THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: The debate on the MLB trade deadline goes on

Surely you learned this in class.

Two things can have opposite meanings, and yet both may be correct.

I’m allowing myself a smile at the moment.

Why?

Well, because it’s great to imagine you're deep in the major league baseball pennant races — like, who’s been the winner so far with just a few hours prior to the trade deadine?

And then, instead of arguing the value of years left in team control, you’re lost in Google because you can’t exactly recall the meaning of Occam’s razor.

Or weighted runs created plus?

That’s wRC+ (of course it is, but you knew that).

Can you tell I’m having fun today?

I’m all chuckles at this time of year because that very first theory we mentioned — opposing ideas both being accurate —might as well have been created for baseball junkies like me.

I’ll happily debate trade deadline transactions all night, and intend to do so in just a minute or two, but at the same time I think midseason trades are a horrible idea for everyone involved.

The rule should be changed to Cameron’s Law.

“Teams must play the entire season with the same 40-man roster which has been registered at the first note of the National Anthem on Opening Day.”

MY LAW is being introduced to the National Pastime for sheer common sense.

Think about it.

If you aren’t clever enough to put a solid roster together after watching the whole group during spring training, you don’t deserve to win anything.

As things stand now, MLB is terribly tilted toward clubs and owners who are drowning in money.

Sure, there’s a luxury tax that was built in to toss some spare change toward poorer teams, but so far, all that’s done is convince a gang of sleazy owners — long-term blockheads who couldn’t make the playoffs if you let them play a full season with EITHER league’s all-star team — that it would be a terrific scam to load up on a pile of cash.

That’s the plan in Italian soccer, where somehow every team makes a fortune, despite the bottom-tier group stumbling over their town cleats.

C’mon now, you MUST agree with me that owning a sports franchise is more than just a way to purchase a few dozen Caribbean islands.

Did you notice that word “sport” in the previous sentence?

I’m guessing that most of you grew up collecting baseball cards, or giant posters of your favorite quarterbacks?

Look, there are only professional “sports” (and all those sacks of money) because we watching and played those “games” when we were kids.

The sudden popularity of girls and women’s sports didn’t just fall out of the sky.

The games are now PLAYED by crowds of both sexes, and if you don’t think women are now packing arenas and stadiums by fans who want to spend their money, try getting a ticket to see Caitlin Clark.

BACK AT the start of this sermon, I mentioned that my position was the easiest to take.

It’s true.

I’m going to be a baseball nut no natter what sort of greedy clowns run the sport.

I love it, I played the at several levels and (with the possible exception of handsome young golfers who hammer the ball 350 yards and then make chip-and-run shots stop on the green like they hit a puddle of peach jelly), baseball is the game I dreamed of playing in front of thousands of adoring fans.

But, yes, I think it’s also great fun to be one of those thousands.

You want to debate the Mariners’ moves prior to the trade deadline?

Let’s do it.

For the record, it appears that the player who has lit up the Mariners was acquired quietly and with no fuss at all.

Three weeks ago, were you going online to buy a Victor Robles jersey?

Funny thing, though.

If you take a good, long look at Victor’s career, he’s been a damn capable player, and he’s been a winner.

I like the M’s moves closer to the deadline, too.

And, as of this moment, Seattle hasn’t had to ship away any of its blue-chip prospects.

See what I mean?

Prospects rated by MLB.com tells us that the Mariners have seven of the top 25.

Wow!

Now, after all these moves, they STILL have all seven.

I love debating who’s coming up to win award.

We didn’t need a midseason trading deadline to do it, though.

They could have found all the players they needed by Opening Day.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”

    JASON REDMOND/Associated Press Seattle Mariner outfielder Victor Robles celebrates next to first base coach Kristopher Negron after getting a hit in a June 14 game against the Texas Rangers in Seattle. Robles, acquired after being designated for assignment by the Washington Nationals, has been a bright spot of late in the absence of Julio Rodriguez due to injury.