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Top 25 tradeable pieces to keep an eye on this season

By Joshua Sadlock

BALTIMORE, MD - MAY 16: Manny Machado #13 of the Baltimore Orioles looks on during the eighth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on May 16, 2018 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MD - MAY 16: Manny Machado #13 of the Baltimore Orioles looks on during the eighth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on May 16, 2018 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /
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MLB’s trade season is upon us, and these are the 25 biggest names to watch who could be on the move before July 31.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year — Major League Baseball’s trade deadline is just over a month away, and teams across the league are starting to get their ducks in a row for what has become the most entertaining month of the season. The addition of the second Wild Card, along with the rise in teams accepting their fate and going into rebuild mode has only served to ratchet up the drama of the trade deadline.

The spike in teams deciding to strip their roster down to the studs has taken some of the excitement away from the trade deadline, but not by much. The Chicago White Sox dealt Chris Sale and Adam Eaton before the 2017 season but still pulled off a shocking deal to trade Jose Quintana with their crosstown rivals.

Rentals area also as important a part of the trade deadline as ever. Smart general managers are more hesitant to give up their best prospects for a few months of a star, but in the past two years Aroldis Chapman, J.D. Martinez and Yu Darvish have all played major rolesWith loa in the playoff race after being traded. Relievers and role players also remain a big focus of the trade deadline.

With loaded farm systems, the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies are poised to make a major splash at the deadline. The Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers have major pressure to make the big move and push their roster over the top. Then, don’t count out Theo Epstein and Brian Cashman when it comes to pulling off a blockbuster trade out of nowhere. It is shaping up to be another exciting MLB trade deadline, and these are the 25 biggest names you need to keep an eye on.

25. Madison Bumgarner

The San Francisco Giants attempted to recover from last year’s debacle by trading for former All-Stars Andrew McCutchen and Evan Longoria last winter. Without much financial flexibility or prospects to make trades with, settling for aging veterans was the best the Giants could do to make themselves better.

The results so far have been underwhelming and the Giants are hardly a World Series threat in the National League. With an aging and expensive roster, it is time to seriously evaluate the franchise’s future. The type of long, hard look that must be done is not going to be easy, but it has to be done.

The next month will determine whether the Giants need to seriously consider selling at the trade deadline. The NL West has not gotten away from them, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are in a similar position. If things really go south heading into the All-Star break, it is not out of the question to think the Giants would consider trading ace Madison Bumgarner. The 28-year-old World Series hero has one year of team control remaining. Obviously the Giants would love to make him a lifetime member of the team, but how wise is it to invest in a pitcher entering his thirties without a decent farm system to provide more talent to surround him with?

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