2019 Trade Deadline and Amateur Draft

[Ben (Rays GM)]

The 2019 trade deadline is almost upon us! Wednesday, July 31 at 4 pm ET is the official MLB trade deadline, and ours as well. This is a hard deadline, and because it's not a midnight deadline like some of our others, please take careful notice that it is eastern time (that's 1 pm for you west coast folks).

A trade must be posted at 4:00 pm ET or earlier per the board clock to go through for this year (4:00 and 59 seconds is the absolute latest allowable). Confirmation can occur up to five minutes later. Any trade not posted by 4:00 pm ET (and 59 seconds) and not confirmed by 4:05 pm ET (and 59 seconds) will not go through for this year. Secondary free agency will remain open until one week before the start of the playoffs.

Immediately following the deadline, you are welcome to start posting trades to go into effect for this offseason. You are also welcome to start trading 2020 draft picks at that time. You may NOT trade 2019 draft picks as commodities once the trade deadline passes - if you wish to trade picks during the draft you will have to do so as a draft-and-trade (draft the player first, then trade him - the trade would then be effective after the season).

The draft will begin this Saturday, August 3, at 12:00 pm (noon) ET. The first five picks belong to the Rangers, Pirates, Red Sox, Giants, and Athletics. Our first round has a 12 hour draft clock, but we'd love to see things move much faster than that. Please be courteous and check in often if you have an early pick! If you are willing to send a commissioner your list of preferred picks ahead of time, that can definitely speed the process up immensely.

Brian will be posting the complete draft order shortly. It is your responsibility to check to make sure all of your picks are listed correctly. If you discover that we've listed a pick that should belong to you as another team's pick, let us know before the draft! If you wait until after the draft you may be out of luck, even if the error is ours - you've been warned so make sure you check your picks! We hope to have that list up later today.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly: like last year, we are asking all teams to check in prior to the start of the draft by replying to this thread: pro-gm.proboards.com/thread/6782/2019-draft-check
Failure to check in will result in your being marked absent from the draft (your exclusive window to pick will be skipped), and may result in us beginning to search for a replacement for your position.
Of course, you are welcome to request to be placed on autopick or marked absent if either is the right option for your schedule: pro-gm.proboards.com/thread/1108/absent-drafters

[Ben (Rays GM)]

This year, we will be implementing a four hour draft clock starting in round 4 (last year we tested it successfully in rounds 7 and 8). So the first round will be a 12 hour clock (followed by a 12 hour window to make up the pick before autopicking). Comp A, round 2, comp B, and round 3 will be a 6 hour clock (followed by an 18 hour window to make up the pick). Rounds 4 to 8 will be a 4 hour clock (followed by a 20 hour window to make up the pick).

[Ben (Rays GM)]

Upon the start of the draft, all teams will receive a $4 million cap exception (up to $149 million), enough to allow them to roster up to eight newly drafted players (one for each true round of the draft) without exceeding their salary cap. We will be increasing salary caps to $150 million this offseason, but it is quite likely we will stay at $150 million for at least the next few years after that.

[Ben (Rays GM)]

If you acquired players at the deadline, make sure to post your Yahoo moves!