2024 MLB trade deadline: Eight under-the-radar candidates to move, including a former first-round draft pick

Major League Baseball's trade deadline is now less than a week away, and that means teams across the land are attempting to complete their summer shopping ahead of the stretch run. Inevitably, that makes this one of the major times of the year when teams and their supporters scour rosters for potential bargains. Let's accept a basic reality of modern humanity: everyone loves a deal -- especially professional sports executives.

For evidence of that, meditate on why Michael Kopech -- possessor of an ugly ERA and some suboptimal peripheral statistics -- has emerged as a popular trade candidate. The short answer? It's because teams look at his top-end stuff and see untapped upside. If a club can obtain him for streaky middle reliever costs and then get him to pitch up to his potential more often, well, then they've created significant value for their roster.

With that in mind, we here at CBS Sports decided to highlight eight other under-the-radar trade candidates. Think of this as the in-season equivalent of our annual bargain bin free agent piece. Be warned that the players listed here are deep targets -- the kind who seldom populate rumors. Each has their merits, mind you, but you're in the wrong place if you're seeking stars or big-name players. ( You can click here for more on that set .) This piece, then, is purely for the seamhead sickos in the crowd.

Now, let's get to it.

1. Anthony Bender , RHP, Marlins

Bender is a low-slot righty reliever with a quality sweeping slider. Opponents are hitting .172 off it this season despite him chucking it more than 40% of the time. You almost wonder if he should throw it some more, given that his mid-90s sinker has been clobbered to the tune of a .352 average and a .479 slugging percentage. Be that as it may, Bender is still an effective contact manager who can slot into the middle innings.

2. Willie Calhoun , DH, Angels

There's not much chrome to Calhoun's game. He's not much of a defender; he doesn't boast big-time slugging capacity; and he's really more of a platoon option who should be hidden against lefties in medium- or high-leverage situations. Dating back to last season, however, he's been a league-average hitter at the big-league level thanks to his contact and on-base skills. Is that ideal for such a limited player? No, but let's put it this way: Calhoun's .761 OPS against righties would rank 11th among teams in offense from the DH spot -- that means he'd serve as an upgrade for two-thirds of the league. The Angels also have no reason to hold on tightly: they're bad, and he's a year away from free agency.

3. Reid Detmers , LHP, Angels

It seems like every year Detmers' Stuff+ grades go up while his ERA+ goes down. He compiled a 6.14 ERA across 12 starts this season before the Angels demoted him. Unfortunately, he hasn't fared much better in the minors, running a 7.11 mark in seven appearances. The Angels have no incentive to sell low, but even they have to be wondering what's going on here. A front office who is really confident in their pitching instruction stuff should at least inquire -- especially given that Detmers has several years of team control remaining, and isn't far removed from being an above-average starter.

4. Andy Ibáñez, 2B/3B, Tigers

We floated Ibáñez as a sleeper target last summer. We're doing it again here, even while acknowledging that the Tigers are on the outskirts of the playoff race. Ibáñez is a smooth fielder in the midst of a career season at the plate. We're sorry to write that we're not buying his offensive gains. He's swinging and missing way more than before, all the while producing hard contact less frequently. Ibáñez will turn 32 next April, too, making it all the more likely that he's closer to the end of his career than the beginning. Factor in how the Tigers have former first-round pick Jace Jung to slot in on their infield, and we think they would have to be receptive to moving Ibáñez to an inquiring contender over the next week.

5. Nick Loftin , UTL, Royals

It's not often you can include a player currently on a contender in these kinds of pieces. The Royals so rarely deploy Loftin in games, though, that we wonder if they'd be willing to part with him in the right deal. He's been on the active roster since late May, but the former first-round pick has barely appeared this month -- as of this writing, he's made just 19 trips to the plate in July. To be fair, he's struggled when he has received opportunities this season. So have Adam Frazier , Maikel Garcia , and other Royals who play nearly every day, suggesting it's not just a matter of results. (Heck, Frazier and Garcia have been Kansas City's main leadoff hitters.) Loftin will celebrate his 26th birthday in September, and there's enough track record here for us to think he deserves a crack at a larger role. With that in mind, he seems like a decent buy-low target for teams doing business with KC.

6. Andrew Nardi , LHP, Marlins

Yes, another Marlins middle reliever. Nardi is a fastball-sweeper lefty with a deep release point and a bloated ERA for both his season and his career. He's always been more effective against lefties, holding them to a .666 career OPS. (For reference, T.J. McFarland was also under consideration for this piece and his career OPS against lefties is about a dozen points worse.) We think Nardi could appeal to teams looking for a situational arm who has more bite to his arsenal than your typical second lefty.

7. Trevor Richards , RHP, Blue Jays

Richards is one of several impending free agents the Blue Jays could look to move. Maybe he's too accomplished for the premise at hand, but this is where we note that we make the rules around here (and we mostly abide by them). Richards has the ability to work multiple innings, and he remains an effective contact manager who spams the opposition with low changeups and high heaters. We're a little concerned about his velocity dip (his changeup now resides below 80 mph) and his decrease in swinging strikes. Still, for two months, we could see a team in a more pitching-friendly environment letting Richards induce all the moderately deep fly balls he can muster across five- or six-out appearances.

8. Patrick Wisdom , 1B/3B/COF, Cubs

We know, we know. There are some bright red flags in Wisdom's profile. He's always struck out a ton, and nothing has changed in that respect. What has changed is his quality of contact, and not for the better in terms of authority, but also trajectory. He's hitting way more pop-ups than normal, and he's pulling the ball far less often. Frankly, given that he'll turn 33 in August, we think there's a real chance that his game is cooked. Even so, a bubble team wanting to add a bench bat without giving up much could roll the dice on Wisdom and see if they can get a couple months of bopping and walking to close out the year.