One of the changes officially coming to baseball in time for the 2019 MLB season are those confusing August waiver deals. Here’s what you need to know about baseball’s newest rule.
How many times have you been left scratching your head when a blockbuster deal is struck after baseball’s non-waiver deadline of July 31? Well, good news, beginning this 2019 MLB season those confusing August waiver deals are no more.
That’s right!
Per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, one of the amendments to the current CBA agreed upon by both MLB and the MLBPA is to adopt a single trade deadline, the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.
"The switch to a single non-waiver deadline on July 31, which according to sources will be among the rules changes Major League Baseball and the players’ union adopt this season, will eliminate the indecipherable trade waivers in August, baseball’s version of the U.S. tax code.The idea, first proposed by the union, is to protect the competitive integrity of the 162-game regular season, create more certainty for players and force teams to decide earlier whether they are buyers or sellers."
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So, Say goodbye to the Atlanta Braves trading Doyle Alexander to the Detroit Tigers for John Smoltz after the non-waiver deadline in 1987; to the Pittsburgh Pirates trading Jose Bautista to Blue Jays for Robinzon Diaz in 2008.
Say goodbye to massive salary dumps happening after the July 31 deadline, like the Boston Red Sox did when they traded Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, Nick Punto, and cash to the Dodgers for Ivan De Jesus Jr., James Loney, Allen Webster, Jerry Sands, and Rubby De La Rosa back in 2012; to Justin Verlander being traded to the Houston Astros for prospects, which led to a World Series championship in 2017.
All of these trades – and more – made a huge impact on the receiving team. Now, beginning during the 2019 MLB season, they’ll have to be completed before the non-waiver trade deadline.
The move will not only simplify baseball’s trading process, but it will also make teams be more active during the July 31 deadline.
The stakes are higher this way, and teams will have to assess their rosters earlier in the season, thereby virtually eliminating the “let’s wait and see” game applied by many organizations