DETROIT -- The August saga of the Tigers and trade waivers continued Friday with Ian Kinsler, but while the veteran second baseman has been claimed on revocable waivers, a deal is unlikely, sources told MLB.com.
MLB Network Insider Jon Heyman first reported that Kinsler was claimed by Friday's deadline. Which team claimed him is unclear, but the move might well have been a blocking strategy to prevent a club in need of second-base help from acquiring him.
Any player must clear revocable waivers in order to be traded after July 31. The process works much like regular waivers: Teams have a chance to put in a claim in reverse order of standings, separated by league. For Kinsler, teams in the American League would get first dibs, followed by teams in the National League.
If a player clears waivers, he can be traded to any team just like before August. If a player is claimed, the team that put him on waivers has a choice to make:
1. Work out a trade with the team that was awarded the claim within 48 hours.
2. Let the player go to the claiming club for nothing, with the claiming club taking on the player's contract.
3. Pull the player back off waivers, at which point he's ineligible to be traded until the season is over.
The Tigers drew little interest in Kinsler before the July 31 non-waiver Trade Deadline. The Brewers were reportedly interested and remained so into August, according to MLB Network Insider Ken Rosenthal, but a trade was never close.
Kinsler has a no-trade clause that allows him to list 10 teams to which he can veto a trade, the result of the long-term contract he signed with the Rangers before his deal to Detroit. That list is updated shortly after each season, and came into focus when the Tigers explored trade options with him last winter. That doesn't mean Kinsler won't go to a team on the list, but it allows him leverage to extract something in return, whether it's his $11 million club option for next year or something else.