Report: Justin Verlander Placed On Revocable Waivers
By: Evan Jankens
@kingofthekc
If the Detroit Tigers are still looking to trade their ace, they made the first move Wednesday to pave the road.
According to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com, the Tigers placed Justin Verlander on revocable waivers.
The #Tigers placed Justin Verlander on revocable waivers today, source says. Name came up at the deadline, but he stayed put in Detroit.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) August 2, 2017
Verlander has 10-5 rights, so he can veto any trade. Big contract also makes claiming him a risk. Guaranteed $56M in 2018-2019.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) August 2, 2017
Still, if Verlander clears, the #Tigers will have the latitude to talk trade with all 29 teams in August.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) August 2, 2017
Here is how revocable waivers work, according to mlbtraderumors.com:
After the trade deadline, a big-league player must pass through revocable waivers before his team can trade him without restriction. These waivers last 47 hours. If no one claims him in that period, his team can trade him anywhere.
If a player is claimed, his team can do one of three things. It can trade the player to the claiming team, revoke the waiver request (in which case the player will remain with his original team), or simply allow the claiming team to take the player and his salary (although a player with no-trade rights can block this from happening).
This doesn't mean the Tigers will trade Verlander during the 2017 season. It just means the team is testing the waters to see if there are any buyers out there.
As of the trade deadline earlier this week, Tigers GM Al Avila said there weren't any buyer for the former American League MVP.
"The negotiations really never got that far," Avila told the Jamie and Stoney Show on 97.1 The Ticket. "I basically got a few calls, teams checking in, just letting us know they had some interest, and in some cases calls were not made back or followed up upon."
Many big named players will hit the revocable waiver wire and as Crasnick points out, Verlander can still deny any trade that could possibly be made.