The days leading up to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline are consistently some of the most exciting Major League Baseball has to offer, and this year did not disappoint.
However, just because the non-waiver period has passed does not mean we can’t get our trade fix. August is the revocable waiver period, meaning teams have until the end of the month to try to pass a player through all 29 teams, which would make him eligible to be traded anywhere. If a player is claimed, his team can call him back, making him ineligible to be traded. The player can also be traded or outright released to the claiming club, which usually means that team takes on an undesirable contract the original team is trying to shed.
Teams will place several players on waivers, and every year we learn of big-name players being placed on the wire, typically only to be called back to the original club as if nothing ever happened. Those headlines are a given every year.
Just because the excitement is lessened and the rumors are fewer this month does not mean significant happenings won’t go down. The biggest August blockbuster trade happened three years ago when the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and Nick Punto from the Boston Red Sox, who desperately wanted to dump salary.
Here are some predictions on what this year might hold: