Impact trades after baseball's July 31 non-waiver trade deadline might be uncommon, but they aren't impossible to pull off. We only need to think back to the nine-player blockbuster that Boston and Los Angeles pulled off in 2012 for evidence of that.
While we are unlikely to see a deal of that magnitude go down this month and the vast majority of trades that are completed will largely be considered mundane, there are impact players to be had and impact deals to be made.
For those who have forgotten how the whole waiver trade process works or never really understood it in the first place, I direct your attention to this primer by Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter, who breaks it down into easily digestible bullet points.
Now that you understand how the process works, understand this: "Impact" doesn't always mean that a player will switch uniforms and provide a team with his best impersonation of Max Scherzer or Mike Trout for two months.
Oftentimes, the impact a new addition has on a contender is far more subtle. Heck, sometimes the impact isn't able to be measured by statistics or show up in a box score; it's felt in the clubhouse.
What follows are deals that five contenders should look to pull off in the days and weeks ahead as they try to bolster their rosters for the stretch run.
- Login to post comments