Extend the Trade Deadline? I hope the Atlanta Braves vote No

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Oct 27, 2015; Kansas City, MO, USA; New York Mets center fielder Yoenis Cespedes (left) celebrates with teammate Kelly Johnson (55) after scoring a run against the Kansas City Royals in the sixth inning in game one of the 2015 World Series at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports /

If It Please the Court…

I will now mount the soapbox and pontificate.

More from Tomahawk Take

1. SCHEDULE LENGTH. First off, the July 31st deadline, as we’ve already seen, is already historically late in the year. The Braves, for instance, are playing their 94th game as I write here on July 19. By the time August 1st comes up on the calendar, 105 games will be in the books… 65% of the season will be done.

By the time August 15th rolls around, nearly 3/4ths of the schedule will be done. Does it make sense to change a roster to add an impact player for a mere 1/4th of the season? Doesn’t that skew the idea of assembling a team back in March so much more? As odd as it might sound to do so for 1/3rd of the year, making a change for just 6 weeks feels even more like cheating in some ways.

2. IMPROVING YOUR CLUB. The Red Sox were the lone team that made major trades this year before the All-Star Break. In my opinion, if you can find a trading partner at that time of the year, that approach makes much more sense. After all, you then have many more games available to make use of your new acquisitions… and if the point of making such deals is to improve your club, then why not do it as soon as possible?

If you think your club needs a trade in order to ‘make a run’ toward the playoffs, then a later deadline does you no favors whatsoever. Later trades simply reduce the length of time to get back in a playoff position. While nobody forces teams to wait until the deadline, history tells us that inaction until deadline week is the rule much more than the exception – hence only the Red Sox acting alone before the break this season.

3. REDUCED PRICES. “Buyer” clubs might welcome this, but the sellers would not.

Suppose Team X has an impact player about to become a free agent. At season’s end, a Qualifying Offer would be appropriate (assumes this mechanism remains in place after the new CBA coming in 2017). Team Y wants the player, but is a fringy playoff contender.

Team Y wants to make an offer, but will only have that player for six guaranteed weeks, and thus scales its offer appropriately.

Team X balks, believing that the value of a compensation draft pick is higher that the trade offer… no deal is made.

This scenario might or might not happen like that (though try it out inserting the names ‘Oakland’, ‘Rich Hill‘, and ‘Marlins’), but the point is legitimate: if you were concerned about the price your club pays (or receives) for a “rental” player before, then just wait and see what happens if the trade deadline is moved out… especially if it goes to August 31st.

4. WAIVER TRADING. This is the period of time in which trades are made via waivers after the deadline has passed. Currently, roster must be set for the purposes of playoffs on September 1st. Moving the non-waiver deadline would make the ‘waiver trading season’ just that must more crazy, and could lead to changes in those deadlines. Some abuse of the process could occur as a result – last minute salary dump deals (which would then be correspondingly cheaper to the acquiring club now) is one distinct possibility.

5. SKIPPING TRADES ALL TOGETHER. If I’m the Houston Astros and I need another bat, but I’m having trouble getting on around an August 15th deadline, I might be inclined to hunker down and eschew any deals at all. Instead, I call up Alex Bregman on September 1st. He might now have been quite ready to go on July 31 in this hypothetical scenario, but a month later my hypothetical GM now feels better about bringing him up… for free.

It’s another minor point, but if the difference is 2 weeks or less between the deadline and the minor league call-up date, I could be inclined to solve problems from within once the rosters expand.

Such actions would tend to hurt rebuilding clubs as fewer trades could be the result.

6. RISK/REWARD. Baseball is a game based on skill, but the art of building a roster is based on risk and chance.

When you sign a free agent, you are betting that this player will produce at a level at or exceeding the level of the contract value he signed. When you call up a prospect, you believe he’s ready for the majors and is ready to perform.

Injuries impact this, poor performance impacts risk and chance… this is all part of the fabric and the ebb and flow of baseball tides.

Extending the trade deadline would tend to limit such risks to the buyer teams… or limit the damage in the case of failed trades.

Wouldn’t this be good? Not necessarily as GM’s might be inclined to go ahead with a deal based on lower cost and lower exposure to damage in the event of a problem. It also might mean doing a little less homework or being willing to accept even more risk due to the shorter time frame.

Either way, it changes the equations involved.

Wrong Direction

I’ll stop there. But if any change was made to the trade deadline, I’d prefer to roll it the other direction… say the last day of the All-Star Break.

I’m not fond of teams making late changes. Last year’s Mets that went to the World Series weren’t really the Mets. They were the Mets plus a Tiger plus a couple of Braves and an Oakland A’s pitcher named O’Flaherty. That was after an aborted attempt to get a Brewer.

Don’t want to commit to a trade that early because you don’t know if your club will stay in the race? Tough – make a call… make a commitment. Tell your team you believe in them… and do it early enough to matter.

Sure – I like trades. But doing them way late in the season feels a little dirty. July 31st is what we’ve been used to for the last 30 seasons… that feels acceptable, though as I say, July 15~18 would feel better. More like you assembled a team intentionally for a long run.

An August 15th deadline would feel more like you got away with something.

An August 31st deadline would feel like you were playing fantasy baseball.

Speaking of trades…

Next: He's Available. Is He Desirable?

So get on your soapbox. Convince me otherwise.

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