Trade speculation sometimes hard to block out
Like the New York Stock Exchange after the closing bell, the Major League Baseball landscape after the July 31 trade deadline is littered with transactions that never happened and many that did. Rather than discarded trading slips on the NYSE floor, the proof of engagement lies in trade rumors tweeted online and shouted in network studios.
The noise culminated in the dizzying hours before the deadline and the eventual jackpot: AllStar pitchers Sonny Gray and Yu Darvish getting dealt to marquee franchises on either coast.
It was great theater, and one MLB has monetized nicely: Its advanced media wing — fueled by the game itself but aided nicely by the rumor mill — was projected to exceed $1.1 billion in revenue last season. And MLB Network’s yearround relevance — thank you, hot stove league — has created an audience base of 66 million, carriage fees exceeding $200 million and solid growth since its 2009 debut.
Yet while virtually every major league player recognizes the straight line from trade speculation to increased revenue to their own paychecks, there’s also a sense that Trade Rumor Theater, while ostensibly giving fans a participatory window into the game, instead further detaches fans from players.
“Some fans definitely realize the human factor,” Baltimore Orioles closer Zach Britton told USA TODAY Sports. “Other fans obviously couldn’t care less. They’re looking at, ‘Make the transaction, make the transaction.’
“Not that they don’t care about the players, but these fans are more loyal to the teams than the individual players, whereas there’s other fans more loyal to players themselves.”
Britton was the best relief pitcher in baseball in 2016, saving 47 games, posting a 0.54 earnedrun average and finishing fourth in the American League Cy Young Award voting. With the Orioles on the outskirts of contention as the trade deadline approached, Britton’s name came up in talks with the Los Angeles Dodgers and other clubs.
Complicating matters was Britton’s health: Forearm soreness sent him to the disabled list twice, and it wasn’t until the days before the deadline that his devastating pitch repertoire fully resembled his 2016 self.
Those mitigating factors — along with the fact the Orioles had differing opinions from the public on their chances of 2017 contention — were largely ignored as the Britton-must-go chorus grew.
He did not go, proving again that video games only hew so close to reality.
“Everyone wants to be in the GM’s space and not realize it takes a lot of work to do what they do,” Britton says. “People always want to see something just to see it happen. It might not be the best thing for the organization.
“It seems easy: Just do this or that with a guy. But I don’t think it’s that easy. It’s not just a quick fix, like you can just go on MLB The Show and make a transaction just to make a transaction.”
Naturally, the bigger the star, the more complex it can be.
Minutes before the trade deadline, Darvish tweeted a selfie from the Texas Rangers clubhouse, noting he was still a Ranger. That came on the heels of a similar
“Some fans definitely realize the human factor. Other fans obviously couldn’t care less. They’re looking at, ‘Make the transaction.’ ” Orioles closer Zach Britton
tweet from Detroit Tigers star Justin Verlander, another hot topic of July conversation with his club fading quickly from contention.
Of course, while Darvish was an impending free agent, Verlander had about $70 million remaining on his contract, the Tigers sought a premium return in contracts and, finally, the six-time All-Star had full no-trade protection.
A few moments later, Darvish was a Dodger. Verlander didn’t go anywhere.
“It seems so easy when people send out a tweet saying, ‘ Oh, soand-so is rumored to be going here.’ Behind the scenes, it’s so much more in-depth than that,” Verlander told USA TODAY Sports. “Yes, it does get lost how in depth and impactful those decisions can be on an organization.
“I’ve been in a fortunate situation in that I’d never been talked about before (in trade rumors). And now that I am, I have a full no-trade clause.”
Like Verlander, Washington Nationals reliever Sean Doolittle maintains an active social media presence. A player signed to a team-friendly contract by the always-dealing Oakland Athletics, Doolittle always knew getting traded was a strong possibility.
This summer, his good health and performance and the Athlet- ics’ poor play finally coalesced, and the 30-year-old lefty was firmly on the trade block.
That experience was an eyeopener.
He received a tweet from a fake account informing him he’d been traded to the Milwaukee Brewers. Friends and family approached him, phones in hand, displaying “stuff that’s kind of weird,” he says, from the rumor mill.
Finally, a July 15 tweet from Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal correctly pegged his fate: The Nationals were targeting Doolittle and Ryan Madson to galvanize their malfunctioning bullpen.
A day later the deal was done, and Doolittle could peek at his social media feeds without feeling like a lab rat.
“I think a lot of it has to do with the ‘access’ — put that in quotes — but I think fans feel they may have more access to the players, to the teams because of social media,” says Doolittle, who has converted all six save opportunities since joining the Nationals. “The rumors and speculation feeds into it. I couldn’t entirely block them out.
“You take them with a grain of salt; you’re aware of them. But at the end of the day, you still have a job to do, because if you get too distracted when you do your job, then your trade value goes down because you’re not performing.”
Now, the game has entered a dead zone of sorts: Fifty-four days to the postseason, nine of 10 playoff participants likely identified and the attention suck of football season growing larger with each passing hour.
It’s also nearly impossible for August to match the intensity of July. Can the game itself provide sufficient dopamine for a segment of fans who thrill to constant disruption?
“We’re a very impatient society now. We want things done fast; we want to know instantly,” says Miami Marlins reliever Brad Ziegler, who was dealt before the 2011 and 2016 trade deadlines. “In some ways, that’s probably not bad, but in some ways I think it’s a pretty detrimental thing.
“Even broader, we don’t take time to enjoy life at all. It’s just, OK, what’s next? It’s constantly moving on and refresh your app as fast as you can and what alerts are coming through on your phone. It’s always what’s next.
“It’s never about, let’s just take time to enjoy where we’re at right now.”
In Ziegler’s world, that means appreciating the career year put together by teammate Giancarlo Stanton — rather than fixating on the very unlikely prospect that Stanton and the $300 million remaining on his contract are shipped out.
“In a way, it’s unfortunate, because it’s taking away from the amazing season he’s had and the amazing career he’s had already,” Ziegler said of Stanton, who slugged his career-best 38th home run Tuesday night.
Of course, trades can happen in August, though the waiver process makes them far more difficult. As for Darvish and Gray? They’ll find out if the fishbowl of a pennant race brings greater scrutiny than July.
“It went from being the top story on MLB Network and trending topics on Twitter for a couple weeks before the deadline,” Doolittle says, “and now maybe this is the calm before another storm.
“As we get down the stretch run into September, maybe we start hearing about them more.”
Gabe Lacques @GabeLacques USA TODAY Sports