Let's be upfront: The Aug. 1 trade deadline is almost impossible to predict right now with so many teams in the thick of the playoff race, or at least on the periphery of it with enough time to put together a hot streak and turn a season around. The bad teams don't have much that will interest contenders, and the man who could have made this the trade deadline for all time -- Shohei Ohtani -- isn't going anywhere.
What could turn it into a wild deadline, however, are the four expected contenders who need to get going in a hurry: the Mets, Padres, Cardinals and Mariners. If those teams continue to fade and look into trading away some players, we'll see a lot more action.
Let's see where things stand and look at some potential possibilities that could make this a deadline to remember. For each team, we'll name one player to trade away, trade for -- or, in a few cases, a player to keep despite the temptation to deal him. Our usual rule applies: We can name a player only once and we'll limit our suggestions of relievers, although a bunch of them always get traded. We'll start with the team that the entire deadline could end up revolving around.
