Both Buster Olney of ESPN and Joel Sherman of the New York Post are saying that the MLB non-waiver trade deadline could prove to be a quiet one.
↵From Sherman:
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↵↵An AL executive who I believe does among the best jobs of staying atop the movement offered this appraisal via e-mail this afternoon: "My calls today leave me with the impression that this will be a very quiet deadline. (Jayson) Werth, (Prince) Fielder, (Corey) Hart, (Adam) Dunn, (Josh) Willingham, Roy (Oswalt), et al could very well stay put."
↵Again, I want to caution that there is a long time to the deadline and that I hate that I am even writing about players NOT getting traded. But the tone and sentiment from club officials is not optimistic. ...
↵Here are more words of caution: No one saw the Yanks coming on Lee and they had a deal in principle concluded with the Mariners before Seattle veered and did a trade with Texas, instead. And with all the rumors about Haren, none tied him to the Angels until the deal was actually complete. So we will probably encounter some surprises in the next few days. But on a Wednesday afternoon the sound of pessimism and silence were most common around the majors.
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From Olney:
↵↵↵There has been a lot of talking going on, and in the last 72 hours before the July 31 trade deadline, we'll probably see some pieces move. But in some corners of the market -- within those organizations that are sitting on the fence in the division races -- there is some sentiment building that maybe now is not the time to make a move.
↵"There's really not a ton of players on the market right now in the impactful category," [Colorado GM Dan] O'Dowd said. "There's one in particular I think if we're not able to acquire by the 31st probably wouldn't be there. The rest we've come across I don't think the 31st is necessarily a firm deadline."
↵I've heard this a lot from folks in other offices in recent days. Which is why you might not be seeing a whole lot of deals in the last hours before the soft trade deadline of July 31.
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There is always more speculation that action around the MLB trade deadline, so this isn't that much of a surprise. Sellers always ask for more than they should reasonably expect, and buyers are always petrified of giving up too much.
↵Thus, since everyone is afraid of making a mistake a lot of what you hear about doesn't get done.
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