Transaction Deadline

The transaction deadline has passed. Basically all that means is a player must clear waivers if he is on the 40-man roster before he can be traded. These waivers are revokable, so don't forget to click the box. Be careful though when trying to claim a player off waivers, there are a shrewd lot out there that would love to dump a big useless salaried player.

The question for many teams is whether to go shopping or not. Play devils advocate so to speak, claim a player so he can only be traded to you thus blocking any future endeavor. I used to do that quite a bit when rebuilding a team but have since stopped, the reason I did is because bad teams get first choice. Playoff teams love to block also even though they aren't going to think about a trade most generally. The catch behind that is if you have the rights to the player in question all well and good, but trading for him is usually a losing proposition. So what if he is an All-Star caliber player, is he worth two or three future prospects to get him? Chances are he is either in the last year of his contract or will be arb eligible next year for big bucks.  Arb eligible isn't so bad I guess, at least you can sign him next season to a long term contract. On the other hand you might have given up a prospect or two that would be cheaper in the long run. Okay so you trade for that vet in the final year of his contract. Plans are to finish the year hoping he doesn't get hurt and either resign him to a long term extension, resign him next year to a long term contract or let him go to Free Agency. Doesn't matter if he was type A or B, what you gave up was probably better than the late round future picks you get in compensation. The answer I am trying to get across is be careful and make sure of those future plans as getting these players aren't going to be cheap.

The reason I say I am undecided at the shopping aspect is because I have looked at the standings. I might be last in the division and 25 games back  with 53 games to go there is absolutely no way to make that up. However, I actually have a decent team and believe it or not we are only 12 games behind the leading candidate for the last wild card spot. What I must decide is if we can win 35-40 games to secure that spot. That is asking a lot. Trading for two or three players would be even tougher on the future. One thing for sure, I have to decide quickly because I must get better at tanking to get a top 5 pick next year.