5 teams expected to be active on the MLB trade market

As the top free agents continue to come off the board, teams desperate to make a splash may have to trade for their missing pieces.

This offseason has moved much faster than the last two winters, as teams have worked quickly to address their needs by paying top dollar for the best free agents on the market. But as this crop of free agents finds their new homes, teams that swung and missed on players like Anthony Rendon and Gerrit Cole, are still in need of upgrades at key positions.

Lucky for them, there are a few options available via trade that could help a team like the Padres or Braves improve their roster. Of course, completing a trade for a game-changing player like Mookie Betts or Kris Bryant isn’t as easy as agreeing to a deal in free agency. The cost of a Betts or Bryant is typically top prospects or young, controllable major league talent, making a deal for either of the market’s top trade targets hard to conceptualize on paper.

But, with how many teams have shown interest in the top free agents on the market combined with a handful of teams looking to get underneath the luxury tax, this could end up being one of the more active offseasons in recent memory.

So, here are the five teams that should be very active on the trade market this offseason.