The non-waiver trade deadline has passed, but that doesn’t mean trades are done for the season! There’s a reason that it’s called the non-waiver trade deadline after all.
5 post-deadline MLB trades we could see in August
The non-waiver deadline is in the past, but these deals might be in the future.
Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images
From here on out, anybody who gets traded will have to pass through waivers first in order to be traded to whatever team their current club wants to send them to. Of course, their team can also revoke them from waivers should they want to keep their player, or they can try to work out a trade if they’re claimed while on waivers, or just let them be claimed, leaving the claiming team to pick up the bill.
Which is how we get things like teams putting half a dozen players on waivers at once just to see what happens or throwing the entire team on there just to mess with the league and obscure their true purpose. Which is the fun part!
So there’s a good chance that a few trades will go down before Sept. 1, even if they don’t involve the most famous players in the league or high-profile swaps. That said, here are a few post-deadline trades that could maybe, possibly happen.
I’m lumping these two guys together because they’re in similar situations. The Mets tried to shop them before the deadline, but the market for outfielders just wasn’t there, and they ended up staying in New York.
They are some of the most likely big-name players (or big-ish) to go somewhere in August, seeing as Mets management has already made it clear that it isn’t done shopping the roster. Both would be worthy rentals for whomever wants to pick them up, with only a few million left on either of their salaries for the season at this point.
The market for outfielders had long dissipated by the time the Mets were strenuously shopping anybody, which affected a lot of other teams’ plans as well. But injuries or offensive slumps might dictate a need for a team to inquire about the Mets’ asking price for one or both of these players, and at this point New York would jump at the opportunity.
You know who wishes he had only a few million left on his salary this season? Justin Verlander. Maybe not legitimately since he probably enjoys living the lifestyle that his massive salary provides. But every now and then he may think about the fact that he would have already been out of Detroit by now if he was a tad less of a burden on the bottom line. He’s got $56 million still owed to him after 2017, and every possible trade partner knows it.
However, his weighty contract combined with his down year on the mound means he would realistically clear waivers allowing an August deal to happen. Shipping him to a contender that is looking for an August rotation boost would be good for both Verlander (yay, a good team!) and the Tigers (for not having to pay him all that money).
With a few extra weeks to figure things out, there’s also a chance that Detroit could negotiate an agreeable salary split with another team as it reportedly tried to do in advance of the deadline, to no avail.
Similar to Granderson and Bruce, Davis could be well-suited for a team that has to unexpectedly deal with an injury to its outfield in the next few weeks. He’s not a top-tier pickup, but his offense picked up in July when he hit .317/.388/.467 compared to his season line of .237/.297/.355.
He’s also stolen 19 bases to this point, tied for 10th in the league this season, which would be a help to teams as well. Davis is also due less than $3 million for the rest of this season.
My god, could you imagine how hilarious it would be for the Red Sox to place David Price on revocable waivers just to see what would happen? The entire controversy happening in the northeast right now, between a player and former player both known for being a wee bit touchy (at times!), is fairly ridiculous.
But even fairly ridiculous controversies can be made funnier by a team out-and-out trolling its fans (and the easily incensed local media) with a move like this. Of course, a trade would probably also not happen seeing as Price is once again having elbow issues. So considering that and his seven-year, $217 million contract that runs through 2022, he’s not the most reasonably priced option. Also, the whole “the Red Sox probably need Price to stay in first place” thing. Details.
Because of that last bit, even if someone claimed Price on waivers the Sox would pull him right back to Boston and keep him with the team — and maybe deal with more fan ire in the process. But it’s really, really funny to think about the team committing to the bit so thoroughly that it would even put him on waivers in the first place.
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