Stark On Sherrill, Blue Jays, Harper, Thome

There has been a “flurry” of waiver claims on prominent players, according to an MLB official who spoke with ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark. Nearly every desirable hitter and reliever has been claimed, according to Stark’s source. However, we can add at least one name to our list of players to clear waivers. Here it is, along with Stark’s other rumors:

• George Sherrill, who has a 7.00 ERA and $1.3MM remaining on his contract, cleared waivers, according to Stark. The Dodgers can now trade him to any club, as our waiver trade primer explains.
• David Aardsma, Kevin Gregg and Brandon League were all claimed on waivers and pulled back, according to Stark’s source. If the Mariners or Blue Jays re-expose their respective relievers to waivers, they would no longer have the right to pull the players back.
• Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos told Stark that he’s looking for high-impact players, because the club is geared towards reaching 95 wins.
• One MLB official believes Manny Ramirez will sign a one-year, incentive-based contract with an AL team this winter. That sounds about right.
• There have been no signs that Scott Boras, who represents first overall pick Bryce Harper, has had any meaningful conversations with the Nationals about what it will take to reach a deal. The sides have until Monday at 11pm CST to reach a deal.
• The Twins were willing to include Wilson Ramos (now in Washington’s system) in a trade for Cliff Lee, according to Stark’s sources.
• Jim Thome already has 15 homers for the Twins, and he could be back in Minneapolis next year. "We'd certainly have interest in him coming back," Twins assistant GM Rob Antony told Stark.