Major League Baseball’s Trade Deadline is now 18 days away, and there hasn’t been so much as a peep from the rumor mill.
That shouldn’t surprise you when you really consider all the hurdles to making significant deals this year, but it remains the expectation that at least some trade activity will take place. The Cubs, for example, figure to be keeping their eyes on bullpen rentals.
For now, MLB is trying to remove at least one impediment to trades:
There's separate opt-ins for both data and video, as some Alternate Sites are limited in what the facility can accommodate. Clubs were instructed to share whatever info is recorded. Indications are about 2/3 of clubs have opted-in. Data/video flow to clubs hasn't started yet.
— Kiley McDaniel (@kileymcd) August 13, 2020
Normally, of course, you’d be able to go scout whatever players you wanted. Now, though, if you wanted information on a player in another organization, you’d have to reach out to ask – which teams are not going to want to do in advance of trade talks. So, with a centralized system, teams could “scout” players in other organizations long before having to show their hand and express interest.
Consider that, without a minor league season, valuing prospects is as difficult as ever. Sure, you can get medical information and past scouting reports, but as for what has happened to the player in the interim? You’re kind of at the whims of that player doing his training and whatever the other team decides to tell you. At least with SOME eyes on and data from alternate sites, you can have a little more info on the prospects that are there.
Of course, even that is going to be pretty limiting when it comes to scouting, and that includes only the players at those alternate sites. I am still thinking we will see very limited trades this year, without major prospects passing between teams.
And about that! As of the initial announcement of the rules for this season, only players in the 60-man player pool are eligible to be traded. That means, if you want to be trading prospects, you’re gonna have to have space in your player pool to slide that prospect in there before completing a trade. (There is no mention in the rules about Players to Be Named Later – I don’t quite understand why those would be off the table, though, so it’s possible that still exists, too.)
For much more on what the Cubs front office is thinking about this year’s trade season, see here.