USA TODAY International Edition
Last call for roster shake-ups
MLB’s one and only trade deadline is today
MLB’s July 31 trade deadline is set for 4 p.m. ET like it is every year, but this season it’s anything but ordinary.
The league implemented a new system with a singular trade deadline on July’s final day, rather than the July 31 non-waiver deadline followed by the Aug. 31 waiver deadline.
While the August deadline was a bit of an afterthought to fans, front offices could count on having an extra month to evaluate their teams and decide what areas could be strengthened by a veteran or two as summer wrapped up.
“A lot of these executives are very methodical, knowing they have a soft deadline,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of the previous system. “But now it’s slow-moving and guys are feeling each other out, and when it gets eleventh hour on July 31st – with a hard deadline – it’s going to be frantic, is my guess.”
Here’s why the new singular trade deadline is such a big deal:
Teams must make a decision – now: For better or worse, there’s no safety net anymore.
Teams can’t wait until a hot or cold streak in August to make a decision whether they are going for it.
With the two wild-card spots, this is even more pertinent. All but two of the National League’s 15 teams are within eight games of a playoff spot. That’s not a small deficit, particularly with so many jockeying for position, but it’s certainly not impossible to overcome.
Unsurprisingly, general managers aren’t happy. They’re facing substantially more pressure, internal and external, to immediately make the tough decisions they’ve been able to delay.
Financial considerations: There’s a great deal of fiscal philosophy at the trade deadline. But now as a buyer, you can’t wait and avoid paying for a highpriced veteran’s services in August.
Last year, the Yankees saved about $2 million by holding off until the August deadline to trade for Andrew McCutchen. Josh Donaldson was injured for most of the 2018 season and the Indians were able to wait until he was healthy, trading for him on Aug. 31. Cleveland also got $2.7 million from Toronto to help cover the nearly $4 million Donaldson was due in September.
In 2017, the Tigers paid Justin Verlander more than $4.5 million before trading him to the Astros on Aug. 31.
This goes both ways. If you think you’re in contention at the end of July,
you can’t wait a month and then ship someone out in August to ditch their September salary.
It’s all about depth: Verlander, Donaldson and McCutchen are outliers, as most players traded in August weren’t former MVPs.
August was largely a time for contenders to bolster their teams with role players for the stretch run. Now, GMs have to cram everything in before the end of July.
Look no further than last season. The Dodgers were able to land former World Series MVP and platoon specialist David Freese on Aug. 20. He played only 19 games in September but hit .385 in 39 at-bats and then went 7-for-22 with six RBI in the postseason.
That trade wasn’t as sexy as the team’s move for Manny Machado a month earlier, but acquiring a guy like Freese is the kind of midlevel move that often goes unnoticed.
Without the extra month to see where injuries or ineffectiveness might befall them, it’s possible buyers will focus on these sorts of depth-centric moves in the final hours before the deadline.