Still Not Done

ESPN today has an article up about 9 potential players who could be moved in a post-trade deadline deal. In order for a player to be dealt after the deadline, he must first be put on waivers, and clear the requisite waiver period without being claimed by another team. It isn't well known amongst baseball fans, but superstars being placed on waivers is actually a relatively common occurrence. Manny Ramirez, who made Jerry Crasnick's list of possible post-trade deadline movers, was actually put on waivers after the trade deadline quite often by the Red Sox, mostly during those last few tumultuous seasons.

Now if you're saying, "but Bryant, I don't mean to question your considerable brilliance, but why would they do that?" The answer is multi-faceted. Th first reason most teams do this is because they can. Generally, players of Manny's caliber and experience have gigantic contracts, and teams who may be interested in the player are often scared off by the price tag, thus negating the danger on the part of the team making the waiver move. Once the player clears waivers, he can be traded to other teams, which is the essential value of making the waiver move in the first place, but this too is predicated on finding a team willing to take on at least some of the player's contract.

The other reason teams put big money guys on waivers is for the obvious; they hope someone will claim him and take him off their hands. Manny's a good example, because in the last couple of years of "Manny being Manny," Boston would have been happy to allow him to walk for nothing in return but salary relief. Unfortunately for Boston, Manny's massive contract always resulted in other teams taking a pass.