You’ve heard the rumblings. You’ve sifted through the rumors. Now, at long last, the Aug. 1 MLB non-waiver trade deadline is in sight.
Seriously, squint your eyes. You can see it, right?
In the next week and change, a handful of impact trades will go down, and the balance of power will shift across both leagues. That much we know.
Who’s on the move? That’s where the picture gets murkier.
To clarify things a tad, let’s parse a dozen of 2016’s top trade candidates and assess whether their stock is up or down, using recent on-field performance and any health issues as our primary guides.
In curating this list, we’ve left off a few marquee names—guys like Colorado Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez and New York Yankees reliever Andrew Miller, whose clubs appear inclined to keep them barring a farm-system-emptying offer. Likewise, players with serious injuries (such as Atlanta Braves closer Arodys Vizcaino) or albatross contracts (such as San Diego Padres outfielder Matt Kemp) didn’t make the cut.
It’s not an exhaustive rundown of every guy who could swap uniforms by July’s end. But it’s a representative sampling of the available impact talent.
Stretch out those commenting muscles and proceed when ready.