Every year, minutes before the trade deadline expires, a series of potential conversations about baseball transactions regain momentum once again. Movements are done in the blink of an eye. For example, the Citizens made three amazing deals this year in the last five minutes because there was no other choice. Sometimes, they are good moves. Sometimes, as an old general manager succinctly put it, “the bullshit really happens.” Either way, there is no turning back because there is a hard deadline for not giving up.

Each winter, teams exchange numbers with their players who are eligible to judge. Then almost nothing is done officially for weeks, even 48 hours before the deadline for players and referees to agree to the number and avoid the hearing. Many clubs refer to that last day as “Furious Friday”.

Baseball front desks don’t agree on much, but most do agree on one thing: A lot gets done by the deadline. With the notable exception of Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto, who regularly treats November and every off-season month thereafter like a trade deadline (I love dealings,” as he said last month at GM meetings), the deal frenzy at baseball last week was both uninformed. Absolutely familiar and incredibly entertaining. With the collective bargaining agreement expiring on December 1 at 11:59 PM ET, an unofficial deadline was set for player transactions. Bedlam ensued, resulting in more than 40 major-league signings in Nov Approximately 1.6 billion dollars (according to FanGraphs John Baker) As of early Wednesday morning. The chaos came to a head this week after that