Now that the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline has passed, the bulk of the major deals around baseball have more than likely come to a conclusion.
However, a player can still be traded beyond the July 31 trade deadline.
From the day following the World Series until July 31 the following year, a player may be unconditionally traded to another club, provided there are no contractural stipulations preventing it. But after July 31 through the end of the year, a player must be placed on, “special waivers” in order to be dealt.
MLB Commisioner Rob Manfred recently said he is might consider moving the trade deadline into August, thanks to the advent of the second wild card and so many clubs still in races on July 31.
At any rate, this is a different process than waiving a player to remove them from the 40-man roster. These are revocable waivers for the the purpose of trading a player, although not necessarily in many cases.
Typically, most players with big contracts are placed on trade waivers. This is typically a discreet process for the sake of the players, but often time information is leaked, sometimes for strategic purposes.
A player placed on waivers or who clears waivers is not necessarily going to be traded, and in most cases, are not traded. But it’s a way to gauge interest in players both during the summer, and ahead of the off-season.
If a player is claimed on trade waivers, the claiming team has exclusive negotiating rights with the team in possession of the player(s) contract. The claiming team can simply agree to take on the entire player contract, virtually serving as a straight waiver claim, or the two sides can negotiate a deal. All players involved in the deal must be on trade waivers.
Sometimes, a team might put in a claim for a player strategically block another team from claiming the right to trade for that player. Sometimes, clubs put in a claim for a player as a favor to another club to prevent a player from falling to their competitor. In either case, the claiming team has no intention of acquiring the player. But such strategy can be crippling for the team that owns the player’s contract because if a player is claimed, no deal is reached and the player is pulled back from waivers, he cannot be placed on trade waivers again until September 1.
That might not seem terrible, but a player who is acquired or signed after September 1 is ineligible for the playoffs with his new team.
If a player goes unclaimed on trade waivers, he would by definition clear trade waivers and be able to be traded to any club, contingent upon any contract stipulations.
Players on or who clear trade waivers must be dealt by September 1, as that marks a new period of trade waivers and the process would have to begin again.
Just Mets 