospect to go with their new salary burden. Ramirez would suit them as a down-the-road possibility whose line-drive stroke would be at home at Kauffman Stadium. Age: 32 2024 Stats: 162 G, 659 PA, 23 HR, 6 SB, .
254 AVG, .311 OBP, .431 SLG 2025 Contract Status: Year 4 of 5-year, $100 million deal Why He Fits with Washington If the question is what the Nationals need right now, are we talking on a basic level or more of an abstract one? On a basic level, what they need first and foremost is power.
They hit 135 home runs as a team in 2024, or just 36 more than Aaron Judge and Juan Soto had as a duo for the New York Yankees. On a more abstract level, they could use a regular who has been there and done that before. As talented as their youth movement is, it never hurts to have a guy whose eyes won't go wide at the first sight of October.
Of all the guys the Nationals might trade for, few check both boxes like Nick Castellanos. He runs as hot and cold as any hitter in baseball, but he's typically good for 25-30 home runs in the regular season. And while he likewise has hits hit and misses in October, he's ultimately put up a .
898 OPS in his last three trips with the Philadelphia Phillies. Trade Proposal: Washington Nationals get RF Nick Castellanos, SS Starlyn Caba (Phillies No. 4), cash; Philadelphia Phillies get RHP Kyle Finnegan Finnegan is a trade chip in his own right, and he would fill an immediate need as a late-inning bullpen piece in Philadelphia.
We're nonetheless talking about a swap of a player owed $40 million through 2026, so the Nationals could angle for cash assistance and a prospect from the Phillies. To this end, Caba's glove alone makes him a worthwhile long-term upside play. Age: 30 2024 Stats: 86 G, 367 PA, 14 HR, 0 SB, .
310 AVG, .388 OBP, .517 SLG 2025 Contract Status: Year 3 of 6-year, $200 million deal, with 2029-2032 team options Why He Fits with Los Angeles If Carlos Correa is going to go anywhere this winter, it will be because Carlos Correa wants to go there.
He has a full no-trade clause , and it doesn't take much to imagine him balking at trade proposals that would send him to non-contenders. Or, say, the San Francisco Giants or New York Mets . But the Dodgers? One can see it.
They are the World Series champions after all, and they should be in the market for a shortstop. It's unclear what their plans are for the position, though playing Mookie Betts there is not the ideal outcome. His better spot on the infield is at second base.
Correa is a shortstop all the way, yet the Dodgers would have the ability to get him off his bothersome feet as needed. In addition to Betts, Tommy Edman and Miguel Rojas could also take occasional turns at short. Trade Proposal: Los Angeles Dodgers get SS Carlos Correa; Minnesota Twins get RHP Bobby Miller, RHP Edgardo Henriquez (Dodgers No.
10) With the Twins for sale and no longer tied to a regional sports network, it's hard to imagine them moving Correa in anything other than a salary dump. This move would accomplish that and save them from paying him over $30 million in each of the next four seasons. Correa is too good to give up for nothing, though.
This is where Miller and Henriquez would come in, as both offer high-upside arms that the Twins could use immediately in 2025. Age: 31 2024 Stats: 154 G, 637 PA, 25 HR, 11 SB, .224 AVG, .
284 OBP, .400 SLG 2025 Contract Status: Year 2 of 2-year, $14 million deal Why He Fits with Pittsburgh The Pirates haven't finished higher than fourth in the NL Central in the last eight years, but at least they put some wind in their sails this season. The starting trio of Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller and Jared Jones will wreak havoc for years to come.
And don't overlook Luis L. Ortiz. He was very good after moving to the Bucs' rotation on July 7, posting a 3.
35 ERA in 14 starts. What Pittsburgh needs, though, is a big bopper. And preferably one with some edge to him.
Their lineup is stuck in a years-long cycle of being both inept and generally lifeless. Basically, they need a dude like Adolis García. García had a rough one in 2024, but he hit 97 home runs across the three prior seasons.
That isn't even counting the 2023 playoffs, wherein he set a postseason record with 22 runs batted in. Trade Proposal: Pittsburgh Pirates get RF Adolis García, INF/OF Ezequiel Duran; Texas Rangers get RHP Braxton Ashcraft (Pirates No. 5) The Bucs aren't merely rich in pitching at the MLB level.
They're also rich with pitching prospects, as six of their 10 best talents throw the ball for a living. This is where Ashcraft would come in, though trading him for just one year of García would be a mistake on Pittsburgh's part. It would also need controllable talent, for which Duran fits the bill as a pre-arbitration-eligible guy who has flashed power and speed on offense.
Age: 30 2024 Stats: 107 G, 425 PA, 21 HR, 5 SB, .244 AVG, .311 OBP, .
473 SLG 2025 Contract Status: Year 1 of 1-year, $10.5 million deal, with 2026 team option Why He Fits with Los Angeles It might be a stretch to consider Brandon Lowe a buy-low candidate after a season in which he homered 21 times and posted a 121 OPS+ . His 2024 was merely the latest in which he was limited by injuries , though.
And his .311 OBP was on the low side of the league average, not to mention his career norm of .330.
Anyway, I digress. The real point is that the Angels want to go for it in 2025. And for that, they're going to need more left-handed power.
Though their park is about as friendly to lefty sluggers as any other in MLB, the Halos got only 38 homers from the left side this year. More isn't on tap for 2025, as power-light first baseman Nolan Schanuel is the only true left-handed hitter in the lineup. A trade for Lowe would double that number.
And from a certain angle, he plus Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon, Jorge Soler, Taylor Ward, Logan O'Hoppe, and Jo Adell would look promising, if more than a little volatile. Trade Proposal: Los Angeles Angels get 2B Brandon Lowe; Tampa Bay Rays get LHP Samuel Aldegheri (Angels No. 5) The Angels don't have a strong farm system, but they do have a low-key surplus of young pitching.
Aldegheri is among that inventory, yet there isn't a clear role for him on the 2025 Angels. The same would also be true if Aldegheri landed with the Rays, but you know how it goes . They could take the lefty and blast him with the same radiation they used on Jeffrey Springs and—bam!—he's an ace.
Age: 31 2024 Stats: 25 G, 21 GS, 117.0 IP, 149 H (14 HR), 83 K, 44 BB, 6.23 ERA 2025 Contract Status: Year 1 of 1-year, $22.
5 million deal Why He Fits with Atlanta It seems like the Arizona Diamondbacks can't get rid of Jordan Montgomery fast enough. D-backs owner Ken Kendrick regrets signing the lefty in the first place. And according to ESPN's Jeff Passan , he is willing to eat some money to make Montgomery go away.
It's not quite a one-to-one copy, but the situation is vaguely similar to the one the Red Sox were in with Chris Sale last winter. Similar enough, at least, to imagine a Batman-style spotlight that only the Braves can see. They filled one hole in their rotation when they traded for Griffin Canning, but the spots left vacant by Max Fried and Charlie Morton still loom large.
Montgomery would be another candidate to fill those spots. Of course, the Braves could hope for more. Come 2025, Montgomery will be out to prove he's still the guy who pitched like a No.
1 for the better part of 2022 and 2023. Atlanta knows from Sale's 2024 season what a guy with that kind of chip on his shoulder can do. Trade Proposal: Atlanta Braves get LHP Jordan Montgomery, cash; Arizona Diamondbacks get RHP Ian Anderson Is this far-fetched? It might be, as the Braves would be getting one year of a veteran pitcher while giving up a former playoff hero with barely more than two years of MLB service time.
Anderson is nonetheless a wild card after missing two years following Tommy John surgery . He's an upside play the Braves can't afford to count on, whereas the D-backs would have little to lose by taking him on. Age: 27 2024 Stats: 100 G, 425 PA, 14 HR, 23 SB, .
224 AVG, .278 OBP, .379 SLG 2025 Contract Status: Year 6 of 6-year, $50 million deal, with 2026-27 team options Why He Fits with New York The Mets made a run at the World Series this year in large part because they had stars in all the right places.
Except, that is, for center field. It was a weirdly star-less venture, with Harrison Bader and Tyrone Taylor getting the bulk of the reps. The defense was fine.
The offense? Less so . So, never mind Garrett Crochet . Luis Robert Jr.
is the Chicago White Sox trade chip that should have the Mets' eye. The 2024 season was his worst from multiple perspectives, including his 1.4 rWAR .
It was also another in which the injury bug refused to let him go. In five seasons, he's played in just 66 percent of all possible games. Robert's upside, however, is beyond humongous.
If the Mets did trade for him, the hope would be for more of what he gave the White Sox (i.e., 38 HR, 20 SB, 13 OAA ) a year ago.
Trade Proposal: New York Mets get CF Luis Robert Jr.; Chicago White Sox get IF Ronny Mauricio (Mets No. 5), RHP Blade Tidwell (Mets No.
9) The Mets would get a veteran player with big talent and significant injury risk, and the White Sox would get a young player with big talent and significant injury risk. This is referring to Mauricio, whose recovery from a torn ACL completely wiped out his 2024 season. He's only 23, though, and he was a 20-20 guy in the minors in 2022 and 2023.
For his part, Tidwell is more than just a great baseball name. He's a 6'4", 207-pounder with three above-average pitches, and he could impact the majors as soon as 2025. Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference , FanGraphs and Baseball Savant .
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