2x Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal is the hottest name on the market with his free agency pending and the Tigers well under .500.
This year, DSR/CBC will follow every trade from July 29th to the trade deadline. We will keep you posted on not only the trades, but provide analysis on on each move in real time as they happen. The trades will be listed in terms of recency.
Who lands Tarik Skubal, and how much will the back-to-back reigning Cy Young recipient command in a deal after already having injury concerns with loose bodies in his elbow earlier this season? Do the Tigers acquire controllable MLB-ready starters so that they don’t put the Central in 2026, a relatively weak division that even has the Twins questioning whether they’re buying or selling heading into the deadline. In fact, the entire American League outside of the AL East, notably the usual suspects: Tampa, New York, and Boston is seeing diminishing returns in all of their rosters.
Meanwhile, a top-heavy National League sees teams with loaded farm systems such as the Braves, Dodgers, and Brewers all vying for top players on the market, while the Phillies look to extend their competitive window just another year, akin to the previous outings Dave Dombrowski’s had as a general manager. But there are a plethora of clear sellers, ranging from the Mets to the Rockies.
TRADE: The Rangers have acquired battery combo Logan O’Hoppe and Chase Silseth from the Angels for prospect Angel Arredondo.
Analysis: The Angels have to be kicking themselves for not replenishing the farm system in previous deadlines, most notably passing up Junior Caminero for a few months of Shohei Ohtani. It’s reminiscent of the time that the Astros were set to acquire former National League MVP Bryce Harper in 2018 before Washington’s ownership kiboshed the deal, and watched him leave for free to a division rival. While it worked out for the Nats that they won a World Series the next year, it clearly impacted their future strategies, most notably the trade of Juan Soto for James Wood and CJ Abrams, both of whom have become superstars that could potentially be traded this week.
While clearly these two, a catcher who’s grading among the worst hitters in baseball and has been subpar defensively being the headline piece, aren’t the caliber of those previous players mentioned, it is a sign that the Angels are open for business and want the best athletes possible, as noted by the return of a very athletic middle infield prospect. We’ll see who of the larger name players go, but for the first time in 10 years, it feels like the Angels are firmly entrenched as sellers.
For the Rangers, O’Hoppe is a welcome addition because of how dire their backstop situation is. O’Hoppe is still a catcher with a pedigree, at one point MLB’s #67 prospect, and the veteran combination of Elias Diaz and Austin Wynns hasn’t been lighting the world on fire. To kick the tires on O’Hoppe is to try and find untapped potential at a low-risk, high-upside cost. They’ve optioned him to the minors, ideally to give him a lower pressure scenario to figure it out. Acquiring O’Hoppe can also mitigate the prospect haul the high-end reliever they acquired would have cost, considering the salary they just took off the hands of the Angels.
The real story here, however, is Chase Silseth. Silseth hasn’t been lights out for the duration of his time in the bigs, but his 2026 has been very efficient, with a 2.72 ERA and career-high K rate. He’s missed more barrels this year and there’s a lot of red on his savant page, but perhaps there might be some regression with the Rangers. His walk rate is up year-over-year, as is his hard-hit rate, a time bomb of a combination.