"In a perfect world of perfect information found in many introductory level economics lecture halls, no they're not. Their veteran pitchers (not the 0-to-6ers before their first true negotiated contract) are worth absolutely zero prospects in a trade.

They, Wandy Rodriguez and Brett Myers, would would be signed for exactly their market value, and any team acquiring him would be acquiring him at the cost that he was worth.

Of course, this is an imperfect world as evidenced by the fact that the American League still uses the DH.

So where does this imperfect world deviate from a scenario where veterans would have no trade value, and how does this explain how the trade deadline works? There are four ways.

1. Performance changes relative to contract

That's the simplest one. The player gets hurt, or the player impresses or regresses compared to what the team thought it was getting.

In the Astros' case, this works both ways.

Myers was signed at the peak of his value last year as he was putting together a renaissance sort of season, but this year he has regressed to the point where it's questionable as to whether he would get the $10 million for 2012 plus 2013 option that he will be owed by the Astros or whoever takes on his contract."