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Now that Major League Baseball no longer allows trades after August 1st it’s become very clear how teams are going to get around that rule. Teams are just going to place those players that they would’ve tried to deal after the trade deadline on waivers and allow other teams to either claim them or sign them after they’re released.

After being buyers at the trade deadline the Los Angeles Angels placed five players on waivers yesterday. After trading for Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Randall Grichuk at the trade deadline the Angels placed all three on waivers yesterday along with Matt Moore and Hunter Renfroe.

You’d have to think that all the Angels are looking for is some type of salary relief, so they’ll have a little more money to resign Shohei Ohtani this coming off season.

If any of these players are claimed on waivers by another team all the team claiming them is required to do is pay that players remaining salary. The Angels will get nothing in return of any of the players they placed on waivers.

Now the Angels aren’t the only team that is doing this. It’s being reported that players like Harrison Bader of the New York Yankees, Carlos Carrasco of the New York Mets, Mike Clevenger of the Chicago White Sox and Jose Cisnero of the Detroit Tigers will be joining the group of Angel players on the waiver wire.

I guess this is just the way that things are going to go in MLB since there can no longer be any trading done after that August 1st deadline, but for some reason it just doesn’t seem right to me.

The waiver claims do start with the team with the worst record and work their way up to the team with the best record, but do we really think teams like the Oakland A’s who have the worst record in baseball or a team like the Kansas City Royals or Colorado Rockies the next two teams with the worst records would be inclined to add salary at this point of the season.

That means that these players on waivers will be sitting there when the playoff contending teams turns come up to claim players and they’ll have the chance to add a quality player without having to give up anything. This has to be too good to be true for a big money team that’s not going to be afraid to add a little bit of salary to try and win a World Series.

None of these players are making an outrageous amount of money and a lot of them are in either the final year of their contract or arbitration eligible, so any contender that might end up with one of these players would only be paying what’s left on his salary for the remainder of this season. If the player is arbitration eligible the team that claims him can simple not offer him arbitration and allow him to become a free agent.

At the trade deadline I’m sure you heard the term “rent a player”. I don’t know about you, but this seems like the perfect rent a player type of situation for contenders.

I don’t think that there is anything that Major League Baseball can do about this because they can’t really tell teams how to spend their money, but it almost seems unfair that a team can acquire a solid player for the stretch run and not give up anything to get them.

I don’t know, let me know what you think about this situation and if you think there’s a way to fix or rectify it.

Don’t forget to look for me on the X, I’m @Burketime.

We’re about a week and a half away from the start of the National Football League season. I’m not sure why, but I just really haven’t been looking forward to fantasy football this season. I have some drafts coming up and I have no idea when or what time they are. I also haven’t done any research whatsoever into who’s being drafted where and why. I actually think I know why this is happening.

In our fantasy baseball money league as I’ve called it here for years, we had a very good season. We finished second in our division, and I was looking forward to the playoffs and actually winning some money for a change. Oddly when the playoffs started even though we had the 6th best record overall in a league of 18 teams we didn’t make the playoffs.

As it turns out apparently winning isn’t as important in this league as scoring points is as somehow a team with a much worse record than ours got into the playoffs over us because they scored more points throughout the season.

Now to be fair I knew this rule existed because it’s actually happened to us before, but it’s an incredibly stupid rule and it really dampened my excitement for fantasy anything.

Sadly, there seem to be no way that I can get this rule changed. I’ve made suggestions for rule changes before only to be shouted down very quickly. I actually suggested the same rule change two seasons in a row and was told to not even bother to continue to suggest that because it would never happen.

I don’t know maybe I’m just bitter or maybe I’m just starting to tire of fantasy sports. I’ve been involved with them for a very long time and maybe I just need a break. Since I did sign up for a couple of leagues, I feel that I should go through and play the season, but maybe that will be it for me.

The only positive for me football wise is that after quite a few years the NFL Network is finally back as part of my cable package.

I have AT&T U-verse for cable and they had that contract issue with the NFL Network as they called it probably four or maybe it was five years agio and the channel went away on my cable package. Of course, it was still available on their higher priced cable packages. It’s funny how that happens.

At least now I have a little more access to NFL news, and I’ll be able to watch the games that are exclusively on the NFL Network. I’m not sure how many of them there still are with NFL games being shown on all kinds of streaming platforms now, but at least when they do show one, I’ll be able to watch it.

If I decide to stop playing fantasy sports it won’t stop me from continuing to watch sports, so getting the NFL Network back is a good thing for me.

Interestingly AT&T U-verse is going through the same issues with WGN in my area. Luckily for me WGN no longer carries the majority of the Chicago sports teams like they used to when I was growing up. If they still had those games on their network I’d be missing out on some Cubs, White Sox, Blackhawks and Bulls games.

I guess most professional sports teams have their own network or a local sports channel that carries their games. It makes sense for teams to have their own networks now as it’s another revenue stream for the team.

Hopefully your fantasy drafts go or went well and you’re more interested in fantasy football than I am right now.

Don’t forget to look for me on X (Twitter), I’m @Burketime.

Much, much more has been expected out of the Chicago White Sox the past few seasons. Unfortunately, the White Sox didn’t live up to those expectations and this season may be the worst of them all. The White Sox are currently 49-77 and in 4th place in a very weak American League Central.

When a team doesn’t perform how it’s expected to it’s going to end up costing someone their job and in the case of the White Sox it cost two people their jobs.

Yesterday the White Sox announced that they’ve fired Executive Vice President Kenny Williams and General Manager Rich Hahn.

In a statement yesterday White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf said

“Ultimately, the well-worn cliche that professional sports is results-oriented is correct”. “While we have enjoyed successes as an organization and were optimistic heading into the competitive window of this rebuild, this year has proven to be very disappointing for us all on many levels. “This has led me to the conclusion that the best decision for the organization moving forward is to make a change in our baseball department leadership.”

Williams has been with the team since 1992, working his way up in various roles, including general manager. He oversaw the team that won the 2005 World Series before being promoted to executive vice president in 2012. That’s the same year the team promoted Hahn to general manager.

The White Sox have been in the post season very recently. In 2020 they were a wild card team but lost the wild card game to the Oakland A’s. In 2021 they won the A.L. Central but were eliminated 3 games to 1 in the first round by the Houston Astros.

The other question you have to ask is how does this front office change affect first year manager Pedro Grifol. In most cases a new general manager likes to bring in his own manager, so it’s possible that Grifol will be one and done as White Sox manager.

Whoever ends up taking over the White Sox will inherit some young talent, so there could be a quick turnaround for the team. The only regular over 30 years of age is catcher Yasmani Grandal.

Of course, the White Sox were sellers at the trade deadline dealing away quite a few of their pitchers, so whoever takes over will have to find a way to replace the arms that were traded.

The White Sox made news by firing their front office yesterday, but they were also mentioned in a big rumor.

There have been reports that the White Sox have looked into moving. Apparently, the White Sox have checked into the possibility of moving to Nashville Tennessee. There was talk of this move coinciding with the team being sold.

The White Sox have and will always be the second baseball team in Chicago behind the Cubs, so a move might give them their own new identity in a new city.

Jery Reinsdorf has threatened to move the White Sox before. In 1988 there were reports that the White Sox would move to Florida unless they were able to secure a new stadium. As we know the White Sox ended up getting a new stadium and stayed in Chicago. It’s unclear if or what the White Sox could be looking for with this story of a possible move.

Since the story of the move just popped up yesterday will have to kind of wait and see what else starts to come out. Maybe the team is looking for a better lease deal at Guaranteed Rate Field or maybe they’re looking for some upgrades to the ballpark.

Jump in here and let me know what you think about the White Sox situation. Will Grifol be the manager next season? Is the threat of the White Sox moving to Nashville real? Or is it just another ploy to get something out of the state of Illinois?

Don’t forget to look for me on Twitter, I’m @Burketime.

Now it’s never a good time for a Major League Baseball team to go on a losing streak, but at this time of the season a losing streak could cost that team a division title or wild card spot.

Unfortunately for the New York Yankees that looks just like the spot they might be in at this point. The Yankees have lost seven games in a row, have dropped to under .500 at 60-63 and find themselves in last place in a very tough American League East.

Looking a little deeper the Yankees are actually 3-11 over their last 14 games and they haven’t won back-to-back games since beating the Tampa Bay Rays on August 2nd and then the Houston Astros on August 3rd.

With the A.L. East being as good as it has been this season there was very little chance that the Yankees would win the division, but they have been in contention for a wild card spot. After this stretch the Yankees now find themselves 8 games out of a wild card spot. With 39 games and five teams left to pass for a wild card spot it’s looking more and more like the Yankees won’t be a playoff team this season.

It seems as though this season might end up costing Yankees manager Aaron Boone his job, but you have to wonder if it’s time for the Yankees to make a change in the front office instead.

When you go back to the Yankees off season, they did the right thing and re-signed Aaron Judge, but their only other big move was to sign oft injured starting pitcher Carlos Rodon to a 6-year $162 million dollar contract.

Rodon was looked at as the best starting pitcher on the free agent market, but we’re talking about a pitcher who only made 30 starts one time in his career and it just happened to be the year he was headed into free agency. This is Rodon’s 9th year as a major league starting pitcher and he’s made 153 career starts. Rodon averages just a little over 18 starts per season coming into 2023 and it’s not looking like he’s even going to get to that number for the Yankees this season. Due to injury Rodon has only made 6 starts for the Yankees this season.

There were other questionable moves by Cashman that for some reason he doesn’t seem to being held accountable for.

Cashman bought into Aaron Hicks as a starting outfielder. Hicks was released this season after hitting .188 in 28 games for the Yankees this season. The Yankees never settled on a #1 catcher as Kyle Higashioka, Jose Trevino and Ben Rortvedt have all spent time behind the plate. The Yankees also never decided on a closer. Eight different pitchers have recorded a save for the Yankees this season. Clay Holmes is the team leader in saves at 16, but it’s unclear if he’s the go to guy at the end of the bullpen.

There are always going to be people who will defend the Yankees are try to blame this season on injuries, but as we know every team has to deal with injuries. Of course, the Judge injury was a big blow as he’s clearly the best player on this team, but besides that the other injuries are unfortunately part of baseball.

Of course, the quick fix for the Yankees and the move that it seems like everyone is expecting them to make is to sign Shohei Ohtani this off season.

I’m honestly beginning to wonder if people realize that Ohtani can only play for one team because he seems to be linked to every single team.

While whichever team ends up signing Ohtani it’s going to be a great signing. Of course, you have to remember that we’re talking about a player who’s never made the playoffs. Also, if people think pairing him with Judge helps Ohtani don’t forget that Mike Trout is one of Ohtani’s teammates right now. You also have to realize that Ohtani has been shut down as a pitcher after 22 starts this season and it’s looking more and more like he won’t pitch again this season.

It’s also unclear to me how signing Ohtani would clear up all of the Yankees problems. Yes, he’d give them another big bat and a quality starting pitcher when he’s healthy. That doesn’t seem to solve the catching or outfield issues since Ohtani no longer plays in the outfield and is strictly a DH. While we’re on that if the Yankees did sign Ohtani where would Giancarlo Stanton play. Stanton has had quite a few injury issues in his career and has been a in 43 of the 73 games here’s appeared in for the Yankees this season. There’s a 0% chance that Stanton could move back into the outfield full-time at this point in his career.

At this point with the Yankees I’m not interested in the what if’s as we’re going to deal with that all off season with every team especially when it comes to who’s going to sign Ohtani. What I want to see is what the Yankees plan to do with Boone and if he’ll be the one who’s blamed for this season or if they’ll finally look at the front office and point the finger at them. I guess we might only be a month or so away from finding that out.

While I’m thinking about this, I wanted to see how many of you are watching the preseason national Football League games.

I’ll watch the game if the starters are actually playing, but once they’re out of the game or in some cases they don’t play at all I just can’t watch. Honestly, I’m not sure why. I guess watching guys who will either make the teams as special team players or just get cut doesn’t interest me. To me it’s similar to watching an XFL or USFL game which I never watched from start to finish.

Let me know your NFL preseason television habitats as I’m very curious if there are people out there who watch the entire game.

Don’t forget to look for me on X (Twitter), I’m @Burketime.

In Sunday’s blog we took a look at who might win the Most Valuable Player and Cy young awards. I thought today we could go through who might be the Rookie of the Year.

In the American League Rookie of the Year race, it looked like Josh Jung of the Texas Rangers was going to win the award. Now he still might, but his candidacy has been slowed down by a broken hand. Jung is hitting .274 and leads all rookies in home runs with 22 and RBIs with 67. Jung hasn’t played since August 6th due to his injury, but reports are that he’ll return at some point this season. Depending on when that return happens Jung might not have enough time to reestablish himself in the Rookie of the Year race.

Because he’s 29 years old and spent 7 seasons playing in the Japanese league people may not remember that Masataka Yoshida of the Boston Red Sox is in his rookie year. Yoshida is leading all rookies in batting average as he’s hitting .300. His other numbers are solid as he has 12 home runs and 56 RBIs. He’s also the rookie leader in hits with 121. We’ve seen multiple players come over from Japan and win the Rookie of the Year award. The last time was just 5 years ago when Shohei Ohtani was the Rookie of the Year in the American League.

Now you’re going to hear other names like Gunnar Henderson of the Baltimore Orioles, Anthony Volpe of the New York Yankees and Tristan Casas another Red Sox rookie because they play for bigger market teams. Henderson has been solid and has 19 home runs but is hitting just .237. Volpe has played in more games than any other rookie (120) and does have 16 home runs but is hitting just .212. Casas struggled in the first half of the season but does have 19 home runs and has the best batting average of these three at .254. I don’t think that any of these three has done enough to win Rookie of the Year, but they’ll get some votes because of the teams they play for.

A name you won’t hear that deserves some consideration for Rookie of the Year is Maikel Garcia of the Kansas City Royals. Garcia is hitting .290 in 86 games this season and has 18 stolen bases. Garcia was called up a little over a month into the season, so he hasn’t played as many games as some of the other rookies, but he’s been an everyday player for Kansas City since being brought up. Of course, the problem Garcia is going to run into in the Rookie of the Year voting is that he plays for with the second worst record in Major League Baseball.

Coming into this season Corbin Carroll of the Arizona Diamondbacks was the odds-on favorite to win the N.L. Rookie of the Year and he’s been solid. Carroll is tied for the most home runs by a National League rookie with 21. He’s also leading all National League rookies in stolen bases with 36. Carroll is hitting .269 and has 59 RBIs, so he has the numbers to be considered for the award.

What’s interesting in the National League is the fact that the Cincinnati Reds have not one, not two but three rookies that should get votes for the Rookie of the Year award. Elly De La Cruz seems to get most of the media attention. De La Cruz has played in 59 games this season. He has 10 home runs and 26 RBIs as well as 18 stolen bases while hitting .263. De La Cruz does strikeout a lot as he’s already struck out 90 times in his 59 games, but we all know strikeouts no longer mean what they used to for hitters. Spencer Steer has played in more games than any other National League rookie (116) and he also has more hits than any other National League rookie 117. Steer has 18 home runs, 66 RBIs and has reached double digits in steals with 10 while hitting .272. Reds shortstop Matt McLain is also in this conversation. McLain has played in 94 games and is hitting .294 with 12 home runs and 41 RBIs while playing what might be the toughest defensive position. McLain has only made 1 error at shortstop this season and has a fielding percentage of .994.

Now it’s doubtful that any of the Cincinnati players will win Rookie of the Year because they will probably cancel each other out. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them all end up in the Top 10 of the Rookie of the Year voting, but I don’t anyone of them will win the award.

Even though he’s only hitting .226 I wouldn’t be surprised to see Francisco Alvarez of the New York Mets get quite a few Rookie of the Year votes. Alvarez is tied with Carroll for most home runs by a National League rookie with 21 while playing in 26 less games than Carroll has. Alvarez is also handling the catching duties for the Mets and even though their season has been disappointing Alvarez is one of their few bright spots.

There are some Rookie of the Year candidates. Let me know who you think will win the award in each league. Maybe you think it’s someone that I’ve listed here or maybe there’s someone you’ve noticed that I didn’t mention. I’m not sure if there’s been one rookie that has run away with the award this season which should make the voting interesting. Who knows maybe there’s even a pitcher on your list that you think could win the award.

As always remember to look for me on Twitter, I’m @Burketime.

As Major League Baseball enters the dog days of August, I’ve heard a lot of talk about who’s going to win what awards when the season ends. At this point the regular season is headed down the stretch and it makes a little more sense to discuss who might win what than it did back in April and May when they were also doing this. So, let’s see where we are.

It’s clear that no matter what else happens the rest of the season and even though it’s looking like his team will miss the playoffs again Shohei Ohtani will win the American League Most Valuable Player award. To be fair he is having a very good year and actually has a slim chance of winning the triple crown. I have a feeling if he did that, they would make a much bigger deal out of it than when Miguel Cabrera did it and there were media members who still didn’t think he deserved to win MVP.

There’s a lot more intrigue over who might win the National League MVP. It appears as though the three top contenders are Freddie Freeman of the Los Angeles Dodgers and teammates Ronld Acuna Jr. and Matt Olson of the Atlanta Braves.

Freeman is currently 2nd in the N. L. in batting average. He currently has 23 home runs, 83 RBI’s and has stolen 16 bases. Plus, he is leading the National League in OPS.

Acuna Jr. is right behind Freeman in the N.L. batting race as he sits 3rd. Acuna Jr. currently has 26 home runs, 71 RBI’s and is the major league leader in stolen bases with 54. Acuna is also 2nd in OPS in the N.L.

Olson’s batting average isn’t quite as high as Freeman’s or Acuna Jr’s, but he is leading all of Major League Baseball in home runs with 42 and RBIs with 105. Olson is also 3rd in the National League in OPS.

They are easily the best candidates for the National League MVP award. You do have to wonder if the fact that Acuna Jr. and Olson are teammates if that might hurt their chances. It’s very possible that they could split the vote and Freeman could end up winning the MVP award.

There was a situation like this all the way back in 1988. Darryl Strawberry and Kevin McReynolds of the New York Mets both had great years and ended up splitting 1st place votes for MVP and Kirk Gibson who just happened to be with the Dodgers won the award. Is it possible that another Dodger could win an MVP award under similar circumstances?

Now when you start looking at the Cy Young award in each league there’s not really a pitcher that jumps out at you.

In the National League Blake Snell of the San Diego Padres has the best ERA 2.63 and has held opponents to the lowest batting average against at .196. Justin Steele of the Chicago Cubs, Spencer Strider of the Atlanta Braves and Tajuan Walker of the Philadelphia Phillies are tied for the lead league in wins with 13 each. Steele may be a at the top of that group as he has the 2nd best ERA in the N.L. behind Snell. Strider is currently leading the N.L. in strikeouts with 217. Zac Gallen of the Arizona Diamondbacks has the best WHIP in the N. L. and has won 12 games so far this season.

There’s a large group of pitchers to choose from in the National League and I wouldn’t be surprised if this ends up being the closest Cy Young vote ever.

In the American League there are two starting pitchers who might’ve shown more than anyone else. Nathan Eovaldi of the Texas Rangers is leading the league in ERA at 2.69 and is 11-3 this season with 2 complete games. Eovaldi’s issue is he’s only made 19 starts as he is currently inured and it’s unclear when he’ll return. Gerrit Cole of the New York Yankees has put together another very good season. Cole is 10-3 and is right behind Eovaldi in the ERA race as Cole’s ERA is 2.75. Zach Eflin of the Tampa Bay Rays is leading the A.L. in wins with 12 and is also leading the league in WHIP at 0.97.

What I’m actually wondering is if the voters will want to make history and give the Cy Young as well as the MVP to Ohtani. On the mound Ohtani has posted a 10-5 record with an ERA of 3.17 and is the league leader in batting average against at .185 and he’s 3rd in strikeouts with 165. Those are solid numbers, but I don’t think he’s been the best pitcher in the American League.

In all honesty the best pitcher in the A.L. has been Baltimore Orioles closer Felix Bautista. He’s appeared in 50 games and is 6-2 with an ERA of 1.66 and has 31 saves. His WHIP is 0.98 and teams are hitting just .153 against him.

Of course, the voters don’t like to give relievers the Cy Young. The last time a relief pitcher won the Cy Young was back in 1983 when Eric Gagne of the Dodgers won the award. So, Bautista has quite a hill to climb to win the Cy Young.

While we have to wait until the votes are counted to find out who won that doesn’t mean you can’t tell me who you think are going to win these awards. Is it someone I have listed here? Or is there someone out there that you think deserves to win one of these awards?

Don’t forget to look me up on Twitter, I’m @Burketime.

Since the trade deadline the Cincinnati Reds and the Boston Red Sox have really struggled. Cincinnati is just 1-7 since August 1st while the Red Sox are just a little better at 2-5 since the trade deadline.

I was surprised to hear that people are trying to compare these two teams as neither one was very active at the trade deadline and that’s what their struggles are being blamed on.

With the exception of both teams not doing much at the trade deadline the similarities stop there for me. The Red Sox are much more of a veteran team as they have eight of eight of their nine regulars over the age of 26 with three of them being over 30. The Reds on the other hand just four regulars over the age of 27 and just one over the age of 35.

The Red Sox also play in the best division in baseball, so it’s unclear what kind of deals they would’ve had to of made to get themselves in contention. Cincinnati on the other hand plays in what might be the worse division in baseball, and should they have mortgaged the future they’ve been building with their prospects for this season?

Then you also have to ask, what big names were out there for either team to acquire? Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer where the only really big names moved at the trade deadline and while both the Red Sox and the Reds probably could’ve used either of them would it have been the right move for either team?

The Red Sox may get some help for their starting rotation as it’s being reported that Chris Sale is going to start for them on Friday of this week. Sale has battled injuries for the last few seasons, but he was solid this season making 11 starts and going 5-2 with an ERA of 4.58.

The Reds also got some veteran help back as Joey Votto returned on June 19th. Votto has struggled since returning as he’s hitting just .203, but he’s added some power to the Reds lineup as he’s hit 13 home runs in the 40 games he’s played since returning.

It does appear that both teams could’ve used some kind of help, but who and at what cost. There are always people who said they should’ve put a package together to acquire Shohei Ohtani, but the Los Angeles Angels made it very clear that they weren’t going to trade Ohtani, so people need to stop suggesting that.

Some of the other names out there were players like Marcus Stroman and Cody Bellenger who both play for the Chicago Cubs. It’s doubtful that the Cubs would’ve made a serious inter-division trade with the Reds and don’t forget that the Cubs also said that they would be hanging onto Stroman and Bellenger as they were going to try and get into the playoffs themselves.

As things sit right now the Red Sox are 58-55, but unfortunately that puts them in last place in the Amercian League East. Boston is 12 games behind the division leading Baltimore Orioles, so winning the division isn’t going to happen, but the Red Sox are just 5 games out of a wild card spot. The biggest issue to the Red Sox wild card chances is that they’d have to jump five teams to get that final wild card spot and that’s not easy to do this time of the year.

Cincinnati is 60-56 which puts them not only a 1 1/2 behind the division leading Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central, but they are also just 1 1/2 games out of a wild card spot. Unlike the Red Sox the Reds just have two teams that they’d have to move past to get into a wild card spot.

It’s unclear if either team will get into the playoffs as we still have a little less than 50 games to go in the regular season and a lot could happen between now and the end of the regular season.

So, what do you think. Do you see either the Red Sox or the Reds getting into the playoffs or maybe you think that both teams will find their way into the playoffs. Let me know what you think, and which team has the best chance to get in the playoffs in your opinion.

As always don’t forget to look for me on Twitter or is it X now. Either way I’m @Burketime.

My friend Rory sent me this little tidbit and I thought I’d share it with you to start off the blog.

Major League Baseball has been around 147 years, and there have been a little over 23,000 players who have played in a professional baseball game.

To put that in perspective the smallest stadium by capacity is Progressive Field at 37,830. Meaning is ever player who’s ever put on a big-league uniform from 1876 to 2023 sat in the stands, the stadium would only be at 61% capacity.

I just thought that was an interesting fact to start out with.

Now as we’ve went over a few times here the Major League Baseball trade deadline was August 1st. Now there are no more trades allowed like there used to be where if a player made it through waivers he could still be traded. Oddly there still seems to be a lot of player movement even though they are no trades allowed. So how is this happening?

I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that teams would find a way to get around the trade deadline and to an extent they have. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there have been quite a few players that have been designated for assignment by their teams.

Now generally that would mean that the team that designated the player had 10 days to either trade or release him. Well since trades are no longer allowed these players are released and become free to sign with any team they choose to.

Obviously, this isn’t going to happen to any superstar type of players, but those kinds of players were rarely moved in waiver deals anyway.

What it ends up meaning is playoff contenders can add those extra pieces without having to give anything up to get them.

I guess a good example of this might be Ramon Laureano who was designated for assignment by the Oakland A’s this afternoon. The A’s made a series of roster moves leading up to Laureano being designated. Oakland activated Dany Jimenez and Esteury Ruiz from the IL, and the optioning of reliever Tayler Scott to Triple-A.

Laureano has struggled with injuries the last couple of seasons, and also served an 80-game suspension after testing positive for an anabolic steroid in 2021.

Laureano is just 29 years old and could be a very solid fourth outfielder on a playoff contending type of team.

Even though Laureano has struggled at the plate this season, he’s hitting just .213 in 64 games this season. He’s still a plus defender in the outfield. Laureano has 6 outfield assists this season.

Laureano is just an example there are quite a few players that have been designated for assignment and are the type of player that playoff contending teams can still add even though we’re past the trade deadline.

Like I mentioned I don’t think that any of these players would end up winning a World Series MVP for the team that might pick them up, but they can be more than suitable pinch hitters, defensive replacements and bench players.

I’m kind of on the fence if this is a good thing or a bad thing. There’s a reason that MLB put in the trade deadline and ended waiver trades, but this is a way around that rule. I’m not even sure if there would be a way to avoid this from happening. MLB really can’t tell teams how to manage their roster and if they want to designate a player no matter who that player is they’re allowed to.

I do wonder if anything would be said or possibly changed if one of these players that was designated for assignment signed with a playoff team and actually got the game winning hit in a playoff series. I haven’t heard anyone else mention this, but if something like a game winning hit happened someone might take notice.

I’m interested to know what you think about this.

Don’t forget to look me up on Twitter, I’m @Burketime.

The Major League Baseball trade deadline has come and gone and the best way to describe it would be uneventful. There was no big blockbuster type of deal as the two biggest names moved were Justn Verlander who went back to the Houston Astros and Max Scherzer who was traded days before the deadline.

Even though the Los Angeles Angels came out and announced that they wouldn’t be trading Shohei Ohtani there was still quite a bit of talk about him being dealt. I think that was just a pray by the mainstream media, so they’d have something big to talk about.

The Angels instead decided to add players at the trade deadline to make a run at the playoffs. The other American League West teams also added to try and hold onto their playoff spots. The Texas Rangers added multiple arms to their pitching staff including Scherzer while the Astros bought back Verlander to try and shore up their starting rotation.

Oddly the biggest news at the trade deadline may have been the deal that didn’t happen. The Los Angeles Dodgers were looking to add starting pitching and thought they had a deal in place with the Detroit Tigers to acquire Eduardo Rodriguez, but Rodriguez used the no-trade clause in his contract to block the deal and remain with the Tigers.

Rodriguez’s contract has 10 teams listed that he can block a trade to, and the Dodgers were obviously one of them. Rodriguez said that he blocked the trade because of a “a desire to remain closer to family on the east coast.”

As always there will be a lot of talk about which teams won and which teams lost at the trade deadline, but in reality, we won’t know until the season plays out. There wasn’t really a team out there that can walk away and say they acquired everything they wanted at the deadline. It’s just a matter now about who performs for their new team and who doesn’t.

With Scherzer and Verlander being traded it will be interesting to see how the New York Mets fill out their starting rotation for the remainder of the season.

As of now the Mets have Kodai Senga, Jose Quintana and Carlos Carrasco in the starting rotation, but they’ll need at least two more or maybe three, but the Mets don’t have any high-profile pitching prospects that they might be able to call up.

The Mets do have Joey Lucchesi and Tyler Megill in Triple-A. so you’d think that they would be the two players who’d get called up to take those spots. Lucchesi has been solid at Triple-A, but Megill has struggled in his 6 starts as his ERA is 8.67.

The Mets two best starting pitching prospects in Triple-A are Joey Butto and Mike Vasil, but they both have ERAs over 6 for Syracuse, so it’s doubtful that either of them would be brought up to fill out the starting rotation.

Senga is scheduled to start for the Mets tonight against the Kansas City Royals, but the Mets haven’t listed a starter for tomorrow’s game. It’s possible that the Mets will make multiple roster moves before tonight or tomorrow night’s game.

So let me know what you thought about the MLB trade deadline. Did your favorite team make the moves you hoped they’d make? Did they acquire the players they needed to contend for a playoff spot? Or did they sell off players for prospects to try and rebuild towards next season?

Don’t forget to look for me on Twitter, I’m @Burketime.