The trade deadline may be just 10 days away, but there has not been much buzz around the event league wide. With the virus constantly looming and teams only acquiring players for one month rather than the normal two, interest seems to be lighter than usual.
There is also some debate on how many teams are actually willing to buy or sell players. The expanded playoff format has greatly widened the pool of potential teams who have a shot at reaching October. That could discourage some teams that were expected to struggle from selling off players, hoping for a surprise playoff berth.
The Pirates, owners of a league-worst 4-17 record, are one of the few clubs clearly positioned as sellers, and on Friday, general manager Ben Cherington all but officially said that nobody is off the table.
"I think we'll be real active in conversations, that's already started," Cherington said. "Lots of phone calls happening."
The Pirates have three players on the roster on expiring deals: Closer Keone Kela, starter Derek Holland and outfielder Jarrod Dyson. They also have much larger potential trade chips who could bring in more talent, including Josh Bell, Adam Frazier and Trevor Williams.
However, since they still have years of control remaining for most of their roster, they don't need to make a deal by the Aug. 31 deadline if they don't feel it's right. But those conversations and phone calls will still happen, regardless of if anything materializes.
"I think there'll be a lot of that, a lot of exchange of information, dialogue, similar level to a normal year," Cherington said. "In terms of whether those turn into deals, [I] don't know. I guess you never really know until you do and even in a normal year, I still don't know what this year will mean as far as volume of activity. I would expect there are deals to be made."
It will be a much different deadline than usual. In-person scouting has been greatly affected by COVID-19, but each club has opted into a video and data sharing pool so each team can still get information about potential trade targets.
Teams will also not be allowed to trade players who are not in their 60-player pool, unless they are qualified as players to be named later. However, the information in those scouting reports could be outdated since the newest ones would be from March at the earliest.
That creates obvious roadblocks for completing a potential deal, but Cherington doesn't think it will stop the process.
"The draft was different but teams still drafted players," Cherington said. "I would expect we will still see trades the next few days."
While no one is off the table, Derek Shelton said he and Cherington have outlined some players on the team they want to keep long-term.
"There are players on this team right now who are going to be part of this team when we’re good," Cherington said. "I really do believe that. It doesn’t mean it’s a guarantee, but that’s what I believe."
If there is anything certain about this trade deadline, it is that nothing is certain.
"We also have to be very smart and willing to listen," Shelton said. "It takes two people to make a deal, if there is a deal to be made at the deadline. I think when we get to that point, if we get to that point, then we will sit down and discuss it.”
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