The trade deadline for the 2023 Major League Baseball season is still miles away. Or, more accurately, months away. Either way, it’s too soon to know which players will be available.
Yet we can, should and frankly speculate about 10 stars who could eventually be out there for the taking.
Let’s be clear that this is not a ranking of the 10 players most likely to be traded this year. This is a ranking of 10 star players based on their likely availability. Picking the names was easy. Sizing up their future trade status was not. It involved making some assumptions about teams’ potential willingness to abandon playoff pursuits, cut costs and/or load up on young talent.
Let’s hit on some honorable mentions before counting down the top 10.
Honorable Mentions
SS Tim Anderson, Chicago White Sox
The only recent time that Anderson’s trade candidacy came up was when Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic shot the idea down in December. Because they hold an affordable $14 million option on their star shortstop for 2024, things would presumably have to go really south for the White Sox for them to change their minds.
SS Willy Adames and RHPs Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff, Milwaukee Brewers
These guys, too, were deemed off-limits by Bob Nightengale of USA Today in December. They’re perhaps more reasonable candidates to be moved on account of how they’re relatively big-money players on a small-market team, but that likely won’t matter if the Brewers contend for a sixth straight season.
RHP Tyler Glasnow, Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays will also be looking to contend this year, and for that they’re going to need the best version of Glasnow. Knowing that his salary will skyrocket from $5.4 million this year to $25 million in 2024, there might nonetheless be a non-zero chance of them trading him regardless of how they’re playing.
CF Trent Grisham and SS/2B Ha-Seong Kim, San Diego Padres
Dennis Lin of The Athletic dangled Grisham and Kim as potential trade bait in the Padres’ quest for a starting pitcher back in December. Interesting stuff, to be sure, but the Friars have since solved that need through a complex deal with Michael Wacha that could keep him in town for as many as four seasons.
1B Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds
Votto wants to still be a Red when his contract expires at the end of the year. Others, including ex-teammate David Hernandez, would like to see him traded elsewhere so he can chase a World Series ring. Either way, the first thing that needs to happen is Votto rebuilding value after struggling and then having season-ending shoulder surgery in 2022.
1B Christian Walker, Arizona Diamondbacks
It was in the face of real interest that the D-backs chose not to deal Walker, who eventually hit 36 home runs and won a Gold Glove, last summer. Perhaps they’ll relent this year, but it doesn’t seem certain. Courtesy of reinforcements from their strong farm system, Arizona might just contend between now and the end of Walker’s club control in 2024.
10. DH/RHP Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels
Age: 28
2022 Hitting Stats: 157 G, 666 PA, 34 HR, 11 SB, .273 AVG, .356 OBP, .519 SLG
2022 Pitching Stats: 28 GS, 166.0 IP, 124 H (14 HR), 219 K, 44 BB, 2.33 ERA
Contract Status: Signed through 2023
Why It Could Happen
Well, it just has to happen, right? Because enough people have been willing it to happen for what feels like forever, and that’s just how these things work.
In all seriousness, the mechanics of how a Shohei Ohtani trade could come to fruition aren’t complicated. If 2023 is anything like the last seven years, the Angels won’t contend this year. Teams in that position typically cut their losses by getting something for their pending free agents, and Ohtani stands to be perhaps the most valuable rental in MLB history.