The MLB non-waiver trade deadline was July 31.
Teams can still make trades this season, but they’ll have to jump through a few extra hoops. If a team wishes to trade a player, it has to put players through what’s called revocable waivers.
What are waivers?
The waiver wire is 47 hours long, and if a team doesn’t put in a claim on said player, the team is free to trade that player to whoever they heck they want.
So what happens if a player gets claimed?
A team has three options if a player is claimed.
1. They can work out a deal with the claiming team.
2. They can revoke the waiver request, which pulls them off waivers.
3. They can simply let the claiming team have the player for nothing in return. However, that means the claiming team has to take on the player’s remaining salary and contract – but if a player possesses a no-trade clause, he can block the trade from happening.
What will the Twins do?
The Twins and other teams will put many players through waivers. It’s actually pretty common – in 2012, the Twins even put Joe Mauer through waivers and he cleared it no problem.
Why? because no one wanted to take take on his massive contract.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Twins put a couple pitchers through waivers this month.
Matt Belisile was flat out awful for the first two months of the season, with an ERA near 9. But since June 3 he’s allowed just five runs in 25 innings, cutting his ERA in half. And playoff-bound teams always need relievers.
Same goes for starting pitchers Bartolo Colon or Hector Santiago, who will be free agents at the end of the season.
It’s unlikely teams will put players with multiple years of team control through waivers – but again, it’s completely normal to put veterans like Joe Mauer, Brian Dozier and Ervin Santana through the waiver wire.
