Lindbergh: Yes, the 2015 MLB trading deadline was as insane as it seemed
From SABR member Ben Lindbergh at Grantland.com on August 3, 2015:
MLB general managers earned their unlimited mobile plans last month. If we count a small, lopsided-sounding deal between the Diamondbacks and Phillies — two minor leaguers and future considerations to Arizona for (wait for it) future considerations — every major league team made a trade in July. Because GMs tend to procrastinate keep their options open as long as possible, most of those trades were clustered toward the July 31 non-waiver trading deadline, the last day on which teams can move players without exposing them to claims from other organizations. And most of those trades involved some serious present considerations.
The days leading up to the deadline resolved the status of multiple high-profile trade candidates who’d been on the block for ages (Troy Tulowitzki, Cole Hamels) and brought us several prototypical rental trades for free-agents-to-be. Although some likely trade candidates — White Sox starter Jeff Samardzija, half the Padres’ roster — stayed put, their absence from the newswire was easy to miss amid the stream of other starters (Scott Kazmir! Johnny Cueto! David Price!) and sluggers (Ben Zobrist! Carlos Gomez! Yoenis Cespedes!) changing teams. In the moment, it seemed like an abnormal amount of activity. In retrospect, it still does. But we need numbers to know for sure. Was the 2015 trade deadline as active as it seemed? And if so, what might that mean?
Read the full article here: http://grantland.com/the-triangle/2015-mlb-trade-deadline-historic-quality-and-quantity-of-deals/
Originally published: August 3, 2015. Last Updated: August 3, 2015.