I need some clarification...Why is it that the trade deadline has passed....

There are no waiver trades after the deadline

A player needs to clear waivers to be free to be traded to any team in August. This means he cannot be claimed by any other team. If a team claims a player, the player's team can either keep him, give him away to the claiming team, or work out a trade with the claiming team. If multiple teams claim him, the team in the same league has priority. If they are in the same league, then the team with a worse record has priority.

Let's say for example the Marlins want to trade with the A's.

Situation #1: The A's put Frank Thomas on waivers. The Marlins claim him, but then the Mets claim him because they don't want their division rival Marlins to get him. The Mets and Marlins are both in the same league (National), so it goes by record. The Mets get priority because they have a worse record than the Marlins. The Mets will not trade anyone for Frank Thomas. The A's choose to give Frank Thomas and his salary to the Mets so that they don't have to pay him anyomore.

Situation #2: The A's put Emil Brown on waivers. This time, the Blue Jays and Marlins claim him. The Blue Jays are in the same league as the A's (American), so they get priority. The A's decide that they can only trade with the Marlins and not the Blue Jays. They decide Emil Brown is too valuable to just give him away, so they pull him off waivers and keep him.

Situation #3: The A's put Mark Ellis on waivers. No team claims him. Since he cleared waivers, he can be traded. The Marlins and A's work out a trade for him.

I asked the same question, and this answer is from

Justin H

I repeat I did not make this answer it was Justin H

there u go

There are actually 2 trade deadlines. The first one, July 31, is the deadline for trades that do not require a player to clear waivers. In other words, teams can make trades in the normal way. After this date, teams can still make trades but the player has to clear waivers. This means that if a team wants to trade a player, they have to put the player on waivers. Teams can claim the player off the waiver and then they have a day or 2 to make a deal with original team for the player. Multiple teams can claim a player off waivers, the team with the worst record has first dibs, followed by the team with the second worst record. If no deal is made or if nobody claims the player off waivers, then the team is free to trade the player to any team they want. There is a cutoff date when teams can make this type of trade - I think it's in early September.

If a player is put on waivers and passes them, then the player can be traded to any team. But if a player is claimed on waivers by another team before he passes them, the team that put the player on waivers can make a trade with the team who claimed him or take him off waivers and put him back on the roster. The July 31st deadline is for trades for a player who has not been put on waivers. The waiver deadline is August 31st.

You can still trade but the players being traded must pass through waivers