Rumors for August, 2011
Injury updates: Sanchez and Buchholz
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Here’s a running list of injury updates around the Major Leagues:
– According to Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News, Giants GM, Brian Sabean, is worried about second baseman Freddy Sanchez and his shoulder surgery. “For me, personally, it doesn’t look good,” he said. It looks like Sanchez could be out for the reminder of the 2011 season. That would be a tough blow for the reigning champions, who acquired Jeff Keppinger and Orlando Cabrera’s services during July to try and fill in for Sanchez.
– It appears that right handed pitcher Clay Buchholz will be out for the rest of the 2011 regular season with a stress fracture in his lower back according to Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com. Buchholz has been out for six weeks, but could be ready to rejoin the team in the post season. Buchholz is scheduled to see back specialist Dr. Thomas Watkins in Los Angeles Monday, but will probably only confirm what he has already been diagnosed with says McAdam.
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Washington Nationals release Matt Stairs
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The Washington Nationals have announced that they released Matt Stars. He previously was designated for assignment on July 27.
Stairs was hitting .154/.257/.169 with 2 RBI’s in 65 AB’s for the Nationals in 2011.
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Pirates designate Lyle Overbay for assignment
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The Pittsburgh Pirates have designated first baseman Lyle Overbay, according to sources close to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
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Philadelphia Phillies release Danys Baez
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In a Tweet by Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Enquirer, he shares that Danys Baez was released.
In 2011, Baez had a record of 2-4 with a 6.25 ERA in 29 relief appearances. He was designated for assignment on July 22.
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Players that could be traded in August
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With the trade deadline now in our rearview mirror, we embark on a different scenario for the next month where teams try to add to their rosters as they make one last push towards the playoffs.
As we pointed out to you yesterday, trade scenarios are far from over, but this time they will happen through the waiver process.
Buster Olney of ESPN wrote today in his column a list of players that could be traded through waivers.
– Jason Kubel(Minnesota Twins): He’s eligible for free agency and he’s making $5.25 million this season. The Twins decided not to sell at the deadline, but Olney suggest that they could wait until later this month to place Kubel on waivers and wait for a team like the Yankees or Rangers to put a claim on him.
– Kyle Farnsworth(Tampa Bay Rays): The right hander is having a good season, and as Olney points out the Rays are always open to trade conversations. Farnsworth though is projected to become a Type-A free agent. So any team that places a claim on him will have to offer the Rays a deal that’s worth more than the two compensation draft picks they’ll get if Farnsworth signs elsewhere.
– Ramon Hernandez(Cincinnati Reds): If the Reds fall out of the playoff race, Olney believes they’ll place Hernandez on waivers. The catcher will be a free agent at the end of the season, so the Reds should listen to offers from the team that places the claim. Olney says that the Pirates and Diamondbacks will probably place a claim. The Pirates might need him, but the Diamondbacks will place the claim so he doesn’t get to the Giants who definitely need him.
– Carlos Pena (Chicago Cubs): Even though the Cubs said they wanted to keep Pena, they might place him on waivers if they want to save some of the money owed to him. Clubs probably won’t deal any good prospect for Pena, but would be willing to take on his salary.
– Jim Thome(Minnesota Twins): He’s three home runs away from 600, and as Olney points out, there’s no chance the Twins will move him before he reaches that plateau. But if he reaches 600 HR’s before August is over, they could put him on waivers and they’ll probably get several claims on him.
– Jason Giambi(Colorado Rockies): The Phillies were having talks with the Rockies before Giambi got hurt, but if they still want to deal him, they can place him on waivers as soon as he’s healthy. According to Olney, a general manager said the other day that there is no chance that Giambi reaches Philadelphia on waivers, he’s making only $1 million, and is a powerful hitter coming off the bench. The Pirates, Brewers, Cardinals, Braves and Giants may place a claim on him.
– Wandy Rodriguez(Houston Astros): He’s owed $40 million so he’ll probably pass through waivers and the Yankees and Astros could continue their negotiations where they left off yesterday. The Yankees were willing to eat about half of that money, but the Astros wanted them to absorb the entire contract and give up a good prospect for the lefty. The question here in my opinion, is if Rodriguez will be able to handle the AL East.
– Carlos Quentin(Chicago White Sox): The White Sox are still in race, so keeping Quentin makes a lot of sense, but if they fall out of competition, the White Sox could place him on waivers. He’ll receive several claims for sure, and the White Sox could listen to offers for a player they might have been trying to deal since the offseason says Olney.
– Jeremy Guthrie(Baltimore Orioles): Teams like the Tigers, Indians and Yankees could be interested in the right hander. Olney says though that odds are the Orioles will pull Guthrie back.
– Heath Bell (San Diego Padres): The Padres decided to keep Bell because they felt the offers they received weren’t good enough. That doesn’t mean they won’t place him on waivers. Teams like the Cardinals, Diamondbacks and Giants could place a claim on him.
– Josh Willingham(Oakland Athletics): The Pirates, Braves, Red Sox and Yankees showed interest in Willingham, but the Athletics are not going to just give him away. Olney predicts that he will be placed on waivers, but them they will pull him back.
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Trading MLB players with waivers in August For Dummies
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The Trade Deadline isn’t over. We’re only half-way there!
Huh? But what was all this July 31st Trade Deadline stuff that caused me to hit my refresh button so many times on July 31st? You’re telling me that my team could still make a move?
There are bunch of waiver rules in Major League Baseball, but we’ll focus in on the most common one involved for August 1-31. Here are the rules you need to understand so when you go to the bar and start talking about trading players this month you’ll look pretty smart.
Almost every player on the 40-man roster will be placed on waivers this month. So don’t be surprised when Albert Pujols or Tim Lincecum or C.C. Sabathia are placed on waivers. They’ve been on there before, and they’ll be on there again. Why do they do this? Two reasons:
– In the event that the team wants to trade the player and they clear waivers they can trade them
– GMs use this process to gauge which teams might be interested in their players for winter trades.
So now a player is placed on waivers. Any team now can place a claim on that player, but only one team is awarded the claim even if multiple claims were submitted. The waiver claim is awarded to the team based on reverse order of standings, starting with the same league the player is in. So let’s say the St. Louis Cardinals place Albert Pujols (let’s ignore his no-trade clause) on waivers and the New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles and San Diego Padres put a claim in. The Padres would win the claim despite the Orioles having a worse record. In this scenario, the Padres have priority because they are the only National League team to place a claim. If no NL team placed a claim, the Orioles would have priority over any American League by virtue of having the worse record in the AL.
Three things can now happen:
– The original team says they don’t want to trade him, so they pull the player back. The player can be placed on waivers again, but he cannot be recalled a second time.
– The team that was awarded the waiver claim has 48 hours to work out a trade with the originating team.
– The original team can let the player go to the team that made the waiver claim and the new team is responsible for the salary. (This is the reason why many players with high salaries will go unclaimed such as Barry Zito of the San Francisco Giants. Teams do not want to take the risk of being stuck with poor performing but high salaried player.)
Now here comes the chess match – blocking claims.
Let’s go back with Pujols. The Cardinals put Pujols on waivers and the Yankees knowing they could use the bat would submit a claim. The Red Sox and the Rays would likely place a claim in there since they don’t want the Yankees to get another bat. They have a worse record than the Yankees so they would be given priority to make a deal for Pujols. In this case, the Red Sox are awarded a claim. The Cardinals would likely pull Pujols back.
Let’s say that Pujols had years left on his contract with millions of dollars tied to it, and he was performing poorly. The Cardinals could give Pujols away, and the Red Sox would be responsible for the remainder of his contract. So there’s a risk involved when trying to block a claim especially for those competitive teams on a tight budget.
An example of this was when the Rays let Jose Canseco go via waivers in 2000. The Yankees blocked Canseco from going to the Toronto Blue Jays. The Yankees won the World Series, but Canseco mostly sat on the bench during his Yankees’ tenure.
That’s it in a nutshell. So take the knowledge and spread the word!
Information from Jayson Stark of ESPN and John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle was used in this article.
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