The MLB trade deadline is less than a week away. There are plenty of rumors percolating but not much action yet. While most of the trades go down on the day of the deadline, it still feels like nothing is happening with less than seven days to go. St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak recently explained what the holdup was.
Mozeliak posited that so many teams not yet knowing their direction is stalling the progress of trades, according to Ken Rosenthal, Patrick Mooney, Will Sammon and Katie Woo of The Athletic.
“There are definitely some defined sellers,” the Cardinals' POBO said, via The Athletic. “But I think the majority of the league right now is straddling the fence on what individually they need to do. … I’ve definitely spoken with teams that are just not sure where they are yet…There are so many teams that are unsure of what the next six, seven days are going to hold for them. They haven’t put a stake in the ground of what they’re doing. The uncertainty of that is creating a market that has not yet been defined.”
MLB trade deadline buyers and sellers still being determined
It can safely be assumed that the “defined sellers” that the Cardinals' president mentioned are the Chicago White Sox, Miami Marlins, Colorado Rockies and Oakland Athletics. Those four miserable teams are well below every other team in the standings. The Los Angeles Angels and Toronto Blue Jays are better off trading away some pieces in order to kick off a rebuild, too.
Other than those teams, every other MLB squad is either in playoff position or within seven games of a Wild Card spot. The randomness of baseball allows teams that sneak into the playoffs to have a chance at making a run, just as the Arizona Diamondbacks did last season and the Philadelphia Phillies the year before that. Even the 2021 Atlanta Braves were below .500 at the start of August.
No team wants to run the risk of buying when their playoff chances could sink or sell off pieces of what could have been a solid team. Although just a week of games won’t be a major factor in either direction, teams are remaining patient.
The Cardinals, at 53-48, are bound to be buyers in the hopes of catching the Milwaukee Brewers at the top of the National League Central standings. Mozeliak's focus is likely to be on starting pitching and perhaps more help in the outfield.
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