MLB 2018 Season

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

The Non Waiver trade deadline in MLB is actually July 31 ....so you are happy , yes? Guess not....

What you apparently complain of is waiver wire deals made from August 1 to August 31 (last day  that a traded player may also can qualify for the post season roster).....BUT  ....waiver wire deals during this 30 day window are NOT sure things ....far from it.
   For instance, if Team A wants to trade a player to Team B after the July 31 nonwaiver deadline, that player must first be offered to each team in reverse order of the standings. The claiming order begins with Team A's league, worst record to best, and then continues through the opposite league, worst record to best. In other words, the team with the best record in Team A's league has dibs before the worst team in the other league. These are called "trade assignment waivers."

So long as all the clubs in front of Team B pass on the player, that player can be traded without interference. If, however, a team claims the player before he falls to Team B, then Team A — the team who wanted to trade him in the first place — has a decision to make. They can pull the player off waivers and not trade him (that's why this particular waiver flavor is referred to as being "revocable") or they can work out a deal with the team that claimed him.

If no deal can be worked out with the new team, then Team A can, in essence, pull off a "force trade." That means the team that claimed the player must assume his contract and kick in $20,000 to his original team (that would be Team A). This has happened often, including August 2010 when San Francisco claimed outfielder Cody Ross, the eventual NLCS MVP, from cost-cutting Florida.

A recent well known waiver wire trade that actually went through was Justin Verlander. Houston held their breath...but all the other teams failed to claim him and assume his big salary (Their thinking in not claiming him?....too old too much money and Detroit wont make our waiver claim  deal unless we match the houston trade package..ie Detroit will just pull him back off waivers...so ok we dont waiver claim). Verlander cleared waivers by the other 28 teams just minutes before the Aug 31 deadline and the Astros pulled off a very rare waiver wire clearing trade in August. Verlander trade was an outlier...someone else should have claimed him....but didnt.

This 30 day waiver trade window is the category of which you complain ....but rarely are August trades this key or high profile. Because August waiver trades are used to clean up, release 40 men roster baggage, and dump salary ....this period will stay as is.  And actually rarely are August trades made for key playoff roster additions...again Verlander being an exception

Yankees picked up Andrew McCutchen this season in late August.  He's proved a valuable addition.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Cubs picked up Murphy from the Nats too.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Crew got Gio as well. Not an ace by any means (at least not anymore) but certainly helped with the playoff push.

[jsglow]

Crew got Gio as well. Not an ace by any means (at least not anymore) but certainly helped with the playoff push.

And Curtis Granderson.

[HouWarrior]

Not rare at all.  Justin Verlander was acquired on Aug 31 last year for the Astros and pitched the same number of starts and more innings for them in the postseason than he did in the regular season. To claim a player would require you to eat the salary should they accept the claim.  This year the Indians got Josh Donaldson (who was injured, somehow breaking that rule) the same way on Aug 31.  He is playing in the postseason for them after all of 60 plate appearances in the regular season.  They should limit postseason play to players acquired by July 31.

You make my point well . Josh Donaldson is a more typical August move. Not a even close to being a difference maker like Verlander...Rather,....He is an aging highly paid star heading to free agency. Not attractive enough for a straight up trade during the primary trading period ...he cleared waivers to move to Cleveland. (being injured made it kind of odd) Jays at least get something back and a few months of salary relief. By clearing waivers...none of the other teams saw value in claiming him....

I Dont think Donaldson joining the Indians was anything more than a down the roster filling move. In their 3 ALDS games he was .091,...1 for 11 with 4ks and he got his sole hit during garbage time  with the Astros already up 11-2 in the 9th in game 3. Not a playoff difference maker...heck he barely showed. He is down roster filler move most typical of August moves .

I really dont get why the August system upsets you . If you read the daily transactions during that time ....August ....very very few have anything to with the playoff rosters...this period is mainly for trying to dump the overpaid and streamlining the 40 man (dropping the marginals) before September call ups. No truly big moves are made without risking it blowing up through a waiver claim....ie whatever team you root for could have/should have claimed Verlander ...to help them in the playoffs. No one builds or vastly improves a playoff roster in August...except my Astros in2017 lol
If you have other August deals that irk you at playoff time remember your own favorite team had first waiver wire dibs on getting the same guy and they passed ...whose fault is that...
BYW....The team A trading the player does not "eat" or pay a penny of the salary on a waiver claim the acquiring team pays it and a $20k waiver fee...called a forced trade(see above)

[Sir Lawrence]

Dodgers it is. 

[real chili 83]

I'm pullin for The Brewers!!!!

[CTWarrior]

You make my point well . Josh Donaldson is a more typical August move. Not a even close to being a difference maker like Verlander...Rather,....He is an aging highly paid star heading to free agency. Not attractive enough for a straight up trade during the primary trading period ...he cleared waivers to move to Cleveland. (being injured made it kind of odd) Jays at least get something back and a few months of salary relief. By clearing waivers...none of the other teams saw value in claiming him....

I Dont think Donaldson joining the Indians was anything more than a down the roster filling move. In their 3 ALDS games he was .091,...1 for 11 with 4ks and he got his sole hit during garbage time  with the Astros already up 11-2 in the 9th in game 3. Not a playoff difference maker...heck he barely showed. He is down roster filler move most typical of August moves .

I really dont get why the August system upsets you . If you read the daily transactions during that time ....August ....very very few have anything to with the playoff rosters...this period is mainly for trying to dump the overpaid and streamlining the 40 man (dropping the marginals) before September call ups. No truly big moves are made without risking it blowing up through a waiver claim....ie whatever team you root for could have/should have claimed Verlander ...to help them in the playoffs. No one builds or vastly improves a playoff roster in August...except my Astros in2017 lol
If you have other August deals that irk you at playoff time remember your own favorite team had first waiver wire dibs on getting the same guy and they passed ...whose fault is that...
BYW....The team A trading the player does not "eat" or pay a penny of the salary on a waiver claim the acquiring team pays it and a $20k waiver fee...called a forced trade(see above)

Donaldson immediately became their everyday third baseman and batted in the middle of their order.  He was not procured to help them down the stretch, as the Indians won that crappy division in March.  He was procured to be their regular third baseman in the playoffs.  He turned out not to play well in the ALDS, but he was not roster filler.  The other contenders complained to the league about MLB allowing the trade for an injured player, so they didn't consider him roster filler, either.  Further, the current system punishes the teams ahead in the race, by not giving them a crack at a player before their pursuers.  How does that make sense?  For some reason, it seems that everybody passes waivers, now, too, I suspect for fear of eating the contract.  Anyway, I'm not arguing that a team should have or shouldn't have made a claim.  I'm arguing that a guy who was on somebody else's team for 5/6 of the season shouldn't have any rule that allows him to play for someone else come the playoffs.

[CTWarrior]

As a Yankee fan I was surprised Price pitched second because the Yanks always pounded him.
Sale is a different story.  I don't think the Yanks ever hit him so the formula is to up his pitch count and then pound the underwhelming Red Sox bullpen.

I certainly didn't see last night coming.  Figured 5 goods innings for Severino and on to the four closers the Yankees have in the bullpen.  I was hoping Eovaldi could continue his spell over the Yanks and the Red Sox could eke out a 3-2 win or something like that. 

Boone was a good manager for the Red Sox last night.  After Pearce lined out to the warning track in dead center to end the third, I told my wife that they're going to regret that they didn't score more than 3 against Severino, since it was obvious he didn't have it.  I was very surprised that Severino came out for the fourth and then I was more surprised that Boone left him in to load the bases with no outs and then I was even more surprised that he didn't use one of his closers to get out of that inning instead of his fifth starter who is not used to coming in in the middle of the inning.  That was the game right there, you can't have your 10th best pitcher in there at that point.  You use Betances or Robertson or Britton to get out of the inning and you bring in Lynn to start the fifth.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

I certainly didn't see last night coming.  Figured 5 goods innings for Severino and on to the four closers the Yankees have in the bullpen.  I was hoping Eovaldi could continue his spell over the Yanks and the Red Sox could eke out a 3-2 win or something like that. 

Boone was a good manager for the Red Sox last night.  After Pearce lined out to the warning track in dead center to end the third, I told my wife that they're going to regret that they didn't score more than 3 against Severino, since it was obvious he didn't have it.  I was very surprised that Severino came out for the fourth and then I was more surprised that Boone left him in to load the bases with no outs and then I was even more surprised that he didn't use one of his closers to get out of that inning instead of his fifth starter who is not used to coming in in the middle of the inning.  That was the game right there, you can't have your 10th best pitcher in there at that point.  You use Betances or Robertson or Britton to get out of the inning and you bring in Lynn to start the fifth.

That's not the same Eovaldi who used to pitch with the Yankees.  Who is that guy?

[HouWarrior]

Donaldson immediately became their everyday third baseman and batted in the middle of their order.  He was not procured to help them down the stretch, as the Indians won that crappy division in March.  He was procured to be their regular third baseman in the playoffs.  He turned out not to play well in the ALDS, but he was not roster filler.  The other contenders complained to the league about MLB allowing the trade for an injured player, so they didn't consider him roster filler, either.  Further, the current system punishes the teams ahead in the race, by not giving them a crack at a player before their pursuers.  How does that make sense?  For some reason, it seems that everybody passes waivers, now, too, I suspect for fear of eating the contract.  Anyway, I'm not arguing that a team should have or shouldn't have made a claim.  I'm arguing that a guy who was on somebody else's team for 5/6 of the season shouldn't have any rule that allows him to play for someone else come the playoffs.

Why do you bring up this one trade of Donaldson to change the rule for every one? As a Red Sox Fan is it because your club questioned the trade?....

Remember the August trades intended for playoff roster improvement are often very expensive to the acquiring club, and may not work out anyway (aka Donaldson trade).....another example....

1990 Red Sox headed into August and the playoffs ...had depth at third base with Wade Boggs, Tim Naehring and Scott Cooper....but they thought they could use pitching so they traded with my Astros....on August 31 1990 you traded us for Larry Anderson, a reliever, and gave us Jeff Bagwell...who became a recent Astros HOFer.....
The Red Sox were swept in the ALCS by the Oakland Athletics. Andersen earned the Game 1 loss after he came in and gave up a 1-0 lead in the seventh inning. He signed with the San Diego Padres that offseason. Ouch!

You are right ...the Red Sox should not have been able to have done this ...we need a rule preventing bone headed end of season trade moves like this one. lol

[buckchuckler]

I Dont think Donaldson joining the Indians was anything more than a down the roster filling move. In their 3 ALDS games he was .091,...1 for 11 with 4ks and he got his sole hit during garbage time  with the Astros already up 11-2 in the 9th in game 3. Not a playoff difference maker...heck he barely showed. He is down roster filler move most typical of August moves .

Jose Ramirez must also be roster filler, as he was hitless.


NEWSFLASH!!!!!  A starting pitcher just made it through 6 innings!!!!! Holy moly!!! Is that only the 2nd time this playoffs?  Could be wrong there.  Still noteworthy though.

[buckchuckler]

This game is super fun right now.

[Benny B]

This game is super fun right now.

October baseball... even if you don't get the outcome you wanted, at least it's entertaining.

[wadesworld]

October baseball... even if you don't get the outcome you wanted, at least it's entertaining.

Yup. In my opinion baseball is by far the most boring of the 3 major professional sports throughout the regular season, but it's my favorite postseason.

[CTWarrior]

Why do you bring up this one trade of Donaldson to change the rule for every one? As a Red Sox Fan is it because your club questioned the trade?....

Remember the August trades intended for playoff roster improvement are often very expensive to the acquiring club, and may not work out anyway (aka Donaldson trade).....another example....

1990 Red Sox headed into August and the playoffs ...had depth at third base with Wade Boggs, Tim Naehring and Scott Cooper....but they thought they could use pitching so they traded with my Astros....on August 31 1990 you traded us for Larry Anderson, a reliever, and gave us Jeff Bagwell...who became a recent Astros HOFer.....
The Red Sox were swept in the ALCS by the Oakland Athletics. Andersen earned the Game 1 loss after he came in and gave up a 1-0 lead in the seventh inning. He signed with the San Diego Padres that offseason. Ouch!

You are right ...the Red Sox should not have been able to have done this ...we need a rule preventing bone headed end of season trade moves like this one. lol

I have zero issue with the Astros outsmarting everyone and getting Verlander.  More power to them.  I just don't like the rule regardless of who it benefits.

Trust me, I remember the Bagwell trade well.  I still remember the day it happened Peter Gammons saying on ESPN that this will go down as one of the worst trades in history, like Brock for Broglio.  It was actually worse than that.  Bagwell is from CT, and back then the Connecticut Post had an agate type section every Sunday of how Connecticut kids were doing in the minors and majors.  I remember reading that and seeing Bagwell and Vaughn's numbers and really looking forward to getting them to the majors.  What really bothered me as it turned out is I'm sure the Astros would have been more than happy with Scott Cooper for Andersen, as that would have been a very good trade for them.  Just a colossal blunder.

It was tough watching Bagwell play for the Astros and win all those World Series.

[CTWarrior]

Why do you bring up this one trade of Donaldson to change the rule for every one? As a Red Sox Fan is it because your club questioned the trade?....

Your team did, too.  It was pretty blatant nonsense to get around the rules.  The Jays took him off the DL, put him on a plane to Cleveland.  Apparently he got hurt on the plane, as the Indians put him right back on the DL shortly after landing.  The rule says you can't trade players on the DL, as I understand it.

BTW, good luck in the ALCS.  Should be a fun series.  You guys are hitting very well right now and that is a big worry.  I think these are the two best teams in baseball this year, though whoever comes out of the NL will be tough, too. 

[HouWarrior]

Your team did, too.  It was pretty blatant nonsense to get around the rules.  The Jays took him off the DL, put him on a plane to Cleveland.  Apparently he got hurt on the plane, as the Indians put him right back on the DL shortly after landing.  The rule says you can't trade players on the DL, as I understand it.

BTW, good luck in the ALCS.  Should be a fun series.  You guys are hitting very well right now and that is a big worry.  I think these are the two best teams in baseball this year, though whoever comes out of the NL will be tough, too.

For sure back atchya. Red Sox Astros is the series the country deserves to see. Alex Cora was very well liked here and we were happy to see him advance to managing the Sox. The teams are managed in similar ways.
Your hitting when on is as scary as our pitching when on. I am unwilling to predict the outcome as our teams have such wild histories of heartbreaking and fluky losses. I hope it goes 6-7 games

BTW You are very right Bagwell/Biggio were big time playoff chokers.

Also we hope he isnt mad...Astros drafted JD Martinez in the 2009 20th round but after 3 years we gave up on him and gave him an outright release. OOPS

[muwarrior69]

Now that my Yanks are out, go Brewers!

[buckchuckler]

Kris Bryant reportedly turned down an extension offer of more than 200 million, no mention on the years involved from what I saw.  Also the source was David Kaplan, so....

[Mr. Nielsen]

Game 1 of the NLCS will be at 7:09 p.m. (CT) on Friday, October 12 on FS1
Game 2 of the NLCS will begin at 3:09 p.m. (CT) on FOX
Game 3: Monday, October 15 at 6:39 p.m. on FS1
Game 4: Tuesday, October 16 at 8:09 p.m. on FS1
Game 5: Wednesday, October 17 at 4:05 p.m. on FS1
Game 6: Friday, October 19 at 7:39 p.m. on FS1
Game 7: Saturday, October 20 at 8:09 p.m. on FS1

[SaveOD238]

Game 1 of the NLCS will be at 7:09 p.m. (CT) on Friday, October 12 on FS1
Game 2 of the NLCS will begin at 3:09 p.m. (CT) on FOX
Game 3: Monday, October 15 at 6:39 p.m. on FS1
Game 4: Tuesday, October 16 at 8:09 p.m. on FS1
Game 5: Wednesday, October 17 at 4:05 p.m. on FS1
Game 6: Friday, October 19 at 7:39 p.m. on FS1
Game 7: Saturday, October 20 at 8:09 p.m. on FS1

Phew.  Max of 1 weeknight late game (Tuesday).

[CreightonWarrior]

Phew.  Max of 1 weeknight late game (Tuesday).

I was really dreading game 4 if we didn't sweep best the Rockies in game 3. An 8:40 start would've been rough.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Now that my Yanks are out, go Brewers!

I will second that!

[GB Warrior]

Thoughts on the Brewers lineup choices? My take is that it's clearly a play at daring the Dodgers to play Puig, Peterson and Muncy against lefties (against whom they've been terrible) or play the inferior players (who are still above league average) in a platoon. Also sets up Chacin to be available in an elimination game 6 or 7