The seconds continue to tick down heading into the fantasy baseball trade deadline. Remember: In ESPN standard leagues, it arrives this Friday, Aug. 15, at noon ET.
Here's hoping that you've already begun to address roster weaknesses on your team, and perhaps have even swung a deal (or three) to improve them. But if you're still angling to make a trade, the list below should give you a good head start at figuring out who to target.
Last week, we took a look at players whose past histories made compelling arguments to trade for them in fantasy leagues. Today, I'm listing my own list of "hunch" players, six names who I see finishing the 2025 season on a high note. If you can make a trade for any of these guys, it's well worth taking the chance.
Bryce Harper, 1B, Philadelphia Phillies: A renowned big-game performer -- he's a career .274/.390/.509 September hitter and .280/.394/.622 (including 17 home runs) in 53 postseason games -- Harper and his Phillies find themselves in the driver's seat in the National League East race, with a realistic chance at catching the Milwaukee Brewers for the league's No. 1 playoff seed. He's been a .256/.316/.622 hitter with eight home runs in 23 games since the All-Star break, with his .387 wOBA during that time placing in the 82nd percentile among eligible players.
Most advantageous is the fact that, after this weekend, the Phillies have a larger number of remaining home games (23, at homer-friendly Citizens Bank Park), than any other team in baseball besides the San Diego Padres (also 23 remaining). Morevoer, including the upcoming weekend, the Phillies still have 13 games against the Miami Marlins and Washington Nationals, two of the 10 worst pitching staffs in baseball, as well as another nine against other bottom-10 teams in ERA. Harper is well positioned to have another outstanding final six regular-season weeks (and presumably also the postseason), even if his season-to-date statistics look somewhat ordinary.
Brandon Woodruff, SP, Milwaukee Brewers (20.0% available in ESPN leagues): Since his July 6 activation, he has the third-most fantasy points among pitchers (118), a fact that might on its own underscore his ace case. That Woodruff remains available in so many leagues, however, indicates that there remains some hesitance to fully trust him, after he missed a year and a half while recovering from October 2023 shoulder surgery.
Examining Woodruff's peripherals, he's looking as skilled as ever -- an impressive recovery considering the severity of his injury. He's getting more (and better) movement with his four-seam fastball and his 79th percentile induced vertical break (among pitchers with at least as many as his six starts since that July 6 date) is making it difficult for hitters to square up the pitch. In his last two starts alone, 11 of his 65 four-seam fastballs were clocked at 95-plus mph, a signal that he's recapturing some lost velocity. Woodruff is also getting more pop-ups, with his 15 thus far already matching his 11-start total from 2023. Plus, his control has been excellent (career-best 4.7% walk rate).
An impending free agent who could play a critical role in the Brewers' championship hopes, Woodruff makes a legitimate case for top-20 positional status going forward.
Jackson Merrill, OF, Padres (13.4% available): He had a rough first half, interrupted twice by IL stints (once in April for a hamstring strain, another in June for a concussion). The .197/.275/.295 hitting line he posted in his first 32 games back from the latter absence might still be fresh enough in his managers' minds to cast doubts upon his rest-of-season value. Nevertheless, Merrill's torrid finish to the 2024 season, under eerily similar circumstances as far as the standings are concerned, has me thinking he's due for a late-season surge.
Consider this: Since the All-Star break, Merrill has reined in some of the poor swings that plagued him earlier this year, as his chase rate is 31.9% (down more than 6%) during that time, and Statcast has him with a 52.1% hard-hit rate. Those look quite a bit like Merrill's final 2024 rates, and provide hints that he's both improving his approach as well as his quality of contact at the plate. Remember, we all regarded him a prospective top-50 overall player entering the year. He still has that kind of potential.
George Kirby, SP, Seattle Mariners (14.3% available): I'll state upfront that I'm a huge Kirby fan, and always have been, but even putting that aside, there's quite a lot to like about how he has been performing of late. Over his last nine starts, he has a 2.32 ERA alongside 27.1% strikeout and 4.75 K-to-walk rates, resulting in 154 fantasy points -- second-best among all pitchers during that time span. Over this stretch, Kirby has gotten 30%-plus whiff rates with both his four-seam fastball and slider, making him the only qualified pitcher in baseball who can claim that. His improvements in that regard with both pitches have him trending towards setting career bests with each.
Kirby's Mariners are in the driver's seat for a playoff spot, not to mention within striking distance of a division title, and he has plenty left in the tank to help carry this deep rotation down the stretch. I see a top-10 fantasy starter's ceiling over the season's final six weeks.
Pete Alonso, 1B, New York Mets: Like Harper, Alonso's roster rate is nearly 100%, but that doesn't mean he's not a realistic trade target heading into Friday's deadline. He had a quiet July (.141/.242/.306), continuing the streaky patterns all season that he has shown in past years. He is also on pace for 38 home runs, slightly less than the 40-plus he has hit in three of his five non-shortened MLB seasons.
Hitters with Alonso's all-or-nothing approach are ideal trade candidates at the lower points of their curve -- even if it means paying a premium to get them! From a seasonal perspective, he's showcasing even better contact quality this year than he has ever before. Statcast has him with career bests in Barrel rate (20.2%), average exit velocity (93.4%) and hard-hit rate (52.8%). Alonso is also playing for a prospective new deal as he has a 2026 player option that he'll surely decline in order to pursue a lucrative long-term contract -- and, like Harper, he has 13 games remaining against bad Marlins and Nationals pitching.
Cade Smith, RP, Cleveland Guardians (74.3% available): I said it's a hunch, but mine is that Smith will not only emerge as the Guardians' go-to closer for the remainder of the season, but also as one of the game's most productive fantasy players during that time. He has been one of the most truly outstanding relievers since arriving in the majors, as since the beginning of 2024, he ranks fifth in ERA (2.23), 15th in WHIP (0.98) and ninth in strikeout rate (34.4%) among relievers with at least 75 innings pitched. He the only one who can claim as good rankings in all three categories during that time, while his 509 fantasy points rank 14th-best, despite the fact that he has gotten largely holds rather than saves. Remember, there's a three-point differential in those two categories in ESPN standard scoring.
Sure, Emmanuel Clase could return to the closer role come September, but it's a complete guess as to when he'll become eligible again to pitch, and that leaves a lot of time in the interim for Smith to prove himself worthy of the role all on his own. Smith's four-seam fastball is enjoying greater velocity this year than last, and both his splitter and sweeper are generating noticeably better whiff rates as well. He's an ideal trade target, not to mention the perfect free-agent pickup for teams that just lost Josh Hader (shoulder) to the IL.