MacKenzie Gore staying put? The Yankees holding onto their prospects? Why have things been so quiet on the trade front so far?

Longtime MLB reporter Ken Rosenthal appeared on “The Herd” with Danny Parkins on Wednesday to discuss Thursday’s MLB trade deadline, and packed key updates on those subjects and more into his segment.

When asked by Parkins if we’d see a major splash of a deal involving an ace like the Nationals’ MacKenzie Gore, Rosenthal cut right to the chase. 

“The Nationals have just changed general managers, they’ve hired an interim, Mike Debartolo, to replace Mike Rizzo. Are you going to let an interim general manager trade MacKenzie Gore?” Rosenthal continued, saying, “Now, MacKenzie Gore is at the same level of service [time] that Juan Soto was when the Nationals traded him in 2022. So from that perspective you can justify it, but there’s a lot going on with the Nationals right now, a lot in flux, and I don’t know that they’re going to see this as the right time.

“That said, the qualifier to everything I’m going to say is, ‘They get the right offer, they’ll make the trade.'”

The Nationals are in flux, and dealing Gore three years after trading Soto – and still not being in contention again despite the excellent return from that trade – means that if Gore is being moved, it has to be for the right return. Presumably by a general manager who is going to be in charge for longer than just the next few months.

Parkins asked Rosenthal about what we can expect from the Yankees before Thursday’s deadline, and how active they will be. Rosenthal stated that New York has “already been active” by acquiring Ryan McMahon, Austin Slater and Amed Rosario, but there’s more to come. “They’re going to add at least one reliever, most likely multiple relievers. They’ll probably add a starting pitcher in addition to all that.”

That all being said, there is a threshold the Yankees are unlikely to go past at this trade deadline, and it involves their best prospects. “The interesting thing about the Yankees is that they don’t want to trade any of their top prospects,” Rosenthal explained to Parkins. “I don’t know that they see their team this year as worthy of that kind of play, and also they want to protect some of their top prospects and keep them. 

“But, they’re going to compete, they don’t see the [Aaron] Judge injury as particularly serious, could be minimal time on the injured list. So, they’re going to be quite active, you’re going to hear their name a lot in the next two days.”

As for the other team from New York, the Mets, Rosenthal expects a similar level of aggression. “The Mets recognize that they certainly need bullpen help, outfielder would be a possibility, center fielder preferably.” Rosenthal mentions the trio of young players capable of handling third base that the Mets have on the roster – Mark Vientos, Ronny Mauricio and Bretty Baty – and mentions how New York has been linked to White Sox outfielder Luis Robert Jr.  “But the bullpen is their biggest area of need, and maybe a starter as well. Their rotation is a little wobbly, to say the least.”

Last, Parkins wanted to know why things have been so relatively quiet at the deadline, and what’s the reason behind it. Rosenthal put it at the feet of some of the teams that are selling. 

“Part of the problem here, from what I can see, is that some of the sellers – Cleveland in particular, Pittsburgh as well, Minnesota to some degree – these teams have reputations as not being that easy to deal with. Now, that’s coming from the buyers, and you ask those teams they’ll say ‘hey, we’re just setting our prices, and we’re not moving off them, we’re just staying disciplined, that’s how we have to run our clubs.'”

Whether the Guardians, Pirates or Twins will move off of their prices before Thursday’s deadline remains to be seen, but Rosenthal feels that it means we’ll have fewer trades this year than in seasons past. It doesn’t help, too, that the expanded postseason has teams wanting to hold on just in case they turn things around, a la the 2024 Tigers. 

“There are teams even now where we’re not quite sure what they’re going to do. Tampa Bay falls into that category, San Francisco we’re not exactly sure where they’re going with this – they’ve played poorly of late – Los Angeles Angels, they’re always unpredictable. Yes, the expanded playoffs has given people with these teams the thought that, ‘You know what, if we just hang around maybe we can get in like the Tigers did last year.’

“Obviously it’s not going to go that way for every one of these teams, but it is harder to concede when you have some percentage chance of making the playoffs.”

The MLB trade deadline is at 6 p.m. ET on Thursday, July 31.

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