The Twins and The August Waiver Period
The Major League Baseball trade deadline was on July 31, and if you didn’t happen to notice the excitement and fury of the moves during the day, you must have decided to turn from baseball. On the Twins front, Minnesota landed starting pitcher Tommy Milone from the Athletics for Sam Fuld. That deadline has come and gone, but another opportunity still looms.
In August, Major League Baseball teams have another opportunity to trade their players. Major League Baseball affords each of the teams the opportunity to place their players on waivers to invoke a trade.
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So how does it work? Nearly every player, on every team, is placed on waivers at some point throughout August. Regardless of whether we are talking about Joe Mauer or Chris Colabello, the option is usually explored.
Once placed on waivers, one of three different scenarios plays out. Each player placed on waivers has 47 hours to await their fate. If a player goes unclaimed in the initial 47 hours, the team can trade them to any other team throughout the rest of the season.
A player placed on waivers who does get claimed then gives the teams a few options. The player can be pulled back immediately (like what would happen with most big name players), the player can be given to the claiming team (in which case the team claiming the player would pick up the entirety of the remaining contract), or a trade could be worked out between the two teams.
For the Twins, there are a couple of names worth monitoring. The largest name will likely be Joe Mauer. Mauer will be placed on waivers for procedural purposes, but likely nothing more. As much as his contract is a hot stove discussion point, it is far from an issue. He means much more to the Twins (when healthy) then what the return would ever be.
Another name would be Josh Willingham. A free agent at the end of the season, and a very manageable contract, a team with a hole still after the July 31 trade deadline could find themselves interested. He presents a low risk option that wouldn’t cost much.
A final name to look at would be Kevin Correia. Both Trevor May and Alex Meyer should be called up no later than September, but if the Twins want to open another rotation spot, and find a potential suitor for the veteran arm, August may be the time to do so.
The Twins were active around the July 31 trade deadline, and they should be looking to make some more moves as August rolls on.