WNBA's Viral Pay Shirts Explained
"We get a very tiny percentage of all the money that's made through the WNBA, which obviously is made through the entertainment we provide," Minnesota Lynx player Napheesa Collier explained. "So we want a fair and reasonable percentage of that."
This comes right after the Women's National Basketball Players Association (the players' union) and the WNBA met for a Collective Bargaining Agreement last Thursday, which did not result in a deal. 'We were disappointed for sure,' Napheesa said on Friday. 'What they came back with was just nowhere near what we asked for or even in the same conversation.'
So, how much are WNBA players paid? As per Sports Illustrated, "WNBA salaries roughly range from a minimum of $66,000 to a super maximum contract of around $250,000." The average NBA salary for the '24-'25 season is reportedly $11.9 million, with the minimum sitting at $1.2 million.
But equal base salaries aren't even the current goal here. A big issue is that WNBA players reportedly only receive about 9.3% of league revenue. Their male counterparts in the NBA, as well as the NFL and NHL, get around half. Though the WNBA hasn't been profitable in the past, new business — including an extremely lucrative TV deal — means that the WNBA is set to bring in hundreds of millions this year and, by some reports, become profitable*.
*Though it's worth noting that the percentage refers to revenue and not profit, meaning that the super clever people quipping that they should be paid a negative salary aren't quite right. As Beau Dure puts it for the Guardian, "The bottom line is that we don't know what's included in the bottom line. Reinvestment in the league? Facilities? Postgame meals catered by five-star restaurants? (Surely not the latter.) All we know is that it's not going to the players...And in the land of voodoo accounting, sports teams have been adept at pleading penury when circumstances call for it. It's not just the WNBA either. Eight years ago, ESPN uncovered numbers showing nearly half of the NBA's teams didn't generate a profit on their own."
Subsequently, many WNBA players are aiming to increase that percentage of league revenue. "If this is the asking price and this is the TV deal, then make it make sense on the other side as well," Breanna Stewart, New York Liberty forward and players' union vice president, put it last Friday.
However, because this is women, money, and sports, the shirts sparked backlash — resulting in counter-criticism.
As Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark said, 'We should be paid more and hopefully that's the case moving forward as the league continues to grow. I think that's something that's probably the most important thing that we're in the room advocating about.'
Anyway, you can click here for the upcoming local WNBA schedule, scores, and more.
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Why this professor says WNBA revenue model is 'almost criminal'
This week on Yahoo Finance Sports Report, host Joe Pompliano takes a look at some of this week's biggest headlines in the sports business world that you and your portfolio need to know. From WNBA players' push for equal pay, to Trump's threats over the Commanders $3.8 billion stadium deal, to Snoop Dogg's investment in Swansea City A.F.C., the world of sports is being transformed by big financial plays. Yahoo Sports Senior Writer Jordan Shusterman joins the show to talk about the latest coming out of the MLB, including the $1.7 billion Tampa Bay Rays sale. Plus, Washington University in St. Louis Sports Business Program executive director Patrick Rishe stops by to talk about everything from the WNBA, to the House vs NCAA settlement rollout, to even which professional sports he thinks have the most growth potential in the coming years. Yahoo Finance Sports Report with Joe Pompliano, a vodcast brought to you by Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports, looks beyond the latest sports business headlines and analyzes all the need-to-know news—the teams, trades, and billion-dollar deals—so you and your portfolio will win BIG. Welcome to Yahoo Finance Sports Report, a unique look at the business of sports brought to you by Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports. I'm your host, Joe Pompeiano, and I'm here to coach you through the financial game. Today we've got Yahoo Sports senior writer Jordan Shusterman coming on the show to discuss the latest coming out of MLB, as well as Washington University and Saint Louis's sports Business program executive director and sports impact founder and CEO Patrick Ribb to break down some of the latest headlines. Let's huddle up and get right into kicking off this week with Pop's Playbook, where I take a look at some of the biggest headlines in sports that you and your portfolio need to know. First up, WNBA players made a bold statement at last week's All-Star Game amid ongoing collective bargaining negotiations between the league and the WNBA Players warmups of last Saturday's WNBA All-Star game, players entered the court wearing shirts that said, pay us what you owe us as a negotiation tactic for CBA tolls. The shirts, of course, went viral across social media and sparked a discussion around fair pay for the W's players, as well as the league continues to explode in popularity and expand its number of there is still plenty of time for the WNBA and the Players Association to strike a deal before the current CBA expires on October 31st. However, it's evident that both sides of the negotiation table are far apart, and the players have said that they're willing to enter a work stoppage as a last result. But one thing is clear, negotiations have officially entered the court of public opinion, and these next few months will define the WNBA for the next up, President Donald Trump wants the Washington commanders to change their nickname back to the former Redskins moniker, and he's threatening to pull the franchise's new stadium deal in Washington DC if the change isn't made. Trump posted to his true social account on Sunday saying, quote, The Washington Whats should immediately change their name back to the Washington Redskins football team, end quote. Then a few hours later, Trump doubled down on his statement and posted aAnd to True Social, saying that he won't make a deal for the team to build their new $3.8 billion stadium in DC unless the change is done. However, it is unclear if there's any way for Trump to derail the commander's plan to build a new dome stadium at the former RFK site, as Congress gave full control of the RFK land of the city of Washington DC last December before the control was officially signed into law by former President Joe Biden in the meantime, the commanders are seeking approval from the DC City council for the multi-billion dollar stadium project, which includes over $1 billion in public up, Fox Sports has signed a massive agreement with Barstool Sports to feature Barstool shows and personalities on its sports programming. According to multiple reports, Barstool sports founder Dave Fortnoy will become a regular commentator on Fox's Big Noon kickoff football show starting this fall. As part of the deal, the Barstow College Football Show will also air before Big Noon kickoff on Fox Sports' digital platforms and 2B, and Portnoy and other Barshall personalities like Dan Big Cat Cats will be part of a new two-hour studio show produced by Barshall that will air on the the network's popular midday show, The Herd with Colin Coward. Now this move comes after Fox canceled its 2 FS1 morning shows, Breakfast Fall and the Facility, as well as one of its afternoon show, Speak, early last week due to low ratings. However, Fox is now betting that Barstool can help as FS One's morning programming and big noon kickoff show better compete against ESPN fixtures like GetUp, First Take and College Game week's money shakeups continue, but this time on the baseball field, the Tampa Bay Rays are changing ownership in a deal that could reshape the franchise's financial future. Here to help break it all down is Yahoo Sports senior writer Jordan Shuchman. Jordan, thank you so much for joining the show today. I want to start with exactly is the Tampa Bay Rays sale, $1.7 billion to a Jacksonville developer. The team is reportedly going to be staying in Tampa Bay, but we had a stadium deal over the last number of years. Obviously, they're playing in the minor league stadium now. What do you think about just the sale in general and what it means for the future of Tampa Bay's Rays team? Yeah, I mean, this is a, a really important story that goes really beyond St. Petersburg and Tampa Bay, just because, you know, Rob Manfred, as he kind of heads towards the commissioner, as he heads towards kind of the end of his tenure, uh, at the top Major League Baseball, you know, expansion is a major priority for him and a big part of that has been settling the stadium and kind of ownership situations in both, with both the A's, as we know, they are, uh, very slowly moving towards Las Vegas and thenAlso the Rays, who have, of course, had a lot of upheaval, some of which under their control, some of which, you know, out of their control because of what happened with the hurricane and, uh, the damage done to Tropicana Field, their home where they're unable to play this year. So this is an important, uh, of course, bit of news for the franchise itself, but it is also in the big picture, a, a very big goal for the league office. Yep. Speaking of Rob Manford, uh, he was at the All-Star game, of course, and he did a media session where he touched on a bunch of different things between different interviews, everything from, uh, ending blackouts to media rights negotiations to, uh, essentially saying that the MLB MLB hasn't done a good enough job working with content creators over the years, like some other sports leagues have what did you just take of his kind of appearance in general, and, and I preface all of this with, uh, after all of that, I think it was Alex Rodriguez said that he belongs in Cooperstown. So there obviously claims to be, you know, differing opinions on, uh, whether people think he's doing a good job or a poor job. But what is your just kind of 30,000 ft view on how good of a job he's doing, if it is a good job, and then some of the comments that he said specifically during the weekend. Yeah, I, I think, you know, some of the stuff that A-Rod was referring to, I mean, a lot has changed in Major League Baseball over the last half decade. And, and also, again, some out of necessity, and some out of just very big, bold decisions, you know, changing what the, how the game is played with stuff like the pitch clock with, uh, soon to be, you know, a, the ABS challenge system with, with balls and strikes. So this commissioner has changed so much about the sport, and a lot of these haverousing successes, and I think attendance and ratings do say that, but the media landscape is a totally other different discussion. And that's something that is very, I mean, I'm less well versed in, in the exact numbers and financials of those as, as maybe someone like you are, but I do know that these are also big decisions that are going to shape what the sport looks like and what the financials are for, for owners who, for a long time were relying, you know, on uh, local sports revenue, uh, TV revenue that is not necessarily the same because of how these rights are being split up. And so that is going to determine, I think, kind of the spending power for some of these markets. Some of these markets are completely impervious to this because they have these massive TV deals and other smaller ones, this is going to make a big difference on the kinds of money that they're going to be bringing in, uh, via TV revenue over the next few years. So these are big decisions that the league clearly has to make. Yeah, during the CBA negotiations, there's been a lot of talk about uh salary caps, salary floors, you know, implementing some system that looks more like the NFL, NBA, etc. Um, do you think we'll ever get there? There's, there's an argument, right, that uh the players obviously don't want it because they can get as big of salaries as they can command right now, but they also sometimes, uh, depending on the math and the year, sometimes sharing a smaller percentage of total revenue than some of the other sports leagues do. So what is, what is your feeling around kind of what ends up happening there? Yeah, I mean, that, that is the ultimate question as we head towards these new CBA negotiations is, you know, the, the players, I think, uh, especially baseball in this union that has managed to avoid, uh, a salary cap for so long, I think that that really is the number one non-starter. I think a lot of fans want to see a salary floor to get some of those smaller market teams to be a little bit more competitive. Now, we are always going to have imbalance in baseball, and that is always going to be a reality of this, no matter what exact financial structure is put of just how disparate the spending, not just the spending power, but the spending willingness. I mean, this is the other thing. We do see teams spend when they want to. A lot of these teams are more capable than they're actually showing off. And so maybe they aren't all capable of spending like the Mets and the Dodgers, but we know that they have a lot more money that they're spending, uh, than, than, than what we have seen. And so I think that is the crux of the issue that teams can spend to be more competitive, and the owners, who, of course, Rob Manfred is explicitly working for, they're trying to find ways to keep spending down and to, in theory, level the playing field when ultimately they're just finding ways to spend less, uh, to remain more competitive. And so that is a very difficult issue. This is of course going to be the headlining of the CBA negotiations upcoming after next season. Yeah, it's gonna be interesting. I mean, if you put it in a salary cap, you got to have a floor just makes more sense, but uh the owners obviously want to keep costs down as much as they can. But Jordan, thank you so much for joining us got to take a quick break, but when we come back, we've got Washington University and Saint Louis's sports business program executive director, Patrick Risch joining the back to Yahoo Finance Sports Report. I'm your host, Joe Pagliano. We've made it to one on one, a conversation where I get to break down news and sports with the key player in the industry. This week we're speaking with Patrick Risch, executive director of the Sports Business program at Washington University in St. Louis and founder and CEO of Sports Impact. Patrick, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for joining me today. Now, I want to talk about a few different topics and a few different sports.I think the most logical place to start with is the WNBA. I think everyone saw last weekend, the players protesting during the middle of their CBA negotiations, wearing shirts that basically said, go pay us what we're worth. Now, you've probably, I assume, looked at this economic model for a long period of time as the league has grown with Caitlin Clark entering the league. What can you tell us about some of the challenges or what we might eventually see during the CBA negotiation? Well, it is challenging and it's also interesting, and, and the fact that if you look at the history of collective negotiations and all these other leagues, I think there are lessons to be learned from that as well. The players currently in the WNBA are earning roughly 9 or 10%.Of the revenue generated from the league. So you look at that in comparison to all the other more established leagues, and you said, well, that's, that's almost criminal because most of these leagues have now reached, I guess you could call a steady state where the players and the owners are of league revenues. So I think that's a place where we eventually are likely to see this end up. Now, whether that gets there in this particular round of negotiations or in the next CBA is, you know, remains to be seen. I think my biggest concern, as it relates to the growth of the WNBA is, is making sure that we're growing at a rate that is bringing in these expansion franchises, I believe, the last round of expansion with Cleveland, with Detroit, with Philadelphia, each franchise, they're paying $250 million. Part of the benefit of that for the other league owners is that money is now shared, those expansion fees are now shared across the league, buttressing some of the annual losses that the league has sustained operating loss over the growth, I think that's the key. Now, the other thing that you've got Joe, is huge in media revenue where the league starting next year is gonna be making, I believe it's $200 million per year, which is 4 times larger than where they've been. That obviously is going to help from an operating profits perspective for all the teams. So, fascinating. I don't know if they're gonna get to a 50/50 split on this particular round of negotiations, but I do anticipate that the players will, at the, at minimum, probably get up to 40% share of league revenues after this round of negotiations. Very interesting. I want to change gears here for a second and roll over to the House for NCAA settlement. I mean, this was a groundbreaking moment in sports history and certainly collegiate sports history, where through the House versus NCAA settlement, there's now going to be essentially this revenue sharing program with the schools and their athletes. Schools are going to be able to spend up to $20.5 million starting this year on their student athletes. They're gonna be able to sign of that stuff. There's also going to be a clearing house that's gonna kind of monitor all the existing and future NIL deals to make sure that they're actually NIL. So theoretically we should see, uh, you know, some of these collectives take a step back and more traditional NIL with revenue share mixed in. Now, that is to be determined what that looks like, but I'd love to get your opinion on just sort of the rollout, what that might look like, and sort of where we go from here. The lawyers are licking their chops. Uh, you know, look, I think there should be a clearing house, and I do like the fact that there is more, you know, kind of monitoring the types of engagements that are taking place and partnerships that are being done we opened this era of name, image and likeness, the part of the perspective was players have to do deals where they're actually receiving, uh, and providing services in return for, uh, the resources that they're being given. Uh, I think we got away from that and we got back to kind of this old school under the table collectives were creative way of getting around more traditional sponsorships and endorsement deals just to find ways to kids money. Uh, I, I, I really hope that we can, can kind of rein that in a bit. However, uh, I think that the house settlement obviously is changing and professionalizing collegiate sports in a way that we've never seen in the I do think that, uh, some of these schools where football is their main sport, they're gonna have to make some very interesting resource allocation decisions, right? Because most of that money, reports that I'm reading, you know, of 20.5 million, 1617 million of that may be spent on football. So now the non-football schools, uh, may have the opportunity to be a little bit more competitive in, let's say men's and women's basketball, because they can allocate those resources more so to those particular, uh,Revenue drivers for their school. Joe, it's gonna be absolutely fascinating as I, as I let off. There are going to be some legal challenges because lawyers typically with respect to student athlete rights, they want to give their athletes freedom to be able to choose and earn as they wish. So I, I, I, I think it's going to be still a degree of wild wild west, and we'll see if the government is gonna step in and create some kind of national legislation. I think that's gonna be more trouble than it's worth. Yeah, to your point, it's gonna be interesting to see when that first school sort of goes over that bumper and tries to navigate the rules, uh, in a different manner and what that punishment is, because I think that's gonna be sort of a watershed moment for the, for the industry as a whole to really see what the punishment is. But time will tell, probably in the next couple of years here, if I had to imagine. But Patrick, you recently released a study, uh, an economic study on the 2025 NFL draft in Green Bay. And I want to dig into this a little bit if we these events are really interesting from a finance perspective, because everyone looks at events and they say, oh, it brings this huge economic impact. And sometimes maybe that's true, a lot of times it's probably not. But Green Bay is sort of a unique area where they weren't going to be able to get a Super Bowl. They built out this Title Town district, basically an entertainment district around the stadium. So then they were given the NFL draft. Now, this is still a big event in a small market. Tell me a little bit about what you were able to determine through this study. Sure, you know, the NFL draft is interesting and, and yes, you're bringing in a lot of fans. Now granted, you're bringing in a lot of, let's say regional fans or fans from bordering states, unlike, let's say the College World Series in Omaha, where you truly are getting people from all over the country and it's a higher percentage. For the NFL draft, and I've done the study now the last couple of years, last year in Detroit, this year in Green Bay, you are still getting a lot of non-locals, people that are not from the immediate, let's say, surround uh the host city, but it tends to be more regional in the sense that maybe you'll get people from other parts of the state, Milwaukee, Madison, and then bordering states like Minnesota, Michigan, uh, Illinois and the like, but they're coming in, regardless of how far away they're coming. They are coming in, they're spending money at hotels, and they're also getting a chance to kind of, in in some cases, experiencing Green Bay for the first time, and that could lead to future tourism. Uh, you, always fascinating when you're doing the survey research as we do on site, and then you just have these anecdotal conversations with people. Man, I've never been up here before. I look forward to coming back at some point, whether it's for a Packers game or, oh wow, this title town was amazing. Uh, I'd love to come back here when there's not a football game. So it's that kind of anecdotal feedback that shows you, yeah, yeah, there's, there's a lot of value, um, that these communities receive from hosting these events, and it also builds up a profile, uh, so it serves as a great marketing pitch for the community. Yeah, I think that's, uh, spot on, and we saw it in Detroit, and we certainly saw it in Green Bay as well. Switching gears to, uh, FIFA. FIFA did the Club World Cup this past, uh, summer, this summer, and we're going to be hosting the World Cup across North America next year. What was your general feedback on sort of how the Club World Cup was run and what do you think that says for the future with the World Cup coming next year? Well, I think we need to understand, uh, they got a lot of bad press because a lot of the matches were not well attended. And uh people have to understand, I think part of the whole reason why this was put on was it was a dry run for next year's World Cup in terms of logistics. And yes, maybe you can't gauge the logistics of how you're gonna operationally run a World Cup match when you have only half the audience that you're going to have next summer, but it' a dry run to ensure that, OK, when we host the World Cup in 2026, what are the things operationally, logistically on site we need to think of day of security, entry, flow, all these logistical operational issues, uh, that you just have to think about when you are running an event at a particular property. So I, I think that's the main takeaway from, from the Club World Cup is, you know, it's hard to it's apples to oranges in terms of the magnitude and the, and the crowd sizes and so forth. But I think at least hosting this, you at least have an initial sense and a feel for what groups, when I say groups, uh, a venue and property owners are gonna have to do to run those events at SOI in Miami, in Kansas City, at, at the GHA Field, uh, all these places that are hosting World Cup matches next summer. Yeah, and the last thing I'd like to talk about is just kind of overall the sports industry and where things head over the next few years. As someone who looks a lot at, uh, virtually every sports league, I imagine, and certainly the ones here in North America, are there any specific sports leagues, uh, that stand out to you, maybe one or two of them that you think are poised for growth over the next couple of years? You know, there's been so much focus on the WNBA and NWSL and of course, of the women's professional sports leagues, those are the leagues that, you know, arguably carry the most gravitas and most attention, uh, for a variety of reasons. But I think that when it comes toTo the the love volleyball league as well as women's softball, you know, women's sports generally, as we all know, has really picked up momentum in the last several years for a variety of reasons, more love from media, more love from corporate partners, and those two kind of flow I, I, I actually think that women's softball is going to be a growth sport because if you look at the women's College World Series, all the ratings continue to grow, uh, the attendance is usually sold out there in Oklahoma City, but I think that's an area where, you know, the games are faster, the action is fast, and that and volleyball, I are two areas that are going to see more growth, more expansion, as more people want to get into the ownership of pro sports but are priced out, you know, there, it used to be that people would get into, uh, the NWSL and the WNBA because they were priced out of being in the NBA or in the NFL. Guess what? Those franchise increased so rapidly in women's basketball and women's soccer that now the next tier of ownership could be those sports volleyball and softball and, and quite frankly, again, we've seen the ratings, the college level have grown, so I do think this is a growth opportunity for many, uh, for many markets and also many people that want to invest in women's sports. Very interesting. I love those two picks with uh softball and volleyball, but thanks so much for joining us, Patrick. I had a great time talking to clock is winding down here, but we have just enough time for some final buzzs. So let's talk about Snoop Dogg. Snoop Dogg famously keeps his mind on his money and his money on his mile, and now he's putting some of that money toward a new ownership stake in soccer club Swansea City. Last week, Swansea City confirmed that the American rapper is joining its ownership group as a co-owner and investor, but financial terms were not disclosed. The 53 year old will join an all-American ownership group led by Andy Coleman, Brett Kravitt, and Jason Cohen, who collectively own the Football LLC. Snoop Dogg said in a statement released by the team, quote, The story of the club in the area really struck a chord with me. This is a proud working class city and club, an underdog that bites back, just like me, end quote. Snoop also helped Swansea City launch its 2025 26 jersey kit a few days before the official announcement by wearing its home shirt in a social media post from the club. Now Swansea City competes in the EFL championship, which is the second tier of the English Football League behind the top flight Premier club last played in the Premier League in the 2017-2018 season before being relegated to the championship, where the team has played for the last seven seasons. But this coming season, Snoop Dogg will have fellow American celebrity owners to compete against. Wrexham AFC, the now famous Welsh club owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElaney, were promoted to the EFL championship after finishing 2nd in the 3rd tier EFL League One last and Swansea City will also battle against seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Tom Brady, who is a minority investor in Birmingham City, which secured promotion to the championship with Wrexham after winning League One in 2025. Now it's time to see if Snoop Dogg, Macklin, Reynolds, and Brady can have their soccer investments pay off bid by securing promotion to the Premier all out of time, so it's officially game over for this week. Thank you so much to Jord Patrick and all of you for joining us. Please make sure to scan the QR code below to follow Yahoo Finance podcast for more videos and expert insight and catch us every Friday wherever you get your podcast. I'm your host, Joe Polianaa. See you next time. This content was not intended to be financial advice and should not be used as a substitute for professional financial services. Related Videos VW CFO on US Auto Tariffs, Electric Vehicles, Earnings Tether CEO on US Stablecoin Policy, US Dollar Hegemony, Staying Private Alphabet posts Q2 earnings beat, but boosts spending outlook German Exporters Can Live With 15% Tariff, Ifo Says Yahoo Finance Sports Report is developed and produced by Lauren Pokedoff. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
New York Times
18 minutes ago
- New York Times
Valkyries' Kayla Thornton to miss rest of season after knee surgery
Golden State Valkyries forward Kayla Thornton will miss the rest of the season after undergoing right knee surgery, the team announced Friday. Thornton sustained the season-ending injury at practice this week, the team said. Golden State Valkyries forward Kayla Thornton, who suffered an injury to her right knee earlier this week in practice, underwent a successful surgery earlier today in San Francisco. Thornton will be out for the remainder of the 2025 WNBA season and will begin the rehabilitation… — Golden State Valkyries (@valkyries) July 25, 2025 The loss is a crushing blow to the Valkyries (10-12) and comes at a brutal time in their schedule. Thornton, a nine-year veteran, became an All-Star for the first time this season. She averaged 14 points, seven rebounds and 1.3 steals, all team highs. Thornton scored a career-high 29 points in a home win over the Chicago Sky on June 27. Advertisement Golden State is in the middle of its most difficult stretch, playing 10 of 12 games on the road. The Valkyries went 1-5 in the first half of that slate and play the Dallas Wings at home on Friday before five-straight on the road. Thornton came off the bench for Team Clark in last week's All-Star Game, scoring 15 points after becoming the Valkyries first All-Star in the franchise's debut season.
Axios
19 minutes ago
- Axios
Chicago's trade deadline split: Cubs buying, White Sox selling
The MLB trade deadline is Thursday, and both the Cubs and the White Sox are expected to be wheeling and dealing. Why it matters: For the Cubs, it's about retooling for a playoff run. For the White Sox, it's about retooling for the future. State of play: Watch for the Cubs to make deals for pitchers and a third baseman to fortify their roster for a deep playoff run. Yes, but: A slew of teams are in contention, looking to trade for the same positions, making this deadline more competitive than usual. Zoom in: Barring a collapse, the North Siders are playoff-bound. They have possible MVP candidates in Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker, but have dealt with some injuries, most notably losing ace pitcher Justin Steele for the season. The intrigue: The Cubs have one of the best minor league systems in baseball. If they want to make a splash and trade for a superstar, they have better prospects than most other teams to give in return. Outfielder Owen Caissie is one of the best in the minor leagues. Between the lines: The Cubs could go after Diamondbacks slugger Eugenio Suárez, but he's having a monster season, so the price may be steep. Another third baseman reportedly on the trade block is the Cardinals' Nolan Arenado, but it's unlikely the NL Central rivals would make a deal with each other. Former All-Star pitcher Sandy Alcántara from the Marlins is an option, or the Royals' Seth Lugo. Don't be surprised if they take a swing at relief pitching, too. The Guardians' Emmanuel Clase and the Orioles' Félix Bautista could be available. The other side: For the White Sox, the team is starting to click as some of the highly touted prospects find their way to the big league roster. Reality check: Even with a modest winning streak since the All-Star break, the Sox are out of contention and will be selling at the deadline. The most notable name is Luis Robert Jr. He's had an awful season, but has turned it around in the last few weeks. It may be enough for the Sox to get a good deal in return. The San Diego Padres and the Cincinnati Reds are rumored to be interested. Also, journeyman pitchers Adrian Houser and Aaron Civale could bring back some young players for the future.
