The Aug. 3 deadline is still weeks out, but the rumor mill doesn't wait for calendars. Passan and Kiley McDaniel dropped an update to their ESPN top 100 trade candidates list, and the headline isn't the usual suspects at the top -- it's who's climbing into the top 10 that has front offices buzzing.
Update to the top 100 trade candidates, live and free at ESPN. Plenty of movement and new additions to the list, with Jung Hoo Lee and Casey Mize moving into the top 10. @kileymcd and I will update this a few more times before the Aug. 3 deadline: https://t.co/4DX6hlcWkx
Start with Lee. The Giants outfielder has quietly turned into one of the best pure hitters in baseball this season, sitting top five in MLB in batting average and strikeout rate with a slugging percentage north of .450. He can play all three outfield spots, which is exactly the kind of versatility contenders love bolting onto a roster in late July. Reports have him checking in around No. 7 on the updated board with roughly a coin-flip's chance of being dealt.
Then there's Mize, who's the more surprising riser of the two. He's spent his career in Detroit fighting injuries and inconsistency, but 2026 has been a total reset -- a career-best ERA in the mid-2s, a sub-1.00 WHIP, and strikeout numbers that blow away anything he's posted before. The catch, and the reason he's suddenly a top-10 chip: he's a pending free agent after this season, which makes him a rental the Tigers can flip for controllable talent if Detroit's push fades even a little.
That combination -- huge production, expiring contract, a team that may or may not be a real contender -- is the exact profile that makes a trade deadline board move fast. Passan and McDaniel have already floated the Braves and Cardinals as fits worth watching for Mize, while Lee's market figures to be wide open given how many teams need a bat who doesn't strike out.
None of this means either guy is getting moved tomorrow. Passan was clear this list gets updated multiple times before Aug. 3, meaning stock can rise or fall by the week depending on how their teams play and what other names get added to the board. But when two players jump into the top 10 in the same update, that's usually a signal the phones are already ringing.
Worth watching from here: whether Detroit keeps playing well enough to justify holding onto Mize, and whether San Francisco decides Lee is more valuable as a trade chip than as a building block. Both situations are fluid, and both are going to define how loud the last three weeks before the deadline get.