It almost feels too early to be talking about trades at this point. After all, it’s still just the middle of May, and we have the draft, the Home Run Derby, the All-Star Game, and two months of games to work through.
But two months will sneak up on you, especially with all of those things coming up. And this year, even more so, the July 31 trade deadline carries a lot more weight than it has in the past: as of this season, August trades are no more. If your team wants to acquire a Justin Verlander at the last minute to change the course of their year, their last minute to do so will be a full 31 days earlier than when the Astros picked up Verlander at the buzzer.