06/09/26 Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski /

The MLB trade deadline is fun for fans in what the future may look like, and which clubs will make a playoff push in the final stretch of the season.

For players, the deadline is part of the game, and they have to accept that it’s part of the business that they’re in.

In many cases, being a professional player becomes a brotherhood with many connections throughout all levels.

Curve first baseman Callan Moss and outfielder Ivan Brethowr originally crossed paths in college baseball when Moss was at Seton Hall, and Brethowr was a player at UC Santa Barbara.

“We’ve kind of been together our whole baseball career,” Moss said.

Both were drafted in 2024 — Moss by the Kansas City Royals and Brethowr by the Chicago Cubs — and the two saw each other again almost immediately to start their professional careers.

Last season, Moss was playing for the Quad Cities River Bandits and Brethowr with the South Bend Cubs. The two teams were playing each other on trade deadline day on July 31.

Coincidentally, the two that had played baseball against each other constantly for the last few years were suddenly teammates with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Moss was a piece in the Bailey Falter trade to the Royals, while Brethowr was acquired in a straight deal for lefty relief pitcher Taylor Rogers. Rogers never appeared in a game for the Pirates as he was part of the Ke’Bryan Hayes trade a day earlier.

Brethowr found out about his trade through social media as South Bend Cubs manager Nick Lovullo was not there on deadline day.

“It was wild to be honest,” he said.

It was both players’ first experience going through the trade deadline, and both ended up being pieces in deals late in the 6 p.m. deadline. Although the deadline is at 6 p.m., more deals start to break past that hour, and both Moss and Brethowr found out about their deals after 6 p.m.

“My teammates told me. I was about to play a game,” Brethowr said.

“It was funny that day. We all kind of celebrated thinking we made it through,” Moss said.

“One of my teammates was joking around and said, ‘You’re gone today, Mossy.’ It ended up becoming true.”

Although he started the season on the injured list, Brethowr bounced back when he was activated and had good numbers in High-A Greensboro before being called up to Altoona on May 14. He had a rough start with his time with the Curve, but his average is climbing at .210 after an RBI double in Sunday’s rain-shortened game with Chesapeake.

Moss, who homered in his final game with the River Bandits and was leading the South Atlantic League in RBIs at the time of his deal, is turning into one of the Pirates organization’s best hitting prospects, and is sitting at .267 going into Altoona’s series this week at Akron. He went 4 for 4 in Sunday’s finale against Chesapeake.

While Moss was on the road and was able to fly to meet Greensboro’s team, Brethowr had his car in South Bend and drove to Greensboro to meet his new teammates. It’s a reminder that while baseball is still just a game, it’s also a business when you play at a professional level.

“You grind with some guys for about 100 games, and you get close from spring training on,” Moss said. “It’s hard leaving them. You keep in contact when you can, and you go about your life.”

Moss and Brethowr both agreed that their previous organizations and the Pirates have done wonders for their professional careers. And while they say the trade deadline that’s coming up may be a similar situation to last year, it’s not on the minds of anyone in the Curve clubhouse.

“Things happen for a reason. You might not understand it right now, but it all works out in the end,” Brethowr said. “Just try to make the most out of any situation you’re dealt.”