IN-SEASON EVENT #3 - TRADE DEADLINE
Coming close on the heels of the All-Star Break, the Trade Deadline is the beginning of the stretch run of the season. It comes with just under 60 games , and for those teams in contention for a playoff spot, it is now time to make your move.
Although it is called the Trade or Transaction Deadline, in fact it is not a true deadline in any real sense. What this deadline really is is the last day to make a trade without having to first get a player to clear waivers. The real "deadline" for teams competing for playoff spots is 24 hours before Roster Expansion day (because the player has to be on your 40 man roster, meaning the trade having been completed, in order to be eligible to play in the major league playoffs). For teams not in playoff contention, there is no true deadline.
There is a somewhat confusing statement in the schedule that is generated that states that deals must be accepted 24 hours prior to the trade deadline in order to pass because of the 24 hour approval period. This is not true. Any deal accepted (even if not completed) before the PM2 cycle on which the Trade Deadline runs will go through. I would however warn against getting involved in deals with players that can reject trades near this deadline because if they do in fact reject the deal, you may now be stuck with them, with no time to redo the deal.
A cycle or two after the trade deadline passes, I go ahead and set up my revocable waivers. Prior to the trade deadline, if you place a player on waivers and he is claimed, you lose him for good (and get relieved of having to pay his salary). After the trade deadline, when you waive a player, you can check a box that says "Auto-revoke" or some such. This means that if the guy gets claimed, you pull him back and he stays on your team. Any player that clears waivers without being claimed, and all minor leaguers, may be traded freely. Any player that is claimed may only be traded to the team that in fact won the claim. You will get an email telling you who won the claim and that you can only trade the guy to that team -- and if you delete this email there is currently no way to find out who won the claim unless the other guy tells you.
Some people believe in trying to work out a deal then passing their guy through waivers to see if it will work. I do not. Instead, anyone that I would possibly consider trading gets put on revocable waivers as soon as the deadline passes. This means that as early as possible I will know who can be traded and, for guys that are claimed, who I can try to trade that particular guy to. Also, players only get to make 2 waiver claims per day. If you place all your guys on waivers (which lasts 2 days) at the same time, at most a sharp player that is trying to foil you from making moves can claim 4 of your guys. And odds are that most players placing claims will all claim the same or from the same group of 7 or 8 guys. This means if you throw 12-15 guys onto revocable waivers, at least half a dozen should make it thorugh, including guys that may not have made it if placed on waivers all alone. I will evenly occasionally place guys I have no intention to trade at all onto waivers just to eat up some of the claims so my lesser guys make it.
Once waiver clearing is done, it is time to make deals if you want. While I follow the same mass-revocable waiver procedure for all my teams, most of the time I won't make any moves after the deadline anyhow. But the point is that I *can* make a deal if I want to.
In Cincinnati, my major league roster this season is filled with guys that for the most part have no long term future with my team. I therefore intend to place close to all 25 guys onto waivers. If any get claimed, I will try to negotiate a deal with the claiming party. For those that clear waivers, I will simply hope to drum up some interest. I expect most of my roster to clear because most of them stink and have bad contracts. I had been completely unable to make any pre-trade deadline deals, but that does not mean I have no chance of making a move or two before the end of the season.
Up next -- Les Nessman will be back after Game 120 with another update. Also, there may be a special bulletin soon as the team is closing in on passing last year's win total. The next In-Season event will be Roster Expansion/End of Minor League Regular Season/Start of Minor League Playoffs (3 events that all occur almost at the same time so I group them together as one)