Tarik Skubal would be the prize of the trade deadline if the Tigers ever decide to move him, but not every contender is going to empty the cupboard for the most expensive name on the board. Some clubs will want a starter who helps right now without requiring a blockbuster return. That’s where the rest of the market comes in.
A few arms stand out as the best alternatives for teams hunting rotation help without paying Skubal-level prices. Minnesota’s Joe Ryan fits that bill cleanly.
The 30-year-old right-hander has already been floated in trade talk before, when he came up as a possible chip during his first All-Star season ahead of a Twins sell-off. He’s the kind of pitcher clubs trust because he fills the zone, and since 2024 he has ranked among the top 30 pitchers in swinging strike rate and called strike rate while posting a 3.43 ERA.
He’s also controlled through 2027, which only adds to his appeal if the Twins, still hanging around in a weak AL wild card race, decide to listen.
Freddy Peralta brings a different kind of draw. On pure stuff, he may be the best Skubal alternative on the list.
The numbers this season haven’t matched the reputation, as he’s been ordinary with the Mets, but teams may be willing to blame some of that on New York’s shaky defense. Over his last three seasons in Milwaukee, Peralta put up a 3.40 ERA and averaged 204 strikeouts over 172 innings.
He also finished fifth in NL Cy Young voting last year, which tells you how high the ceiling still sits.
The Angels have two more names who could draw real interest if they’re willing to deal. Jose Soriano has backed off the blistering pace of his hot start, but he’s still in the middle of a breakout year for a team that is going nowhere.
He can get hitters on the ground or by strikeout, though the 12% walk rate is a problem. With the Angels carrying just a 1.4% chance to make the playoffs and needing to restock their farm system, Soriano, who has two more seasons of club control, would make sense as a deadline piece, especially after the firing of Perry Minasian.
But with the Angels, nothing is ever simple.
Reid Detmers is in that same conversation, and his ERA doesn’t tell the full story. The lefty has been even better than his 3.88 mark suggests, thanks in large part to an elite slider that has made him one of baseball’s best swing-and-miss starters. He owns a 27.6% strikeout rate this season and also comes with two years of club control.
Detroit could even offer a fallback option of its own if the asking price on Skubal gets too wild. Casey Mize, 29, is putting together a career year with a 2.95 ERA and a 2.78 FIP, plus 58 strikeouts in 58 innings across 11 starts. He’d be a rental, since he’s a free agent after the season, but a very useful one.
Sandy Alcantara is the one former Cy Young winner in this group, and his name still carries ace-level weight. He hasn’t fully found the form he showed in 2022, but he can still slot in as a strong No. 2 or No. 3 on a playoff staff.
Miami holds a club option after this season, so he might not reach free agency until after next year. The Marlins’ recent surge, though, could keep them from dealing him at all.
Boston’s Sonny Gray is another veteran who would draw attention if available. At 36, he’s pitching like a frontline starter, with a 2.69 ERA through 15 starts, which would be the second-best mark of his career if it holds. He also has a full no-trade clause, though he told the Boston Globe that he’d be “open for a conversation” if the Red Sox wanted to move him before the deadline.
Then there’s Michael Wacha, who has been as steady as anyone in the league. He leads the AL in innings pitched and is tied for the MLB lead with 12 quality starts.
His six-pitch mix has made him a reliable strike-thrower and a master of weak contact. Wacha also brings club control, with a $14 million salary in 2027 and a $14 million club option for 2028, plus postseason experience after winning 2013 NLCS MVP.
The last name on the list is Brad Griffin, a 30-year-old left-hander back in MLB after three seasons in Japan. He has given the Nationals real stability every fifth day, posting a 2.93 ERA with 98 strikeouts in 98 1/3 innings.
His fastball only sits at 91.4 mph, but a seven-pitch mix has kept hitters to a .209 average. Griffin is a free agent after the season, which makes him a straightforward deadline target for a club looking for help now.
In Other News...
Twins Lineup Is Doing Something Fans Have Waited Years To See
For much of the past few seasons, the Twins have had to grind for runs and wait for one swing to change a game. This year has looked different. As of June 29, Minnesota sits atop the American League in total runs scored, a sign that the offense is not just carrying its weight but setting the pace for the rest of the league.
The better part of it has come in the moments that usually decide games, with Josh Bell, Luke Keaschall and Brooks Lee all giving the lineup a needed boost when men are on base. Byron Buxton has been part of that surge, too, and the broader numbers point to a club doing more damage across the board than fans around here have seen in years. The question now is whether the Twins can keep that level of production going once the season turns and pitchers start adjusting. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Fans Are Being Forced To Reconsider This Team's Identity
Defense used to be one of the defining traits of Twins baseball, the kind of thing that traveled from one era to the next and gave the club a clear identity. In the Tom Kelly and Ron Gardenhire years, especially, Minnesota teams were built to turn balls in play into outs and keep games from unraveling. More recently, the organization has still had individual defenders who could change a game, with Byron Buxton and Andrelton Simmons standing out as the kind of players who can make the metrics look a lot better all by themselves.
The larger problem is that those bright spots have not been enough to keep the overall standard where it once was. The 2017 club still stands as the best defensive Twins team of the last two decades, and no recent group has really come close to that level. For a current roster trying to win tighter games, that gap matters, because defense is no longer just a complementary piece. It is becoming part of the conversation again in a way Minnesota fans have not had to revisit in years. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Suddenly Have A Tough Austin Martin Decision Ahead
Austin Martins season has gone in two very different directions for the Twins. He opened 2026 with a strong run at the plate, carrying a .333 average and a .454 on-base percentage through mid-May, and for a while he looked like one of the steadier contributors in the lineup. Since then, though, his offense has cratered, with the contact quality and patience that helped him early giving way to more strikeouts and fewer walks.
For a Minnesota club trying to balance production with development, that leaves Martin in an awkward spot. The Twins can try to adjust how they use him and see whether a smaller role helps him get back on track, but the longer the slump lasts, the harder it becomes to justify keeping things unchanged. And with other internal options in the mix if the club decides it needs a different look, this has quickly become one of those roster decisions that could say as much about the teams priorities as it does about Martins next few weeks. [Read more 🡒]