Trade Deadline Has Moved on Schedule and is About to Explode

The MLB trade deadline is a merely a few hours away, as the league is about to catch fire with last-minute trades as all 30 team take their last chance at reshuffling their roster for the playoff push.

This is the last chance for losing teams to find value on their roster in a lost season and for contenders to find the missing pieces that can put them over the top to make the playoffs or even to win it all once they get there.

So far, we have enjoyed what has felt like a remarkably active trade market, with countless deals taking place over the past week. With so many moves made, I thought it would be interesting to look back at what happened at the deadline last year to compare the pace at which things have moved this year.

What I found was pretty shocking, as this deadline really has not been that much more active than what we saw last year, when there we plenty of action prior to deadline day, only for things to explode between noon and the 6:00 p.m. deadline.

What Happened Last Year?

Last year the first trade that we used to open up our trade deadline tracker took place on July 25^th, when Kike Hernandez was traded back to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now the deadline was August 1st last year, so this deal was made exactly one week prior to it.

Shortly after that, the the Dodgers traded for Amed Rosario, something they have done again this season. The Rosario trade was one of four that took place in the days leading up to our first blockbuster of the deadline on July 27th.

On July 26th last year, the Los Angeles Angels made the proud declaration that they would not trade Shohei Ohtani and their goal was to buy to build around him at the deadline. The following day, they swung a blockbuster for starting pitcher Lucas Giolito and then-reliever Reynaldo Lopez.

This all took place on Thursday, July 27th, the Thursday before the deadline. Friday night, the Mets signaled to everyone they would be sellers, trading closer David Robertson to the Miami Marlins. Over the coming days, we would see countless other names traded, including Max Scherzer, Jordan Hicks, Lance Lynn, Joe Kelly and Kendall Graveman.

All told, there were eight trades made on July 31st, the eve of the trade deadline.

Looking back however and comparing the pace of last year’s deadline to this year, it really has not moved that much quicker. The eve of the deadline was a bit more active this year, with 12 trades taking place on deadline eve, but overall it has been very close to the same.

Last year, the deadline action really started a few days earlier than it did this year, which spread out the trades a little bit. This season, we have seen an incredible amount of action in the four days leading up to the deadline, with 27 trades taking place since Friday.

If we compare the two seasons from the final week before the deadline though, the amount of trades made has been very similar, with 28 taking place this year compared to 25 last year.

What’s in Store for the Today’s Deadline

A lot of people are curious how much action we will see today, considering everything that has transpired over the last four days. If last year’s timeline is any indication, we are about to see the floodgates open any moment now, as there were more than double the amount of trades that took place on deadline day, as there were in the week leading up to it in 2023.

Also if you go back and look at the timing of the moves, almost all of them took place after noon on deadline day. So while we are all waiting on pins and needles, this is nothing new.

Moving forward throughout the rest of the day, we will have covered for all of the latest in the baseball world, with a cominbation of articles, podcasts and video content coming your way. First things first, follow along with our 2024 trade deadline tracker, where we have been updating the post every time a major trade takes place.

We will also continue to write up full articles breaking down these trades and the prospect returns that are heading back in these deals. Finally, starting at 4:15 p.m. EST, two hours before the deadline, we will be hoping on a livestream that will be available through our YouTube channel and Twitter where we will cover everything happening on the market in real time.

Please join us for all the deadline fun, it is sure to be thrilling day!