Major League Baseball's trade rules are among some of the most complicated in professional sports. Although on the surface they seem clear, they are riddled with contingency plans and backup contingency plans. The dates, however, remain constant. It's what happens before or after those deadlines that makes the issue complicated.
Nonwaiver Deadline
The first MLB trade deadline is 4 p.m. on July 31 of each year. Up until this time, teams can trade players freely. A player does not have to pass through a process called waivers. He can go directly from his old team to his new team with no interference from anyone else. For this reason, significant trades usually go through before the July 31 deadline.
Trade Assignment Waivers
After July 31, a player can only be traded through a process called trade assignment waivers. This process essentially makes the player available to every other team in the league, not just the intended trade target. If more than one team tries to grab a player while he is in the waiver period, the one with the worst record "wins" and gets him. The deal between the player's old team and his new one is vulnerable to interference from other bidders who have a worse record than the new team trying to sign him. Sometimes the deal does not go through because of this.
Force Trades
Placing a player on waivers to make him available to another team that wants him after the July 31 deadline is a revocable process. If a team with a worse record throws a monkey wrench into the deal, trying to grab the player instead, the player's original team is allowed to take him back off waivers and keep him. If this doesn't happen, the interfering team gets the player through something called a force trade. The interfering team must not only take over the player's contract -- which might be quite pricy -- but must also pay the team that has traded him away a fee of $20,000. Obviously, there is some financial risk for a team trying to interfere this way, as has sometimes happened when one team is trying to sabotage a better team and prevent it from getting a good player.
Postseason Play
Major League Baseball also has a second trade deadline, Aug. 31. Even if a player makes it through the waivers process and gets to the team who originally wanted him, if it happens in September, he can not play in any postseason games for his new team.
Free Agents
Free agents provide a third trade scenario. Players who have been in the major leagues for six years or more can make their own decisions about whom they want to play for after their contracts expire. They have 14 days after the last World Series game to file with MLB for free agency and then they can go anywhere they want. A player's old team has until Dec. 1 of that year to try to keep him by offering him salary arbitration. As long as the team does this, if the player does go somewhere else to play, his new team must compensate his old team with draft picks, which can vary depending on how good the player is.
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