One of the biggest and most important days on the baseball calendar has arrived. The MLB Trade Deadline is finally here, and teams will have to make a final decision on what to do before it passes.
For the Minnesota Twins, there doesn’t seem to be an easy answer. It seems obvious that a team in first place should approach the deadline as buyers looking to solidify a potential championship roster. The Twins, however, are in the frustrating position of barely hanging onto a first place lead in the league’s worst division.
Cleveland traded one of its best pitchers on Monday afternoon, days after trading its starting shortstop. Yet, the Guardians are nipping at the Twins heels and are very much in contention to win the division despite selling assets.
The situation has caused anxiety and frustration all over Twins Territory, with some fans believing the team should sell — especially with a golden ticket like Sonny Gray in the team’s possession.
Others believe such a thing would be loser’s mentality winning over, and would be waving the white flag in a way that’s deeply pathetic even for the Twins.
Trade speculation has intensified over the last few weeks, but it all comes down to today. The MLB Trade Deadline is set to expire and the Twins need to decide which path to take.
MLB Trade Deadline 2023: What time does MLB trade deadline end?
Thanks to the new CBA, there are some extra wrinkles to the MLB Trade Deadline that didn’t exist before. Both the traditional date and time of the deadline have changed, with teams now having an extra day to try and make a deal happen.
In the past, the trade deadline was on July 31st, something that changed last year because of the lockout pushing the calendar back. This will mark the second straight year the deadline passes in August, although it’s a day earlier than it occurred last season.
Perhaps the biggest thing that has changed is the exact time the deadline expires. Those who have watched deadline drama in the past know that 4 pm ET was usually the time to make sure you weren’t doing anything as to not miss any of the last minute deals that went through.
This year the MLB Trade Deadline expires on August 1st at 6 pm ET.