2018 MLB trade deadline day open thread

The non-waiver baseball trade deadline is today at 3 p.m. CT.

The Cubs have already made two deals to shore up their pitching staff, acquiring Cole Hamels for the starting rotation and Jesse Chavez for the bullpen, both coming over from the Texas Rangers. In fact, that makes six former Rangers who have played for the Cubs this year, also Yu Darvish, Chris Gimenez, Pedro Strop and Anthony Bass, and two other current Cubs, Kyle Hendricks and Carl Edwards Jr., came over from the Rangers farm system. Looks like Theo Epstein likes dealing with Jon Daniels.

Anyway, it’s possible the Cubs will make another deal today, perhaps another bullpen reinforcement. There were reports overnight that the Cubs and Marlins were discussing Brad Ziegler:

Then the deal was just about done:

Then it wasn’t!

So who knows?

On this day it’s important to remember a couple of things. First, just because you don’t hear about a deal by 3 p.m. CT, doesn’t mean something hasn’t happened. The 3 p.m. deadline is for executives to file trade paperwork. It could take a bit longer for the information to get out via Twitter or other means.

Second, just because one deadline has passed doesn’t mean trades can’t happen. Players acquired before August 31 are eligible for postseason play, so you can be sure the Cubs and other contenders will be looking for players who can clear waivers that they can acquire for that purpose. Perhaps the most notable player acquired via a waiver deal in recent years was Justin Verlander, who went from the Tigers to the Astros August 31, 2017, and wound up with a World Series ring.

This is a thread to share rumors and discussion about trades for today. If the Cubs do wind up making a deal, I’ll make a separate post on that as soon as info is available.