BAR: How waiver trades work

The Blog Above Replacement is Reds beat writer C. Trent Rosecrans' daily look at the Reds, their minor leagues and whatever else is on his mind.

Friday was the non-waiver trade deadline, but as the past has shown us, that doesn't mean trading is done for the season, there's still a way to make trades — it's just not as easy.

Last season the Reds traded Jonathan Broxton after the trade deadline because he was claimed on waivers. The Adam Dunn deal several years back was also a waiver deal.

So what does all this mean? Let me try to explain.

Starting Aug. 1, teams can put players on revocable waivers — and most players will be put on waivers. Please remember this when you hear that someone was put on waivers, be it Joey Votto, Aroldis Chapman or anyone else. Most players, if not, are put on waivers. It means nothing other than the fact that the team has gone through the paperwork it needs to go through. Waivers aren't public info, but they always seem to get out.

Once on waivers, a player can be pulled back if claimed. This can only happen once, though.

If a player goes unclaimed after 48 hours, he can be traded at any time during the rest of the season.

The waiver priority process is a little confusing — it starts with your league. The teams with the worst records get priority on players and then it goes to the other league. So, in essence, any player the Reds put on waivers, the NL team with the best record (the Cardinals) would win the claim over the AL teams with the worst record (Red Sox, A's).

If a team does claim a player, three things can happen: 1) the two teams have 48 hours to work out a trade 2) the original team can pull the player back off of waivers and keep him 3) the original team can allow the waiver claim with no trade — basically, give up the player (and his contract) for nothing in a salary dump (like Alex Rios from the Blue Jays to White Sox in 2008).

Players can be traded through the waiver process the rest of the season, but players dealt after Aug. 31 are not eligible for postseason rosters.

MINOR LEAGUE ROUNDUP

• Triple-A: Louisville 4, Toledo 3, 14 innings: Hernan Iribarren singled in the winning run in the 14th, giving Sam LeCure the win. LeCure threw four scoreless innings, allowing just one hit. Starter Robert Stephenson gave up just three hits and a run in six innings with five strikeouts and two walks. Louisville native Adam Duvall, acquired from the Giants in the Mike Leake deal, homered in his first at-bat as a Bat. He finished 2 for 6. [Box]

• Double-A: Jacksonville 5, Pensacola 4: C Yovan Gonzalez was 2 for 3 with two doubles and 2B Juan Perez was 2 for 4 with one double. [Box]

• High-A: Daytona 3, Fort Myers 0:; Daytona 1, Fort Myers 0: Nic Routt allowed two hits and two walks in six scoreless innings in the first game. CF Junior Felix Arias hit a walk-off single in the second game for the only run between the two teams. [Box] [Box]

• Low-A: South Bend 7, Dayton 2: Wyatt Strahan struck out nine in seven innings — allowing three runs on eight hits and no walks. [Box]

• Rookie: Billings 5, Missoula 0: Jose Lopez struck out eight in four innings, allowing just two hits and two walks without a run. C Tyler Stephenson drove in two with a double, while LF Jonathan Martin and RF Dalton Carter were both 2 for 4 with an RBI and 2B Shane Mardirosian was 2 for 5 with a triple and an RBI. [Box]

THE ROTATION

1. The Reds and Pirates weren't the only teams to empty their benches on Sunday, the Royals and Blue Jays did, as well. And the postgame quotes were best in the Kansas City clubhouse, with Edinson Volquez complaining about Josh Donaldson, "He's a little baby. He was crying like a baby." He also added, "He got mad at everybody like he's Barry Bonds. He's not Barry Bonds. He's got three years in the league. We've been around longer than he has." Another former (sorta) Red, Ryan Madson was also in the thick of it. [Kansas City Star]

2. The pitching-heavy Cardinals are the most imbalanced team in baseball. [FiveThirtyEight.com]

3. My google doc doesn't quite have the same panache as the Boston Globe's Rolodex. A fantastic read about time gone by in technology, sports and journalism from the Globe's Dan Shaughnessy.

4. Our own Paul Dehner Jr. went to Gadsden, Ala., to bring you a fantastic profile of Bengals cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick.

5. I love this PSA from the Alamo Drafthouse movie theater in Austin on so many levels: