This is a running list of players who have cleared waivers, based on published reports. Once a player clears waivers, he can be traded to any team (barring a no-trade clause). This list can always be found in the sidebar under MLBTR Features. Player names are linked to the source articles.
Updated 8-30-11 at 10:56pm
Starting pitchers
- Aaron Harang, Padres - Harang's ERA is a respectable 3.92 with 6.7 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in pitcher-friendly Petco Park.
- Dontrelle Willis, Reds – Willis has bounced back with the Reds, posting a 4.10 ERA, 6.3 K/9, 3.8 BB/9, 0.68 HR/9, and 56.8% groundball rate in 52 2/3 innings.
- Carlos Zambrano, Cubs – Zambrano cleared waivers prior to being placed on the disqualified list. He has a short fuse, lousy stats, and over $22MM remaining on his contract through next year.
- Rodrigo Lopez, Cubs – Not surprising to see the journeyman clear waivers.
- Chris Capuano, Mets – Capuano owns a 3.74 SIERA as of August 14th and earns only $1.5MM plus incentives, so it's hard to see why a few teams didn't place claims.
- Bronson Arroyo, Reds – His peripheral stats haven't changed much, but Arroyo has a 5.31 ERA as of August 15th. $15MM of his $35MM contract is deferred through 2021 without interest. The deferrals are voided if he's traded, however. At any rate, expect Arroyo to stay put.
- Bruce Chen, Royals – Chen has his moments, but it's not surprising to see him clear waivers.
- Jason Vargas, Mariners – Like many of the starters here, Vargas' fastball wouldn't break a window. But he has less than a million bucks left on his contract this year and is under team control through 2013. He'd fit nicely at the back end of several rotations.
- Chien-Ming Wang, Nationals – His three starts this season were his first in over two years, so it's understandable that contenders wouldn't jump to claim him.
- Tom Gorzelanny, Nationals – Booted to the bullpen last month, the 29-year-old flyballing southpaw has posted strong strikeout rates in recent years but can't hold a rotation job.
- Ted Lilly, Dodgers – He always has strong strikeout-to-walk numbers, but is prone to the longball. With over 82% of his $33MM contract remaining ($27MM+), it's no surprise he cleared waivers.
Relievers
- Joe Nathan, Twins - Nathan won't be traded, according to Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
- Chad Qualls, Padres – Qualls is enjoying a bounce-back season, though his strikeout rate dipped to 5.3 K/9 this year.
- Bill Bray, Reds – Bray has been decent this year, and a little tougher against lefties. He'll be arbitration eligible for the second time this offseason.
- Hong-Chih Kuo, Dodgers – A dominant reliever last year, Kuo has dealt with a back injury and anxiety disorder as his control has eluded him.
- Huston Street, Rockies – Between a recent triceps injury and the $9MM+ owed to him through 2012, Street was expected to clear.
- Brian Fuentes, Athletics – He's owed over $6MM through next year, and has been mediocre for the A's.
- Jon Rauch, Blue Jays – Rauch is affordable, but he's on the DL for an appendectomy and wasn't great before that.
- Mike Gonzalez, Orioles – Gonzalez has been dominant in August, and against lefties. The problem is that he's still owed almost a million bucks.
- Kevin Gregg, Orioles – Gregg might be the worst reliever holding down a closer's job, and he's owed at least $6.4MM through next year.
- John Grabow, Cubs – He's been ineffective even against lefties, and he has over $700K remaining.
- D.J. Carrasco, Mets – The Mets signed Carrasco to a two-year deal in December – their biggest acquisition of the offseason - but optioned him to Triple-A in April. He stayed there until mid-June.
Position players
- Aramis Ramirez, Cubs – In July, Ramirez's agent said that his client would consider an August deal but he has since had a change of heart. The Cubs hold an option on Ramirez's deal worth $16MM.
- Alfonso Soriano, Cubs – This one was also obvious. SI's Jon Heyman notes on Twitter that the Cubs are willing to pay a "major, major chunk" of the $58.35MM owed to the left fielder through 2014.
- Lance Berkman, Cardinals – Berkman has said he hopes to re-sign with St. Louis after the season, when he hits free agency. Still, it's a surprise to see him clear waivers.
- Ryan Theriot, Cardinals - Theriot earns $3.3MM this year and will be a non-tender candidate after the season.
- David Wright, Mets - It's surprising that Wright cleared waivers, but it doesn't mean the Mets have interest in dealing him. Wright earns $15MM next year and can void a $16MM club option for 2013 if traded.
- Conor Jackson, Athletics – Olney notes that the Red Sox asked about the light-hitting 1B/LF/RF, but there doesn't seem to be any traction there.
- David DeJesus, Athletics – DeJesus has had a rough year but could at least be useful against right-handed pitching.
- Hideki Matsui, Athletics – The Athletics have several waiver trade candidates, and Matsui's hot second half and low salary (owed less than $2MM the rest of the season) could make him a popular target.
- Jason Bay, Mets – With Bay being owed at least $38.8MM through 2013, this was expected. It's only been 12 games, but Bay is at least having his first good month of 2011.
- Willie Harris, Mets – The versatile Harris has less than $200K left on his contract.
- Angel Pagan, Mets – It's been a dismal year for Pagan, who may be in line for a non-tender after the season.
- Carlos Lee, Astros – No surprise here, as the 35-year-old is hitting .263/.321/.417 and is owed almost $23MM through next year. El Caballo's ten-and-five rights kick in after the season.
- Johnny Damon, Rays – Damon blocked an August trade last summer and 12 months later he's a candidate to be traded once again.
Tim Dierkes contributed to this post.
who do you replace soto with?
Wellington Castillo.
every catcher in the pro baseball is better then Soto so i don’t care who they replace him with.. Hendry was blind to see Jake Fox was a HUGE asset to the Cubs Great power and played 5 positions all of them which he played extremely well.. you could have a one eyed, prosodic leg catcher better then Soto and he would run better then him too
Yikes to the idea of Bay playing RF…
The cubs would probably go for that, but why would the Angels do that?
Not if they have to assume all of his salary. A team might be willing to take a flyer if the Yanks eat some of his salary, but what good would that really do the Yanks…though maybe Burnett could regain some form playing in the NL.
To think he could be the first 15-game with an ERA over 6.00 since 1938.
Maybe throw in Will Millbrooks in the deal to get Jackson Back because A’s need a future 3B.
we already have our 3rd basemen of the future in Stephen Parker, or if SS doesn’t work for him, move Grant Green over there. Also Adrian Cardenas in AAA
Kevin K.?
Unless he severely changes his approach, he’s more likely to be let go. He’s not even on the 40 man roster anymore
Really upset to not see rios, Dunn and peavy not in this list. I know they more than likely would not be moved due to contract but weirder things have happened and a guy can dream can’t he?
The waivers are supposed to be secret I wouldn’t be surprised if all of then cleared waivers already.
During the Johnson for MacDonald and Hill Press conference, Anthopoulos said the he had put the entire team on waivers at the start of the month.
everyone wants to throw bay in RF in that scenario. wouldn’t you rather crawford there or if you really want to jumble things up ellsbury in right and crawford in center? i think crawford has the tools of a rightfielder (decent arm and ridiculous range)
pagan? hes been tearing it up since he got hurt
Ok, I thought I understood the trade deadline and waiver trade details, but apparently I do not. I don’t see Kelly Johnson on the players who cleared waivers, but he was just traded after the deadline. How does that work?
Nevermind, I didn’t realize they were all put on waivers.
I think Soto would have some trade value… He’s not “release” material… Besides, his salary was $3 mil for this year & only a month left… He not costing much the rest of the way…
Troy Renck was blowing up Twitter yesterday about how the Rockies put a claim on David Wright, and now, he cleared waivers? I’m lost.
Me2 they might have pulled him back and then put him on waivers again but then thy have to trad him
The whole waivers thing gets so overblown by media and the fans. It’s not supposed to be public information, but in this day and age with all of the social media outlets it’s hard to keep anything from the public. It amazes me how many Mets fans and MSM outlets have made the whole “zOMG WRIGHT WAS PUT ON WAIVERS” into a story. I’m sure he’s been put on waivers every year and pretty much every player on every team for that matter. It means nothing.
I thought putting everyone through waivers common knowledge. I guess not.
Didn’t the Rockies put in a claim on Wright and the Mets pulled him back so he shouldn’t be on this list.
How did Lance Berkman clear waivers? 29 HR and 292 average? I call BS.
I have to agree. He hasn’t done much power wise in the past 30 days (only 2 HR), but he’s still hitting near 300 with an OPS over 800. I’m shocked nobody put a claim in on him.
It’s because he seems to only play really well in a place he likes to be in. Look how awful he was in NY. He went to the Cardinals, and flourished in an environment not as hostile and media saturated as in NY. I believe the chemistry in the clubhouse really affects him. According to reports he is the “Funny Guy” in the clubhouse. He also mentioned he wanted to stay in St. Louis, teams must have known this or they would have put a claim in for sure, either that or didn’t think he would pass a physical.
What makes RISP with 2 outs a clutch stat? You can be up 10 runs and have a RISP with 2 outs…I wouldn’t exactly call that a clutch situation. Sabremetrics can only take a shot in the dark at what a clutch situation is but you will never really know unless you watch the game. This is why sabres are flawed….stats and sabres can be used as a tool to support a case but unless you watch the game they are useless.
Wright to Angels for Trout/one their SS/Mathis/Thompson/Palmer?
The list for people has cleared Waviers and haven’t been traded yet.
WE will se more before 9-1.
“David Wright, Mets – It’s surprising that Wright cleared waivers, but it doesn’t mean the Mets have interest in dealing him.”
Then why put a player on waivers? Am I missing something here?
Braves could use Ryan Theriot. I know he’s awful, but even awful would be an upgrade from Julio Lugo’s corpse.
Theriot isn’t ‘awful’. He’s an average bat with average D with average speed. His D is normally better than this years too. A definite upgrade over Lugo.
Still think the Phillies should pull the trigger on Johnny Damon. Gload is playing injured and has been horrible since the all-star break.
I could also see them putting a claim on Carroll (LAD).
Ryan Theriot, Matsui, & Angel Pagan really need to be wearing a Braves uni on the 40 man roster. Soriano would be nice in place of Hideki if Chicago will really eat a lot of that contract. Wouldn’t mind seeing the Braves make a push for Wright, but that would be a slaughtering of the farm.
video games much?
What about the Yankees for Gorzelanny? They could certainly use another lefty in the pen and he’s done great against lefties this year!
Can’t be any worse than the Brad Penny Experiment.
Some Setup Man or Closer will be moved this week to either Yankees or Red Sox.
I hope you like Jon Rauch
Ryan Theriot is interesting.
not if he is on your team
np