This year’s Major League Baseball trade deadline comes at 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday, and that’s approaching far too rapidly for the likes of some MLB teams.
Teams that can’t decide whether they’re going for the playoffs or rebuilding for next year and beyond must make that decision, and other teams, who have already decided must wait on the first group before the market shakes out.
The trade deadline always has been July 31. The difference this season is that there is no waiver trade deadline a month later. The Aug. 31 deadline allowed teams to trade players who passed through waivers, leading to some big August trades under the right circumstances (see Verlander, Justin going to the Astros and helping them win the 2017 World Series title).
Without a waiver deadline, the next 24-plus hours are going to be frantic. https://t.co/9Zg0W0riJ5
— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) July 30, 2019
No safety net
When there was a second trade deadline, albeit with more restrictions, it provided teams a safety net of sorts. They could wait through August to see if they got hot and stayed in the playoff chase or went cold and fell out of it. They could see how the market shook down at the July 31 deadline and make moves accordingly. Or they could wait through a player’s injury or see how he performed before making a deal.
Without that, there’s a lot more guesswork. The Blue Jays and Mariners likely won’t be able to trade closers Ken Giles and Hunter Strickland because of injury concerns. Teams like the Arizona Diamondbacks or San Francisco Giants, to name two, must decide a month early whether they’re contenders or pretenders. And there are no second chances.
Predicting the 2019 Trade Deadline https://t.co/U34Y8LAM7k
— FanGraphs Baseball (@fangraphs) July 24, 2019
More change coming?
The lack of a second deadline and the condensed market have frustrated some teams, and more change might be on the way.
Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported that several teams want to push the deadline back to Aug. 15 in future seasons if there is to be no waiver deadline. That gives them two more weeks to make evaluations, which could prove especially important with the addition of a second wild card in recent years.
Either way, the last 27 hours of this year’s trade deadline promises to be frantic.
Predicting the 2019 Trade Deadline https://t.co/U34Y8LAM7k
— FanGraphs Baseball (@fangraphs) July 24, 2019
