25. Pittsburgh Pirates
Tommy Pham
The Pirates plan the past few winters has been rather simple: stock up on rentals and deal them at the deadline for young talent. Tommy Pham fit that mold, but only started playing up to his potential once the trade deadline has passed. In late July, Pham took off, and finished the month with a 1.043 OPS. He had a .757 OPS in August, but has started to slow down even more in September. While Pham turned into a fan favorite in what can only be described as a lost season for Pittsburgh, he'll likely look for a multiyear contract this winter or perhaps retire altogether. He's 37 years old, after all.
The other options on this list for the Buccos would be Andrew McCutchen, who's coming off a down season of his own and recently not-so-subtly called out ownership for their lack of spending on the big-league roster. If McCutchen weren't a franchise icon – and didn't have a family to raise in Pittsburgh – then he'd have a foot out the door as well.
-Powell
24. Miami Marlins
Sandy Alcantara
The Miami Marlins don’t have a single player slated to hit free agency at the end of the year after releasing Cal Quantrill, but they do have several trade candidates headlined by Sandy Alcantara.
Alcantara not getting traded at this year’s trade deadline was a bit surprising, but it ultimately came down to performance. Alcantara was not performing close to the ace that he was pre-Tommy John Surgery, but the Marlins likely wanted an ace-level return if he was going to be traded. We’ve seen why in his last five starts, as Alcantara has posted a 2.45 ERA in those outings. He’s putting together his best stretch of the season, and as he gets further removed from the Tommy John Surgery, he should only get better and better.
Even without Alcantara, the Marlins have a ton of pitching headlined by Eury Perez, Edward Cabrera, Ryan Weathers, and prospects Thomas White and Robby Snelling who are getting closer to being MLB-ready. They can afford to trade Alcantara assuming he continues to re-establish his value in exchange for some much-needed position player talent.
-Rotman
23. Athletics
Luis Severino
The A’s have just one meaningful free agent this offseason: lefty Sean Newcomb, who figures to be in for a sneaky-strong payday after revamping his game in a bullpen role this year. But while Newcomb will likely be playing elsewhere next year, I want to focus on a different pitcher: Severino, who has made no effort to hide just how much he’s hated having to pitch in Sacramento all summer long.
Not that you can blame him; it’s a Minor League park that plays extremely hitter-friendly, and it’s no wonder that Severino’s performance has been considerably worse at home than on the road. It feels like a divorce might be best for all parties involved here: Severino clearly wants to pitch somewhere else, and given the paucity of starting pitching around the league right now, some team is bound to give up something of value in hopes of rehabbing the righty in the final guaranteed year of his current deal. Plus, the A’s have other young rotation candidates they can turn to, most promisingly Luis Morales and Jacob Lopez.
-Landers
22. Los Angeles Angels
Luis Rengifo
The Angels have five season-long contributors who are impending free agents – Kenley Jansen, Tyler Anderson, Kyle Hendricks, Yoán Moncada, Luis Rengifo – and a few midseason acquisitions as well in Chris Taylor, Luis García, Andrew Chafin and Hunter Strickland.
The Angels attempting to reunite with Jansen in free agency feels like an obvious move, but we’ll see if that crystallizes as the veteran closer will definitely have a stronger market than last year. Another couple of obvious moves are letting Anderson and Hendricks walk, so the team can undergo a much-needed facelift in the rotation. With the position players, it feels like the Angels will need to choose between Moncada and Rengifo to round out the infield around Zach Neto, Christian Moore (hopefully) and Nolan Schanuel.
It just seems that the Angels do not value Rengifo as much as other teams around baseball. They have never seriously tried to extend the utility player’s contract, so it feels unlikely that they will try to bring him back for more than $6 million AAV – the figure Rengifo makes now post-arbitration, and one that a different team will likely surpass to sign him this offseason. Rengifo’s name has always emerged around the trade deadline as a target for teams like the Yankees and Red Sox, but he’s often been either injured or ineffective when the time came to deal him to a contender.
Rengifo has bounced back nicely after an absolutely brutal beginning to the 2025 campaign, but do not expect his turnaround to sway the Angels’ consistent stance on low-balling him in negotiations.
-Evan Roberts, Halo Hangout
21. Baltimore Orioles
Adley Rutschman
With Tyler O’Neill unlikely to opt out of his contract, the O’s are short on free agents entering a crucial offseason. So instead, let’s go big: At some point this winter, Baltimore will trade star catcher Adley Rutschman.
Sure, it’s selling low after another injury-plagued season. But Rutschman won’t turn 28 until next February, and he should still have a solid market around the league thanks to his two-way ability. (Even with all the struggles over the past two years, Rutschman is still on pace to total around 5 fWAR over that span.) Plus, it seems hard to believe that Mike Elias is going to want to pay him before he hits free agency after the 2027 season, so why not get ahead of it, cash in now while he has multiple years of team control remaining and see what Samuel Basallo can do?
-Landers