Baseball's trade season finally kicked into gear late Thursday with perhaps the biggest name who will move at this deadline, Randy Arozarena, going to the Seattle Mariners. As grim as that might sound to those hopeful for fireworks at the end of the month commensurate to those at the beginning, it's a reflection of where the market has gone.
The New York Mets were at one point considering trading Pete Alonso -- and then they got good. The Toronto Blue Jays intend to deal away a number of players ... but not Vladimir Guerrero Jr. While the Detroit Tigers could get a king's ransom for Tarik Skubal, they're not inclined to move him. And the Chicago White Sox, though willing to listen on Garrett Crochet and Luis Robert Jr., are facing unforeseen obstacles in moving the former and teams not yet willing to meet their asking price on the latter.
Things change, of course, and with the 6 p.m. ET deadline on Tuesday, July 30, fast approaching, teams on both sides of the add-subtract coin might get desperate and do something out of character. One general manager on Thursday lamented the lack of high-end talent available and said: "I want to do something stupid."
Maybe he'll get that opportunity. For now, though, the biggest names being discussed are from a small group of teams: Miami (Jazz Chisholm and Tanner Scott), Tampa Bay (Isaac Paredes and Zach Eflin), Detroit (Jack Flaherty) and the Los Angeles Angels (Luis Rengifo, Tyler Anderson and Carlos Estevez). It's a grim landscape. Here, according to major league sources involved with negotiations across the sport, is how this deadline got here and where it's set to go next.