After MLB announced yesterday that there will now be one trade deadline, the July 31st non-waiver deadline, I had mixed feelings. My first reaction was one of relief. I have been quite frustrated by the waiting and wondering at the end of July, just to have to do it again one month later. Regardless of how well a team is doing, by the end of the second trade deadline, a team may look vastly different from how it looked on Opening Day. This drastic change in a team can be disappointing and disheartening to a fan. While it is always nice to upgrade a team or trade insignificant players for prospects, as a fan, you watch this team for months, and all of a sudden, you find yourself rooting for all new players. Though trading is an integral part of baseball, to me, it has always seemed a bit like a team is cheating when they are competing with so many new players.
The waiver deadline always seemed especially problematic because the trades themselves were generally so minor and insignificant. It always seemed like August 31st was the day to trade veterans or very minor players that were not going to be on the team next season anyway. These trades allowed front offices to say, “see we got a prospect for this player,” however, generally the return was insignificant. The waiver deadline also seemed to signal that a team has absolutely thrown in the towel for that particular season. Of course, this, then, meant that the team who gave up will be playing mostly minor league players the rest of the season. While it is generally clear by the end of August which teams have a chance and which do not, it is particularly problematic for a team to so evidently give up. There are many reasons why it is good for baseball that there will now be only one trade deadline the most important one is that it forces teams to be more competitive later in the season.
While removing the waiver deadline is helpful and beneficial, there are a few downsides that I did not recognize initially. One issue is that injuries do occur after July 31st and sometimes these injuries severely impact a team. With the second trade deadline, teams have the ability to find a replacement player to help the team. Similarly, it can also be the case that several players begin getting fatigued or are otherwise unable to play to their first-half numbers. In this case, it can be helpful for a team to trade for players who can inject life into a team. Finally, it is important to think about the times the waiver deadline helped a team acquire a player who turned out to be essential to a playoff run. Think, Justin Verlander to the Astros in 2017. Without the second deadline, these types of miracle trades won’t happen.
Though there are more positives than negatives in adopting a one trade deadline policy, there are still some negatives to consider. Now, teams have to be more proactive at the trade deadline. It will be more important than ever to find the weaknesses in a team to make sure a team does not suffer a catastrophe in August without another deadline to rely on.
The Baseball Phanatic 