NEWSLETTER
It’s another trade deadline today!
No, it’s not as sexy as the non-waiver trade deadline at the end of July, but today’s so-called “waiver trade deadline” is an important moment in the team-building process: today is the final day to add a player from outside your organization if you want them to be eligible for the postseason. Teams can still make trades after today, but if you acquire a guy on September 1 instead of August 31, that guy can’t be placed on your postseason roster … which is a pretty big deal. So, for all intents and purposes, today is it.
Trades today are still dictated by the waiver rules that have governed all month. The deadline is the end of the day, and I remember last year, the Justin Verlander trade to the Astros (not the Cubs) went right up to nearly midnight.
As for the Cubs, I would not expect them to be active today, having already made so many trade additions, and having already netted their third catcher yesterday, plus their speedster earlier in the month. Dealing for a reliever is always a possibility, but the Cubs are pretty full-up there, too. I also think, after adding Daniel Murphy, that the Cubs are very close to the luxury tax cap, and they’re not going to break that to make a modest addition here at the end of August.
Other contenders, however, could still be very active. For example, the Yankees look like they’re going to pick up Andrew McCutchen today, and the Blue Jays are trying to deal Josh Donaldson. And guess who’s interested:
josh donaldson came through last night's game fine and is going on trade waivers today so he can be traded on Friday's waiver deadline. #STLCards and #Indians seem like logical spots, but sources suggest there are other teams showing some interest.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) August 29, 2018
Stay tuned. Today could continue what has been an atypically active waiver period around baseball.
