Tigers place Sheffield on waivers

[DannoMac21]

Per ESPN.com

[Menotti80]

we should pick him up. i bet he'd love it in milwaukee!

[pitchleague]

just about every player is placed on waivers in August. The only reason this is news is that it was leaked to the media. I would venture a bet that at some point this month Ryan Braun will be put on waivers but will be pulled back once a team makes a ridiculous claim on him.

 

That said, I'm not shocked that the Tigers are "done" with him and are willing to move him instead of just placing him on waivers like most players are this month. Who'd really take him, though?

[lukevan]

Somewhere, Joe Morgan is weeping softly into a pillow.

[JohnA17]

Just out of curiosity, why would Braun be put on waivers? Is there an advatage to doing so with his injury?

[RightFieldCoder]

I don't think Braun would be put on waivers. I can't think of a single trade that the Brewers would entertain for Braun. The Tigers might trade Sheffield if the right offer comes around. I remember two or three years ago when Melvin put everyone but Sheets on the waiver wire.

[pitchleague]

I'm not saying that the Brewers were/are looking to trade Braun. Teams around the majors routinely place almost their entire rosters on waivers during the month of August. Why? I don't remember the reasoning but they do. 99% of those players go through without anyone even catching a whisper of it. The only people that know are the GM and the players, for the most part. But there is that 1% that someone blabs about to the media or is a player the team genuinely does want to trade.

 

I've got to find the reasoning behind this process, though. I know that I read it someplace and a GM explained it completely. It was very interesting. Maybe it was in a book. Lords of the Realm perhaps? It was a while ago, though.

 

edit: I found this on a web article by Keith Law. Here's one quote from the comments section that summed things up pretty good.

 

Players, including star players, are placed on waivers all the time. It is a way for teams to judge interest in their players. There is a lot of gamemanship that goes on as well. Teams will put players on waivers (1) in the hope that they are claimed, (2) to lay the groundwork for a trade, and/or (3) to deke teams and keep them honest. Remember the Red Sox placed Manny Ramirez on irrevocable waivers after the 2003 season. The team's sole purpose was to dump his bloated contract and he went unclaimed.

It's still not the article that I remember reading a while back but it's something.

[dadofandrew]

Most teams put all their players on the first few days of August, except the ones with no trade clauses. It helps camoflauge who they want to move.

[dvoiss]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I believe you can waive a player twice during a season and pull him off if he is claimed. If you put him on a third time and he is claimed you lose him for a ridiculously low waiver price to the team that claimed him. It seemns to me that Harry Dalton screwed up late in his career in Milwaukee and lost a decent player (it may have been a minor leaguer) to waivers and that is part of the reason we wound up with Bando.

[dadofandrew]

Never heard of either of those, but it's possible.

[Brian the Automator]

Per Doug Melvin, ESPN has been notoriously incorrect when it comes to knowing which players made it through waivers. Take it with a grain of salt.

[RightFieldCoder]

You pass everyone through waivers to hide which ones you are looking to deal. If you only tried to pass one or two through, everyone would know who you're trying to get rid of. If everyone except the one star player you aren't giving away for a few years (Sheets circa 2005 or Braun circa 2008) nobody knows who you're actively shopping. Also, you may not want to trade the player now but may want to get rid of him because of something that happens in August (ala Barrett/Cubs). It's keeping your options open. That's why a lot of them go unclaimed, GMs know you'll just pull them back if they are claimed. Claiming them will only case the GM to become mad at you, which isn't good for future trades.

[rluzinski]

ESPN is just feeding on people's ignorance to pretend this is some kind of story.

[markedman5]

Yeah putting Braun on waivers would be a real "deke".

 

1. No chance the Brewers would trade Braun. check

 

2. Brewers just signed him to an 8 year contract at reasonable money. Check

 

3. He is the best hitter on the best Brewer team in 16 years. check

 

Yeah.....that would real fool the other GMs into thinking Braun might be avalable......

[holybannana]

It's rather routine for teams to put all their players on waivers this time of year. It isn't really anything new. People have already stated why teams do this. It's common practice. In fact, it doesn't make sense *not* to put all eligible players on waivers right now. Especially if there's a contract or 2 you wouldn't mind seeing go away without creating a clubhouse uproar.

[danzig6767]

Off the top of my head, is there another pro athlete that had much success and got mega-rich like Sheffield has that was also nearly always unhappy and complaining like Sheff?

 

I understand that there can be and issue or two that can make even crazy rich athletes unhappy, but Sheffield spent his whole career acting like every team he played for was out to get him and treating him very unfairly.

[Invader3K]

Sheffield is probably the biggest crybaby to play in MLB in the last 20 years. I can't believe he was my first favorite Brewer as a kid (aside from maybe Molitor). I even had a poster of him up in my room.

[Thurston Fluff]

I always thought teams put players on waivers in August so they could be traded immediately rather than have to wait for them to clear waivers when a trade was made. It's a preemptive move to guarantee a player can be traded without other teams blocking it after the trade was made. AS it stands if the Tigers would trade Shef w/o waiver clearance any team could claim him to block. If they put him on waivers w/o a trade in place and he clears then he can be traded w/o worry of being claimed by a team trying to block the trade.

[samwise]

Well with Tampa Bay's injuries in the last few days (Crawford, Longoria) there may be a chance they would take him. The question is will Boston, who is in front of the Rays in the waiver line, claim him. He is nowhere near the player he was but TB is going to be looking for some offense.

[crewcrazy]

Off the top of my head, is there another pro athlete that had much success and got mega-rich like Sheffield has that was also nearly always unhappy and complaining like Sheff?

 

I understand that there can be and issue or two that can make even crazy rich athletes unhappy, but Sheffield spent his whole career acting like every team he played for was out to get him and treating him very unfairly.

Latrell Sprewell, maybe, but even Spree's antics ended up costing him in the long run. Sheffield's still a Hall of Fame player, despite his insanity.

 

Speaking of the HOF, whose cap will he end up wearing once he gets inducted? He's played for Milwaukee, San Diego, Florida, Los Angeles, Atlanta, the Yankees, and Detroit, and he'll probably hit one more team before he finally retires. The longest he's stayed in one city is 4.5 years with Florida, and he did help them win their first World Series, so I guess he could go in as a Marlin.

[1992casey]

Some players have been inducted with a plain "generic" cap. I think that would be the most appropriate alternative for Sheffield.

[crewcrazy]

Thanks, Casey..for some reason, I didn't know that they inducted some players with a generic cap, but I read up on some of the more famous cases on Wikipedia. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif I agree that the "blank" hat would probably be the best option for Sheff, considering the amount of teams he's played for (and the amount of bridges he's burned).

[brwrsfan]

I really don't like the generic cap idea. I guess I would just prefer if every player was associated with a team (his best years, or where he is remembered most). In this case, he had some pretty good years everywhere but he was with FL the longest and did win a WS

[fondybrewfan]

I wouldn't be suprised if he put his own mug on his induction hat. Afterall that really is all he ever cared about.

[RockCoCougars]

Speaking of the HOF, whose cap will he end up wearing once he gets inducted?

I don't think the juicer Sheffield will be getting inducted. He's pretty much washed up at this point, so the only milestone number that he will hit is 500 homers, which really doesn't mean squat anymore. His numbers don't even approach Palmeiro's, and there is no way Rafael get in.