In the recent MLB rule changes one of the things I noticed was the removal of the “second trade deadline”.... one has to wonder whether the Justin Verlander acquisition in 2017 is directly related to this particular rule change. This trade in mine and I’m sure most people’s opinion, is the single most impactful trade in Astro history and most likely the biggest “waiver” trade in mlb history. Verlander propelled us to a world championship trophy and I have to assume most gms and owners other than ours did not like this. Thank God this rule wasn’t in place two years ago. The astros have literally changed the way the game is played, evaluated, managed and even the rule book. Maybe more to be coming soon with a possible shift ban. Houston astros baseball in this era will be remembered forever. More rings to come as well!
If the rule was in place two years ago it is quite possible Verlander would have been an Astro on July 31.
Quite possible indeed.... we were playing great ball at the time yet the Infamous August slump may have motivated Luhnow to include the necessary prospects to get a deal done. Who knows? Fascinating either way.
More certainty for the players who could be traded. More likely for teams to call up prospects if they have a hole to fill late in the season.
Actually, there's a very recent article in the Chronicle where they interview Luhnow about this, and he says he's not sure it would have happened if the rule was in place in 2017. Snippet: “At the end of July,” Luhnow said, recalling the circumstances in 2017, “Justin may have felt that there were other options for him if he waited. By the time he got to the end of August, he knew there were only two options: staying in Detroit or going to Houston.” As for the Astros, Luhnow said they needed to watch Verlander surge for another month — he had a 2.36 ERA and 50 strikeouts in 42 August innings — to convince themselves they needed to get him and pay handsomely for his services. “Without seeing that, I’m not sure we would have been as bold in the amount of prospects we gave up and the money we were able to contribute,” Luhnow said.
The Pirates, Ray's and a couple of other teams were playing the shift pretty often before the Astros started. I read that in Astroball last week and I too thought Lunhow started that, he just went to extremes with it. Such a fantastic book for any die hard Stro fan.
Yeah - Joe Madden is the one that made the shifts famous when he was in Tampa Bay and they were so competitive. I think the year the Cubs won the WS, they also were crazy in how extreme they were with it.
