What I'm hearing ahead of the MLB trade deadline  —  Sign up for The Windup newsletter |  Levi Weaver and Ken Rosenthal deliver expert analysis on the biggest MLB stories every weekday.  Get it sent to your inbox.  —  The MLB trade deadline is at 6 p.m. ET, and so much is unresolved.

Yankees Notebook: Domingo Germán scratched with armpit discomfort, then pitches in relief  —  The Yankees' Domingo Germán was scratched from his scheduled start Monday after experiencing armpit discomfort a day earlier, but in a surprise move, he ended up pitching in the game anyway.

Where Yankees stand on possible deals with MLB trade deadline closing in  —  As the trade deadline nears, the Yankees appeared to still be following the two-tiered strategy of seeing if they both could sell some players while buying for now and the future.  —  The buy continued to be built around …

What we're hearing about Justin Verlander, Pete Alonso and the Mets' plans for 2024  —  KANSAS CITY — While Billy Eppler preempted any conversation of a “rebuild” with his comments Sunday at Citi Field, that's not exactly how the Mets clubhouse is viewing the situation right now.

Chicago Cubs get a ‘positive reinforcement’ roster boost with addition of third baseman Jeimer Candelario before trade deadline  —  The Chicago Cubs front office believes in this team's potential.  —  That's the message they sent to the players and staff with their first move ahead …

Mets' future still unclear following Max Scherzer, David Robertson deals  —  If it's not a fire sale and it's not a liquidation, then what, exactly is it?  —  Billy Eppler has a habit of using corporate jargon when he speaks to the media.  He's not the first professional sports executive to do so and he's not the last.

Braves Acquire Brad Hand  —  The Braves have acquired reliever Brad Hand from the Rockies, the clubs announced.  Minor league reliever Alec Barger goes to Colorado in a one-for-one swap.  Atlanta already had an opening on their 40-man roster.  —  Hand was one of the more obvious trade candidates this summer.

Sources: Arizona Diamondbacks working on trade for Seattle Mariners' reliever Paul Sewald  —  The Diamondbacks are making progress in talks to acquire reliever Paul Sewald in a trade with the Seattle Mariners, sources said.  —  According to a source, the Diamondbacks will be sending outfielder …

Cubs acquire Josh Roberson from Rays for Adrian Sampson and Manuel Rodriguez  —  This is a minor deal.  —  The Cubs have made a minor trade this morning:  —  Josh Roberson is a 27-year-old righthander who was the Marlins' 12th round pick out of UNC-Wilmington in 2017.