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One of the busiest and most exciting times of Major League Baseball’s season is rapidly approaching: the trade deadline.
This year’s trade deadline is set for Aug. 3 at 6 p.m. ET with plenty of contenders looking to bolster their rosters. However, looming over the trade deadline is the expiration of the CBA and the lack of sellers.
In 2022, Major League Baseball added the third wild-card spot to the postseason, allowing more teams to remain in contention. At the time of this writing, all but seven teams are within 5½ games of the final wild-card spot, making more teams reluctant to part ways with key pieces while chasing a playoff berth.
World Series champion Joe Girardi said the sellers will control the market.
“Well, I think it changes it completely because so many teams are still in it,” Girardi told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. “I would say there’s only probably seven teams that would consider themselves eliminated out of the 30 so far.
“So, that means there’s probably not going to be a lot of people traded from the other 23 teams. So, everyone’s going to be in the hunt for those guys on those seven teams. And there’s only so many that you can acquire.”
The Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Angels, the Athletics and Kansas City Royals are expected to be among the sellers.
“I think it’s going to make it really interesting. I think for the seven teams that are probably planning on moving players at this time, I think they’re in a great position to rebuild because their assets are going to become, teams are going to come at him hard, and you’re going to get some pretty good deals.”
Girardi, who won three World Series as a player during his 15-year career and one as a manager of the New York Yankees, said the expiration of the CBA will change how teams operate.
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While Girardi remains confident Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association will strike a deal, he expects teams to be more aggressive.
“I think they will. I think teams will go for it more in a sense, not knowing what’s going to happen next year. And I’m still a strong believer that a deal will get done. Because it always does. There’s nothing in the history of the game that tells me that either side is willing to shut it down for a whole year,” Girardi told Fox News Digital on behalf of Perfect Game.
“But there’s always that risk, and sometimes teams get older, they figure that their window is closing. Let’s go for it now because we don’t know what’s going to happen next year, and we’ll just adjust when we have to.”
The Los Angeles Dodgers are going for their third straight World Series championship this season, and two-time reigning Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal could be on the move as the Detroit Tigers continue to scuffle, according to ESPN.
The Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays are all expected to be in on Skubal, according to the report.
San Diego Padres All-Star closer Mason Miller could be on the move, but the team is just 1½ games behind the race for a wild-card spot in the National League.
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If some of the teams within striking distance of the final wild-card spot — like the Baltimore Orioles (2½ games back), Tigers (4½ games back), Miami Marlins (2 games back), Washington Nationals (2 games back) and St. Louis Cardinals (2½ games back) — decide to blow it up, they could change the landscape of the sport.
Girardi was a catcher in the big leagues for 15 years. He spent the first four seasons of his career with the Chicago Cubs, the next three with the Rockies, the next four with the Yankees and returned to the Cubs for three years before spending his final season with the Cardinals. He made the All-Star Game in 2000 with the Cubs.
He had a career .267 batting average with 36 home runs and 424 RBI. After his playing career, he became a manager. He spent one season with the Marlins in 2006 and then managed the Yankees for 10 seasons, beginning in 2008. Girardi most recently managed the Phillies for 2½ years from 2020 to 2022.
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