Buy or Sell ?
Rumor mill will be spinning faster and faster as MLB’s annual trade deadline is rapidly approaching — 4 p.m. (ET) on Friday, July 30.
GMs are balancing buying and selling. Factors include talent needs, salaries, luxury tax, rentable players (those who will be free agents after this season), young, controllable prospects. Add, demand vs. supply. Only one NL East team will qualify for postseason play. Wildcard won’t come from that division.
According to media reports, twitter posts, talk radio, Phillies needs: starting pitcher or two, bullpen piece or two, centerfielder, right-handed bench bat. That’s a lengthy shopping list. And, with so many teams looking for pitching updates, prices will soar.
It is easy to say trade for Joe. Made many trade suggestions to GMs when on my watch. None materialized. As Dallas Green once barked, “Baron, we’ll make the trades. You announce them.” Lesson on staying in your own lane.
Deadline History
The original deadline of June 15 was established by MLB in 1923. It remained that date although the precise deadline sometimes fluctuated between midnight ET and midnight PT.
The deadline was moved to July 31 when MLB and the union agreed to a new basic agreement for the 1986 season. It has been moved a couple of times. In 2016 because July 31 was a Sunday, deadline was moved to August 1 by Commissioner Rob Manfred. It was also changed to July 30 this year to avoid a lot of day games on July 31.
For a long time, MLB also had a separate waiver trade deadline of August 31. Between August 1–31 players were required to clear waivers before they could be traded. That deadline was eliminated two seasons ago.
Phillies Nuggets
Acquiring Bake McBride in 1977 is one of the most impactful June 15 deadline deals as he became an integral part of the 1980 World Champions. The deal: lefthander Tommy Underwood, outfielder Rick Bosetti and first baseman Dane Iorg to St. Louis for Bake and pitcher Steve Waterbury.
GM Paul Owens made the deal over the objections of owner Ruly Carpenter and Green, director scouting and minor leagues, who didn’t want to give up 23-year-old Underwood. McBride had some knee issues so physicians on both teams needed to be involved. The deal was finalized around 3 a.m. (midnight PT). Enjoyable waking up a half dozen writers.
One of the few deals that didn’t leak. Chris Wheeler and I often kidded, “We are the department of confirmation and denials.”
Cliff Lee came to the Phillies on July 29, 2009, when Ruben Amaro Jr. occupied the GM seat. For Lee and outfielder Ben Francisco, Cleveland received pitchers Carlos Carrasco and Jason Knapp, infielder Jason Donald and catcher Lou Marson. Phillies reached the World Series that year, their first in back-to-back Fall Classics.
As best as I can find, the Phillies first trade under the June 15 deadline came in 1934. It involved an exchange of outfielders with the Cardinals. They got Chick Fullis for Kiddo Davis. A chick for a kid would have been a twitter post.
