Last season, the Chicago Cubs acquiring Daniel Murphy wouldn’t have happened. It didn’t pan out as the Cubs had hoped. But it’s a thing of the past as Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reported. (Subscription required) Those non-waiver deals that nobody fully understood have been removed, and all trades must take place by July 31.
The non-waiver deal was, uh, confusing at the least. The simplest way it can be explained is that any player could be placed on waivers. Then it went from worst to first in the league you were in.