Wild MLB Trade Ideas We’d Love to See Come True in 2024-25 Offseason
Kerry Miller@@kerrancejamesFeatured Columnist IVOctober 23, 2024Wild MLB Trade Ideas We’d Love to See Come True in 2024-25 Offseason0 of 8
Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr.Julian Avram/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Save for the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees, every Major League Baseball team is already fully in offseason mode, in the lab drawing up possible trade ideas—even wild ones like we’re about to throw your way.
Now, “wild” doesn’t mean we’re wasting your time with garbage that makes no sense whatsoever.
There will be no Aaron Judge to the Pirates or Shohei Ohtani to the Rays nonsense in here.
Rather, what makes these trades wild is that they’re all either swaps between division rivals or three-team extravaganzas.
Trades between division rivals are certainly rare, but they do happen. Of the roughly 150 trades that have gone down since the beginning of last November, only nine were moves made within the same division. However, that small list included Alex Verdugo to the Yankees, Zach Eflin to the Orioles and Jesse Winker to the Mets, so they’re sometimes pretty big.
(Three-team trades are considerably rarer than that, as we’ll get to a bit later.)
For each of the same-division proposals, the main attraction in the trade is an All-Star who has already spent a fair amount of time in trade rumors/theories over the past calendar year. Sure would be something if each one got to hit a bunch of home runs or put a few zeroes on the board against his current employer.
We’ll start in the NL East and weave our way to the AL West before saving the three-teamers for last.
NL East: Sandy Alcántara to the Washington Nationals1 of 8
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The Trade: Miami Marlins send RHP Sandy Alcántara to Washington Nationals for OF Robert Hassell III and RHP Jarlin Susana
If the names of those prospects sound vaguely familiar for some reason, it’s because they were part of what the San Diego Padres sent the Nationals in the Juan Soto/Josh Bell trade three summers ago.
Three of the pieces of that deal—MacKenzie Gore, James Wood and CJ Abrams—have become key reasons why it feels like the Nats might be about ready to come out on the other side of what has been a bit of a lengthy rebuild. And it’d be fitting of them to use the other two prospects to go get an ace who can give them a big boost.
At the time of the Soto trade, Hassell was San Diego’s top prospect and immediately became Washington’s No. 1 minor leaguer, with Wood merely their fourth-most promising prospect and Susana slotting in as eighth-best on their farm. However, the No. 8 overall pick in the 2020 draft has sputtered with the Nationals, as Hassell just finally made it to Triple-A in early September before posting a .345 OPS in 17 games there.
At this point, Susana is the more intriguing prospect as a 20-year-old strikeout artist, but Hassell could still be a coveted asset for a Miami team that played a dozen different outfielders at least a dozen games this season and got a whole lot of nothing out of any of them.
Maybe the Nationals need to throw in one more piece to sweeten the deal here, but between those two prospects and agreeing to absorb Alcántara’s remaining contract, that might be enough.
The 2022 NL Cy Young winner who missed the entire 2024 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery is owed $17.3M in each of the next two seasons, plus a $21M club option for 2027. But after Washington gave Patrick Corbin around $25M per year for the past four years, what a relief it would be to both spend less money and presumably get positive contributions from an Opening Day starter for a change.
NL Central: Devin Williams to the Pittsburgh Pirates2 of 8
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The Trade: Milwaukee Brewers send RHP Devin Williams to Pittsburgh Pirates for RHP Braxton Ashcraft
What we’d love to see the Pirates do this offseason is go out and get one more established starting pitcher to join forces with Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Jared Jones and Luis Ortiz.
To that end, you could make the case for a trade of Sonny Gray from the Cardinals or a reunion with Chicago’s Jameson Taillon, if either of those teams is willing to part with a key starter and if Pittsburgh is willing to invest two years, $65M in the former or two years, $36M in the latter.
However, the NL Central pitcher much more likely to land on the trade block this winter is closer Devin Williams.
Between the now-expired one-year, $10.5M deal the Pirates gave Aroldis Chapman last winter and David Bednar’s disastrous season with a 5.77 ERA, seven blown saves and eight losses, Pittsburgh figures to be highly motivated to acquire one of the best closers in the game today—even if it is just for one season before he hits free agency.
Milwaukee has a $10.5M club option for Williams in 2025, which it will surely exercise, even if it doesn’t plan to keep him. At any rate, the closer with a career (regular-season) ERA of 1.83, WHIP of 1.02 and K/9 of 14.3 would probably fetch a salary almost twice that high on a long-term deal, so the Brewers would be leaving some serious value on the table if they let him walk.
As far as their motivation for trading Williams goes, as great as he has been from April through September, he has become the poster boy of their October failures.
Williams missed the 2021 postseason with a self-inflicted broken hand, blew a save and took the loss in his final appearance of the 2022 season as the Brewers missed the playoffs by one game and then posted a 23.14 ERA in the postseason over the past two seasons, including that series-flipping Pete Alonso homer.
At a certain point, you just have to move on. And while Williams was out for four months with a fractured back, Trevor Megill did one heck of a fine job as closer with 20 saves and three holds in his 25 save chances. Might as well hand him the reins now with three years of arbitration eligibility still remaining.
NL West: Jordan Montgomery to the San Francisco Giants3 of 8
Norm Hall/Getty Images
The Trade: Arizona Diamondbacks send LHP Jordan Montgomery and cash considerations to San Francisco Giants for RHP Josh Bostick
Arizona’s motivation here is obvious, particularly after owner Ken Kendrick basically backed a team bus over Jordan Montgomery with his comments the day after the regular season ended about how signing him was a horrible mistake.
But while Montgomery did have a horrible season, it was hardly a mistake.
He had been the 16th-most valuable pitcher (per FanGraphs) from 2021-23, projected to sign a six-year, $150M contract (per MLB Trade Rumors) before landing in Arizona’s lap on a minimal-risk (at least compared to what it could have been) deal.
While the Diamondbacks evidently want nothing to do with the $22.5M player option that he’s bound to accept, other teams are going to see that both Montgomery’s FIP and xFIP were only marginally worse than usual and hope that he can turn things back around in 2025.
One of those interested parties will be the San Francisco Giants, who are about to lose an ace (Blake Snell) who’s going to decline his player option.
They do still have Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, Kyle Harrison, Jordan Hicks and a decent stockpile of candidates for that fifth spot in the rotation, so they aren’t likely to bother getting into the bidding wars for a Corbin Burnes, Max Fried or a re-signing of Snell. But Montgomery on a one-year deal for next to nothing in prospect capital should be mighty enticing.
Monty has only made two career starts at Oracle Park, but they were both quality starts with a combined 0.75 ERA. Could be a match made in heaven—and it would be a delight to watch him pitch against the Diamondbacks a few times in 2025.
AL East: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to the New York Yankees4 of 8
Mark Blinch/Getty Images
The Trade: Toronto Blue Jays send 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to New York Yankees for OF Spencer Jones, LHP Brock Selvidge and RHP Clayton Beeter
The wildest part of this trade might be the sheer fact that Guerrero hates the Yankees.
He said in 2022 that he would never sign with the Yankees, “not even dead.” He reiterated that sentiment the following April, saying, “It’s a personal thing that goes back with my family.”
Guerrero did slightly change his tune ahead of the 2024 trade deadline, saying, “I’m a player, and if a team picks me or if they do something, it’s because they need it, obviously, and I’ll be happy to help any team.” However, even that only came after saying, “It is not that I am trying to take back what I said about the Yankees.”
So, no, we don’t think at this point in time that there’s any realistic chance he signs with the Yankees in free agency during the 2025-26 offseason.
But with one season of arbitration eligibility remaining before he becomes a free agent, perhaps Guerrero can do what Aaron Judge did in 2022 and what Juan Soto did this year by putting together one heck of a walk year with the Bronx Bombers before signing the biggest contract of the winter.
The Yankees certainly need the help at first base, as all six players who spent time there this season posted an OPS of .661 or worse. It’s a foregone conclusion they’ll decline their $17M club option on Anthony Rizzo in pursuit of a better solution.
As was the case last winter with Soto, it’s going to take somewhat of a king’s ransom for the Yankees to get their man. But what an absolute wrecking ball of a lineup they would have in 2025 if they manage to re-sign Soto and trade for Guerrero.
AL Central: Garrett Crochet to the Detroit Tigers5 of 8
Denis Poroy/Getty Images
The Trade: Chicago White Sox send LHP Garrett Crochet to Detroit Tigers for SS Bryce Rainer, RHP Owen Hall and LHP Ethan Schiefelbein
During Detroit’s incredible run over the final two months of the regular season, two things became abundantly clear:
This young crop of players—Andy Ibáñez was the only player in his age-30 or older season to appear in the ALDS for the Tigers—is ready to contend now.They need at least one more starting pitcher to pair with Tarik Skubal.Got to at least see if the White Sox would be willing to deal their ace within the division for a trio of teenagers, right?
With the 11th, 49th and 72nd picks in the 2024 MLB draft, the Detroit Tigers selected the three then-high schoolers listed above. None of the three are expected to contribute at the MLB level anytime soon, but that’s also true of the White Sox in general, who should be stockpiling as much “might become a key piece by 2027” talent as possible right now.
And by 2027, Crochet will either be gone or a way, way more expensive member of the White Sox roster.
He has two years of arbitration eligibility remaining before reaching free agency. And though he was sensational this season, those should be relatively inexpensive years after he agreed to an $800,000 salary for 2024. Spotrac estimates his 2025 cost at a meager $2.9M, which would be incredible value (and very well within Detroit’s modest budget) if he comes anywhere close to matching what he did this season.
That 1-2 punch of Skubal and Crochet would be amazing, with 2021 No. 3 overall pick Jackson Jobe quite the candidate for the No. 3 spot in the rotation. At any rate, Detroit liked that top prospect enough to put him on their postseason roster less than a week after he made his MLB debut.
AL West: Brent Rooker to the Seattle Mariners6 of 8
Matt Dirksen/Getty Images
The Trade: (City Redacted) Athletics send DH/OF Brent Rooker to Seattle Mariners for SS Felnin Celesten, LHP/RHP Jurrangelo Cijntje and OF Jonny Farmelo
The rationale behind this proposal is basically the same as it was for Crochet to the Tigers: Team that isn’t realistically expected to contend for a World Series in the next few years has one high-value, arbitration-eligible trade chip it might as well flip for a few prospects to help expedite/fortify what has already been a multiyear rebuild.
In this case, the high-value trade chip is Rooker, a slugger who—even while striking out in more than 30 percent of plate appearances—has posted the 14th-best OPS (.876) in the majors since the beginning of 2023, ranking top 10 in total home runs hit (69) during that time.
That’s despite making nearly 300 fewer plate appearances than Juan Soto, too. In fact, from a “plate appearances per home run” perspective, only Aaron Judge (12.2), Shohei Ohtani (13.6) and Marcell Ozuna (16.2) have homered more frequently than Rooker (16.5) over the past two seasons combined.
And goodness knows Seattle could use some of that production out of its DH spot in 2025 after a season in which it tied with Atlanta for the fewest runs allowed, yet missed the postseason thanks in no small part to a .205/.299/.374 triple slash from its cacophony of designated hitters.
For what it’s worth, Rooker’s career numbers at T-Mobile Park are dreadful. We’re talking a .595 OPS and a whiff rate north of 37.2 percent in 13 games played. But that’s a small sample size, and at least he wouldn’t be hitting against Seattle’s loaded rotation anymore.
As far as the return for the A’s is concerned, the 19-year-old shortstop, 20-year-old outfielder and 21-year-old dual-threat pitcher all rank top-10 in Seattle’s farm system, per MLB.com. And that just might be the most loaded farm system in baseball right now. None of the three are anywhere close to the big leagues, but they could be big pieces of the puzzle by the time this franchise sets up shop in Las Vegas.
Bonus ‘1 from Each Division’ NL 3-Teamer7 of 8
Bobby MillerCarmen Mandato/Getty Images
NL East: New York Mets Receive RHP Bobby Miller from LAD
NL Central: Cincinnati Reds Receive 3B Brett Baty from NYM
NL West: Los Angeles Dodgers Receive 3B/SS Noelvi Marte from CIN
Our two proposed three-team trades aren’t as jaw-dropping as it would be to see Vladimir Guerrero Jr. go to the Yankees or to have Sandy Alcántara end up in Washington.
But, come on, how often do we get three-team deals?
By my count, there have only been five in the past 1,350 days, so any three-teamer would be welcomely wild.
Instead of a picture of Bobby Miller, though, maybe the photo for this proposal should have been that meme of a record player with the “Does not work but could be fun to fix!” sign. Better yet, three of those broken record players facing each other, making it a mashup with the three Spider-Man meme.
Heading into the 2023 season, all three of these players were rated top 30 in MLB.com’s prospect rankings. Brett Baty was No. 21, Miller was No. 24 and Noelvi MartĂ© was No. 29.
Others in the Nos. 19-30 range at the time included Jackson Merrill, Taj Bradley, Triston Casas, Ezequiel Tovar, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Sal Frelick, each of whom has now been well-established as a regular at the MLB level.
Meanwhile, Baty had a career OPS of .607 in 169 games played when the Mets sent him back to triple-A and turned their season around. And, sadly, he had the most productive 2024 campaign of the trio, as Miller posted a negative-1.9 bWAR and lost his spot on the 26-man roster on several occasions, while MartĂ© was only slightly less of a detriment to Cincinnati’s cause at a negative-1.8 bWAR—after missing the first 80 games of the year because of a PEDs suspension.
How about a three-pronged fresh start, though?
The Dodgers need a shortstop, and that was MartĂ©’s primary home in the field until he got traded from Seattle to Elly De La Cruz’s franchise.
The Mets wouldn’t mind taking a flyer on Miller, as they are going to need to add several starting pitchers this offseason with Luis Severino, Sean Manaea and Jose Quintana all slated for free agency.
And perhaps switching from Marté to Baty at third base could be the solution to what has been a non-stop revolving door at the hot corner for the Reds since trading away Eugenio Suárez in March 2022.
Bonus ‘1 from Each Division’ AL 3-Teamer8 of 8
Byron BuxtonBrace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images
AL East: Baltimore Orioles receive RHP J.P. France from HOU
AL Central: Minnesota Twins receive 1B/DH Ryan Mountcastle from BAL, IF Max Wagner from BAL and LHP Colton Gordon from HOU
AL West: Houston Astros receive CF Byron Buxton and cash considerations from MIN
The big question here is whether Minnesota is getting enough to part with one of the oft-injured faces of its franchise.
For Baltimore, it’s a no-brainer.
It’d be even more of a no-brainer if Coby Mayo hadn’t been an outright disaster in a small sample size this season (4-for-41 with 22 K, 0 XBH and 0 RBI), but it makes sense for them to save some money by moving on from Ryan Mountcastle at first base, who has two years of arbitration eligibility remaining and an estimated salary of $6M in 2025—particularly if moving on from Mountcastle nets them an inexpensive, multi-year, potential No. 3/4 starter like J.P. France.
After struggling through five starts early in the year, France underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in late June. But he was solid as a rookie for Houston in 2023, making 13 quality starts with a 3.83 ERA, and maybe he could be solid for the Orioles for the next half-decade.
Without France, the Astros would still have a solid rotation of Framber Valdez, Hunter Brown, Spencer Arrighetti, Ronel Blanco and Luis Garcia returning from nearly two years on the shelf following Tommy John surgery. Throw in eternal question mark Lance McCullers Jr. and the possibility of Cristian Javier and/or José Urquidy returning from their Tommy John surgeries late in 2025 and they should be plenty willing to part with France and a good-not-great pitching prospect in hopes of addressing a centerfield situation that was somehow even worse than their first-base situation in 2024.
Byron Buxton has a full no-trade clause that could keep this from becoming a reality, but he also just watched the Twins penny-pinch their way from preseason AL Central favorites to a fourth-place finish in a three-playoff-team division—this before the news from two weeks ago that the Twins could be sold this offseason. Might not be a bad time to waive that no-trade clause to go to a team that isn’t letting the ongoing Regional Sports Networks fiasco serve as an excuse for not investing in winning right now.
Minnesota does need a 1B/DH, too, as Carlos Santana was on a one-year deal and isn’t getting any younger anyway. Getting Mountcastle, a pair of respectable prospects and some salary relief by getting out from under the $60M left on Buxton’s contract might do the trick.
