A fire sale will typically happen when a team recognizes that they simply aren’t going to compete with their current roster, and opts to trade off most (if not all) MLB players of value and accumulate as many high-quality (and low-cost) prospects as they can. The idea behind this is that the team saves enough money and brings in enough high-caliber young talent that they can hopefully begin signing major free agents a few years down the road and really make a run for it in about five years. Fire sales will typically not occur until an organization is faced with no other viable option, as it tends to come with a bunch of baggage:
- If a team won’t compete for another five years, you can expect to shuffle through at least a couple managers before finding the right fit.