The second after Major League Baseball’s non-waiver trade deadline passes on Monday, that thud you hear will be trade value plummeting. Sure, deals can still be made in August, when pricey players like Jacoby Ellsbury will breeze through waivers easily, with no one wanting to claim them.
But good, cheap players will inevitably get claimed by a rival team in August, leaving clubs with an unsavory choice: Either swap valued players to the claiming team for less than their perceived value, or pull back the players from waivers altogether -- which doesn’t make a lot of sense when it involves impending free agency.