MLB Has Another Trading Deadline
Baseball Teams Can Still Make Trades After July 31
The Major League Baseball trading deadline of July 31 has come and gone.
But there is a second trade deadline that big league teams in contention have to deal with.
And that is Sept. 1, the day major league rosters expand from 25 to 40 players.
For a player to be eligible to play in the post-season, he would have to be on a club's roster prior to Sept. 1.
There usually is a swirl of trading activity before Sept. 1 comes around.
Contending teams looking to upgrade their roster have already made moves that will strengthen their teams for the September pennant chase.
Teams that are out of contention have traded away players who made too much money or would have become free agents by the end of the season.
MLB Waiver Deals Have To Be Made After July 31
But there still possible deals that can be made, provided players pass through waivers.
Before the July 31 deadline, waiver transactions are not necessary to make a trade.
The biggest trade rumor of the summer never came to fruition.
Since mid-June, it was rumored that the Toronto Blue Jays would trade ace righthander Roy Halladay to the Philadelphia Phillies for a nice package of players.
The Blue Jays got greedy in their asking price and never did trade Halladay as the Phillies made a deal with the Cleveland Indians for lefthanded pitcher Cliff Lee, the 2008 American League Cy Young Award winner.
Toronto, well out of American League East or wild-card pennant chases, didn't have to trade Halladay since he has one more season remaining on his contract.
But teams out of contention generally like to dump payroll this time of year and start over with young prospects.
The Blue Jays could made a decision to keep Halladay and build around him for next season.
But they also can still trade him, even though the trading deadline has come and gone.
Other MLB Teams Can Block Waiver Transactions
In Major League Baseball, trades can be made any time of the year.
But after the trading deadline, a player has to pass through waivers in order to be traded to another club.
That means every team in the American and National Leagues would have to pass on Halladay in order for a transaction to me made.
So the Blue Jays could still make a deal, providing another major league team doesn't block the move.
Say Toronto would like to trade Halladay to the Yankees.
Its very likely the Boston Red Sox would put a claim on him to block the deal.
The same would go if Halladay were offered to the Red Sox. The Yankees would put in a waiver claim and stop the deal.
However, Toronto could still make a deal with another American League team in contention or a National League club. Even some contending clubs do not want to take on Halladay's salary making it easier for him to clear waviers in a possible trade.
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