The game of baseball has a long history of teams trading players. In fact, before the advent of free agency, a trade or the sale of a player was the only way a player would change teams!
For many die hard fans the MLB rumors that float around every winter are their life blood while they wait for spring training to start back up. In fact, this time period has come to be know as the "Hot Stove."
Originally called the "Hot Stove League," the Hot Stove term conjures up the image of baseball fans huddled around a hot stove talking about baseball during the winter. Naturally the fans would assess their favorite team's strengths and weaknesses and their chances for the coming year.
As Major League Baseball has progressed, the term has come to represent the off-season period when player transactions such as trades or free agent signings occur. Teams' general managers compete and contend to sign the best free agents and acquire the best players possible during the winter to better prepare their team for the coming season. Naturally fans want to be in the know on issues that relate to their favorite team so trade rumors and rumored free agent signings run rampant.
The winter, however, is not the only time of year that MLB trade rumors make their way into the public eye. In the time leading up the annual trade deadline (July 31st of each year) rumors of possible trades flood the airways. Teams that are in contention hope to acquire the final piece of the puzzle that will make them World Series Champions while teams that have fallen out of the playoff picture look to capitalize on the needs of those teams by extracting talented players that will help in the coming season.
Naturally the playoffs and the World Series are the most exciting time in every baseball season, but for many fans, the Hot Stove and the hope and rumors that surround it are nearly as engaging.
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