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Simply an August ritual
By Peter Gammons
Special to ESPN.com
Aug. 16
Yes, Ken Griffey Jr. cleared waivers. Sammy Sosa and Mike Sweeney did, as well.
But, understand, Reds CEO John Allen is right: As of Monday, nearly 350 players had cleared waivers in the August claiming period, 105 had not, and there are still hundreds to hit the waiver wire, including the entire Devil Rays roster.
Some claims -- all of which subsequently were withdrawn -- are no-brainers, such as the ones for Mark Teixeira, Jeff Francoeur, Vernon Wells, Ryan Howard, Khalil Greene, Vladimir Guerrero, Ervin Santana, Ben Sheets, Jose Reyes, David Wright, Mark Prior, Carlos Zambrano, Adam Dunn, Austin Kearns, C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee. Even Roger Clemens. They weren't going to be traded, anyway, but there are such things as no-harm claims.
Hundreds of other players who never would be traded cleared waivers, such as Hank Blalock, Michael Young, Russ Adams, Aaron Hill, Brandon Webb, Tim Hudson, Andruw and Chipper Jones, Matt Clement, Johnny Damon, Curt Schilling, Jason Varitek, David Wells, Bobby Abreu, Chase Utley, Garret Anderson, Darin Erstad, Francisco Rodriguez, Scot Shields, Rickie Weeks, Carlos Beltran, Pedro Martinez, Jon Garland, Mark Buehrle, Freddy Garcia and Scott Podsednik. Waivers or no waivers, as Bob Dylan would say, they ain't goin' nowhere.
Some players never get put on waivers, and as of the last couple of days, no, Manny Ramirez had not gone on. Neither have any of the Marlins' Great Three of Miguel Cabrera, Josh Beckett and A.J. Burnett, nor Nomar Garciaparra, Kerry Wood, most of the Athletics and Yankees, Jeff Weaver, Kip Wells, Jason Schmidt, Scott Eyre, Rafael Palmeiro, Alfonso Soriano ...
To understand the way the claiming goes, here are some examples of players who were claimed -- and withdrawn:
Starting pitchers: Clemens, Rodrigo Lopez, Glendon Rusch, Orlando Hernandez, Bronson Arroyo, Aaron Harang, Andy Pettitte, Doug Davis, Kyle Lohse, Vicente Padilla Brett Tomko, Jamie Moyer, Gil Meche, Josh Towers and Jeff Suppan.
Relief pitchers: Jose Valverde, Jorge Sosa, Jorge Julio, B.J. Ryan, Mike Myers, Cliff Politte, Damaso Marte, Kent Mercker, David Weathers, Sunny Kim, Ron Villone, Dan Wheeler, Jeremy Affeldt, Mike MacDougal, Brendan Donnelly, Yhency Brazoban, Chris Hammond, Akinori Otsuka, John Grabow, Matt Wise, J.C. Romero, Ryan Madson, Billy Wagner, Ugueth Urbina, Brian Shouse, Miguel Batista, Eddie Guardado, Julio Mateo and J.J. Putz.
Position players: Tony Clark, Conor Jackson, Wilson Betemit, Jay Gibbons, Bill Mueller, Kevin Youkilis, Corey Patterson, Rob Mackowiak, Dunn, Kearns, Jeff DaVanon, Russell Branyan, Kaz Matsui, Kenny Lofton and Shea Hillenbrand.
Utilitymen: Olmedo Saenz, Neifi Perez, Ryan Freel, Lenny Harris, Chris Woodward, Marlon Anderson, Mark Sweeney and Pete Orr.
Catchers: Matt Treanor, Josh Paul and Mike Redmond.
But there are still some interesting, possibly tradable names that did make it through, although Allen and Reds owner Carl Lindner might have no interest in moving Griffey or Sean Casey even though they cleared.
How about relievers? Steve Kline got through, so did Ryan Vogelsong, Jason Christiansen, Scott Schoeneweis, Justin Speier, LaTroy Hawkins, Duaner Sanchez, Ramon Ortiz and Braden Looper, who are all on teams that might consider selling.
And starters? Josh Fogg, Odalis Perez, Derek Lowe, Tom Glavine, Joe Mays, Tomo Ohka, Jose Lima, Bruce Chen and Joel Pineiro. Now, obviously Glavine, Lowe, Perez and Mays have contract issues, but they are experienced major-league starters, and when the Mets get Steve Trachsel back, they will have six starters and might look to see whether there is a taker for Trachsel or Glavine.
Mike Piazza cleared, as did Griffey and Sweeney. Frank Catalanotto, Dustan Mohr, Todd Hollandsworth, Todd Walker and Edgardo Alfonzo are players who could be interesting pickups for the stretch drive, as well.
Only Allen, Reds general manager Dan O'Brien, White Sox GM Ken Williams and White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf know the odds of Griffey ending up in Chicago. We don't have Angels GM Bill Stoneman's phone records to know how many times he has talked to Royals general manager Allard Baird about acquiring Sweeney. What we do know is that there are 350-something other players who cleared waivers, as well.
It just happens every August.
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