MLB MAKE BELIEVE TRADE DEADLINE

by Moondog, The World According to Moondog

At 4:00 p.m. (EDT) today Major League Baseball's trade deadline will take effect, meaning teams can't trade players between the 4:00 p.m. deadline until the stroke of midnight on August 1, when players can still be traded beyond the trade deadline.

Players are routinely traded beyond the trade deadline, so why call it a trade deadline if it really isn't a deadline?

There's the minor caveat of waivers, that is, a player can't be traded past the trade deadline until the player being traded past the deadline passes through waivers. Thus, a player clearing waivers past the trade deadline can be traded.

I understand the trade deadline, in fact, I'm a leading authority. I was so bad as a kid my parents traded me past the July 31 trade deadline with ease, as I strolled through the waiver process without a hitch.

Sometimes a team attempting to trade a player past the deadline can run into trouble during the waiver process. For example, if I wanted to trade a player past the trade deadline, another team, particularly a contending team within the same league, can block the trade by claiming the player attempting to be traded from reaching his intended team.

It's so simple to figure all of this trade deadline stuff out, isn't it?

I guess the best way to approach the trade deadline is not to worry if your team didn't make a trade before the trade deadline. You'll always have every day between now and the end of the season to make a trade past the deadline that will turn your team's fortunes around.