It usually doesn’t take too long into December for Major League Baseball squads to realize they’re not going to get what they want this holiday season.
And many clubs will come to this realization even before baseball’s Winter Meetings commence next week in Dallas.
Juan Soto’s looming decision on which half-billion dollar fortune to accept will leave a handful of losers in his place, and a set of dominos falling this week will prompt even more clubs with holes to fill, money to spend, perhaps prospect capital to burn into a greater sense of urgency.
And that’s when the trade market should truly start heating up.
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It’s not as easy as writing a check, though convincing a rival GM to love your prospects might be easier than convincing a superstar to take your money. With that, here are five players – four of them former All-Stars – whose names should soon be lighting up the text strings even more than they already have:
Alec Bohm, 3B, Phillies
Pretty wild ride in Philly for Bohm, who overcame significant second-year regression on both sides of the ball to improve his defense and eventually produce an All-Star first half in 2024, when he hit the break batting .295 with an .830 OPS.
Yet he declined to .251 and .681 in the second half, part of an overall Phillies regression, and was benched for a game of the National League Division Series. While Bohm has vacillated between inconsistent and occasionally dynamic, he’s also the most tradeable piece on a club with a half-dozen nine-figure contracts.
And the target only grew bigger with the feeling that Philadelphia, after backsliding from World Series runner-up to NLCS loser to NLDS exit, needs to shake things up.
Bohm holds promise for an acquiring team in that he has two years remaining before free agency, is still just 28 and is projected to earn not much more than $8 million next season.
And while pitching is always in demand, impact hitters are hardly plentiful, particularly ones that don’t come at a free agent premium. The Seattle Times reported that the Phillies requested one of the slugging-challenged Mariners’ All-Star starters, Logan Gilbert or George Kirby.
Nice try, although that starting point gives you an idea that the Phillies aren’t simply going to flip Bohm for the sake of doing so.
Crazy, but: Imagine Bohm and Alex Bregman simply switching places, with Philly, spurned by Soto, turning to the free agent third baseman for a fraction of the cost and shipping Bohm to Houston.
Garrett Crochet, LHP, White Sox
It’s time.
For all the Crochet discourse bandied about near the trade deadline, shipping off a dominant starter in his first full year in the role while coming off Tommy John surgery was too much of a storm in which to land this plane.
Yet the relative quiet of the off-season enables both buyer and seller to know what they’re getting: Two years of a 6-foot-6 lefty who averaged 13 strikeouts per nine innings last season and made 32 starts, though several were truncated to manage his innings increase.
The conditions are almost too perfect: With Chicago losing a record 121 games, the turnaround plan, to the extent that it exists, will take far longer than two years to execute. And the acquiring team will only have to pay Crochet an estimated $3 million this year plus whatever he’ll fetch in a final year of arbitration.
There’s so many upsides for the acquiring team: A two-year window with a frontline starter, the lack of commitment that comes with acquiring a big time free agent pitcher, and the first crack at signing Crochet long-term, if so inclined.
An impressive line of suitors that will begin with the losers of the Max Fried/Corbin Burnes derbies – think some combo of Boston, Baltimore, the New York clubs – along with perennial aggressive contenders should make for an excellent seller’s market.
Crazy, but: Would Baltimore move one of its theoretically untouchable young hitters for Crochet? It’s a tough convo worth having once the Orioles presumably miss out on the two elite free agent arms.
Cody Bellinger, 1B/OF, Cubs
Here’s the funny thing about Bellinger: He’s still a pretty good ballplayer!
Sure, it’s always a bad sign when a Scott Boras client opts into, rather than out of, a player option, as Bellinger did when he activated his $27.5 million salary for 2025. That’s largely the result of Bellinger’s WAR getting halved from 4.4 to 2.2 in 130 games, the same number of posts he made in 2023.
That the Cubs feel compelled to trade him is a Cubs Problem; a team with their revenues should not feel hamstrung to upgrade unless they rid themselves of Bellinger. They will pay their two best starting pitchers, Shota Imanaga and Justin Steele, around $20 million in 2025 and saved more than $6 million by non-tendering players like Patrick Wisdom and Mike Tauchman.
Yet a team that could seemingly bully its way to NL Central dominance through financial might is instead aiming for “flexibility” once again. Enter Bellinger, who rehabbed his career nicely in 2023, got caught up in the “Boras Four” game last spring but still represents only a maximum $52.5 million commitment, should he opt into his 2026 player option, too.
For that, an acquiring team would get a former MVP who still doesn’t turn 30 until July, can play all three outfield positions and first base at a Gold Glove level and, at least in 2023, provide 26 homers and 20 steals. You’d be acquiring Bellinger for his overall athleticism while hoping his hard-hit rate would improve from an icy 33% this past season.
Bellinger is well removed from his 2019 MVP season, but similarly detached from two ugly seasons in L.A. in which he battled back from a brutal combo of shoulder and calf injuries. At this stage in his career, his output does not move in linear fashion, and betting on an uptick – especially with the Cubs likely kicking in a few million dollars of salary relief – wouldn’t be a bad wager.
Crazy, but: Imagine Bellinger in the middle of Sacramento’s lineup, as the A’s feel compelled to take on salary in order to avoid recrimination from other franchises after years of stuffing revenue sharing into their pockets, er, stadium explorations.
Luis Arráez, INF, Padres
Already kind of insane that a three-time batting champion has played for three teams in three years. Hey, why not make it four in four?
The Padres took off after acquiring Arráez from Miami in May, playing .470 ball before his arrival and .602 thereafter to make the playoffs and nearly steal the NL West from L.A. Yet Arráez is due to make $14.6 million in arbitration, in his last season before free agency.
And San Diego still faces financial questions and roster imbalances not just in 2025 but going forward.
Determining Arráez’s worth on the market would be challenging. On one hand, he’s won three consecutive batting titles, never strikes out (29 whiffs last season, a 3.4% K rate) and provides a hitting ability that is far too rare in today’s game.
On the other hand, he’s limited defensively, making almost all his starts with the Padres at DH and first base, where his lack of power is a poor fit. As such, his WAR dropped from 4.9 in 2023 to 1.0.
Challenging fit, challenging trade. Yet there’s symbiosis out there, somewhere.
Crazy, but: Perhaps Seattle could reverse its offensive fortunes from punchless to potent by stacking Arráez in front of Julio Rodriguez, much like San Diego did.
Zack Littell, RHP, Rays
Oh, Littell doesn’t enter this winter as Pitcher Most Likely To Be Traded. That honor probably goes to Arizona left-hander Jordan Montgomery, who took a verbal broadside from owner Ken Kendrick that was thoroughly unwarranted.
Yet Littell and closer Pete Fairbanks are the lone Rays pitchers whose service time begins with a 5.-something, which historically means you may not be long for Tampa Bay. Lefty Shane McClanahan is back from Tommy John surgery, and Shane Baz returned from that procedure last year, with youngsters Ryan Pepiot and Taj Bradley likely nudging Littell toward a swingman role.
As teams aim to workshop short relievers into starters – with Clay Holmes and Jeff Hoffman the latest to potentially go through that transition – why not acquire a guy who’s already pulled it off?
Littell trucked through 29 starts last year, upping his innings count from 90 to 156 ⅓ while trimming his ERA from 4.10 to 3.63 and his FIP from 4.02 to 3.88. While Littell has the skill set to fill the sort of versatile and fungible role the Rays love to have on their staff, that may be exceeded only by their desire to backfill their 40-man roster with controllable talent by trading impending free agents.
Once again, there will be plenty of second runner-ups in the Fried-Burnes-Jack Flaherty races. But there’s no shortage of ways to fill out a rotation.
Crazy, but: Imagine a world where the Mets break all salary records to reel in Juan Soto – and make backfilling their rotation with guys like Littell an annual ritual.
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