With injury and underperformance keeping many promising prospects from reaching their potential, the teams that choose to part with their prospects for more established players often end up as trade winners.
Key word: often.
This is a story about the times that HASN’T happened -- when a young player traded away early ends up causing considerable regret for their original club. Three of the six finalists for the 2026 American League and National League Most Valuable Player Awards, as announced Monday by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, were acquired in trades long before reaching the Majors, deals all three franchises are certainly grateful for. That’s half of the MVP field --…
