Trading deadline looms
July 31, 2008 by Tony Baldwin
Filed under Baseball
It’s a wonderful time of the year…for the teams still in the race. For other teams, it’s just another time to watch their young superstar or aging superstar of their favorite team get shipped out to a contender. This has the makings of being one of the biggest trading deadlines that I can remember with so many big names being talked about.
The Boston Red Sox are deciding whether or not to trade Manny Ramirez. The Cincinnati Reds are awaiting approval from Ken Griffey, Jr., before they send him to the Chicago White Sox. The New York Yankees are always looking to deal (picked up Ivan Rodriguez yesterday). And teams that you never thought would have a chance are becoming big players in today’s trading deadline (Tampa Bay Rays and Florida Marlins).
Today is one of those days when you just want to be able to tap into Peter Gammons or Jayson Stark or Buster Olney’s cell phone and just hear their “sources” talk about deals that are going or could go down.
Maybe it’s the fact that Major League Baseball doesn’t have a salary cap that makes their trading deadline so interesting. It seems that just about any player can be traded to any other team, no matter what their contract looks like. In the case of Griffey, he has the chance to turn down the offer and stay in Cincinnati. But would you want to do that? This team just traded you, and they need you to agree to go. I would go. Chicago is in first place of the American League Central, while Cincinnati will never make it to World Series while Griffey is still an active MLB player.
Just tune into ESPN and watch it all unfold. Let’s hope your team is one of the teams that benefits from the deadline and not one that sells off their superstars.
