Every professional sports league has a designated trade deadline. As the trade deadline approaches for a sport trade speculation will leave fans attached to the television screen wondering what moves a favorite team might make or where a favorite player will end up. The trade deadlines bring drama to a league in the middle of the season. Some teams will find a missing piece that will send them on a championship run while others will obtain assets for the future of the team.
The trade deadline for the Major League Baseball has long since come and gone. There were a flurry of trades this year, nothing ground breaking, but none the less moves were made. Yet just yesterday, Minnesota Twins designated hitter Jim Thome just waived his no trade clause and is heading back to where it all started, the Cleveland Indians.
Baseball has that quirky rule where even pass the trade deadline, players can still be traded later in the season. The trade deadline in baseball allows teams to trade players without very many restrictions. Some restrictions might be such things as a no-trade-clause in player contracts. Before the trade deadline, the team seeking to trade a player can talk to all 29 other teams to gauge interest and deciding on what offer may be better in return.
Once the trade deadline in baseball passes, teams may still look to get rid of a player. Therefore they can place the player on waiver wire. The other 29 teams then have a two day period to decide whether or not to place a claim in a player. The team with the worst record at the time that put a claim in for the player will then be awarded the claim. The two teams then have another 48 hour time frame to work out a deal for a trade. Sometimes the trade will go through and sometimes the trade will fall through such as what just happened between the San Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants with closer Heath Bell.
Many of the deals made throughout the waiver wire trading time period, will go unnoticed. Some teams just can't afford to pay the contracts to players while others just come to a point where they need to move on. But every once in awhile, these trades can fit just right and work out for everyone. One example would be Cody Ross, who the Florida Marlins were looking to just get rid of last season. The Giants put in a waiver claim for Ross just to block the San Diego Padres from getting him. At the time, the Padres were leading the division therefore the Giants were awarded the claim. Cody Ross ended up be a key component in the Giants run through the playoffs that eventually ended with the Giants hoisting the World Series Trophy.
Teams have to get players on their roster before a certain date to be eligible for the playoff roster. Baseball has two trade deadlines in a season, the trade deadline and the waiver wire trade deadline. These deadlines are important for teams in the Major League. But for fans, this can be a confusing chain of events.
No other professional league has two separate trade deadlines and that's the way it should be. The MLB should do away with the waiver wire trades after the trade deadline has already passed. This takes away from such a fun time that other leagues can hang their hat on. A hard trade deadline line leaves fans intrigued to see what transaction will pursue. But in baseball that thrill of a trade deadline is lost cause a team may know that they can still get a player they coveted. Baseball is a great game that has been around for awhile, so it's hard to change something that has been going on for years and will continue for years. If baseball could implement a hard trade deadline, it would add some excitement to the dog days of summer.
-Jake Ipson
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