There was some interesting news from the baseball world today. Most people may have missed it because they were focused on football free agency.
The Commissioner and the MLBPA have an agreement to get rid of the August trade deadline. So the trade deadline is July 31st. That is the one that everyone is familiar with, the big moves that happen. However, there are still trades in August.
Some of you are either know this already OR have zero clue what I am talking about. The August trades are very convoluted and weird. Teams have to put a player on waivers, then if a team wants the player, they have to wait until he clears through the entire waiver wire (the teams go in order of record). If someone claims the player, then there is a negotiation and a deal is attempted. Most fans do not understand it. Hell, I usually have to look it up every year if the Pirates are involved.
Aside from being confusing, it also means the July 31st deadline is not nearly as important. Teams can hedge their bets about being a buyer or seller and see where they stand in August. I hate this. I like when the July deadline is crazy with moves. I love when teams make weird moves because they think they are buyers, but everyone else thinks they are sellers.
I know, this is a weird thing to be excited about, but the trade deadline is one of my favorite things in sports. It is basically the reason I keep Twitter.
