Trade Deadline is Here

The trade deadline is at 4:00 PM today but August 31 is the real deadline because a player has to be on a roster by August 31 to make the playoff roster. Every year you see a player traded after the July 31 deadline. A description of how the waiver process works is below

"The waiver wire is a secret within the personnel of the Major League Baseball clubs; no announcement of a waiver is made until a transaction actually occurs. Many players are often quietly waived during the August "waiver-required" trading period to gauge trade interest in a particular player. Usually, when the player is claimed, the waiving team will rescind the waiver to avoid losing the player unless a trade can be worked out with the claiming team."

Other News:

-SI has a story on David Price (Sperl) in this weeks issue. Price is 5-0 with a 2.20 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP in 7 starts at AA. He has let up a couple a HRs lately but they are the only hits he is giving up. He will up up for the Rays this season and it might be in the bullpen to start especially if the Rays don't get a lefty specialist before the deadline.

-On the front page of the Sports section of USA Today there is a story about how teams do not want to move top prospects in deadline deals. I think this stems from the success that so many young players are having early in their careers. Also, GMs don't want to look stupid when you trade Bartolo Colon for Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee and Brandon Phillips as the Expos did prior to the 2002 deadline.

- Max Ramirez (AP) was sent back to AA. He only amassed 43 ABs
- Phillip Hughes (Sperl) threw 3 scoreless innings on Tuesday during his rehab.
- Max Scherzer (Lotocki) has returned from the DL and is a contender to return to the rotation.
- Clayton Kershaw (Russ) got his first career win and is about to exceed the 50 inning mark.
- Fernado Martinez (Scott) is out again with the same hamstring problem that had him out 5 weeks earlier this season. The Mets say that he is "untouchable" but I think this kid is a bum and the Mets have one of the worst farm sysyems in the Majors need something of hyped prospect in their system.

I will keep you updated if any prospect worth mentioning is moved today.