I hate baseball and never watch it or pay attention to it, but I was under the impression that the trade deadline passed (last week or something). How is it that teams are still trading players (Nationals traded Livan Hernanez) if the deadline is past? Doesn't seem like much of a deadline.
If a player clears waivers (meaning he is not claimed by any of the 29 other teams), he can be traded after the July 31st deadline.
so if two teams enter a trade agreement, a third can come in and steal the player or something like that?
Good question, it's fucking stupid. The deadline used to be June 15 and it used to be a real deadline.
Any player under contract may be placed on waivers at any time. If a player is waived, any team may claim him. If more than one team claims a player from waivers, the team with the lowest record in the player's league gets preference. If no team in the player's league claims him, the claiming team with the lowest record in the other league gets preference. The previous year's standings are used during the first month of a season to determine preference. If a team claims a player off waivers and has the viable claim as described above, his first team may choose one of the following: - arrange a trade with the new team for that player within two business days of the claim; or - rescind the request and keep the player on their major league roster, effectively canceling the waiver; or - do nothing and allow the claiming team to assume the player's existing contract, pay a waiver fee to the first team, and place him on their active major league roster If a player is claimed and the option to rescind is used, this option to rescind a waiver may not be used again for that player in that season. If no team claims a player from waivers in three business days, the player has cleared waivers and may be assigned to a minor league team, traded, or released outright. The waiver "wire" is a secret within the personnel of the Major League Baseball clubs; no announcement of a waiver is made until a transaction actually occurs. Many players are often quietly waived during the August "waiver-required" trading period to gauge trade interest in a particular player. Usually, when the player is claimed, the waiving team will rescind the waiver to avoid losing the player unless a trade can be worked out with the claiming team.
