MLB Trade Rumors Podcast

Anthony Franco joins Darragh McDonald to discuss a three-way trade headlined by Brandon Lowe to Pittsburgh, Mike Burrows to Houston and Tampa Bay acquiring prospects. Other topics include the recent Shane Baz trade, whether the Rays plan on competing in 2026, why the Orioles gave up so much to acquire Baz, what led Munetaka Murakami to settle for a two-year deal with the White Sox, the Cardinals trading Willson Contreras to the Red...

Steve Adams joins Darragh McDonald to discuss the Mets' interesting decision to sign Jorge Polanco to replace Pete Alonso at first base despite him never having played the position, the Braves signing Robert Suarez, Mike Yastrzemski, and Ha-Seong Kim, the Blue Jays paying high prices for Tyler Rogers and Cody Ponce, the Royals signing Lane Thomas, trading Angel Zerpa for Issac Collins and Nick Mears, and extending Maikel Garci...

Anthony Franco joins Darragh McDonald to discuss the news from the Winter Meetings. Topics include the Phillies resigning Kyle Schwarber, how Pete Alonso fits on the Orioles' roster, the Pirates making big offers to free agents, how the the Reds will pivot after missing out on Schwarber, Edwin Diaz's deal with the Dodgers, what the Mets will do after losing so many of their key players, the Nationals trading reliever Jose...

B.B. Abbott, an executive vice president at Wasserman, joins Darragh McDonald to discuss the process of free agency from the perspective of the agent, including who makes the first call, how much bluffing goes on when talking to front offices, why he doesn't like to leak stories to the media, what industry members think of MLBTR's free-agent predictions and other media speculation, how involved players are during negotiat...

Anthony Franco joins Darragh McDonald to discuss the Mets trading Brandon Nimmo to The Rangers for Marcus Semien and what moves those teams could make next, why the Orioles sent Grayson Rodriguez to the Angels for Taylor Ward, what last week's signing of Josh Naylor means for the Mariners moving forward, if the Braves will play Mauricio Dubon at shortstop or still look to bring back Ha-Seong Kim, some surprising players that w...

Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams and Anthony Franco all join Darragh McDonald to discuss the site's annual Top 50 Free Agents list. 

Topics include how the threat of a lockout will affect free-agent contracts, if there's a team that will be willing to give Kyle Tucker a massive deal, the factors that could drive up Bo Bichette's price, how difficult it is to predict what Dylan Cease will sign for, what to make of Japanese sta...

Steve Adams joins Darragh McDonald to discuss Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz getting indicted due to their involvement in a gambling scandal, Shane Bieber's surprising decision to pick up his player option with Toronto, Jack Flaherty choosing to stay in Detroit for another year, the Rays declining the option on Pete Fairbanks, Trevor Story deciding to not to opt out of his deal with the Red Sox, Gleyber Torres and Shota Imanaga...

Steve Adams and Anthony Franco join Darragh McDonald to preview the offseason with a discussion of the site's list of top trade candidates. 

First they give some final World Series thoughts, discuss the Cubs declining Shota Imanaga's option, and Ha-Seong Kim becoming a free agent.

Trade-related topics include whether the Cardinals will try to move Brendan Donovan to help them rebuild, if Mackenzie Gore is a shoo-in to get t...

Steve Adams joins Darragh McDonald to discuss how much Bo Bichette's return in the World Series will impact his free agency, what MLB teams could offer Kazuma Okamoto when he gets posted this offseason, how strong the market will be for Dylan Cease, and the new managers hired by the Orioles and Angels.

Listener question topics include what an extension for Addison Barger would look like, if veterans on minor league deals are el...

Anthony Franco joins Darragh McDonald to discuss how writing for MLBTR affects your fandom, if the Dodgers can be stopped, reports that the Phillies will move on from Nick Castellanos and what they could do in the outfield, which teams would be interested if Tarik Skubal were on the trade block, the record-breaking money he could get when he hits free agency, the Giants potentially hiring Tennessee's Tony Vitello as their new ...

Steve Adams joins Darragh McDonald to discuss news that Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami will be posted this offseason and the unprecedented eight managerial positions that are currently open. 

Listener email topics include what it would take for the Tigers to trade Tarik Skubal to the Mets, what contract Pete Alonso could get, if the White Sox will look to trade from their supply of back-end starters, if the Nationals s...

Anthony Franco joins Darragh McDonald to discuss the Rockies parting ways with GM Bill Schmidt, which direction the Rangers will go in after naming Skip Schumaker as the new manager, and how the ability to challenge balls and strikes next year will affect the emphasis that teams put on pitch framing. 

Listener question topics include whether we're headed for a quiet offseason with next year's CBA negotiations looming, how ...

Orioles president of baseball operations Mike Elias joins Darragh McDonald to discuss what went wrong for the team in 2025, why they haven't signed free agent pitchers to big contracts, the difficulty for players to make the jump from AAA to the majors, the plan moving forward with catchers Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo both on the roster, how the O's ended up acquiring six players from the Padres' 2024 draft cl...

Anthony Franco joins Darragh McDonald to discuss the major struggles of the Tigers, the Guardians surging to try to take a playoff spot, and the Astros limping toward the playoffs after losing Yordan Alvarez and others to injuries. 

Listener question topics include what kind of package would entice the Cardinals to trade Brendon Donovan, whether the Phillies will resign Kyle Schwarber or any of their other free agents, and how much ...

Steve Adams joins Darragh McDonald to discuss the Mets' rotation issues and what led them to rely on three rookie pitchers as they try to avoid a collapse, if the Diamondbacks, Giants or Reds could sneak into the playoffs, San Francisco deciding to call up Bryce Eldridge for the stretch run, and the meteoric rise and impressive debut of the Blue Jays' Trey Yesavage

Listener question topics include what the Astros...

Mariners' president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto joins Darragh McDonald to talk about the team's aversion to multi-year free-agent contracts, if it's a struggle to convince players to sign in Seattle, the possibility of resigning Josh Naylor, PR factoring into roster construction, and how trade deadline deals are one of the main ways the Mariners acquire players.

Then MLBTR founder Tim Dierkes joins to discuss ...

Anthony Franco joins Darragh McDonald to discuss the Red Sox extending Aroldis Chapman after a surprisingly good year at age 38 and Walker Buehler getting released and signing with the Phillies.

In an extended mailbag section, listener question topics include the Braves claiming Ha-Seong Kim and if they will spend more now that they've gotten under the luxury tax threshold, what the Rangers need to address this offseason, what ...

Pirates General Manager Ben Cherington joins Darragh McDonald to discuss how he's diving deeper into player development in Pittsburgh, why the team has had more success developing pitchers than hitters, how the Pirates considered drafting a position player instead of Paul Skenes, why the they haven't signed a player to a multi-year deal during his tenure, and the necessity of small-market teams to acquire players via trad...

Steve Adams joins Darragh McDonald to discuss news that the Pohlad family will retain majority ownership of the Twins, why fans are unhappy about it, and whether it will lead the team to trade guys like Pablo Lopez and Joe Ryan this offseason. Also, what led the Nationals to designate Nathaniel Lowe for assignment and for the Red Sox to sign him, how Josh Hader's capsule sprain will seemingly sideline him for the rest of this ...