The 2026 MLB trade deadline is August 3rd, and the market is actually good this year. There’s a two-time Cy Young winner sitting on a 32-44 team with no path back. A franchise gave up two top-30 prospects six months ago for a rental pitcher and is now 34-42. A front office in San Francisco is protecting their best asset while the team loses 14 games under .500. A Marlins trade that’s been “about to happen” for two straight summers still isn’t done. One 25-year-old shortstop in Washington is having a career year while the Yankees watch the guy they built around get sent back to the minors. Five moves. Let’s go.
Should the Brewers Trade for Tarik Skubal at the 2026 MLB Trade Deadline?
Yes and the price is going to hurt. Skubal is the best pitcher in baseball, the Tigers are 32-44 with no path back, the Brewers just lost Quinn Priester for the year and have the deepest farm system in baseball to go get a replacement, and Skubal next to Misiorowski in October is the best 1-2 punch in the NL.
The Tigers are nine and a half games back in the Central, and Skubal already did the front office’s job for them. He came back from elbow surgery on June 13th, Buster Olney reported his stuff is all the way back, and then he walked up to a microphone and said “we need to play better baseball or else, come the deadline, you give the front office an option to reassess where this team is… the whole team is going to look different.” That is a two-time Cy Young winner doing the math in public for the people whose job it is to do the math. The answer is Milwaukee.
Brewers are 45-29, first in the NL Central, Priester is gone for the season, and that middle infield of Rengifo and Ortiz and Hamilton is combining for OPS numbers in the .500s, which is a black hole in the lineup no matter how good your pitching is, but you can live with a black hole in the infield if every October start is something the other team genuinely doesn’t want to face, and Skubal plus Misiorowski is that.
This is also a completely selfish pick. I’m a Pirates fan. I love pain. I want to watch Miz and Skubal just DESTROY this terrible Pirates team for the rest of the summer and then again in October, and that’s exactly what I deserve for being born into this. The Brewers have the prospects to make this happen.
Do it.
The Brewers have the farm to absorb whatever this costs, and meanwhile a team in New York gave up two blue-chip prospects six months ago hoping they’d never have to ask themselves what went wrong…
Should the Mets Trade Freddy Peralta to the Dodgers?
The Mets gave up two top-30 prospects in January to get Peralta as their ace. He’s posting a 4.04 ERA and the team is 34-42. No extension talks are planned, he walks after the season no matter what, and if they’re not in the race by August, holding a rental you paid two premium prospects for six months ago helps nobody. Move him.
Jett Williams was the 30th-ranked overall prospect in baseball, and the Mets sent him to Milwaukee along with Brandon Sproat to get Peralta in January, and six months later Peralta is making $8M in his walk year, posting a 4.04 ERA and 1.321 WHIP in 78 innings, the Mets are 34-42, and per Chelsea Janes there are zero plans to discuss an extension, which has felt true since about a week after the trade happened. He’s leaving. That’s just the situation. So you have a team going nowhere, a pitcher who’s gone after October regardless, two premium prospects already spent, and the Dodgers at 49-27 who were already in on Peralta last winter and still have the capital to pay for him.
The Dodgers need pitching more than their record shows. Blake Snell just came back from a shoulder issue. Tyler Glasnow has been hurt basically forever. Shohei Ohtani hasn’t thrown a pitch in a regular season game since 2022. That rotation is one bad landing away from a real problem, which is why they were in on Peralta in January and will be in on him again.
Might as well right, the Dodgers are going to win it all again anyway regardless if this trade happens or not.
They’ll win it all while the Giants sit in San Francisco refusing to move their ace on a team that’s two games better than the Rockies…
Should the Giants Trade Logan Webb?
The Giants are 31-45, one spot above the Rockies, and their team president publicly said “zero plans” to move Logan Webb. He has two years and $47M left on his deal through 2028. He’s the best asset on the entire roster. If you’re actually rebuilding, you rebuild. Keeping Webb in San Francisco right now helps literally nobody on a team at the bottom of the NL.
Buster Posey came in and spent on Willy Adames at $182M, Rafael Devers at $238M, Matt Chapman at $151M, and this roster is in the basement of the NL West losing to everyone, and now they want to tell you that Logan Webb, who’s 3.46 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP and on a stretch since returning from knee bursitis that has been borderline unhittable, is unavailable. MLB.com literally wrote that trading Webb might be the best chance the Giants have to actually retool. Rosenthal reported June 15th they have zero plans to do it.
The Cubs are 40-37, right there in the NL Central, Jeff Passan has written they need a legitimate postseason stopper, and there are the prospects to go get one. There is a team sitting at 31-45 in San Francisco with exactly what Chicago needs and a front office saying no thank you.
The Cubs are a super fun team, but they need to get better pitching, this makes them even bigger contenders and I hate that.
The Giants are stubborn about their ace while losing almost every week, and then there’s Miami, who have been stalling on the most obvious trade in baseball for two straight summers…
Should the Marlins Trade Sandy Alcantara to the Braves?
The Marlins kept Alcantara at the 2025 deadline when they should have moved him. He has a $21M club option for 2027, so any team trading for him isn’t just getting a rental, they’re getting one and a half more seasons of a durable starter. The Braves are 48-27 and need one. This trade has been on the table for two straight summers. Pick it up.
Alcantara is 97-plus innings into 2026, ERA sitting in the 4.00 to 4.25 range depending on the day, and that $21M club option for next year is the thing nobody talks about enough when this trade comes up, because teams shopping at the deadline are usually buying a rental and calling it a win, and Alcantara isn’t just a rental, he’s potentially a year and a half of a guy who shows up every five days and pitches, which in July that’s a rare thing to find.
The Marlins are 39-38, not quite in seller territory on paper, but they’re not winning anything either, and at some point “kind of okay” doesn’t justify keeping a guy who’s been on the market for twelve months while everyone waits. Multiple reports have the Braves as the best fit, which makes sense on every level, best team available, obvious need, obvious supply.
They’ve been dancing around this one for two straight summers. Nobody in baseball is asking whether this trade should happen. They’re asking why it hasn’t.
Should the Nationals Trade CJ Abrams to the Yankees?
Anthony Volpe was supposed to be the shortstop of the future and he got sent back to the minors. CJ Abrams is 25 years old, .284 average, 16 home runs, .885 OPS, club control through 2028, and is having the best season of his career. The Yankees are 46-29. This is the non-pitching move that changes the whole conversation.
Abrams is in the middle of one of the best offensive seasons a shortstop has put together all year, the Nationals are 40-37 and right on the bubble between buyer and seller, and Passan has noted it would take an overwhelming offer to get Washington to move him, which is fair, you don’t give up a 25-year-old with club control through 2028 who’s hitting at this level unless the return is substantial, and the Yankees have the prospect capital to be overwhelming when they decide they want to be. The MacKenzie Gore trade the Nationals made this winter proved they’re not afraid to take a massive haul and start over at a position.
The prodigal son Volpe is gone, never thought I would see the day.
