Justin Verlander may still be traded after the deadine

Major League Baseball’s 2017 non-waiver trade deadline has come and gone, and Justin Verlander is still a Detroit Tiger. However, trades can be made after the deadline, provided that the players involved pass through special waivers. Delmon Young in 2011, Aubrey Huff in 2009, Randy Wolf in 2015, and Erick Aybar just last season were all acquired by the Tigers after the July 31 deadline in previous seasons.

Many MLB players will be placed on waivers his week, but we won’t hear about most of them, and few will be traded. Waivers are supposed to be top secret, but names are often leaked. The Tigers can place their entire roster on waivers just so that they have the option of trading them, and they may very well do that.

Waivers are a permission granted by the other Major League Baseball clubs to allow a team to make a player move which can not be made otherwise. Opposing teams waive their objection to the move.

Trade assignment waivers, also known as special waivers, are required before any player on a 40 man roster can be traded after 4 pm ET on July 31st each season. These waivers are revocable, so the players can be recalled if claimed.

A team may place up to seven players on waivers on any single business day. Other clubs are given notice, and then have 48 hours to make a claim. Any player who is on a team’s 40 man roster must clear special waivers before being traded for the rest of the season. Players on special waivers remain on the team’s roster unless they are claimed or traded.

When a player is claimed, his team can do one of three things:

• Recall the player and keep him
• Let the player go to the team with the priority claim, giving up his full contract
• Work out a trade with the claiming team within 48 hours

Only the team that has the priority claim can trade for that player. If multiple teams claim a player, priority goes in reverse order of the standings, with teams in the same league going first. Clubs have until September 1 to acquire players in order for them to be eligible for postseason play. There is no risk in requesting special waivers since players can be recalled if a claim is made.

So, let’s say that the Tigers put Justin Verlander on special waivers after August 1st. What happens next?

If no claims are made, he can then be traded to any team for the rest of the season.

If one team claims him the Tigers can either let him go to that team, letting them assume his full contract, or they can recall him. If he is recalled, he can then be traded only to that team within two business days, or the Tigers can keep him. In Verlander’s case, he can also use his five and ten rights to veto a waiver claim to any team.

If multiple teams put in a claim, only one team can have the priority claim. That would go to the team with the lowest wining percentage at the time, with preference going to teams in the same league. So, if the Yankees and the Houston Astros both made a claim, New York would have priority. If the Astros and the Chicago Cubs both made a claim, Houston would have priority, being in the same league.

If a player is recalled after being claimed, he can be put on waivers again, but the waivers are not recallable the second time around during the same season.

Miguel Cabrera will likely be placed on waivers some time this week, and he will clear waivers because no other team would be willing to pay the remainder of his contract. Victor Martinez, Jordan Zimmermann, Anibal Sanchez, and Verlander will all likely be placed on special waivers, and will probably sail through, as will many other players, freeing up their teams to trade them if a deal can be worked out.

Teams may make a claim to block a trade to a rival team, but that is the exception. More often, teams let players pass through waivers as a courtesy, unless they are legitimately interested in trading for them. When a team makes a waiver claim on a player, blocking his team from trading him to another team, they can probably expect retaliation in the future, when they might want to get a player through special waivers. The Yankees and Red Sox have been notorious for blocking trades to each other.

So the Tigers still may attempt to make trades before the season is over, but the process just became much more complicated.