Submitted by trevor, Aug 14, 2007 18:39

The deadline exists to prevent teams bound for the playoffs from becoming drastically different from the rosters they got to the playoffs with. If there were no deadline, it would be feasible for a team like the Red Sox to trade their top 6 or 7 prospects to a team like the Orioles for Miguel Tejada, Melvin Mora, and Erik Bedard on September 30th. Although the argument can be made that a deal like this would be mutually beneficial for both teams, since the Orioles would be mathematically eliminated, and a deal like this would more than likely assure the Red Sox a World Championship, baseball as a whole would be damaged. This would cheapen the playoffs since they would be nothing but a mad dash to sell off prospects and create 8 superteams.

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