MLB's 2026 trade deadline is 50 days away on August 3, and Bleacher Report has already started sorting the hitters most likely to draw calls. The ranking puts Luis Arraez, Byron Buxton and a handful of other names on the trade block, with each player assigned availability and desirability scores on a 0-10 scale.
That is why searches for Braves game today can end up colliding with deadline talk: fans are not just looking for one game, they are checking whether clubs that still look alive now might be forced to choose between keeping pace and cashing in. Bleacher Report said the players were ordered by the combined score of those two ratings, so the list is less a rumor board than a snapshot of who could matter most if the market tightens.
The numbers explain why some names sit where they do. Ian Happ, listed with the Chicago Cubs and a $20.3 million contract, has 2026 numbers of.228/.344/.480 with 15 HR and 36 RBI. Seiya Suzuki, also with the Chicago Cubs and on a $17 million deal, is at.252/.335/.432 with 10 HR and 27 RBI. Brandon Lowe, listed with the Pittsburgh Pirates and making $11.5 million, has hit.249/.333/.531 with 17 HR and 46 RBI. Daulton Varsho, listed with the Toronto Blue Jays and earning $10.75 million, is at.256/.331/.408 with 5 HR, 17 RBI and 5 SB. Lars Nootbaar, listed with the St. Louis Cardinals on a $5.25 million contract, has missed the first 60 games on the injured list and is arbitration-eligible for 2027.
There is a catch in that Cardinals case. Nootbaar is near the top of the possible trade offerings if St. Louis sells, but he is also described as likely not going anywhere. That fits the broader split running through the list: Happ and Suzuki have full no-trade clauses and would be eligible for qualifying offers if they stay with the Cubs, while Lowe and Varsho are qualifying offer candidates themselves.
What happens next is not abstract. Toronto probably will not admit defeat no matter how the next 40 games play out, and Pittsburgh might try to turn Lowe into prospects and a few million bucks if things unravel. The trade deadline on August 3 is the point where that judgment becomes real, and this ranking is a clue to which hitters could still be at the center of it.
Bleacher Report used the same approach last week when it put together a list of the top starting pitchers likely to be available at this year's trade deadline. It also pointed to a familiar pattern: early June of last season found the Minnesota Twins at 34-27, the St. Louis Cardinals at 33-27 and the San Francisco Giants at 34-28, but teams can change fast once the season turns. That is the pressure behind this hitter list. A club that looks stable now can slide into seller mode before August 3, and when it does, the names already near the top of the board become the first ones everyone else starts calling about.
