The deadline before the deadline is Sunday at 5 p.m. ET, two hours before the start of the amateur draft.
What deadline, you ask? The one for teams to trade their 2024 competitive-balance round picks. Once the draft starts, those selections will be used to grab actual players.
Not surprisingly, the picks are the subject of trade talk, according to four heads of baseball operations who were granted anonymity for their candor. Deals involving one or more of them are possible, though not necessarily likely, over the next several days.
Competitive-balance round picks — six after the first round this year, eight after the second — are the only ones Major League Baseball allows to be traded. The selections, which go to teams that have either one of the 10 smallest markets or 10 lowest revenue pools, first were awarded in 2013.
Twenty-six of the picks have been dealt, according to STATS Perform. But only four of those trades took place within a month of the draft. From that group, the most successful pick was Connor Joe, whom the Pittsburgh Pirates took at No. 39 in 2014 after acquiring the selection from the Miami Marlins for Bryan Morris.
The picks only can be traded by the team to which they were awarded. The Milwaukee Brewers, holding the first choice in Competitive Balance Round A and 34th overall, cannot deal the selection after acquiring it from the Baltimore Orioles for Corbin Burnes. The Chicago White Sox, holding the third choice in Competitive Balance Round B and 68th overall, also cannot deal their pick, which they obtained from the Seattle Mariners for Gregory Santos.
The Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Guardians, Pirates, Colorado Rockies and Kansas City Royals are the other teams in Competitive Balance Round A. The slot values of the picks in that round, Nos. 34 to 39, descend from $2.698 million to $2.395 million. A club that acquires the selection also acquires the slot value, increasing the size of its pool and its negotiating flexibility.
The teams in Competitive Balance Round B are the Tampa Bay Rays, Brewers, White Sox, Minnesota Twins, Marlins, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers and Oakland Athletics. The slot values of those picks, Nos. 66 to 73, descend from $1.26 million to $1.08 million. The draft positions and slot values of those picks make them less valuable than those in Comp Round A.
Teams have different valuations for what picks actually are worth. Regardless, a low-revenue contender might be motivated to acquire a known major leaguer for an unknown amateur. A non-contender, on the other hand, might covet the pick as an additional way to bring young talent into its organization.
The picks are in play, until Sunday at 5 p.m. ET.
As usual, that’s the only relevant question when it comes to pending roster decisions with the Los Angeles Angels. And as the trade deadline approaches, the whims of owner Arte Moreno will again guide how the team operates.
If Moreno is willing to tolerate another losing season — the Angels are at eight straight and counting — then he will authorize general manager Perry Minasian to make deals that would add to the team’s young core.
But if Moreno is again under the illusion the team might contend in 2025 — a serious longshot unless he is willing to increase payroll — then he will instruct Minasian to keep players under control beyond this season.
Of the Angels’ potential free agents, closer Carlos Estévez (16-for-19 in saves, 2.89 ERA, 28 strikeouts, four walks in 28 innings) almost certainly holds the most value. The other Angels teams want most either are under control through 2025 (lefty Tyler Anderson, righty Griffin Canning, infielder Luis Rengifo) or ‘26 (outfielder Taylor Ward).
If the Angels trade most or all of those players, it will be that much more difficult for them to avoid their first 100-loss season. And without a significant bump in payroll, the chances of a 100-loss season in 2025 would increase.
For now, the Angels are engaging in conversations and open to all possibilities, according to sources briefed on their conversations. Ultimately, Moreno will decide on their direction, if direction is even the right word. Too often since he bought the team in 2003, the Angels’ path has been unclear.
In a copycat industry, the Angels may have set a new precedent for fading teams looking to save money and reposition for the future. After buying ahead of last year’s trade deadline, the Angels reversed course by the end of August, placing six players on waivers. That salary dump, combined with other roster moves, allowed the Angels to duck beneath the $233 million luxury-tax threshold.
“It didn’t seem like the blowback was very bad,” pitcher Matt Moore said. “I’m not like a fan favorite. They didn’t do it to Mike (Trout). It was all guys on expiring contracts that were either rental pieces or just here for the one year. We were all on our way out.”
Moore chose to re-sign with the Angels on a one-year, $9 million deal after being claimed by the Guardians and then the Marlins. The rest of the group included pitchers Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo López and Dominic Leone plus outfielders Hunter Renfroe and Randal Grichuk (who went unclaimed).
As a result of those late-season maneuverings, the Angels received the No. 74 pick in the upcoming draft as compensation for losing Shohei Ohtani as a free agent. If the Angels had paid the luxury tax, that Ohtani compensation pick would have been after the fourth round.
“Strategically, it made a lot of sense for the organization,” Moore said.
That didn’t mean it was easy for Moore, a married man with three children who are now age 5 or younger. Without a doubt, he said, it was his “wildest month” in baseball. The extra wild cards have added to the scramble.
The Guardians were sellers at last year’s trade deadline, but they played in a weak division and saw an opportunity, claiming Giolito, López and Moore on Aug. 31. With their playoff hopes disappearing, the Guardians then put Moore back on waivers, and he was claimed by the Marlins on Sept. 19.
“It was cool to get a taste of some Champagne,” Moore said, but he wasn’t eligible to play for Miami in the postseason, so he returned home.
Across his career, Moore, 35, has morphed from an All-Star starting pitcher for the Rays to a big trade-deadline addition for the San Francisco Giants to the experienced left-handed reliever that virtually every contender needs. That gives him perspective in a baseball industry where “everybody’s kind of chasing everybody’s tail.”
It made Moore think of the other trends he’s seen, everything from catchers in a one-knee-down stance to the ancillary businesses outside ballparks to larger coaching staffs and growing R&D departments.
“I don’t know if more teams are going to do it,” Moore said. “Maybe. It seems like there’s kind of less shame in those things these days.”
As the Chicago Cubs near another buy-or-sell decision, Ian Happ knows he’s not going anywhere because he pushed for a no-trade clause in the three-year, $61 million contract extension he signed last year.
The timing of that deal was surprising. The announcement came two weeks after Opening Day, and those types of negotiations are usually either completed during spring training or tabled until after the season. Happ was coming off an All-Star, Gold Glove-winning season, and only months away from becoming a free agent.
After just missing the 2016 World Series at Wrigley Field — and hearing his name mentioned in trade rumors for years — Happ valued continuity and peace of mind. Even with the Cubs struggling to keep up in the wild-card race, there’s no reason to think that personal and professional calculus has suddenly changed.
“This organization has meant so much to me,” Happ said. “The opportunity I’ve been given, the honor to represent the city and the uniform, and the history of that, those things mean a lot to me. Not to mention the family aspect of my wife’s from Chicago. It’s an important place to us. You don’t get a lot of security in this game. And it takes a long time to get it.”
The Cubs selected Happ with the No. 9 pick in the 2015 draft, in part because they believed the college switch-hitter would move quickly through their farm system, which could potentially make him an attractive trade chip as the club sought more pitching to supplement a core group of young players.
That competitive window slammed shut in 2021. After a sell-off at the trade deadline, Happ became an everyday name in a lineup that no longer featured Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant or Javier Báez. The contract extension became a possibility after Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer did not trade Happ (or All-Star catcher Willson Contreras) at the 2022 deadline.
Happ got personally involved in those negotiations. He has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball since Memorial Day weekend, producing 12 homers, a 1.025 OPS and 41 RBIs in his last 39 games (entering Wednesday). He still thinks the Cubs are heading in the right direction.
“I was going through the conversations with Jed,” Happ said. “I think we’re very aligned. I wanted to win here and be part of winning in this franchise. It’s just super-important to me.”
