Hindsight is 20/20

As the trade deadline past on July 31st both the Chicago White Sox and the San Diego Padres were expecting to sell off players and rebuild their respective farm systems. The issue was the White Sox were on a winning streak that had them within a shot at the second AL Wild Card spot while the Padres are loaded with talent and could've made a push for the second NL Wild Card spot if said talent played at the level that they normally played at, but unfortunately for both teams neither one has made the run that their GM's expected. In Chicago, while the Cubs have made the push and has captured a Wild Card spot the White Sox have floundered and have fallen to six and half games out of the second spot. The White Sox have some players that could help other teams Jeff Samardzija was an attractive option after the big names came off the board. After Johnny Cueto and David Price were dealt to Kansas City and Toronto respectively many teams probably called the GM of the White Sox to get their hands on Samardzija and he turned them away.

The Padres gave up a lot of their top prospects over the offseason building their super team. Trading for Kimbrel and both Uptons from the Atlanta Braves cost the Padres a lot. Getting Matt Kemp and Wil Myers from both the LA Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays cost more prospects and signing James Shields from free agency cost the Padres four years and seventy five million dollars. The GM of the Padres was quite the busy man in the offseason and he was expected to be busy at the deadline too trying to replenish some of the talent that he had used to build his team. Instead AJ Preller (the GM of the Padres) decided to sit on his hands and not make a move. Trading away Shields, Kimbrel, and Justin Upton (who is going to be a free agent at the end of the season) would've been logical and would've brought back a return that could help add talent to a farm system that needs it. Given the chance to do it all over I think these two teams would've been much more aggressive at the deadline. Moving the deadline back would solve these issues for teams, but that's a story for a different post.