Thursday, May 06, 2004
Waiver Claims
One advantage to a crappy start like we've had is that we get earlier dibs on players placed on waivers. I believe the current waiver period began on May 3rd and extends through July 31. Which means when you hear about a player being "designated for assignment", they are probably being passed through waivers and could be a Mariner if the M's make a waiver claim.
If multiple teams make a claim on a player, the team with the worst record gets him. It used to be that NL teams superceded AL teams regardless of record when claiming an NL player and vice-versa, but I thought this may have been changed this year. Someone let me know for sure by commenting below.
A couple of players who are either currently on waivers, or may soon be, could have some appeal to the Mariners.
Grant Roberts got off to a horrific start for the Mets this year, but is a 26-year-old right handed reliever who had a nifty 1.16 WHIP last year and could be another Julio Mateo for the M's pen, if he can keep himself from going Jeff Spicoli.
And the Pirates have soured on 25-year-old J.J. Davis, a young outfielder with good speed and power (26 HRs, 23 SBs in PCL last year) who would likely be a better use of a roster space than Quinton McCracken or Willie Bloomquist. The guy has not done much in the bigs (is batting around .100 this year), but his upside is there, and his speed alone makes him a better bench presence than McCracken.
Davis is not currently on waivers, but may be waived when the Pirates activate Jason Bay this weekend. I think the M's would be likely to pounce on Davis because he is the kind of toolsy guy (he also was a pitcher for awhile) that seems to fascinate the M's. In this case, I think they might get some serious bang for the effort.
Lets hope the M's are keeping a close eye on the waiver wire and will use this brief time near the bottom of the standings to pluck a ripe talent or two off the waiver vine.
If multiple teams make a claim on a player, the team with the worst record gets him. It used to be that NL teams superceded AL teams regardless of record when claiming an NL player and vice-versa, but I thought this may have been changed this year. Someone let me know for sure by commenting below.
A couple of players who are either currently on waivers, or may soon be, could have some appeal to the Mariners.
Grant Roberts got off to a horrific start for the Mets this year, but is a 26-year-old right handed reliever who had a nifty 1.16 WHIP last year and could be another Julio Mateo for the M's pen, if he can keep himself from going Jeff Spicoli.
And the Pirates have soured on 25-year-old J.J. Davis, a young outfielder with good speed and power (26 HRs, 23 SBs in PCL last year) who would likely be a better use of a roster space than Quinton McCracken or Willie Bloomquist. The guy has not done much in the bigs (is batting around .100 this year), but his upside is there, and his speed alone makes him a better bench presence than McCracken.
Davis is not currently on waivers, but may be waived when the Pirates activate Jason Bay this weekend. I think the M's would be likely to pounce on Davis because he is the kind of toolsy guy (he also was a pitcher for awhile) that seems to fascinate the M's. In this case, I think they might get some serious bang for the effort.
Lets hope the M's are keeping a close eye on the waiver wire and will use this brief time near the bottom of the standings to pluck a ripe talent or two off the waiver vine.
