Chicago Cubs claim Cole Hamels off waivers

The Chicago Cubs had an active Wednesday as they claimed multiple players who were placed on waivers. Most of the players they claimed were nothing more than average talents though one name stood out much larger than the rest.

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Looking to improve their starting rotation, the Cubs took a shot in the dark and claimed Cole Hamels off waivers from the Philadelphia Phillies, this according to Mike Mis (via Jon Heyman).

When a player is claimed off waivers, there are a couple situations that could unfold.

The team who originally placed the player on waivers (in this instance, the Philadelphia Phillies) can pull him back and the waiver claim is essentially worthless. But if the team doesn’t want to do that and actually wants to move on from the player they have 48 hours to complete a trade with the claiming team (the Chicago Cubs in this instance). The last option that the original team has is they can simply wash their hands of a trade and dump the player and his contract on the claiming team.

Such a situation doesn’t happen very often, especially for a player making the type of money Cole Hamels does.

During the trade deadline, teams reportedly called and attempted to trade for Cole Hamels though the Philadelphia Phillies were said to have an outlandish asking price and no deal was struck. That’s likely to be the same scenario here as the Cubs had little to lose by claiming him, though they’d have to give up significant minor league talent for a trade to go through.

In other words, don’t hold your breath.