A slew of household names cleared revocable waivers recently, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag in a pair of articles. The list consists of Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper, Reds first baseman Joey Votto, Tigers left fielder Justin Upton, Mariners right-hander Felix Hernandez, Orioles first baseman Chris Davis, Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford and four Mets – outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, infielder Asdrubal Cabrera, second baseman Neil Walker and reliever AJ Ramos. All of these players are now eligible for August trades.
It’s obvious that Harper, one of the game’s preeminent superstars, isn’t going anywhere. As Heyman notes, no team bothered to claim Harper because they realized putting the 24-year-old through waivers was merely a procedural maneuver by first-place Washington.
Votto, 33, won’t be on the move, either, as he’s a Cincinnati institution who has a full no-trade clause and a guaranteed $171MM coming his way through 2024.
Hernandez also enjoys full no-trade rights, though he hasn’t aged nearly as well as Votto. The former ace’s performance has declined drastically over the past couple years, making his contract a burden to the Mariners. The 31-year-old is on a $26MM salary this season and next, and he’s due another $27MM in 2019. Further hampering his trade value, King Felix is on the disabled list with right biceps tendinitis.
Davis, meanwhile, has a partial no-trade clause, and it’s difficult to imagine any team showing interest in the once-elite offensive force. The 31-year-old is amid his second straight mediocre season since re-signing in Baltimore on a seven-year, $161MM contract.
Upton, 29, is having an outstanding season, but he comes with a pricey salary ($22.13MM through 2021), and both his 20-team no-trade rights and opt-out clause complicate matters. Upton could vacate the remaining four years and $88MM-plus left on his deal after this season, but there’s a strong likelihood he’ll ride out the remainder of the contract, Heyman suggests. Regardless, there hasn’t been any real trade interest in Upton to this point, according to Heyman.
With his $8MM salary this season, Crawford is eminently affordable now, but he’s due $60MM from 2018-21 and is having a dreadful year offensively. While Crawford remains a great defender, teams might be leery of taking on a highly paid 30-year-old (31 in January) whose offensive production has suddenly cratered. He’s another member of the full no-trade clause club, too, further decreasing the chances of a deal.
As for the Mets, we now know of six of their veterans who have passed through waivers, with outfielders Jay Bruce and Curtis Granderson having done so earlier this week. The best of the bunch is Cespedes, whom the Mets re-signed to a four-year, $110MM contract in the offseason. Even if the Mets wanted to deal Cespedes, the 31-year-old has a full NTC that would enable him to block any move.
Walker has also dealt with hamstring issues – a partial tear that sidelined the 31-year-old from mid-June until last week. The soon-to-be free agent has gone just 3 of 26 at the plate since his return, but he still comes with a quality track record and is on pace for another decent offensive season (.254/.332/.431 in 281 plate appearances). It’s unclear, though, whether there will be any teams clamoring for the switch-hitting Walker, who’s has roughly $6MM of his $17.2MM salary remaining through season’s end, given a lack of demand for second basemen.
Cabrera, 31, drew pre-trade deadline interest from the Red Sox and Indians, but they’ve patched up their infield situations since then. Moreover, the Mets are reportedly giving strong consideration to going forward with Cabrera next year, when he’s owed either a reasonable salary ($8.5MM) or a $2MM buyout.
Ramos just joined the Mets last week in a trade with the National League East rival Marlins. Several teams were interested in acquiring the 32-year-old leading up to July 31, though some of those clubs went on to make other deals for relievers after he went to the Mets. Plus, the Mets may favor keeping Ramos in hopes of contending in 2018. He’s owed around $2MM through the end of this season and has one more year of arbitration eligibility.
ELI5 why would the Nats bother to even put Harper on revokable waivers? What’s to gain from that?
It gives them the ability to trade him during August. This comes into play if he becomes unwelcome in Nats Nation. Likelihood, slim. But gm’s get fired when they don’t dot the i or cross the t.
Perhaps the Nationals just ran their entire 40-man through waivers at the same time. It surely wasn’t intended to send a message to Harper or open the door to a trade.
As we have emphasized all month long, whether a player goes on or clears waivers doesn’t generally mean anything in and of itself. In some cases, it facilitates trade talks, but clearly lots of players go on waivers whose teams have no intention of trading them.
Also lets the team know who could be interested if he were actually available. Obviously everyone would be, but some may be more so and if they’re willing to toss in a claim it makes them that much more hungry. See what they’re willing to offer a year before he hits the market and see if another team values him more than you do.
Harper cleared waivers? Interesting
Not really. As the above piece notes, nobody bothered claiming him because nobody believes he is really available. And I assume that he isn’t.
What’s the point of running Harper thru waivers?
Why not? Doesn’t mean anything.
All is does is gauge interest from other teams
I would have claimed him and then sold (almost all) the farm to acquire him. Then blew the doors off the bank to extend him.
Makes the player question his worth to an organization, and how much that org wants him. (Arbitration has a similar effect.)
Seeing how nobody placed a claim, it clearly doesn’t gauge interest from other teams. Apparently it does the exact opposite, because I can guarantee that every single team is interested in him. It really accomplishes nothing at all.
Whats the point of the nats putting harper on waivers?
The better question is how in the world did he clear waivers
My guess is that there’s 29 gm’s that consider claiming him a waste of time. They’re conceding the putt.
Yeah it’s probably a waste of time but there are literally no consequences for putting a claim in. Only 3 things can happen: 1. They pull him back 2. You have 2 days to work out a trade or 3. They let you have him.
In my opinion theres nothing to lose, might as well claim him.
You lose the time putting in the paperwork. What would be the point of even putting a claim in?
How long do you honestly think it would take to do the paperwork? I’m sure there’s some sort of standardized form where all they have to do is fill in a few blanks and put a signature or two on it. They likely aren’t wasting anymore time than the Nationals wasted putting Harper on waivers.
Bc clubs know he’ll be pulled back no matter what
Why would Harper put the Nationals on waivers?
yeah i’m with the rest of you, what’s the point of even putting harper on waivers? I know the article calls it a “procedural maneuver”, but i still don’t get it. And why wouldn’t a team just throw a claim in him, what’s the worst that can happen?
If you claim and no deal do you lose your place in claim order?
hm, i don’t think so… i think it stays the same but i’m not sure. good question
Sometimes a team is thinking about trading a player but doesn’t wish to make it obvious which player, for various reasons. By waiving the entire roster the Nationals are giving no indication of who they might trade, it could theoretically be anyone on their roster. As opposed to only submitting the names of those players they are considering trading.
As far as sending the wrong message to Harper. Not only wouldn’t the strategy outlined above work if you excluded anyone from waivers but you would then create a potential issue with other players. Should they also exclude Scherzer, Rendon, Turner, etc ? Simply waiving their entire roster eliminates the issue. And Harper is a veteran now. I’m sure he understands and doesn’t take it personally.
It’s probably a wakeup call to Harper to change his attitude; if another team claimed him, it’s doubtful he’d have suited up and just refused to play; he gets more arrogant every season, so by demonstrating to him that no other team wanted him, he might change his ways.
No team claimed him as they all knew it would be a waste of time.
Maybe they think he will leave as a Free-Agent.
Also somebody who needs an OF because of Injure might look at Upton.. Crawford Cubs or Diamondbacks or Royals?
Except he’s not.a free agent until after 2018.
agree on the above. just done to get his attention. if a claim was made, Washington would have just retracted him from waivers.
You can’t be serious. The Nats are still hoping to sign this guy to an extension. Relations between Harper, Boras, his agent and Nats ownership remain such that this isn’t an unrealistic hope. And, BTW, the guy is having another MVP caliber season. Why in the world would they want to “get his attention”? That makes zero sense.
i don’t think this demonstrates that no team wants harper. 29 teams would take him from the nats if they could
It’s the way things are ran and nothing to do with what you said! What you call more arrogant every year is getting better at his job..as a MLB player. Just because you have some sort of Hangup with him,doesn’t mean 29 other teams wouldn’t love to have him. WTF
It happens every year to pretty much every player even untouchables like Junior in his prime etc…
What about his attitude needs a change?
You are reading way to much into this and you’re spewing false narratives
Dummy Alert!
I know it’s been stated 100 times but seriously… I want to know the point of putting Harper through wavers
Waivers*
As Jeff mentioned. The nats probably put the entire roster through waivers. What does the point matter? Needless speculation isnt worth the time.
I want to know why it matters to everyone so much when it means nothing.
B/C they want to understand the strategy or endgame of such a move… Like BigFred copied below.
In the past, only a few guys got put through waivers. It ruffled some feathers. To eliminate the risk of getting guys upset, they now put the entire roster through waivers. Now, nobody knows who they are actually trying to trade. It’s a silly maneuver to manage the primadonas’ feelings.
Or to maintain the trade value on those they’re trying to trade.
This is what the Brewers were waiting for. Bringing a guy like neil walker or even Justin upton.
No on Neil Walker. He may be the worst defensive second baseman in MLB. He has absolutely no range.
Maybe second to villar…
How would it work if a team on Upton’s no trade list claimed him and Detroit let him go for nothing? Could he block it? It’s technically a waiver claim not a trade… could he still refuse? Don’t think it would happen, just curious about the possibility.
Yes, no-trade clause apply to waiver claims
Per Dan Kolko (masn, Aug 12 2014) —
“Every year around this time, teams place players on revocable trade waivers largely to determine interest in that player and get a sense of that player’s value. It’s essentially a way for a team to gauge how other organizations view its players.
It can open up trade discussions, sure. It can lead to some groundwork for a future deal. But just because a player is placed on revocable trade waivers, it doesn’t mean that anything will happen. It often is just a way for teams to see how their players are valued by other front offices.
It used to be that news of a player getting placed on revocable trade waivers didn’t become public, because this is such a common thing. But in this age where every little piece of information is put out there and dissected, these reports have started to happen more frequently, and they tend to confuse or rattle some fans because the terms “waivers” or “claimed” are used in other contexts in the game, as well.”
You all realize almost every single player in the league is put on waivers.
There is no way that Washington put harpler on waivers. The first team would claim him what’s the point? Don’t make sense.
Obviously that’s not true since he cleared waivers. Teams know they aren’t getting him so there is no point in claiming him
There is a way that they would, because they did.
And the first team wouldn’t claim him, nor would the last. How do I know? Because he cleared waivers.
Claiming him would have been a bigger waste of time than me responding to some random stranger who has no idea how waivers work.
What team do u gm for? Comedian.
Good one…
They put every player on waivers, partly as a cover for those that they may try to sneak through waivers and trade. If you only put the few players on waivers you’re open to dealing then everyone knows it and knows their place on your roster is iffy, therefore dropping their value in the event you do try to trade one. So as a formality all teams have pretty much gone to passing all players through. Plus you get to know which teams had interest in a player if you do wish to deal him later on.
This^^
I was going to write something like that but was having trouble explaining. You nailed it
Imagine the reaction if it had been reported that 11 veterans had cleared revocable waivers!
What I would like to know is what would happen if one bottom barrel team placed a claim on majority of the guys placed? Say CWS kept placing claims one after another… and offered trades that wouldn’t be accepted… does the claim have to be accepted? If CWS doesn’t accept the trade parameters can they allow the waiver (say they don’t accept taking on cash to acquire guy can they get him for nothing more the claim?) To follow up?
If they place a claim they risk eating the entire contract. I’m sure some teams placed guys on waivers hoping somebody would bail them out and eat the balance of the contract. The team putting the player on waivers has the right to say “he’s yours” and not ask for compensation.
Harper will soon be the highest paid player in history and will be wearing pin stripes
Harper’s facial hair is too important to him. He’ll be a Dodger or Cub
The luxury tax changes will prohibit the Dodgers for sure from getting Harper. The Cubs will also be in the same boat as they have to sign all their young studs. It makes sense for the Cardinals to have a lot of interest.