MLB Trade Deadline: 5 Impact Players That Could Be Moved Through Waiver Trades

With the MLB non-waiver trade deadline now behind us, let’s take a look at five potential August waiver trade candidates that could move.

The Major League Baseball non-waiver trade deadline has officially closed and many, many teams made some significant moves to sure up their rosters, either for a 2015 playoff push or to increase farm system depth for the future. Names like David Price, Troy Tulowitzki, Cole Hamels, Johnny Cueto, and many more now find themselves in new homes and in new uniforms.

While the 4:00pm EST deadline may have passed and the easy part of the trade process is done, the dealing is not over for Major League Baseball. Instead, the August 31st deadline comes into play and with it the chess match that will be the waiver process.

Between July 31st and August 31st, a player or players can still be traded from one team to another. However, before said player can be traded, he must first pass through waivers in what could be seen as a complicated process.

• Players placed on waivers and go unclaimed can be traded until prior to August 31st to any team.
• Players placed on waivers and claimed by only one team can be traded until prior to August 31st to only the claiming team.
• Players placed on waivers and claimed by multiple teams can be traded until prior to August 31st but only to the team with the worse record among those claiming.
• If the two teams cannot work out a deal, the can be pulled back off waivers only once in August.
• Players placed on waivers and claimed by a team can be allowed to go to that team without a trade. However, this is usually only done to dump a large salary on the receiving team.

Typically, every team looking to make a move with place most, if not all of their players on waivers in order to clear the way for a potential trade. Since they can pull any of them back at any time, there is no obligation to make a deal.

Yes, it is a complicated process, but not one that inhibits trading. In fact, there have been some significant trades completed during the waiver period in past years. The one that stands out in recent memory would be the 2012 blockbuster between the Dodgers and the Red Sox that sent Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, and Nick Punto to Los Angeles for a heavy prospect package and plenty of forgiven contracts off of Boston’s books. However, most are of the variety of minor players that could help a stretch run.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at a handful of players that could be making an impact on the 2015 waiver trade market.

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