When Is the MLB Trade Deadline?

In 2023, the Major League Baseball trade deadline will fall on Tuesday, Aug. 1 at 6 p.m. ET.

As part of the collective bargaining agreement that came into effect before the 2022 season, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred was given the flexibility to set the annual deadline on any date between July 28 and August 3. In 2022, the deadline was set on a weekday in the hopes of gaining more activity and coverage than it would have had on a weekend, and Manfred appears to have kept the same idea this season.

With the MLB regular season now well underway and the All-Star break creeping up quickly, World Series odds are at the forefront of every club decision. The trade deadline marks the last opportunity for teams to acquire the missing links they need to compete in the postseason.

Shohei Ohtani with a two-run homer to cut it to 5-4 with nobody out in the ninth. It's his eighth of the year. pic.twitter.com/CyqTHJp0Cn

— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) May 10, 2023

When Is the 2023 MLB Trade Deadline?

The trade deadline is the last point during the season when players can be traded. In accordance with league rules, all MLB trades must be submitted to the league office by 6 p.m. ET on Aug. 1, 2023.

Once the deadline has passed, trades are no longer permitted, but players can still be placed and claimed on outright waivers.

The last few weeks before the trade deadline are one of the busiest periods for player movement each season. By the time teams have returned from the All-Star break, they have already played over half of the regular season. Team executives have identified their team’s strengths and weaknesses, and the trade deadline is their last chance to act on that information.

MLB Trade Deadline: Buyers vs. Sellers

At the trade deadline, teams generally fall under two categories — buyers and sellers.

To put it simply, buyers are teams that are likely to make the postseason this year and are therefore focused on acquiring certain positions to fine tune their roster for October. Sellers are teams that have a slim chance of making the playoffs this year, so they have turned their focus to future seasons by selling high-value players for promising prospects.

If a high-caliber player is on a non-contention team, buyers will want to acquire him to fill a spot in their roster for the current season. The selling team will likely want to move this player because they are not in a position to utilize him this season, and the team will be better off in the long run with multiple young prospects that can flourish in a future season when they are in contention.

2023 Baseball Deadline Trade Rumors

The hottest player potentially available on the market this season is two-way star Shohei Ohtani, though I think it will take a lot for the Los Angeles Angels to part with him, even if it does mean losing him to free agency at the end of the season. Ohtani is poised to secure one of the biggest, if not the biggest, contract in MLB history once he hits the market, so the Angels have a choice — trade him to get something in return, or stubbornly hold onto him in the hopes he decides to re-sign.

Other than Ohtani, Corbin Burnes (Milwaukee Brewers), C.J. Cron (Colorado Rockies), Gleyber Torres (New York Yankees), and Brent Rooker (Oakland Athletics) are all potential candidates to be traded at this year’s deadline.

I expect one of the biggest movers to be the Chicago White Sox, who’ve underperformed so severely over the last year that they may just hold a fire sale to rebuild. If so, Lucas Giolito, Tim Anderson, and Yasmani Grandal could all find themselves as high-profile trade chips.