Apparently Jarrod Washburn has been informed by the Seattle Mariners that he was placed on waivers and some team has claimed him. The claiming team has yet to be outed, but by waiver rules, the Mariners can work out a deal with the claiming team.
Could we be seeing Washburn in a Cardinal uniform soon? Buster Olney and Seattle Times writer Geoff Baker both have speculated that to be the case.
Check out the latest updates on this post over at MLBTradeRumors.com (I’ll try to keep this one updated too as I scour for more info).
Does this make sense for the Cardinals? With several off-days coming in the next few weeks, they can get by with a four-man rotation for a number of series. Could this be an indication of their expectations for Chris Carpenter the rest of this season? Would this continue to reinforce the original plan by the Cardinals to ship Adam Wainwright back to the bullpen upon his return? Or perhaps worse, they aren’t seeing any progress from Waino?
Who gets dropped from the rotation if Carp does make it back? This would almost surely rule out any extension with Kyle Lohse for next season, with Washburn owed over $10M for 2009. Could the Cards be giving up something significant in order to convince the M’s to pay most of that tab?
Yikes, lots of questions, few answers. I’m sure it will come clearer in the coming hours, but one thing is virtually certain. The Mariners are almost a lock not to pull Washburn back. He has worn out his welcome there and needs a new locale. Could Dave Duncan work his voodoo magic again?
I’m not sure I agree with panicking here and adding just to add – the Cards seem to have plenty of arms to throw into a rotation next season, not to mention a burgeoning number of dollars under their ~$100M or so expected payroll that one would think they could be spending on seemingly better free agents than Washburn.
I’ll keep you all posted…
UPDATE (4:27p) – Apparently I’m a little slow on the uptake, as CardsClubhouse.com forums have Olney saying this morning on ESPN that it was either the Tigers or the Twins. MLBTR had claims that the Twins weren’t on Ibanez, so that would mean they want Washburn? Seems an unlikely move for Minnesota without the M’s kicking in on that salary for next season, but they have climbed back into the AL Central race.
UPDATE (4:40p) – My buddy Jon Heyman has the scoop over at SI.com, Washburn claimed by the Twins, will remain a Mariner. So Olney apparently had it right this morning, Tigers claiming Ibanez, Twins on Washburn. Surprising that the M’s wouldn’t just let Washburn walk.
UPDATE (4:53p) – Derrick Goold has also refuted the rumors, quoting a Cardinals source as saying “his name has not come up.” Can’t say that I’m disappointed.
UPDATE (5:01p) – Because the question was asked below, I thought I’d link to a great post by Padres’ Assistant GM Paul DePodesta that explains at a high level how the waiver claim and trade process works.
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Seems pretty unlikely that the Cardinals would claim Washburn, but he is a lefty and Mulder is obviosuly done, but that wouldn’t say much about Garcia’s chances for becoming a starter next year as I believe Washburn still has a year left on his contract.
With the White Sox and Yankees needing pitchers it doesn’t seem likely that he would make it out of the AL. I’m not sure, but I think they first have to clear the league they are in before going through through the order of the other league.
Whatever the case, I think the deadline was this afternoon, so I’m surprised there isn’t word one way or another considering Ibanez was claimed too.
Early word was that Ibanez *was* claimed, but wasn’t going anywhere.
And Ken Rosenthal indicated the deadline was 1:30p ET today, but again, with these waiver deals – things always seem closely guarded.
I just got this off of cbs sportsline
News: According to the Seattle Times, Mariners SP Jarrod Washburn has been claimed on waivers by the St. Louis Cardinals. Seattle now has 48 hours to try and work out a deal with St. Louis, otherwise Washburn remains a Mariner.
Analysis: A lot of these waiver deals seem to fizzle out, but this could be one that actually has a chance of happening. If you own Washburn in an AL-only league, you might want to start making alternative plans just in case the SP ends up switching to the other side.
I just updated the post again – Jon Heyman posted 15 minutes ago that the deadline for a deal was expired, the Twins were on Washburn, and he will remain with the Mariners.
Thanks for the update. This leaves me wondering about what happens now? Sounds like there were multiple claims put in. Since the teams negotiated and couldn’t come to a deal it would seem like they should move on to the next highest claim? Or does not making the deal similar to withdrawing the player and now they have to wait until the offseason to try to trade him again?
I’m not entirely sure, but I think the Mariners either had to make a deal, let him go for nothing to the claiming team, or pull him back.
If he was in fact pulled back, he cannot be placed on waivers again for 30 days.
If they put him on waivers again after 30 days, he can’t be pulled back.
Here for ya StLCards – see post above from DePo at his blog.
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