Waivers (sports)

In North American sports contracts, waivers is a type of player transaction. A player under contract to a team is placed on "waivers" for a specified period of time; during this time other teams may submit a claim for that player's contract. Based on a priority system, the team with the highest priority earns either the right to negotiate with the player's current team, or in some cases, the right to assume the contract of that player from the current team. Each of the four major league sports has somewhat different procedures for handling waivers. The purpose of waivers is to prevent teams from colluding to exchange players outside of the normal trade rules, as well as to encourage parity by giving lower-ranked teams the right of first refusal to claim players who are no longer wanted by their former club.

Major League Baseball

Players may be placed on waivers at any time. Teams may claim any waived player during the first three days after being placed on waivers. If more than one team claims the player during the three-day window, the team with the lowest win percentage has first priority. Once a player is claimed, the player's current team may either negotiate a trade, rescind the waiver, or do nothing and allow the claiming team to assume the player's contract. Any player that remains unclaimed (or whose waiver offer is not rescinded) after three days, the player may be sent outright ("outrighted") to a club's minor league baseball affiliate or, if the player has already been outrighted to the minors once before in his career, granted unrestricted free agency to sign with any club.