It is usually held about a week before Christmas.
The Black Friday rush is gone, Cyber Monday is gone, and as Thanksgiving fills store shelves and supply rooms, inventory begins to dwindle. Suddenly, Amazon can't deliver that trampoline to your home within 24 hours, and the electronics retailer has to send the drone somewhere else to pick it up.
The same is true of current Major League Baseball. In the wake of the Juan Soto deal, the trade market opened last week, with Garrett Crochette being traded from the White Sox to Boston, and the Yankees acquiring a new closer in Devin Williams from Milwaukee and superstar outfielder Kyle Tucker. transferred from Houston to Boston. Cubs. The best starting pitchers, relievers and position players available in trades are off the market.
So what's left? Despite losing these three targets, there still appear to be plenty of strong trade candidates available. The rest of the top 10 rankings are as follows:
Framber Valdez – Houston Astros
Following the Tucker trade, it appears anything is possible for Houston in its quest to free up payroll and acquire young players and prospects to build what should become a second dynasty. Valdez is one of the best left-handed starters in baseball and a perennial Cy Young candidate, finishing seventh in voting last year after finishing ninth and fifth the past two seasons. He had the best season of his seven-year career in 2024, starting 28 games and posting a 2.91 ERA and 4.5 bWAR (176.1 IP). Peripherals looked good too: 3.25 FIP, 136 ERA+, 1.106 WHIP.
Valdez is scheduled to make approximately $19 million in his final year of arbitration and is scheduled to become a free agent after the season, which is the main reason the Astros decided it was the right time to trade him. There is. Unlike Crochet, Valdez has a lot of postseason experience and is probably the best player who could remain on the trade market.
Ryan Helsley – St. Louis Cardinals
Like Valdez, Helsley could become a free agent after this season, and with the Cardinals rebuilding and rebuilding for the future, acquiring last season's best closer would be a no-brainer for St. Louis. , meaning more as a trade chip than on the field in 2025. The 30-year-old posted a league-high 2.04 ERA over 62 games and led all of baseball with 49 saves. He finished ninth in this year's Cy Young Award voting and had a 1.83 ERA and 225/60 K/BB ratio in 152 games (167.2 innings) over the past three seasons.
For a candidate in need of a nine-inning shutout player, it's hard to argue that Helsley isn't a better option than Devin Williams before he left for the Bronx.
Seiya Suzuki – Chicago Cubs
After the Tucker trade, the Cubs would likely need to move one of their outfielders elsewhere, and there was talk before they acquired Tucker that Suzuki could be one of them. Suzuki, who was forced to play DH last year, wants to play the outfield and will likely be moved at some point this winter. The Japanese import has been mostly outstanding since his debut in 2022, improving his WAR (1.8, 2.8, 3.5) each season and last season with an .848 OPS, 138 OPS+, and 585 at-bats. He recorded 21 HR and 73 RBIs.
He's a below-average corner defender, but his bat more than makes up for it. There are several players with greater potential, but Suzuki has been one of the most consistent and productive players since the Tucker signing.
Luis Castillo – Seattle Mariners
The Mariners have a wealth of starting pitchers, but are in dire need of strengthening their offense. And while they're unlikely to let George Kirby or Logan Gilbert go, they're likely willing to use Castillo to add another bat or two to the lineup. The biggest hurdle is that Castillo has a full no-trade clause, which he would have to waive for a deal to go through.
That being said, he is a solid No. 3 starter. His 3.64 ERA has worked out perfectly and has been surprisingly consistent since 2019 (he has never had an ERA below 2.99 or above 3.64), with at least a 150.1 ERA every season during that span. Pitching innings and racking up innings (excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020 season). Teams in need of stability in the middle of the rotation should be interested in the 32-year-old right-hander.
Cody Bellinger – Chicago Cubs
Bellinger has had a strange career. He led the NL in WAR (8.6) and total bases with 47 HR and 115 RBI in 2019 and was named NL MVP, but he has not reached those power numbers again in the past five seasons. I couldn't. He struggled mightily in Los Angeles from 2020 to 2022, totaling the equivalent of 1.2 WAR.
However, Bellinger bounced back with the Cubs in 2023, posting a .307/.356/.525 slash line, 26 slash lines, 97 RBIs, 20 stolen bases, and a 4.4 WAR before signing a three-year, $80 million contract. It was enough. It was extended before the start of last season. The contract included an opt-out clause for Bellinger after the 2024 season, but Bellinger rejected it, leaving him under team control for two more years.
His 2024 season wasn't all that great, with a 2.2 WAR, .751 OPS, and just 18 HR in the same number of games as the previous season (130). Still just 29 years old, the left-handed outfielder can play all three outfield positions and could be a good fit for a team hoping to retain some of its 2023 magic.
Ryan Pressley – Houston Astros
Pressley has not been able to regain his All-Star form in 2021 over the past four seasons and was removed from the closer role last year in favor of Josh Hader. Hey, who can argue with that decision? The 36-year-old is still an excellent reliever, posting a 3.49 ERA in 59 games as a set-up, but his strikeout rate has decreased by 1K/9 and his WHIP has increased from 1.071 to 1.341. His batting average was .718. His OPS was the highest in a full season since 2016.
For a team in need of a veteran right-handed relief pitcher who can slot into a high-leverage mix, Pressley won't cost as much to acquire as Helsley and could be a good secondary option for a candidate in need.
Brendan Donovan – St. Louis Cardinals
Donovan has been a solid player for the Cardinals over the past three seasons and is just the quintessential St. Louis guy. He's not flashy, as evidenced by his 14 HRs and 73 RBIs in 153 games last year, but he posted a solid .278/.342/.417 slash line with 34 doubles and a 112 OPS+. was recorded. Donovan is very cheap. He is set to make about $4 million in arbitration this year and cannot become a free agent until after the 2027 season. You'll have many more years of control over your team. He has elite plate discipline and also plays as a solid outfielder.
It's doubtful the Cardinals are itching to move him, but considering they're willing to trade away players who could bring him a nice return, he's a great addition to a team lacking outfielders. That would make sense. Lars Nortvaar is a similar player and could be moved.
Brandon Lowe – Tampa Bay Rays
Basically, any player in Tampa who is scheduled to make more than $7 million this season is likely to be a trade candidate. The best of these players is probably Brandon Lowe. He can bounce between second, third and first, occasionally dabbling in the corners of the outfield. He played in 107 games last year and posted 2.4 WAR, but he has only played more than 109 games once in his seven-year career. He has hit 21 home runs for the second straight season and had a career-high 39 home runs and 99 RBIs in 2021.
He will have control over the team for two more years at $10.5 million and the next two seasons at $11.5 million. He seems like a player the Rays would like to keep around, and a player multiple teams would like to add to their roster.
Nolan Arenado – St. Louis Cardinals
Throughout the 2022 season, Arenado was on track to become this generation's Mike Schmidt. Arenado, a 10-time Gold Glove winner and three-time National League home run champion, hit 30 or more in every season from 2015 to 2022 (with the exception of 2020, of course), but now he's 32 years old. In 2023, I suddenly hit a wall. season. After posting a National League-best WAR of 7.7 in 2022, it dropped to 2.4 in 2023 and 2.5 last year. Last season, he hit just 16 bombs in 152 games and his OPS dropped to just .719. I feel like I can see how great Schmidt has been for a long time.
Arenado will turn 34 this season, and it seems unlikely that he will make a big breakthrough in 2025. However, his defense is still good, and if his power numbers increase even a little, he could be a 3-4 player. Also. He still had a batting average of .272 in 2024, but if his power doesn't return, his walk rate will need to increase a bit (last year, he walked only 44 times). He has three more seasons under contract for a total of $74 million, so St. Louis may need to help the team pay for some of that.
Luis Robert Jr. – Chicago White Sox
It appears that an epidemic is sweeping the baseball world, and elite center fielders are being wiped out of the game. Robert, 27, appeared to be bucking that trend by becoming an All-Star in 2023 and posting a 5.0 WAR with an .857 OPS, 38 HR, 80 RBI, and 20 stolen bases. Big things were expected of him in 2024, but injuries (which have plagued him throughout his five years in the major leagues) once again held him back. Although he appeared in just 100 games, he had a brutal performance at the plate, posting a .657 OPS and an astonishing 141 strikeouts in 425 PAs.
According to Baseball SavantOf the 251 players on the list, Roberts ranked 247th in strikeout rate and whiff rate percentile, 227th in pursuit rate, and 28th in walk rate. In short, poor plate discipline caused his performance to plummet last year when he was healthy.
There's no denying that Robert has the talent to be one of the few premier center fielders in the game. He's only 27 this year, plays a great defensive center fielder, and doesn't cost too much. Perhaps there is a team willing to roll the dice and sell him a little cheaper than the White Sox.
