MLB rumors: 1 team that could shock league before trade deadline

Story by

© Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Zachary Weinberger

Thu, Jun 19, 2025 ·

2 min read

The post MLB rumors: 1 team that could shock league before trade deadline appeared first on ClutchPoints .

With the MLB rumors heating up ahead of the trade deadline next month, there has been some speculation on which team could shock people with how aggressive they will be. As some MLB rumors had the Cincinnati Reds as a team to watch at the deadline, insider Ken Rosenthal would again cite them as one to look out for.

When on his show “Fair Territory,” he would be asked by a viewer, “Which teams should go all in this year, even if it means trading their top prospects?” which would lead to the talk around Cincinnati. He would go on to say that the team will be “more aggressive than maybe we would expect” in regards to them, especially since “they’ve invested a lot” already.

“We don’t want to give any heads of baseball operations nervous breakdowns, and the word ‘all in’ gives them a nervous breakdown,” Rosenthal said. “I’ll give you one team that I do expect to be aggressive, more aggressive than maybe we would expect, that’s the Cincinnati Reds. They’ve invested a lot in this team already.”

Reds seem to be “one bat away,” according to Ken Rosenthal

As the Reds made a trade with the Boston Red Sox for a pitcher to already improve their impressive depth, Rosenthal would even mention that as a point as to why the team will look to further get better. Besides “more pitching coming,” likely referring to Hunter Greene ’s injury and others, Rosenthal would also say that Cincinnati “seems to be at least one bat away.”

“They’ve got really good pitching, they’ve got more pitching coming, and they’re a team that seems to be at least one bat away, but a team with some promise,” Rosenthal said. “And with Terry Francona , you invested in him as a manager, I would expect they’re going to do some things, but no team goes all in anymore. That kind of thing doesn’t happen because it’s frankly too risky, and most heads of baseball operations are risk-averse.”

At any rate, the Reds currently have a 39-35 record before Thursday’s contest against the Minnesota Twins , which puts them third in the NL Central division as the team starts a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night.