General Managers are considering pushing back the MLB trade deadline from July 31st to August 15th to hopefully increase the number of deals made.
The MLB trade deadline has been incredibly slow this year, leading to some MLB General Managers thinking about pushing the deadline back to August 15th.
This is an interesting idea. I can see both sides of this type of argument and it will be something discussed at the GM meetings which will be held in Phoenix this November. Currently, the MLB trade deadline is July 31st.
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Let’s take a look at this from the Pro side of the argument. The teams I’m sure that are wanting this are the ones who at this point in the season still aren’t sure if they are going to be buyers or sellers yet.
This is one of those years where you have a lot of teams in this boat. For example, there are 6 teams vying for the two wild-card spots in the American League and only 6 1/2 games separate those teams.
In the National League, there are 10 teams which are within 6 1/2 games of the two wild-card spots. Some of these teams are in this boar of trying to figure out if they should buy or capitalize on their stars on aging contracts and improve their farm system.
Now for the con side of it. I can see people arguing that as the team’s GM you should have a better feel for where your team stands. I know this MLB trade deadline has been slow, but maybe most teams already know where they stand.
For example in the NL West, the Los Angeles Dodgers are leading that division by 14 games. So the other three teams are duking it out in the Wild Card race, the Arizona Diamondbacks, San Francisco Giants, and the San Diego Padres are battling it out to just try and get one of two spots.
For example, the Diamondbacks, my team, I think should be sellers, but there really hasn’t been any movement from their camp. They are just hanging right on the cusp of trying to get a wild card spot, but if I’m being honest with myself, they won’t get it. Let’s be honest, what can really change in 15 days?
I think for the most part a move back would help with trade traffic, news and rumblings. We all know this is the time baseball has the sporting world to itself. Yes NFL training camps are in, but there really isn’t anything to compete with other than that.
They should push it back and that will help teams know whether they should be buyers or sellers.