It always seems like the trades that make the most sense from both teams’ perspectives are the ones that rarely happen. Team A has bullpen depth and is looking for a right-handed hitting fourth outfielder. Team B has some outfield depth and would like to shore up their bullpen. Simple enough from an outsider’s point of view, right?
Yet, most major leaguer-for-major leaguer trades are hard to pull off because of contract status, salary, and, in many cases, one team is in win-now mode and the other is looking ahead at least one year and might prefer minor league talent in return.
With that said, I’m going to take a stab at coming up with a few that might work. Here are four potential trades in which the players involved would end up on the acquiring team’s 25-man roster to start the season…