Check out the League Rules (link at right) to see the update.

The reasoning for adding the trade deadline is this: if you have a player you can’t list as a keeper for next season (as I do with A-Rod), you want to be able to get the most out of him, either by trading him for decent return (as I tried to do with Oswalt), or letting him work for you while you still have him. I’m probably going to hold onto A-Rod until the brutal end, since I forsee that I’ll be in the top 4 or 5 all season, and a hot streak at the end of the season from Mr. Rod could mean the difference between first or second for me. On the other hand, if you’re Scott, destined for disappointment as you ride a wave of promising rookies to a 8th-place finish, you could see this as an opportunity to turn Albert Pujols into, eg, Johan Santana.

Now, this was something you could do before there was a trade deadline. The purpose of the trade deadline, though, is to both encourage people to make ill-advised trades, thereby adding to the interesting whining commentary that may pollute infest occur on the Troggnation email list, and to guarantee that you will get your money’s worth out of the player you trade for. Since the only roster that matters when we consider the keepers list is the roster on the last day of the season, if you choose to trade for a player, 2007 will count against the 2-year rule for keepers. In other words, to re-use an analogy, it ain’t where you’re walking when the music’s playing, it’s where your ass is when it stops. Since almost half the season will still be left after the trade deadline, nobody will be able to complain that they didn’t get fair value for a player.