One of the most intriguing parts of the MLB season for fans comes after the All-Star break when their respective team is either a buyer or a seller at the trade deadline. But in the eyes of Chicago Cubs broadcaster Jon ‘Boog’ Sciambi, the trade deadline has lost its luster due to how MLB front offices are approaching it.
Unlike many other leagues, MLB executives value minor league prospects with potential quite highly in the trade market when it comes to dealing star players. However, Sciambi feels that these minor leaguers aren’t translating into productive MLB players frequently enough to warrant these deals.
“The trade deadline stinks, man,” said Sciambi during an appearance on the Baseball Tonight podcast with Buster Olney . “I’m so down on the trade deadline from the standpoint of… It’s so rare that big leaguer for big leaguer gets traded. I have a need, you have a need. Let’s make a deal. That’s the point of a trade. Now it just becomes asset value.
“It’s such a funny thing. I make this point. As a general idea, the game is being run by a group of people that think about things in a way… At least the entrée to it, in analytics, is very progressive. It’s different than what we grew up learning and listening to. And they all get there and act so conservatively. And it makes it so boring. I’m not saying it’s easy, but you just get so tired of the dollar value and asset value assigned to this player. You’re trying to win the thing.”
Sciambi later specifically addressed the number of top prospects that succeed at the MLB level, joking he would “become a bazillionaire” if he could bet against future prospects.
“If we could go to Vegas and open up a casino and just bet against future prospects. We would be bazillionaires. We would pass Bill Gates and we would own the world just betting against future prospects. You know who does that, Dave Dombrowski.”
Sciambi and Olney were specifically talking about the Baltimore Orioles, who have a plethora of talent in the minors that they largely decided to keep, instead parting ways with MLB outfielder Austin Hays in their biggest move of the deadline, a trade with the Philadelphia Phillies last month.
Sciambi does have a point here. There are a plethora of top prospects in recent memory that either flamed out completely or failed to live up to expectations once they reached the MLB level.
We could potentially other front offices follow the lead of the Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers, and other organizations that have made it a point to go all-in when they feel like they are in contention. But until then, the MLB trade deadline will remain quite boring to Sciambi.
[ Baseball Tonight podcast ]
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