Waivers: Part 1 – What Are They?

Waivers.  The term can intimidate fans, media and sometimes even people who work within baseball.  Truthfully, it’s not a difficult concept or process. However, there is a lot of detail – so I will not tackle it all at once.  Here is Part 1.

Waivers: What are they?

A waiver is a “permission” granted for certain assignments of player contracts.  When a player is placed on waivers, his contract (and therefore his talent) is available to be claimed by any of the 29 other organizations in MLB. 

There are now four types of waivers, Outright, Optional, Unconditional Release and Trade.

Outright – These waivers are required when a Club wishes to remove a player from the MLB 40-man roster and place him on a Minor League roster within their organization.  

Optional – Sometimes a player with options remaining cannot be optioned to the Minors without first clearing waivers.  (I’ll get into this at a later date)  In these instances, if a Club would like to send such a player to the Minors but keep him on the 40-man roster – they must first obtain Optional Waivers.

Unconditional Release – As you may guess, these waivers are required before a player is released from his organization.  (i.e. not wanted in the Majors or the Minors)

Trade – Probably the “sexiest” of the waivers because of the attention they receive after the “Non-Waiver Trade Deadline”.  Beginning August 1 and ending at the conclusion of the season, a player must clear Trade Waivers before he can be moved to another MLB Organization.

When a Club decides to place a player on waivers, a representative in the organization will enter the information into a MLB created and protected system called “ebis” by 2pm. The ebis system collects all of the entries for that particular day and send a notice to all 30 Clubs informing them of players placed on waivers. This notice typically arrives between 4pm and 5pm Monday-Friday, and only certain people within Baseball Operations receive the document.

If an organization wishes to claim a player on waivers, they have until 2pm on the second business day following the player being placed on waivers.  A player placed on Monday will clear or be claimed on Wednesday – an entry on Thursday will clear on Monday.  This rule was slightly altered in 2008 – MLB considers all days in Spring Training business days, so Saturday and Sunday are part of the claim period.

Although there is a negative connotation associated with being “placed on waivers” – I’ve always viewed waivers as protection for the player and his career. Without the “right” of being placed on waivers, a player could be constantly shuttled between the minors and majors of an organization with no chance for a better opportunity.   With waivers, at the very least a player’s contract has the opportunity to be claimed by another MLB team and he may receive a fresh start.

Next: Part 2 – What if a Player is Claimed?