While everyone pays attention to the July 31st non-waiver trade deadline (which Boston essentially sat out), there is still the waiver-based
August trade period that can prove valuable to the Red Sox. Remember, it was an August waiver deal that sent
Adrian Gonzalez,
Carl Crawford,
Josh Beckett and (the key to the transaction)
Nick Punto to the Dodgers on August 25, 2012. More importantly, a half-a-billion dollars of dead weight salary went to
La-La Land as well. Here's the way the waiver trade rules work: No player currently on a 40-man roster can be traded
unless he first passes through
revocable waivers. Once on waivers, if a player goes unclaimed for 48 hours, he's free to be traded anywhere for the rest of the season. However, if a trade is made
after August 31st, the player cannot participate in the post-season with his new team. It's highly likely that the following Red Sox players will pass through the waiver process unclaimed:
Mike Napoli,
Hanley Ramirez and
Pablo Sandoval. Whether any of them can fetch back a desirable trade piece is another issue entirely. Frankly, Hanley is probably the only one who will bring back value—but Napoli (if he keeps hitting) could as well. So, look for August 31st to be an active day for Ben.
