General Managers Share Wild Trade Deadline Stories

CHICAGO, IL — As Major League Baseball’s trade deadline approaches on July 31, general managers across the league are sharing their most memorable experiences. The pressure to make deals often finds these executives in some unexpected and often humorous situations.

Milwaukee Brewers general manager Matt Arnold reminisced about a past trade deadline when he and Dodgers president Andrew Friedman had to negotiate through a hospital visit. Arnold recalled, “We had two different trade deadlines with Andrew in the hospital.” In one instance, Friedman was hospitalized for an emergency appendix removal. “We spent July 31 at the hospital with him, medicated, going in and out of consciousness,” Arnold said. “It was pretty nuts.”

Friedman’s time in the hospital wasn’t just a rare occurrence. The following year, he was there as his wife went into labor on trade deadline day. “We went back and looked at the time stamp of when he had sent texts and when the baby was born,” Arnold laughed. “It was minutes apart. So we asked him what was going on in there?”

Chris Getz, the general manager of the Chicago White Sox, shared a story from his uncle’s funeral. “My phone is ringing at the funeral now,” Getz admitted. “I told him my uncle had passed away, but don’t worry, we’re going to do the deal.” The calls persisted even as he carried the casket, with friends joking afterward that his uncle would have loved him executing a trade during such a solemn day.

New Angels GM Zack Minasian provided insight into his own hectic experiences. After his grandmother died last January, he was simultaneously seeking $500,000 in international bonus money, saying, “I was literally going from the church to the graveyard, on the phone trying to get us $500,000. It was not my best day.”

Another anonymous executive recounted trading while attending a Passover Seder, highlighting the challenge of staying focused amidst family obligations. “I was trying to be respectful… but at one point, one of my kids needed to go to the bathroom and my hand shot up.”

While many GMs face unusual circumstances, others have taken phone calls from less-than-ideal locations. Mike Hazen, the general manager for the Arizona Diamondbacks, dealt with phone service issues while on a family vacation in Hawaii. “I was trying to finalize the Gabriel Moreno/Lourdes Gurriel trade,” he explained, noting how he had to urgently drive back to town just to get cell service before dropping his kids off at a zip-lining event.

As the deadline nears, it seems that every trade discussion may become a mad dash, not just for players, but for the executives themselves. Challenging experiences only add to the chaos and excitement that surround this pivotal time in MLB.