NEWSLETTER
As we speculated when the report of pitchers Rich Harden and Aaron Heilman being claimed on waivers came out, several other Chicago Cubs were placed on waivers, and claimed.
Harden and reliever Aaron Heilman are among several Cubs who have been claimed by unnamed contending teams, though the two pitchers could be the most likely to be acted upon by general manager Jim Hendry.
The waiver and claim process is routinely done on all players in a procedural move surrounding the trade process after July 31. The process is supposed to be done privately, and often players never know they have been involved if their team chooses not to act on a claim. CHICAGO SUN-TIMES.
It’s possible that the only reason Harden and Heilman’s names came out is because they are the most likely to be moved. It’s also possible that their names came out because they are the only two who were claimed by teams that may actually be interested in trading for them, as opposed to simply blocking another team’s claim.
Further, the only other player on the Cubs who seems like he would be placed on waivers, would actually be claimed, and would not necessarily be immediately yanked back by the Cubs is reliever John Grabow. The Soriano’s and Bradley’s of the world would never be claimed (for the risk that the Cubs would say simply, you want him, he’s your problem now), and the Ramirez’s and Zambrano’s of the world would immediately be yanked back by the Cubs.
