The July 31 MLB non-waiver trade deadline began with a bang and ended with an explosion.

That is the only way to sum up the excitement that started with the Oakland A’s acquiring Jon Lester and culminated with the trade that sent David Price to the Detroit Tigers. Of course, that wasn’t the last trade of the day, but it was the biggest one as the action drew to a close.

Moving forward, clubs will look to improve their rosters by facilitating an August waiver trade. It is a complex dance that can produce blockbusters and duds.

For an explanation of the process, see this post by Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter. For the sake of brevity, though, we will keep it simple.

Here are three MLB trade scenarios based on actual need and published rumors through the end of Monday, August 4. As a standard note, the following proposals are nothing more than postulation.

The point here is to build a trade based on someone else’s written or spoken word. They are balanced deals that are fair for each team, though, and take into consideration each franchise’s strengths and weaknesses.  

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