The inevitable occurred on Sunday when Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reported that the Los Angeles Dodgers had placed outfielder Yasiel Puig on waivers.
The move has been a longtime coming as the Dodgers actively tried to trade Puig at the Aug. 1 trade deadline and after his recent success at Triple-A Oklahoma City, it's worth a flyer to see if his value has increased over the last four weeks.
For fans wondering what this move means, MLB allows teams to place players on revocable trade waivers after the trade deadline (i.e. A.J. Ellis). Once the team places a player on waivers, any team can claim that person starting with the team. If more than one team claims them, the team with the worst record in the National League gets preference (the Atlanta Braves).
Once a team claims a player on waivers, the Dodgers would be limited to negotiate with solely the team that claimed him. This allows the organization an opportunity to see what they could get in return for a player placed on waivers.
Placing Puig on waivers does not mean that he will be traded. For now, it solely means the Dodgers are willing to see which team, if any, claims him and what they might be able to get for him in return in any deal.
At any time, the Dodgers can pull Puig off of waivers and keep him for the remainder of the season where they will most likely try and trade him in the offseason when they are free to negotiate with any of the 29 other teams in the league.
Puig can stay on waivers for up to 47 hours or until he is claimed by a team. If no team claims him, then the Dodgers are free to negotiate with any team. However, there is a strong chance some team will show interest in the troubled star and put a cliam in.
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Since he was demoted to Triple-A OKC on August 2, Puig is batting .386 with seven extra-base hits, four home runs, 12 RBI and 10 runs scored.
On Sunday, before the Dodgers played the rubber match with the Chicago Cubs, manager Dave Roberts did not mention Puig by name when asked who would be called up when rosters expand on Sept. 1.
When asked if Puig should be called up considering how hot he's been in the minor leagues Roberts smiled and said, "That's a fair question," but he offered no further comment.
Source: #Dodgers placed Puig on trade waivers today. — Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) August 28, 2016
