MLB rumors: Brave tenor ahead of deadline, Cubs deals, when trades will happen

Here’s the latest on a smattering of MLB rumors as the trade deadline gets closer and closer.

Well, folks, we’re within five days of the MLB trade deadline. Teams and players have their last full series this weekend to prove to front offices what moves they should, or shouldn’t make for good.

Here is some of the latest of MLB rumors we know about what’s happening around the league leading up to the oh-so-anticipated trade deadline.

Going in, it’s expected to be a seller’s market, with so many teams still in the running for one of the expanded Wild Card slots.

Other recent MLB rumors

• Max Scherzer requesting a meeting with Mets front office signaling possible trade
• Nolan Arenado’s inclusion in Dodgers talks makes sense now

Here’s when you should expect MLB trades to go through

One of the first questions you should have heading into the weekend is whether or not trades will happen on Saturday and Sunday, even though the trade deadline doesn’t officially hit until Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET.

The answer to that seems to be Monday, July 31st.

Here’s what one executive told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand:

"“I am expecting a flurry of activity on Monday,” a National League executive said. “There are a lot of teams that are on the fence as to what to do, so we’ll have to see how things go over the next three days. But I would expect a lot to happen at the end of the weekend and early next week.”"

Though some deals have already gone through, expect the biggest ones, and the lot of them, to go down Monday at some point. That same executive said he expects there to be plenty of moves, but that there will be far more buyers than sellers, as expected. He said that moving early may require teams to pay a premium — as the limited sellers will want to hold to the last second to get the highest possible deal — so buyers will need to convince them to tie a knot on things early to get it done.

We’ll find out how things play out soon enough. But it looks as though this weekend is the last of the information gathering before the deals go through on Monday and Tuesday.