TORONTO, ON – MAY 19: Josh Donaldson #20 of the Toronto Blue Jays bats in the seventh inning during MLB game action against the Oakland Athletics at Rogers Centre on May 19, 2018 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Josh Donaldson
Just because the MLB trade deadline has passed doesn’t mean your team can’t go out and still make a trade.
We all love trade rumors, and for the time being they’re not going anywhere.
You might be thinking that’s odd since we just experienced the madness of the trade deadline, but that was the non-waiver deadline. That means teams didn’t have to jump through extra hoops to deal a player. If Team A wants to deal Player X to Team B, all that needs to happen is the two sides coming to an agreement. Once the deadline passes, we enter waiver trade territory for the entirety of August.
For a trade to go down after the deadline, here’s what needs to happen:
- A team must place the player it wishes to trade on revocable waivers.
- That player must clear waivers, meaning no team places a claim on him
That’s it, which is incredibly simple yet slightly complicated. By having to put a player through waivers, it means any team can claim him. If that happens, a trade can only happen with that one team. Claiming a player means blocking a deal to another team, but opens you up to having to take on that player’s salary if the team that waived him grants his release. The team that waived the player reserves the right to revoke his status, thus keeping him on the roster.
It’s a gamble, but if Madison Bumgarner hits waivers and someone wants to block his trade to the Yankees, there’ no fear that the Giants won’t immediately revoke him. Things get dicier with players like Josh Donaldson, who the Blue Jays could decide to approve a waiver claim on him since his money would be off the books.