New York Yankees: With Trade Deadline Passing, Will August Waiver Deals Be Next?
August 1, 2012 · Doug Rush · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
The July 31 non-waiver trade deadline has come and gone and we saw a lot of deals get done.
We also saw a lot of players get held back at the deadline.
What did the New York Yankees do this deadline?
On July 23, they acquired Ichiro Suzuki from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for two minor-league pitchers.
And on July 31, they traded reliever Chad Qualls to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for third basemen Casey McGehee.
Both of these trades were made as a result of injuries suffered to everyday players on the Yankees.
They got Ichiro because of the season-ending injury to Brett Gardner and they got McGehee because of the broken hand suffered to Alex Rodriguez.
On the day of the deadline, Ryan Dempster said that he would have agreed to a trade to the Yankees, but instead, the Texas Rangers landed the deal with the Chicago Cubs and snagged the right-handed veteran in the very last hours of the deadline.
Before landing McGehee, the Yankees could have landed Carlos Lee in a deal with the Marlins, but Lee turned down a trade that would have sent him to the Bronx.
So now, with the deadline passed, we can now turn our attention to the waiver-wire deals of August.
For those who aren’t familiar with the process, let me explain.
Teams can put players on waivers and they have to pass through each team going by record. So for example, if the Cubs put Matt Garza on waivers, he would have to pass through the entire National League and then the American League.
If he were to pass without anybody claiming him, he would just stay on the team, but he could be traded at anytime before August 31. But, if a team made a claim for him depending on their order of the process, that team would have 10 days to either work out a deal with the Cubs to make a trade, the Cubs could pull Garza back off waivers, or the Cubs could hand over to the claiming team Garza’s contract and he would be theirs.
Last season, the Yankees claimed Carlos Pena off waivers from the Cubs, but the Cubs pulled Pena back from waivers and no deal got done.
Two seasons ago, the Yankees claimed Ted Lilly off waivers from the Dodgers, but again, the Dodgers pulled Lilly back from waivers.
Now, with this year’s waiver wire trade deadline now beginning on August 1, teams will put a lot of their players through waivers, which is standard process.
You may see the Boston Red Sox put Josh Beckett through the waivers, but at this point, who would want to claim him, especially after leaving Tuesday night’s game in the third inning with back spasms?
As far as Garza goes, I don’t think the Cubs would put him through waivers because he’s one of their trade chips that could net a decent return and might end up getting dealt in the winter instead.
Same goes for Josh Johnson of the Marlins, who could also net a very nice package of players in return during the winter.
Now as far as the Yankees go, if they were to make a waiver wire trade, you could see them trying to make a move for a pitcher, just like they could have with Dempster before Texas snagged him.
You could see the Twins put Carl Pavano through waivers, the same with the Brewers with Randy Wolf, Derek Lowe of the Indians and Kevin Millwood with the Mariners.
But would any of them interest the Yankees in a waiver deal to help them get to the postseason? Doubtful.
The Phillies could put two of their starters on waivers, including Joe Blanton, who I could see other teams claiming well before the Yankees ever get to him.
The other starter Philadelphia could put through is Cliff Lee, who was thought to be on the block and could have been traded to Texas, but the Phillies took him off the block on Tuesday, which lead to them going for Dempster.
Lee is still owed about $75 million for the next three seasons, and even the Yankees don’t want to add on that much salary, especially if they are trying to get under the $189 million payroll number for 2014.
But, if the Phillies did put Lee through waivers and the Yankees wanted to make a claim, Philly would have to be willing to eat a chunk of that if they want Lee off their payroll.
Right now, that scenario is a major long-shot, but given how Andy Pettitte’s rehab goes between now and September 1, Yankees GM Brian Cashman might see the need to make a waiver-wire deal this August.
As the summer comes to an end and teams start to figure out if they are legit contenders or if they are bowing out of the race, more teams could let some of their players pass through waivers that a contender like the Yankees could use.
The new countdown begins; that one to August 31.
Will the Yankees look to make a waiver-wire deal before then to add to their roster in order to get back to the postseason?
Only time will tell.
Stay tuned, Yankees Universe.
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