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Trade Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat with Steve Adams: 6/30/25
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Steve Adams
4:09
And even if that were the case, it'd be a moot point. Teams and players both want deferred money, and fans don't have a seat at the bargaining table.
Jimmy Racer
4:09
With both the Phillies and the Astros looking fot a LH hitting utility player, should the Cardinals trade Donovan for starting pitching?
Steve Adams
4:11
If the Cardinals made Donovan available, there'd be a whole lot more than just those two teams looking at him. I can't envision the Cardinals moving him when they're in arm's reach of contention, though. Even if they'd been in fourth place in the Central and below .500, like I (wrongly!) expected heading into the season, I'd assume Donovan is a long shot trade candidate.
Positively Half St
4:13
How shocking was it for James Wood to be intentionally walked 4 times yesterday? Only the most elite have been shown this respect.
Steve Adams
4:13
James Wood IS elite.
Joshua
4:13
Pirates trade Mitch Keller to the Nats for Luis Garcia, Daylen Lile and Yohandy Morales.....who says no?
Steve Adams
4:16
That's not going to get Keller. Garcia only has two more years of club control remaining -- less than Keller -- and Lile/Morales aren't well-regarded enough prospect-wise.

Lile/Morales is more akin to the type of return I might expect for a mid-range rental starter or reliever. The Mariners gave up Jonatan Clase and Jacob Sharp for Yimi Garcia last year. Morales is probably better than Sharp, but not by leaps and bounds.
D Hat
4:17
Which team do you think will make the next blockbuster trade at the deadline?
Steve Adams
4:18
I don't know about the "next" blockbuster, but three teams I can see making a significant addition...

Cubs, Tigers, Blue Jays

Cubs and Jays have bb ops leaders in the last year of their contract with big pressure to succeed. Tigers have 1.5 years of Skubal left and are in position for a playoff bye with a very well-regarded farm system and tons of long-term payroll space at their disposal.

I'd genuinely have said Giants, but Posey already beat me to the punch with the Devers trade, ha.
Ryan
4:19
Am i on the right track? Seattle trades Harry Ford, Tai Peete and Tyler Locklear to Arizona for Geno and Naylor?

Seattle send Jurrangelo Cijntje and Logan Evans to Boston for Jarren Duran.
Steve Adams
4:19
I don't think the Mariners would give up Ford alone for Suarez/Naylor
4:20
That feels light to me for Duran, too, but he's hurt his stock this season. I'd have a hard time trading him if I were Craig Breslow, just because it's so hard to sell so low on a player with his talent. Most guys just could never turn in a 7-9 WAR season like Duran did last year.
Crochet-ing a new narrative
4:21
Crochet currently leads the AL in innings pitched at 109.1 while posting elite strikeout numbers. If he finishes the year on a similar pace (which is a big ask), do you think injury concerns about him will be largely nullified? Or do injury concerns follow a player around even if they show greater durability down the road?
Steve Adams
4:23
It'd go a long way toward removing concerns, but I think you'd need back-to-back seasons of 30-plus starts to really move on from the narrative. Even if he leads the AL in innings this year, there will be questions heading into 2026 about how his arm will respond to such a massive workload increase. I think it's only natural.... when do you see someone increase their workload by like 150 innings? (With the exception of someone missing an entire year then coming back with 150+ ... even that is rare, though.)
Rick Wise
4:23
What do you think the Phillies do with their rotation when Nola is back and they call up Painter? Who goes to the pen? Do they trade Abel? Do they bring me back - I'm only 79? Also I can hit.
Steve Adams
4:26
It's a big assumption to think everyone will be healthy at that point. If they all are, Painter is the easiest one to move to a bullpen role, maybe multiple innings. He's at 53 innings this year after not pitching at all in 2023-24.

And yes, Abel is going to get a lot of trade interest with his rebound this year, as well. I won't say they for sure will trade him, but if they really pursue outfield help, he'll be a frequently asked-about target.
Judge pt. ?
4:26
A few weeks ago I asked if Judge still hitting .400 in late May made you a believer that a .400 season is possible. I've come to admit defeat, as Judge is now hitting .356 :( . Dang I really wanted him to keep going, but on the other hand I feel like he could start hitting .500 again next month and nobody would bat an eye. Make me believe again, Judge.
Steve Adams
4:26
He's still the MVP favorite, barring some huge injury, so there's that at least!
Joshua
4:27
Do you see Michael Soroka getting a similar return for the Nats as Yusei Kikuchi did for the Blue Jays (trade to the Astros) at last years trade deadline? Thanks.
Steve Adams
4:29
No. Kikuchi had better stuff and was more durable. I would imagine almost every contender last year agreed Kikuchi was a playoff-caliber rotation option. I don't think every contender this year would even believe Soroka is best deployed as a starter.

His splits multiple times through the order are awful, and he looked elite in a bullpen role last year. I know Soroka wants to start, but I think he's best used as a reliever and would make more money long-term leaning into that role.
Oscar Gamble
4:29
I'm all for the Phillies bringing back Rick Wise!
Steve Adams
4:30
I'll shoot a note to DombrowskI!
MN
4:31
Why isn’t Luis Garcia (WAS) talked about as a hotter trade candidate? He’s hitting .290 w a .784 OPS since mid-April and Nats will probably want to upgrade their middle infield mix defensively for 26 and beyond
Steve Adams
4:34
Mainly just because he has two years of club control beyond the current one. He's hitting .290/.332/.452 since April 19, which I assume is the cutoff you're referencing. That's 17% better than average, which is good but not elite or anything. And the market -- both free agent and trade -- generally doesn't pay huge levels for 2B-only players.

I could see the Yankees or Astros being happy to bring Garcia into the fold, for instance, but I don't know that either team is paying up with guys from the top end of their farm system. The Yankees did give up Agustin Ramirez for the same level of control over Jazz Chisholm last year, but Jazz had louder tools and was a more viable option at non-2B positions.
D Hat
4:35
Which closer is most likely to be traded at the deadline?
Steve Adams
4:35
Kyle Finnegan or David Bednar
Tony
4:35
Late to the chat--sorry. Hope I make the cut. For the Cardinals, would Fedde bring anything back above the proverbial bag of balls?
Steve Adams
4:37
Fedde had more value in the offseason when they'd have been marketing a whole year of him and when his rate stats hadn't plummeted like they have in 2025. I think he'd still fetch them a decent-ish 40-FV prospect type as a headliner, which is more than a bag of balls, but his strikeout rate dropping from 21% to 15% isn't great for his value.
4:39
Alright. I've got to pick up my kids from daycare. I'm on X @Adams_Steve and Bluesky @adams-steve.bsky.social.

I'll have a free chat on the site tomorrow. Tim will have a mailbag column this week on Wednesday. You can submit questions for that by emailing membership@traderumors.com with "MLB Mailbag" in the subject line. Anthony will have another chat for Front Office subscribers on Friday!

Thanks, as always, for participating and for supporting our work. I've said it before and will continue to say it repeatedly over time, it is genuinely humbling to have people use their hard-earned money to directly support us and access additional opinions from our team. We appreciate the hell out of each and every one of you.
Enjoy the rest of your week!
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