Tuesday, August 3, 2010

The Waiver Wire

So the Trade Deadline is over, it's gone. But you can still make trades. Mack, please will you tell us more? Why, I'd love to!

Now, trades have to be done through the waiver wire, but it's a little more complicated than usual. Teams have to claim players, good teams have to wait their turn behind the bad teams to claim, and there's a time limit for completing the trade. Also, if a player from the National League is put on waivers, the NL teams have a chance to claim him before the AL, and vice versa. Oh, and if no team claims a player through waivers, that player can be traded to any team. I won't completely describe it to you, because you can read Schulman's pretty clear description right here.

I'm sure you know the player everyone talks about the Giants claiming: Adam Dunn. Supposedly, he's already been put on waivers, so a trade would have to happen sometime in the next 3 days. It makes a lot of sense. The Giants reportedly had interest in Dunn before the non-waiver Trade Deadline and even though they are the second best team in the NL, they could have a good shot at claiming him. No other NL team was linked to him as much as the Giants, so I'm not sure any other contenders would all of a sudden have interest in him. Maybe the Dodgers would want to claim him to block him from getting to the Giants, but then they'd run the risk of having to take on his salary, something they won't want to do while their owners are going through an ugly divorce.

Here's the thing, even if the Giants get to claim Dunn, I'm not sure I see it happening. The Nationals were asking for a huge package for him, which is ridiculous considering he's a free agent after this year. I doubt they would be willing to take a lesser offer now; they seem intent on trying to sign him to an extension in the offseason or letting him go and taking the draft picks. I don't think they'd all of a sudden just want to get rid of his salary. And even though I said the Giants might have a good shot at claiming Dunn, you never know. There will be 14 teams with a chance to claim him before the Giants.

If the Giants don't get Dunn I'm afraid Sabean will try to improve the offense by claiming someone like Jose Guillen and the Royals would just let us take him. Gross. I don't mean to be a downer, but it's difficult to see the Giants getting Dunn. But, let's humor ourselves for a second. What if the Nats were willing to take back less because they wanted to get rid of Dunn's salary? What would you give up? I'd say no to including Belt, Wheeler, or any of the major league rotation at this point, but I'd consider a deal centered around Thomas Neal. I know some people don't like Dunn because of his defense and wouldn't want to give up a prospect like Neal for him. But Dunn's defense is actually pretty average at first base and I'm just not convinced Neal is going to be more than an OK player. But tell us what you'd give up or talk about anything else from this post in the comments section. Nothing better than a little rosterbation.

Adam Dunn is disgusted that he has to play for the Nationals and not the Giants.


9 comments:

  1. I hope the Giants can somehow claim an offensive player off waivers,as long as it doesn't involve giving up too much. I'd love to see another bat in the line-up.

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  2. I was thinking Neal as well, but it would also have to include about 2-3 pretty darn good prospects at minimum to peel Dunn away

    ~RickNelson415

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  3. Yeah, if we have to give up 2-3 other really good prospects, I don't think it's worth it. And that's probably what we'll have to give up. I would love another bat, but like I said, not some guy like Jose Guillen who wouldn't be an improvement over what we already have.

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  4. i dont know about that (caring if we give up 3 good prospects)...there's something to be said for winning NOW, and I think Dunn could make us the odds-on favorite to win the NL and go to the WS

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  5. That's true, but it's very dangerous. Because if we don't win and he leaves, we have destroyed our farm system for a guy who was with us for 2 months and didn't win us a WS.

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  6. either decision on dunn can make sabean look like a genius or a complete twat ... while a big bat would always be appreciated, i'd rather go with speed (it'd help with the GIDP problem)

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  7. Fair point, Mack. though "destroyed" is a bit hyperbolic.

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  8. Haha maybe destroyed is a bit of an exaggeration, but right now I think we only have 3 really good prospects: Wheeler, Belt, Neal. Maybe a couple more when you add our draft picks, but they haven't played yet. So, if we lose 2 of those prospects, we aren't in very good shape.

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