Pitching Wild MLB Trade Ideas For 2026-27 Offseason

转载声明：本文转载自 Bleacher Report，版权归原作者及原媒体所有。

The World Series may not be over yet, but don't worry. The MLB offseason is coming, and here's where you can check your expectations for boring trade pitches at the door.

In this space, it's wild trade pitches only. Safety is not guaranteed.

Why do this? Well, because it's fun. Also, because some of us still remember such hits as when the New York Yankees got Alex Rodriguez. Heck, all of us remember when the Boston Red Sox gave away half their farm system for Adley Rutschman.

The point is that wild trades can and do happen, and therefore can never be ruled out. So for the sake of trying to call the longest of long shots for this winter's player movement, we have come to pitch six trades that would truly be earth-shaking.

Are they likely to happen? Not in the least. But each is somewhere within the perceivable boundaries of our shared reality, at least to a point where Baseball Trade Values signed off on each of them.

Prospect rankings are according to B/R's Joel Reuter .

Are You Out of Your Mind?!

Jacob deGrom will only go anywhere if he wants to go anywhere. And he doesn't want to go anywhere.

That was true at least as of August, when the two-time Cy Young Award winner reportedly flexed his no-trade clause when the Texas Rangers approached him about a potential deal ahead of the deadline. That's his right, and he does have at least one good reason to want to stay in Texas: no state income taxes.

Even so, B/R's Joel Reuter isn't wrong to wonder if deGrom might change his tune this winter. Winter trades cause less havoc for players' personal lives, if nothing else. There's also a fair chance of the Rangers seeking a pivot away from contending, in which case his best chance at a ring will involve getting the heck out.

Why the Cubs? Well, why not the Cubs?

Nobody needs an ace starter like they do, and they need not be scared of the 38-year-old's 4.20 ERA from this season. He maintained an elite 30.1 K%, and joining the Cubs would promise a boost he can't get anywhere else: MLB's best defense.

The cash going to the Cubs would have to be ample. Say, $30 million of deGrom's $37 million salary for the sake of buying out his negative surplus value.

In this case, the Rangers would basically be buying a top-100 prospect from the Cubs in the form of Ayers.

Steele would be more of a throw-in after missing all of 2026 and most of 2025, but he would have appeal as a trade chip for 2027. He was an All-Star and finished fifth in NL Cy Young voting in 2023, then posted a 3.07 ERA in 2024.

Are You Out of Your Mind?!

The Los Angeles Angels don't break bread with the Dodgers, much less make deals with them. We're all allowed to have our third rails, and this one is Arte Moreno's .

But you know who won't still be owning the Angels before long? Arte Moreno.

Stan Kroenke is incoming, and it's possible that John Mozeliak won't need to wait until the sale goes final ( that will probably be early in 2027 ) to shop Zach Neto. The star shortstop was on the trading block ahead of the August 3 deadline, and the general expectation is that he will be again this winter.

As for what Mozeliak will be demanding, well, he's not going to sell Neto's value short after a third straight 20-20 season with 5 rWAR on the side. According to Tim Healey of The Boston Globe , the ask of the Boston Red Sox in August was for no less than Franklin Arias, MLB's No. 2 prospect.

The Dodgers have lots of trade capital, though, and the 25-year-old Neto is an ideal candidate to make their offense younger and more athletic. He could either bump Mookie Betts off shortstop, or line up alongside him at third base.

For the Dodgers, the equivalent of an Arias-led package would be something involving No. 4-ranked prospect Josue De Paula. But what if they overwhelmed the Angels with controllable major leaguers instead?

Wrobleski has already been an All-Star, while Rushing and Sasaki have teased that kind of upside. All three are in their 20s and controlled through at least 2030.

Are You Out of Your Mind?!

Should the Cincinnati Reds trade Elly De La Cruz? It depends on who you ask.

Surprisingly, you can count Reds legend Joey Votto among the "yes" votes. He even made a compelling case for the idea on Foul Territory , arguing that swapping the two-time All-Star for "as many prospects as possible" beats trying to sign him to a contract that they wouldn't be able to afford even if they got it done.

Besides which, the Reds didn't close the door on De La Cruz during the summer. Multiple reports had the Red Sox poking around his neck of the woods, and apparently even making an offer.

Obviously, the Rays are not the Red Sox. Yet they are a fellow AL East team that could use a star upgrade at shortstop and, crucially, they hypothetically have the prospects to pull it off.

True, the Rays are not known for taking big swings on established stars, much less ones who are already into their arbitration years. But this Rays team will be coming off a World Series and angling to move to a shiny new stadium by 2029 . That timing overlaps nicely with De La Cruz's remaining club control, which runs through the 2029 season.

Cincinnati would get Emerson as a new heir for De La Cruz, plus one of the most promising offensive catchers in the minor leagues. They'd be trading one offensive star for potentially two, both of whom can be in the big leagues before the end of the decade.

As for Hopkins, he badly needs someone to teach him to throw strikes. According to Baseball America , however, there isn't a pitching prospect with better stuff than his.

Are You Out of Your Mind?!

Rafael Devers as someone who could be available this winter? Isn't that a bit like Sherlock Holmes deducing, in all his wisdom, that water is wet?

OK, fine. You've got us there. Following Devers' arrival with the San Francisco Giants in June of 2025, it only took a year for rumors of his potential departure to kick up. Nothing came of those before the trade deadline, but the Giants are in such dire shape that they have no choice but to try again this winter.

Rather, it's the Yankees' side of this that hits differently. Perhaps even nonsensically, if you're so inclined.

Shouldn't they be getting less reliant on power going forward? And if so, shouldn't they want to stay away from Devers, a power-only hitter whose strikeout rates have been rising? For that matter, does he even fit them as a DH while they still have Giancarlo Stanton?

These are all fair questions, but to hell with them anyway. At the least, it feels like the end of the line for Stanton in New York. And if so, the fit makes more sense. Devers has always hit at Yankee Stadium as if he belongs there, with his 18 home runs in New York representing the most for any stadium that he's never called home.

As with the Jacob deGrom-to-Chicago concept, we're not talking a small amount of cash. Devers is owed $225 million through 2033. The Giants would have to eat tens of millions out of that for the 30-year-old to be a sensible get in a trade.

That's what would happen here, and the Giants would get back two arms that balance real downside against real upside. Health is a concern for both Gil and Lagrange. But Gil, 28, has been a Rookie of the Year winner and Lagrange, 23, can throw 103 mph.

Are You Out of Your Mind?!

Did those first four pitches come off as tame? If so, then this is the one for you.

Anyway, the rationale starts here: Bryce Harper should probably move on from Philadelphia, and Ronald Acuña Jr. should probably do the same from Atlanta. Things for both players in both places have gotten…weird.

Harper has had a heck of a run with the Phillies, but he's recently had public disagreements with Dave Dombrowski and Don Mattingly . And even if the 34-year-old does still have five years and $125 million left on his 13-year contract, he's an obvious candidate to go if the team pursues a badly needed shakeup of its core. He'd only need to waive his no-trade clause.

For his part, Acuña has been blunt with some of his criticisms of various Braves coaches (see here and here ). Even if that's all water under the bridge, a change of scenery might still be the best thing for the 28-year-old. Health and consistency have eluded him since his NL MVP-winning season in 2023. A fresh start won't necessarily change that, but other teams have every reason to wonder if it would.

So, why not swap the two players? The obvious answer is "Because they're NL East rivals, you fool," and that is fair. Even so, the shoe fits on both ends. The Phillies need youth and a right-handed bat, and the Braves need more present upside than Acuña has shown over the last two years.

Acuña only has $34 million worth of club options for 2027 and 2028 left on his original eight-year, $100 million contract. So if the Braves are going to swap him for Harper, they would need more.

That's why Rincon is here, though he'd be more than a throw-in. He's rated as a plus defensive shortstop, marking him as a potential mainstay for a shortstop position that has given the Braves plenty of headaches in recent years.

Are You Out of Your Mind?!

No, wait! Don't click out of here just yet. This idea is actually grounded in reality, at least as the Red Sox see it.

According to Alex Speier of The Boston Globe , Bobby Witt Jr.'s name came up while the Red Sox were weighing trades for various stars before the trade deadline. It's unclear if they actually spoke to the Kansas City Royals about their three-time All-Star shortstop, but either way the idea to trade for him was there in some form.

Is Witt untouchable? Almost certainly…but should he be?

He signed an 11-year contract in 2024, but opt-outs starting after 2030 could effectively make it a seven-year deal. He's now three years into it, and the Royals are looking ahead at what could be the last four from the wreckage of a 93-loss season. Their contention model needs a course correction, badly .

As he leads all position players in rWAR for the last four seasons, the Royals trading Witt is basically sacrilege. Yet if they leverage his oodles and oodles of trade value into a haul of major leaguers and prospects, they could be glad they did in the long run.

So, you want to trade for Witt? Well, this is what it would take. Or something like it, anyway.

Tolle? He's a potential ace-caliber lefty who still has five years of club control left. Abreu? He's a Gold Glover with 20-homer power who still has three years of club control left. Arias? He's the best prospect in the American League. Gonzales? He's not on Arias' level, yet he might be Boston's best pure hitting prospect.

It's a haul, alright, but it would return nothing less than the best shortstop in baseball. And arguably, the best player at any position that the sport has to offer.

Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference , FanGraphs and Baseball Savant .