What happened: On the Baseball Bar-B-Cast podcast, Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman ran through eight hypothetical trade-deadline deals, including sending Tigers ace Tarik Skubal to the Pirates and Angels shortstop Zach Neto to the Red Sox. They also floated a Yankees package of Jasson Dominguez and Will Warren to the Athletics for a catcher, plus a Mason Miller-for-Bubba Chandler swap. Later in the episode, guest Yuri Karasawa joined to discuss Rintaro Sasaki's move to the Marlins and Shohei Ohtani's Cy Young case.
Why it matters: The ideas are speculative, but some track real smoke: Boston has already been tied to a deal for Zach Neto, and Detroit's Skubal remains the deadline's top rotation chip as the Dodgers push to be the market's most aggressive buyer. Munetaka Murakami's adjustment to American pitching also came up as a data point for how Japanese hitters are translating stateside.
By the numbers: Neto has hit 19 home runs this season, a mark that would trail only Willson Contreras on Boston's roster if the sides matched up.
What to watch: Whether any of these ideas move beyond podcast talk will depend on how the deadline market shakes out over the coming days.