The rules changes being considered by MLB and the Players Association are well known to baseball fans: pitch timer; mound visits; designated hitter in the NL; mound distance and/or height; roster size; etc. For the most part, tweaking the game in the name of Rob Manfred’s pace-of-play fetish.

MLB has announced a change, effective this season, that actually makes sense for the game that has nothing to do with pace-of-play. The annual August waiver trade period is gone! Heretofore, there was the July 31 annual trade deadline, “wink-wink, nudge-nudge,” in name only as some of the biggest trades occurred in August (think Fred Lynn, Justin Verlander, Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, Larry Walker). Frankly, it was a strange process.

The Players Association proposed the change “for the integrity of the game,” but it would not be surprising to learn of a union ulterior motive to effect prospects’ Major League service time. With no trades after July 31, MLB teams will be limited to using prospects in August rather than acquiring a veteran from another team in case of injury or poor performance.

July 31 is now a true deadline. No more guessing as to which players have been placed on waivers in August, teams blocking other teams by making a waiver claim with no intention of acquiring the player, and teams trying to dump a large contract on another team. Theoretically, this will now all happen in the last few weeks/days of July.

Finally, a change that makes sense.

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