Fun With Waivers

[Little Slide Rooter]

May as well start a catch all Waiver Deadline thread with this:

 

Cliff Lee On Waivers

By Ben Nicholson-Smith [August 2 at 2:16pm CST]

The Phillies have placed Cliff Lee on waivers, Yahoo's Jeff Passan reports (on Twitter). The Phillies were expected to waive Lee this month, when waivers are revocable. Teams routinely place high-profile players on waivers in August to determine other teams' interest. Executives expect the left-hander to clear waivers Friday afternoon, Passan reports.

 

Teams have two business days to claim players off of waivers, which suggests Lee hit the waiver wire yesterday, when the August waiver period opened. If Lee clears waivers, the Phillies might be able to trade him. Lee can block trades to 21 teams, including the Diamondbacks. The Yankees, Braves and Marlins are not on his no-trade list, however.

 

The 33-year-old Lee earns $21.5MM this year and $25MM per season from 2013-15. His contract includes a $27.5MM vesting option ($12.5MM buyout) for 2016. If one or more teams claim Lee despite his contract, the Phillies could attempt to work out a trade with the team that wins the claim, assuming Lee doesn’t veto the move.

 

Yeah, he's 33 and due a boatload of money, but of you're a team looking for a front end starter, assumign that the Phils opt to unload him to a claiming team, all he'll cost is money. As of now, we'd be the 4th in line behind the Astros, Rockies, and Padres for any NL waiver claims. He'd be a very risky claim, as the Phillies could very well just unload the salary, and 25MM for his age 34-36 seasons is a hell of a lot. Still, it is tempting. If we did claim him, and they unloaded him and his salary on us, we could sure use a front end starter. However, judging by our organization's willingness to eat salary, it could be an interesting possibility to claim him, and if they dump him and his salary on us, we could wait until the winter or next spring to trade him, and pick up up half of the salary for a very nice prospect package.

[erik316wttn]

May as well start a catch all Waiver Deadline thread with this:

 

Cliff Lee On Waivers

By Ben Nicholson-Smith [August 2 at 2:16pm CST]

The Phillies have placed Cliff Lee on waivers, Yahoo's Jeff Passan reports (on Twitter). The Phillies were expected to waive Lee this month, when waivers are revocable. Teams routinely place high-profile players on waivers in August to determine other teams' interest. Executives expect the left-hander to clear waivers Friday afternoon, Passan reports.

 

Teams have two business days to claim players off of waivers, which suggests Lee hit the waiver wire yesterday, when the August waiver period opened. If Lee clears waivers, the Phillies might be able to trade him. Lee can block trades to 21 teams, including the Diamondbacks. The Yankees, Braves and Marlins are not on his no-trade list, however.

 

The 33-year-old Lee earns $21.5MM this year and $25MM per season from 2013-15. His contract includes a $27.5MM vesting option ($12.5MM buyout) for 2016. If one or more teams claim Lee despite his contract, the Phillies could attempt to work out a trade with the team that wins the claim, assuming Lee doesn’t veto the move.

 

Yeah, he's 33 and due a boatload of money, but of you're a team looking for a front end starter, assumign that the Phils opt to unload him to a claiming team, all he'll cost is money. As of now, we'd be the 4th in line behind the Astros, Rockies, and Padres for any NL waiver claims. He'd be a very risky claim, as the Phillies could very well just unload the salary, and 25MM for his age 34-36 seasons is a hell of a lot. Still, it is tempting. If we did claim him, and they unloaded him and his salary on us, we could sure use a front end starter. However, judging by our organization's willingness to eat salary, it could be an interesting possibility to claim him, and if they dump him and his salary on us, we could wait until the winter or next spring to trade him, and pick up up half of the salary for a very nice prospect package.

 

Why handcuff ourselves even further? We're looking at 2015 before we're competitive, so Lee isn't going to do us much good.

[El Duderino]

claiming him then trading him for prospects is a cool idea, but the contract is horrific.

[jersey cubs fan]

claiming him then trading him for prospects is a cool idea, but the contract is horrific.

 

In a league where you can't spend big on amateur talent anymore, using your excess cash for "free access" to quality veterans may be the best option.

[abuck1220]

i thought you said this was going to be fun.

[Guest]

Would Lee's contract prohibit the team's ability to spend in other areas? Not unless they've slashed the payroll by 50% since 2010.

 

Would the length of Lee's contract hurt the ability to spend in future seasons? Possibly, but it's hard to see through to the payroll situation 2-3 years down the line at the moment

 

Does Lee have a chance to live up to his contract? After 4 straight 6-7 win seasons, Lee's only on pace for a mere 4.5 WAR in 2012, which is pretty close to matching his salary for the year. Obviously he may decline with age, but from my amateur view, a somewhat fluky HR rate is the only real difference between Cy Young Lee, and the real good but not great Lee of 2012. He's also been incredibly durable.

 

Bottom line, if you told me I could have Lee in free agency for 3/88(with the option to make it 4/102), I would be awfully tempted to pull the trigger. Even if he doesn't bounce back, adding Lee to Garza/Shark/Wood makes the rotation pretty legit with the upside to be really, really good.

[XZero771679666304]

All of this would be quite intriguing if the Phillies would just let him go. Unfortunately the asking price for Lee pre-deadline was a package of top prospects and that any team trading for him assumed his entire contract, which is not insignificant, to say the very least.

 

 

Would I claim Lee if his contract was the only cost? Probably. Would I pay all of his contract and surrender 2-3 top prospects? No.

[Clem Fandango]

Acquire high priced veterans, trade veterans along with large portion of contract using money you can afford to spend, acquire high quality prospects in return.

 

New Market Inefficiency and [expletive]

[ConstableRabbit]

I'm with TT on this one. Payroll's not going to be something we're short on and it's not like there are a ton of quality FAs just waiting to get signed in the next couple of offseasons. I'd rather have Lee at that contract than Timmy at 5 or 6 years. If we don't get an attractive offer for Garza this offseason, there's a possibility of sneaking into the postseason if we keep him and add Lee.

[davell]

First off, they're not going to "give" him away for salary relief. They wanted bigtime prospects in return a few days ago AND for a team to pick up the vast majority of his salary. Trading for him, to trade him again makes zero sense. Wouldn't surprise me to see the Dodgers claim him and offer up Zack Lee and more for him, to see if the Phils bite. They may be about the only team out there currently that has no problem taking on his contract. At least among contending teams.

[XZero771679666304]

First off, they're not going to "give" him away for salary relief. They wanted bigtime prospects in return a few days ago AND for a team to pick up the vast majority of his salary. Trading for him, to trade him again makes zero sense. Wouldn't surprise me to see the Dodgers claim him and offer up Zack Lee and more for him, to see if the Phils bite. They may be about the only team out there currently that has no problem taking on his contract. At least among contending teams.

 

I heard it was all of his contract, in addition to multiple top prospects.

 

That hasn't changed just because they put him on waivers. If the Phils are going to compete again in the next few years, it's going to be because of Hamels, Halladay and Lee, or because they got top, ML-ready talent in exchange for one or two of them.

 

You're right, they most definitely aren't going to just give him away to any team that claims him.

[samhainn77]

claiming him then trading him for prospects is a cool idea, but the contract is horrific.

 

In a league where you can't spend big on amateur talent anymore, using your excess cash for "free access" to quality veterans may be the best option.

 

Goony is dead on with this, imo. Controlled veterans are really the only way to stockpile young talent quickly. The downside for many teams is it takes available cash to get controlled veterans. The good news for us is we aren't one of those teams.

 

If Lee takes major prospects to reel in, obviously he's off the table. But I love the idea for picking up quality vets that are largely salary dumps.

[Guest]

It doesn't cost anything to put in the claim. Do it and see if they'll dump him. If not, move on.

[CincyCubsFan]

Everyone gets put on waivers this time of year...why do we need a twitter report every time it happens?

[Derwood]

Everyone gets put on waivers this time of year...why do we need a twitter report every time it happens?

 

Because Twitter is awful

[Little Slide Rooter]

claiming him then trading him for prospects is a cool idea, but the contract is horrific.

 

In a league where you can't spend big on amateur talent anymore, using your excess cash for "free access" to quality veterans may be the best option.

 

Beyond that, the recent trend is for teams to lock up their young star players before they hit free agency. Several years ago, you could plan on player X being a free agent in y number of years, but you can't count on that as much anymore. Not only does it make buying a team that much harder because of the lack of impact free agents, but as a result when impact free agents hit the market, they're even more expensive. The CBA even makes stacking a farm system more difficult, so anytime the opportunity to seize an impact player like that,you should try. I only brought up the salary dump because a lot of people seem to think that he'll make it through waivers because teams are afraid that they'll unload the contract on them. We're 4th in line, and I certainly can't see the Astros or Padres risking it. Not sure about the Rockies. If nothing else, we could take a nice piss in the Dodgers corn flakes, who are reportedly eyeing him.

[TheDude]

Everyone gets put on waivers this time of year...why do we need a twitter report every time it happens?

Because in the media world you can't assume your audience is informed. Not all baseball fans have been longtime fans, there are plenty of people newer to the game who don't know this stuff inside-and-out like hardcore fans.

[champaignchris]

I want someone to claim Soriano on waivers. Then I want Jed, Theo, and Ricketts to go on a thirty-million dollar bender of a weekend in Las Vegas followed by a drunken, unshaven press conference where they're still wearing the same suits they were wearing three days ago and telling war stories about the weekend and bragging about how they still have 10 million dollars left to devote to payroll.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

ok...

[El Duderino]

I want someone to claim Soriano on waivers. Then I want Jed, Theo, and Ricketts to go on a thirty-million dollar bender of a weekend in Las Vegas followed by a drunken, unshaven press conference where they're still wearing the same suits they were wearing three days ago and telling war stories about the weekend and bragging about how they still have 10 million dollars left to devote to payroll.

 

http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/tumblr_lurveuGEoC1qlen6y.gif

[scarey]

I want someone to claim Soriano on waivers. Then I want Jed, Theo, and Ricketts to go on a thirty-million dollar bender of a weekend in Las Vegas followed by a drunken, unshaven press conference where they're still wearing the same suits they were wearing three days ago and telling war stories about the weekend and bragging about how they still have 10 million dollars left to devote to payroll.

 

http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/tumblr_lurveuGEoC1qlen6y.gif

 

You guys suck. It was the best post in the thread so far.

[Little Slide Rooter]

@BleacherNation: #Cubs: The Cubs Are Considering DFA'd Pitcher Derek Lowe http://t.co/RKlsAq6v

 

Nothing like a no risk, no reward pickup for the playoff chase.

[biittner77]

@BleacherNation: #Cubs: The Cubs Are Considering DFA'd Pitcher Derek Lowe http://t.co/RKlsAq6v

 

Nothing like a no risk, no reward pickup for the playoff chase.

 

This probably has more to do with Shark reaching his innings limit unless there's someone that really needs to see more of Casey Coleman.

[Clem Fandango]

Dodgers won the claim on Cliff Lee.