What if a team that quit makes the tournament?

The Detroit Tigers are 3.5 games out of a wild card tournament spot.  From baseball-reference.com

Rk	Tm	W	L	W-L%	GB	GBsum	Strk	R	RA	Rdiff	SOS	SRS	pythWL	Luck	vEast	vCent	vWest	Inter	Home	Road	ExInn	1Run	vRHP	vLHP	≥.500	<.500	last10	last20	last30
1	KCR	62	42	.596	---	---	L 1	4.3	3.8	0.6	0.2	0.7	59-45	3	10-10	26-16	15-10	11-6	34-18	28-24	6-2	15-9	43-25	19-17	23-23	39-19	5-5	11-9	18-12
2	NYY	59	45	.567	---	---	W 1	4.9	4.3	0.6	0.2	0.8	58-46	1	24-17	13-6	16-14	6-8	30-17	29-28	2-5	16-14	40-33	19-12	25-20	34-25	6-4	14-6	19-11
3	HOU	60	46	.566	---	---	W 2	4.5	3.7	0.8	0.2	1.0	63-43	-3	14-13	9-14	27-17	10-2	38-18	22-28	4-5	14-15	38-26	22-20	23-16	37-30	7-3	11-9	17-13
4	LAA	55	49	.529	---	---	L 6	4.2	3.8	0.4	0.2	0.7	57-47	-2	14-12	6-4	28-23	7-10	32-21	23-28	3-4	16-13	39-40	16-9	13-25	42-24	1-9	9-11	18-12
5	MIN	54	50	.519	---	---	L 1	4.2	4.2	0.0	0.1	0.1	52-52	2	13-6	23-22	10-10	8-12	34-22	20-28	4-5	14-14	33-34	21-16	17-19	37-31	4-6	9-11	14-16
6	BAL	53	51	.510	1.0	1.0	L 1	4.4	3.9	0.5	0.1	0.6	57-47	-4	26-24	12-10	7-10	8-7	32-20	21-31	2-2	14-17	38-41	15-10	15-28	38-23	7-3	10-10	13-17
7	TOR	54	52	.509	1.0	1.0	W 1	5.3	4.3	1.0	0.1	1.1	63-43	-9	23-21	11-13	11-12	9-6	32-21	22-31	4-5	11-23	39-41	15-11	25-21	29-31	6-4	10-10	14-16
8	TBR	52	54	.491	3.0	7.0	W 1	3.6	3.8	-0.2	0.3	0.1	51-55	1	24-26	8-12	13-11	7-5	27-30	25-24	2-7	15-18	34-43	18-11	28-30	24-24	4-6	9-11	10-20
9	TEX	51	53	.490	3.0	7.0	W 1	4.4	4.8	-0.4	0.3	-0.1	48-56	3	16-9	12-10	14-26	9-8	20-29	31-24	3-4	18-16	33-30	18-23	29-23	22-30	6-4	10-10	14-16
10	DET	51	54	.486	3.5	9.5	W 1	4.5	4.8	-0.3	0.2	-0.1	49-56	2	9-14	27-17	8-13	7-10	25-27	26-27	3-8	17-16	36-44	15-10	25-31	26-23	4-6	7-13	12-18
11	CHW	50	53	.485	3.5	9.5	L 1	3.7	4.3	-0.6	0.2	-0.4	44-59	6	11-12	20-28	11-4	8-9	25-24	25-29	8-3	20-17	43-41	7-12	24-32	26-21	7-3	11-9	18-12
12	CLE	48	56	.462	6.0	27.0	L 2	3.8	4.2	-0.4	0.2	-0.2	47-57	1	8-9	15-28	15-12	10-7	20-32	28-24	3-3	10-13	35-33	13-23	19-25	29-31	3-7	8-12	15-15
13	SEA	48	58	.453	7.0	35.0	W 1	3.6	4.2	-0.5	0.4	-0.2	46-60	2	12-14	10-14	21-21	5-9	22-31	26-27	8-7	20-19	36-43	12-15	21-37	27-21	4-6	8-12	14-16
14	OAK	47	59	.443	8.0	44.0	W 2	4.1	3.8	0.4	0.2	0.6	57-49	-10	8-12	12-17	21-24	6-6	23-31	24-28	4-6	11-25	39-40	8-19	19-31	28-28	3-7	8-12	13-17
15	BOS	47	59	.443	8.0	44.0	L 1	4.2	4.8	-0.6	0.3	-0.3	46-60	1	19-28	7-10	13-17	8-4	27-28	20-31	4-3	14-13	36-42	11-17	23-38	24-21	5-5	6-14	14-16

What if Detroit qualifies for the tournament and must play the one game do-or-die wild card game against the Toronto Blue Jays and Toronto starts David Price who played one year for Detroit, basically from the 2014 trading deadline to the 2015 trading deadline?

Traded for nobodies by teams that quit: Price, Cespedes, Cueto, Hamels, Kazmir. Saturday, August 1, 2015 3:37 PM

Fans in Detroit, Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Oakland could not name the players received nor pick them out of a police style lineup.  Right now those players are nobodies to those fans.  This system is a disgrace, which undermines the basic integrity of the baseball season.

The first three established players below are strictly two month rentals.  Their contracts expire after the 2015 season when they become free agents and can sign with any team.

Any fans who bought tickets for games after July 31 should get a full refund.  If they were so entitled, maybe this practice would diminish.

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David Price:

• June 7, 2004: Drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 19th round of the 2004 amateur draft, but did not sign.
• June 7, 2007: Drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 1st round (1st pick) of the 2007 amateur draft. Player signed August 15, 2007.
• July 31, 2014: Traded as part of a 3-team trade by the Tampa Bay Rays to the Detroit Tigers. The Detroit Tigers sent Austin Jackson to the Seattle Mariners. The Detroit Tigers sent Willy Adames (minors) and Drew Smyly to the Tampa Bay Rays. The Seattle Mariners sent Nick Franklin to the Tampa Bay Rays.
• July 30, 2015: Traded by the Detroit Tigers to the Toronto Blue Jays for Jairo Labourt (minors), Matt Boyd and Daniel Norris.

Irony abounds.  In dumping 29 year old free agent to be David Price on Toronto Detroit received 22 year old Daniel Norris who in 2014 and 2015 had pitched a total of 30 innings for Toronto.  That was the idea, right?  To get younger ... and less expensive.  So what if Price had won the 2012 AL Cy Young award ... for Tampa, his original team?  2015 pay:

Price: $19,750,000 (almost $20 million dollars)

Norris: $508,700 (about half a million dollars)

Yesterday Norris pitched his first game for Detroit:

Sunday, August 2, 2015, 1:35pm, Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Attendance: 33,381, Time of Game: 2:32
Tigers 6, Orioles 1

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA	BF	Pit	Str	Ctct	StS	StL	GB	FB	LD	Unk	GSc	IR	IS	WPA	aLI	RE24
Daniel Norris, W (2-1)	7.1	4	1	1	1	5	1	3.23	26	84	50	30	10	10	10	10	0	0	70			0.169	0.72	2.4
Bruce Rondon	0.2	0	0	0	0	0	0	7.24	1	2	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0		1	0	0.014	0.38	0.5
Alex Wilson	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.76	3	13	10	8	1	1	3	0	0	0		0	0	0.007	0.09	0.5
Team Totals	9	4	1	1	1	5	1	1.00	30	99	61	39	11	11	14	10	0	0	70	1	0	0.190	0.65	3.4

Norris was the winning pitcher for Detroit, doubling his win total for the season.

If Detroit makes it to the finals, it might face the other significant rental player it dumped:

Yoenis Cespedes

• February 13, 2012: Signed by the Oakland Athletics as an amateur free agent.
• July 31, 2014: Traded by the Oakland Athletics with 2015 competitive balance round B pick to the Boston Red Sox for Jonny Gomes, Jon Lester and cash.
• December 11, 2014: Traded by the Boston Red Sox with Gabe Speier (minors) and Alex Wilson to the Detroit Tigers for Rick Porcello.
• July 31, 2015: Traded by the Detroit Tigers to the New York Mets for Luis Cessa (minors) and Michael Fulmer (minors).

Like Price, Cespedes has been traded at the two most recent deadlines.  Also like Price, Cespedes becomes a free agent after the 2015 season.  While Cespedes has only one single in eight at bats for the Mets, his new team just swept the Washington Nationals with whom the Mets are in a virtual tie for first place.

How about a finals between the Detroit Tigers and the New York Mets?  The Tigers could start Danial Norris who could pitch to Yoenis Cespedes.  I can only hope that someone would be embarrassed but it's doubtful.

Trades: refunds, parades, borrowing. Sunday, August 2, 2015

Quitters never win and winners never quit.

What happened to that sentiment?  Trades during the season should be banned.

Thoughts on the most recent frenzy of player movement undermining the integrity of the season.
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