Predicting Athletics biggest move before MLB trade deadline

With a lineup filled with up-and-coming stars, the athletics/how-athletics-have-upset-expectations-with-shocking-start-to-2026-mlb-season">Athletics entered 2026 with plenty of hype. But now in the second half of the season, they haven’t lived up to it.

Entering Monday’s games, the A’s sit eight games back in the AL West with their 42-57 record. They’re 8.5 games out of a Wild Card spot. While things can always turn around – see the Boston Red Sox – it’s clear the Athletics will be entering the trade deadline as sellers.

The A’s have plenty of big names they can offer up. Tyler Soderstrom and Shea Langeliers are a few talents teams would be chomping at the bit to acquire. But if the Athletics are going to sell, don’t expect it to be a fire sale – at least at the deadline.

It’s clear the franchise has a strong offensive core in place. Pitching has casted a dark cloud over the A’s at large as their 5.33 ERA is the second-worst mark in MLB. Trading away players such as Soderstrom and Langeliers would in theory massively boost the Athletics’ future pitching staff.

But at the same time, it would take a massive bite out of what the A’s are building on offense. The franchise may wait until the offseason before pulling off any franchise-altering trades.

The Athletics will be sellers at the deadline. But as Martin Gallegos of MLB.com reports, expect to see more small deals rather than a blockbuster.

“Should the A’s drop even further in the standings as we approach August, they may have no choice but to sell,” Gallegos wrote. “It wouldn’t be a full blowup, as there is still a young core of talent in place with controllable contracts that the club still believes in.

“The A’s would surely get calls on some of their young stars like All-Star catcher Shea Langeliers, who unlike Jacob Wilson and Tyler Soderstrom remains without a contract extension to this point,” he continued. “But their version of selling would probably be on a smaller scale, with veterans such as Mark Leiter Jr. and Jeff McNeil likely on the table in that scenario.”

Athletics will trade RP Mark Leiter Jr.