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The Top Trade Chips for Six Likely MLB Trade Deadline Sellers

By Nick Selbe Sports Illustrated

Updated June 12, 2026 6:49 AM

Any discussion surrounding trade deadline season tends to group teams into one of two camps: buyers and sellers. The Aug. 3 deadline is still a ways off, but we're beginning to see which bucket teams are trending toward.

The three wild-card spots-and the jumbled mess of the American League in particular-makes it a bit more difficult to definitively label many teams as sellers quite yet, but the standings don't lie. Some teams seem all but assured to be punting on 2026 in a couple months' time.

Below are six teams that appear most likely to end up as sellers. But what do they have to sell? Here's a look at each club's best assets that could be on the move.

Detroit Tigers

Best trade chip: SP Tarik Skubal

Other assets: 2B Gleyber Torres, SP Casey Mize, RP Will Vest

Skubal has been on the injured list since the end of April, though he's set to make his return this weekend. That's great news for the Tigers regardless of which path they choose to take at the deadline. A recent hot streak has stabilized things a bit following their miserable showing in May, but Detroit remains in last place in the AL Central. Skubal could help turn things around, or, perhaps most likely, the back-to-back Cy Young Award winner could reestablish what should be unrivaled trade value.

Skubal is a free agent after the season, but would still command a massive price as a rental. Basically every team with World Series aspirations would be interested if the Tigers made him available, and trading him would inject Detroit's promising yet flawed roster with young talent. This is the biggest trade domino of the year.

Kansas City Royals

Michael Wacha is still chugging along in his 14th season, leading the American League with 88 innings pitched. | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

Best trade chip: SP Michael Wacha

Other assets: SP Seth Lugo, RP Daniel Lynch IV, SP Kris Bubic

Pitching is always in demand at the deadline, and the Royals have two starters teams will most certainly be checking in on. Both Wacha and Lugo have similar profiles-veterans on reasonable deals with at least two more years of team control beyond 2026-but Wacha, given that he's younger and cheaper, gets the nod as the more valuable asset. Bubic also qualifies here, though he's currently on the injured list with an unclear return date.

Wacha remains his reliable self in his 14th big-league season, posting a 3.44 ERA while logging the fifth-most innings in the AL. He doesn't have the most dominant stuff and might barely crack a playoff rotation, but he would be a big boost to a team that feels its one viable starter away from reaching the postseason.

Boston Red Sox

Best trade chip: RP Aroldis Chapman

Other assets: SP Sonny Gray, 1B Willson Contreras, OF Jarren Duran

For a team whose season has been so disastrous, the Red Sox have a little bit of everything to offer buyers looking to add. A mid-rotation starter? Check. Right-handed power bat? Check. Starting-caliber center fielder with power and speed? Check. But Chapman is the pick here, because high-leverage power pitchers who can close out games are always the most common player profile to change clubs this time of year.

The 38-year-old still throws gas, and though his strikeout rate has started to tick down a bit (33.8%), it's still comfortably above the league average for relief pitchers (22.4%). Chapman will be a free agent after this year, so he's almost a lock to be moved assuming Boston doesn't dramatically turn its season around. Gray, who has a $30 million mutual option for 2027, also seems like a near certainty to change teams.

San Francisco Giants

Luis Arraez ranks second among second basemen and seventh among all fielders in outs above average (nine). | John Hefti-Imagn Images

Best trade chip: 2B Luis Arraez

Other assets: SS Willy Adames, 1B Rafael Devers

Would Buster Posey and the Giants hit the hard reset button and ship off Adames and Devers, who have a combined $330 million left on their deals? It seems doubtful, and doing so would likely require San Francisco to eat a good chunk of money. Instead, Arraez is the player whom the Giants will likely field the most calls about. The three-time batting champ had to settle for a one-year deal this offseason, and he's rewarded San Francisco by hitting .326/.361/.441 while playing much stronger defense than expected at second base.

If Arraez can maintain this form, he'll likely fetch a solid return at the deadline (and net a larger contract in his next go-round with free agency). His manageable salary for this season ($12 million) makes him well within the budget for virtually any team looking to add an impact table-setter atop the lineup, so expect his market to be strong over the next two months.

Los Angeles Angels

Best trade chip: SP Reid Detmers

Other assets: OF Mike Trout, SP Jose Soriano, OF Jo Adell

The Angels and owner Arte Moreno have resisted leaning into a full-blown trade deadline sell-off despite a run of 10 consecutive losing seasons that seems certain to extend to 11 this year. Should the team change course this time around, it will have no shortage of potential trade chips that could provide a boost to a thin farm system.

Detmers will likely be in the highest demand of the group. The 2020 first-round pick has had extreme highs and lows throughout his young career-he threw a no-hitter in '22, was demoted to the minors in '24 and spent '25 as a reliever-but seems to have figured things out as a full-time starter once again this season (97 strikeouts, 24 walks in 81 innings). He has two more years of team control beyond this one.

While Detmers appears to be the Angels' most valuable trade asset, the highest-profile player in trade rumors will no doubt be Trout. Would the future Hall of Famer, healthy and productive for the first time in years, actually request a trade out of Anaheim? Until that happens, the speculation about Trout's future will be a moot point since his contract has a no-trade clause. But given his age and extensive injury history, this could be the highest his trade value gets for the rest of his career.

Colorado Rockies

Best trade chip: RP Antonio Senzatela

Other assets: IF Willi Castro, OF Mickey Moniak, OF Jake McCarthy

After signing a five-year, $50 million contract following the 2021 season, Senzatela's career was derailed by injuries and ineffectiveness. He posted a 5.98 ERA from '22 to '25, logging only 242 ⅓ innings. This season, he's shifted to the bullpen and revived his career, putting up a 2.11 ERA and career-best 21.5% strikeout rate in 38 ⅓ frames.

While that ERA sparkles, the strikeout rate doesn't scream closer stuff. But Senzatela should still garner some interest as contending teams look to deepen their bullpens. Colorado could look to move Moniak, currently injured but in the midst of a breakout season, while Castro's versatility could generate some interest. It's not the deepest group of tradeable assets, but expect Colorado to be making plenty of calls as it tries to build a winner.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as The Top Trade Chips for Six Likely MLB Trade Deadline Sellers .

This story was originally published June 12, 2026 at 4:40 AM.