Trade Deadline history w/Trevor May, Ken Rosenthal on muddled AL

00:00:00
Speaker 1: It's muddled the picture, and it's forced teams to hold on longer because they don't want to give up on a season necessarily and signal to their fans that, you know what, even though we're four games out of a wild card, we don't feel we can do it.

00:00:18
Speaker 2: Welcome back to foul Territory. I am Trevor May, host of May Day, a live show that I do every Monday at four pm Eastern Time right here on the channel. And during that show, I do a segment called May Explaining, where I get to go deep and dive into a subject that maybe has never been explained in the way that I do it. So without further ado, let's just hop right into it. This is May Explaining Rapsodo and Hawkeye. I'll tell you this information. Paul Skins has added two pitches to his arsenal going into twenty twenty five.

00:00:50
Speaker 1: No do it, don't buckle up.

00:00:54
Speaker 2: It's time for some May splaining. It is All Star Week down in Atlanta. All the best players in the major leagues met down there, gott into some shananigans, went head to head. We saw some great matchups and we also saw that the draft happened this week as well. Quite the busy week if you are indeed an MLB executive or part of the executive team at all. A lot of pressure, a lot of things going on, and a lot of it is happening on the same day. Can't be fun, must be exhausting, and most probably can't wait for this week to be over so they can take a little bit of rest. But unfortunately for them, the real pressure is put on starting Monday, and that is the trade deadline. The trade deadline this year is July thirtieth, sorry, July thirty first, at six pm Eastern Time. It is the point at which no team can trade any players or receive any players to take them into the playoff race. And a lot of things in the system have changed over the years. But I was thinking, how how did we get to where we are and where did this whole thing start? Today we are going to break down the history of the trade deadline so that we can appreciate this time in our lives just a little bit more in twenty twenty five, and I'm really excited. I'm really excited. I love doing research because I am a big nerd, So let's talk about it. The year is nineteen twenty three. Okay, can you picture it good? There was no trade deadline before nineteen twenty three. Before then, it was just anyone could go anywhere, willie nilly at any point in the season, and no one was really worried about one team having an advantage over another. I believe it. This time there was only eight teams, so the league is in its infancy. There was no need for trade deadline until nineteen twenty three, when a June fifteenth trade deadline was put in place, and it was intended to prevent late season, late season buying of championships, which is what trade ladlines have had in spirit the entire time they've existed, and to encourage roster consistency for the stretch run. We don't want to have a different team winning that stretch those games with the stretch than they did to get them there.

00:03:30
Speaker 1: Right.

00:03:30
Speaker 2: That makes a lot of sense to me, and this is setting the stage for a lot of the parody we look for in our game. The man in question, the pioneer of this new change to the rules, was none other than Kennesaw Landing. Sorry, Kennesaw Mountain Landis. That's quite a mouthful. There's a lot of nicknames back there, and I got really excited to say it. So sometimes that happens. This gentleman who may or may not ever smile, he was one of the most intense people I've ever seen and try to fight pictures. Honestly, it was very hard, like we have this one and then we got this guy, but then we got a little bit of a smirk on this one from Kanasau Mountain, but then he hit us with this guy. So let's just put it this way. Intimidation one of the major tools in Kanasaan Mountains toolbox. As commissioner, because he was commissioner at the time, he actually oversaw the first official trade in nineteen twenty nine. His tenure was actually focused and this is going to feel like a political campaign, but on restoring the integrity of posts Black Sox scandal who we know earlier this year, the Black Sox scandal with the Shulis show. Jackson is depicted in the Field of Dreams with you know, you know all about the story and they were all reinstated back into baseball this year and it was a big smear on the game and a lot of people were turned off to the game after that. Happened because you couldn't know if anything was really happening the way it was, and Kenesaw sent out to clean that up and file counts. It did the job for sixty years. The trade deadline was set on June fifteenth and did not change until nineteen eighty six. A lot of people at home might remember this picture as the Mets did bring home the World Series that year. The major shift was moving the trade deadline up to July thirty first, to get more times and more teams time to evaluate. So the season had also expanded a bunch of games since the last time as well, so giving them a little bit more time to think about what they want to do, a little bit less time to have those players just made a bunch of sense. But a lot of the main tenants stayed the same. Hey have you heard of philt?

00:05:59
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00:06:00
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00:06:58
Speaker 2: The pioneer of this was Peter Eberroth. Well, now that is what I am used to either presidents or commissioners looking like. At least we got a little smile here out of Peter. The way he changed it in nineteen eighty six was he introduced the waiver system, the August Waiver system. How that works. And if you'll remember from our story on DFAs and what they how they work, one of the option was putting a player on waivers. What that effectively does because waiver claims in baseball, fantasy baseball waiver claims, and fantasy sports waiver claims are based on that system. So it's a list of players that are available, and then there is a picking order that teams have to go through in order to get their guys. So if you get the first pick in the waivers, you can go grab them and pay them, you know, whatever their minimum salary is, and the other team is on the hook for the rest of them salary. That's how it works, or used to work until recently. So what they would do is someone would put a guy on the waiver claim maybe the guy the team tenth guy team on the list was the teams that early in the list don't make a lot of waiverclaims usually, so they hoard them like they do in fantasy and so teams could trade then trade for that player, and then so the first team takes them off waiver claims and then they work out of trade, and so you had to do trades in that way. Involving a waiver in order to get them up to an August thirty first deadline. So that was a big change in nineteen eighty six and August thirty first every year became the de facto deadline for a player needing to play for the team. If they joined the team after that, they cannot play in the playoffs, which stands to this day. Notable trades are in this era, with the Anchores in two thousand acquiring David Justice and later Glenn Allen Hill in August. In twenty twelve, the Dodgers got Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, and Josh Beckett in Audust Blockbuster all waiver claims. So you can't really do this anymore, and we will talk about that in a moment, but Bud Selig was one of the main guys working through these waiver claims. All three of these guys were waiverclaim traded at some point and Bud Selig, who cannot who's pictured here not being able to hear anything, surprise, was the mastermind behind that one. The waiver claims then ended in twenty nineteen under a guy you're going to know. We ended this system in order to get rid of a system that's starting to be manipulated so teams could collude and big players were moving and then money wasn't the issue. It was the issue before it became not an issue anymore, and they wanted to get rid of it because teams were manipulating it and they wanted to increase transparency and competitive fairness. Okay, so this is twenty nineteen. This was my favorite cartoon from the era. So I just want you to take that in for a second. But Rob Manfred was the guy who brought about the twenty nineteen rule change that then got rid of the waiver claim. So now today we sit on a end of July maybe first couple days of August hard deadline VERA for trades, which is what we are working with right now. But one new little thing that was put in and worked through with the PA and this gentleman and this gentleman they had a PA Tony Clark, got together and they started to in the same spirit of the adding the waiver claim added a little flexibility to what that date could be based on how the season plays out this year. It just happens to be July thirty first, at six pm Eastern time, and that is the deadline to have something in play. I believe there's a little bit wiggle room on the time of the day. If they get past a certain point, they're allowed to continue that negotiation for they can get an extension if they need to. So that brings us today, and that is what us as media members and all the fans are looking forward to see what their team can get to make their team better. The next iteration of this is going to be a free agency deadline. We're gonna hear a lot about that in the CBA, but that's for another day. So now teams are prioritized to buy or sell players a little bit earlier. So this next coming week we might see some movement because that deadline is so set in stone and you have to make a decision, and teams would rather not get into a fourteen betting war with prospects later. They would like to get the job done. So that's why we're seeing trades happen a little bit earlier in July, and that's why we could see some coming into this next week. So now we all know where the trade deadline came from. Hopefully that gives you a little bit more insight, and let's you enjoy this time of the year a little bit more. Don't forget to check out Mayday Mondays four pm Eastern time, right here on the Foul Territory channel, and we will see then.

00:12:08
Speaker 3: There is an FT shop. There are significant updates, significant updates. So we want to just keep letting the people know baseball the way it should be covered is on a T shirt. And I better see quite a few orders on that lightweight hoodie, because you know who you are. There are many people that sent us notes saying they want lightweight hoodies, so we got those cooked up special for you.

00:12:30
Speaker 4: Welcome back everybody to foul Territory alongside the great Ken Rosenthal. I am Alana Rizzo Ken. Everyone's talking about it. What should we be watching for as the trade deadline looms?

00:12:41
Speaker 1: Separation, Alana, And what I mean by that is teams that will maybe fall out of contention, teams that will start to see themselves more as contenders, teams that are on the bubble. Those teams need to decide which way they're going. Now we know full well that the buy sell equation is not necessarily binary. Some teams will do both, and it is simplistic to divide teams into that category or those categories. But we do know also that there are teams that just are not quite sure where they are, Teams that are maybe three and a half four back in the wildcard race, Teams that might be in that kind of position three and a half four back, but think we don't really have a chance to win the World Series. So that's what we're looking for over the next couple of weeks, teams to define themselves, figure out exactly who they are.

00:13:32
Speaker 4: Kennedy, al wildcard picture seems to be very muddled. What do you think happens with that? How do you believe that plays out?

00:13:40
Speaker 1: I'm not exactly sure, Alana, and a lot will depend on the deadline on which teams make moves. Now. The Central has a number of teams, the Royals, the Guardians, the Twins, those three in particular that can go either way, that seemingly have a chance of a wildcard, but you're really not sure kind of where they stand. In the East, I fully expect Boston to try to go for it. Toronto and the Yankees of course are in that position already. And in the West, the Mariners are a team that still want to do some things, still want to win. So it's a muddled picture. It's kind of what we're getting at here. And I don't know that I expected to change. I have not mentioned the Texas Rangers there, but they could be two hot weeks away from being a team that is a buyer as well.

00:14:26
Speaker 4: So much can change over the course of the next two weeks. Can the Orioles though? Are they a classic should? What does that mean?

00:14:33
Speaker 1: There are a classic? Should sell? Should sell? That's what the should means there, Alana. And yes, they already have made the one move before the deadline, the Brian Baker trade to the Tampa Bay Rays, a good one because it netted them the thirty seventh pick in the draft. And you see the list of trade candidates. These are just players on expiring contracts, expept for Baker, who has three years of club control remaining. Ryan Ohearnt is an All Star Loreano Remo Loreano has had a really good run for them. Cedric Mowens center fielder, and then some right handed pitching starters Charlie Morton and Tomooki Sagano, as well as Andrew Kittrids and Sir Anthony Dominguez and then on the injured list. Of those, Eflyn is the one who likely is coming back. So yes, they're going to do some things. They with the trade of Baker identified themselves as sellers. We've all been waiting for that. We know they're a disappointment. They want controllable starting pitching. Not sure they can get it before the deadline. Teams that have it don't want to trade it. But the Oriols I expect will be active. Yes, somewhat like the Tampa Bay Rays were last year when they had that massive selloff traded nine players.

00:15:39
Speaker 4: Not to say that it's easy to get into the postseason, Kenny, but it seems like it's an easier pathway in the American League. The National League seems a much more tough race in terms of getting to that postseason. With the amount of teams. Let's talk about NL home field advantage. Who separates themselves, Well.

00:15:56
Speaker 1: You're talking about the elite teams, Alana, right, and that would be the Phillies, the Mets, the Dodgers, the Cubs, and maybe even the Brewers in that mix. The Dodgers are a team that designed their roster with the intent of not overpaying at the deadline, and I don't expect them to be terribly active. What they have generally looked to do under Andrew Friedman, and this is Friedman's philosophy going back to his days with Tampa Bay, is look for impact moves. So if they can get an impact reliever or an impact bad that would be maybe better than what Michael Confordo has given them. Yeah, I can see them doing that, but I don't know that they're going to do big things. The Phillies, on the other hand, have significant needs, need for an outfielder and more importantly, need for bullpen help. Yes, Josel Verado is coming back, but he'll only be available for the regular season, and yes, they can move a starter to the bullpen for the postseason the way they have in the past. But I don't see them necessarily just sitting and standing there saying that's good enough. They can't do that. They know they need bullpen help and they're going to go out and get it.

00:17:00
Speaker 4: All, right, Ken, So that's what the five contenders in the National League are looking to add. What about the American League? You know the Yankees are going to be in the mix. Toronto's looking good. Obviously, Detroit has kind of led wire to wire so far this season. What are each of those teams missing? What do they need to compliment what's already a good roster?

00:17:17
Speaker 1: First off, Alana, I expect each of those teams to be aggressive. The Yankees' needs are clear. Third base big need, starting pitcher big need. Two bullpen arms that would be a need as well. The Blue Jays I expect to be aggressive as well. They don't need much help on the offensive side, obviously, if they can find impact, they would do that, But on the pitching side, they have some short and long term concerns. Max Scherzer and Chris Bassett are free agents at the end of the year, so a controllable starter for them would be outstanding. Gosspin and Burrios only have one more year after this one, and then in the bullpen, I expect Jeff Hoffman to be better in the second half. But at the same time, a high leverage reliever would be certainly something that the Jays would want to add, as well as every other team in the mix. Could they go get a left fielder or someone in the outfield as well, Yes, they could, but I expect them to be pitching heavy, and then finally the Tigers, another team that will be pitching heavy. They seem to have settled on their right handed hitting needs. They're okay there, but another starter for sure, and swing and misrelief pitching is something that they've been looking for for quite some time. They've got a good pen, but they'd love to get a guy in there who can just strike out people and do it that way.

00:18:30
Speaker 4: And I love the fact that so many extra teams get into the postseason because it's good for the fan base and it keeps people interested a lot longer, but it also muddles the situation in terms of who's going to buy and who's going to sell. In your time covering this game, how do you think the wild card picture and the expansion of the wild card teams has changed the deadline?

00:18:50
Speaker 1: Exactly what you just said, Alta. It's muddled the picture and it's forced teams to hold on longer because they don't want to give up on a season necessarily and signal to the fans that you know what, even though we're four games out of a wild card, we don't feel we can do it. And teams that have done that in recent years have gotten heavily criticized, and it's just not a healthy way to go about it. Teams should be competing. That's the whole point of the sport. Compete and get to the playoffs. So while it's muddled a picture, it's also made it more interesting in certain respects because at times we will see what they call baseball trades and what gms and baseball people mean by that. What they mean by the term baseball trades is major league need for major league need, and rather than a prospect trade in which you're trading a veteran for prospects, you're addressing something on the major league roster both ways. So it's going to be an interesting deadline. A lot of people expect it to be a dud. I don't know that it will be. Yes, Ralphaeld Devers probably was the best player who will be traded. But there is always action a lota and I am quite sure there's going to be action this time. Yeah.

00:19:58
Speaker 4: It's always fun to watch, and I know it's a busy time the year for you, but from a fan perspective, it's great. It's like, who's going where, What's going to happen? Can we appreciate your insight as always, and everybody don't forget You can catch a brand new fair Territory with Ken Rosenzaal every Monday at ten am Eastern and also on Thursdays at twelve thirty pm Eastern, all season long. Subscribe to the entire Foul Territory Network.