Deal or no deal? Trade deadline arrives too early for most teams

There is a time in late July during every baseball season when interest in all major-league cities runs high because of speculation, rumors and anticipation.

Two-thirds into the baseball season is when the trade deadline arrives. At that point, there is a clear demarcation between the buyers and the sellers. Those teams somewhere in the middle require even more attention. Based on the actions of a team’s front office, fans and media can make judgments about that organization’s philosophy.

In the NFL, the trade deadline approaches and vanishes, usually without a whimper. Why?

First of all, the NFL has it all wrong. The trade deadline is Tuesday. Some teams will have played only five games. There are really only four winless teams that have established that they have no hope: the Raiders, Lions, Titans and Buccaneers.

At this stage in the season, there aren’t enough sellers.

“You have two-thirds of the season left,” 49ers vice president of player personnel Scot McCloughan said, adding he would expect some discussion at the next owners’ meeting about moving back the deadline.

He pointed out the Chicago Bears started last season 1-3. At the trade deadline, they might have been a seller. But — like every other team in the NFL — they didn’t make any dramatic moves and ended up winning the NFC North with an 11-5 record. “If you have the deadline later, a team that loses a quarterback and might be a playoff-contending team can go out and get a guy,” Mc-Cloughan said.

Trades are designed to help both teams. The buyer will give up a little bit more on the back end to secure a player who can make an immediate impact. That means the seller has a chance to be better off in the long run by making the trade. “Usually in a trade, if a playoff-contending team is going to get a good player, they’re going to give up something good to the team that’s not as good,” McCloughan said. “And that makes for better parity in the league.” Raiders defensive lineman Warren Sapp follows the trade talks this time of year. It might be relevant for his team this season, as there have been a couple of players who have been discussed in trade speculation.

“The thing about it is, to trade a guy, you have to be willing to give up something to get something in return that’s tangible for your ball club,” Sapp said. “That’s always tough when you’re dealing with people as greedy as they are in this league. We’re all greedy about it. I want it all, and I’ll give you a bubble-gum wrapper for it. It doesn’t work that way.”

The NFL, for whatever reason, has enacted rules that discourage teams from making trades. Until this year, the salary-cap rules might have prevented some teams from dealing players. Under the old rules, a team sustained an immediate salary-cap hit whenever it dealt a player — no matter when the deal took place. Now, that hit is spread out over two years, provided the trade occurs after June 1.

Before this year, it might have been impossible for the Raiders to trade disgruntled receiver Jerry Porter because of the salary-cap ramifications. Now, owner Al Davis should be suspended for conduct detrimental to the team if he doesn’t get something in return for Porter’s services. Trades are becoming a bit more common in the NFL, as 46 deals have already taken place this season that involve active players. There have been 29 player-for-player trades in the past three years, while in the previous 11 years there were just 30 such swaps.

The 49ers have been particularly involved in trades since coach Mike Nolan and McCloughan took over before last season. In an effort to weed out players with questionable attitudes (Brandon Lloyd and Kevan Barlow) or players who did not fit into the team’s plans (Tim Rattay, Ken Dorsey and Cody Pickett), the 49ers have traded away nine players. With all the coaching changes that typically take place in the NFL each season, new coaches and personnel staffs come in and are determined to stock the roster with players who meet their specific criteria.

“The better teams don’t trade as much as the teams that aren’t winning,” McCloughan said. And that might explain why Dick Vermeil, who won 120 games in his 15 seasons as a coach, said he was never interested in seeing the NFL make its rules more advantageous to teams willing to make deals.

“I was never a big trade guy,” he said.