Nationals place Adam Dunn on the waiver wire
So much for thinking that the Washington Nationals' next order of business would be working out an extension with Adam Dunn(notes).
ESPN's Buster Olney reports on Twitter that the Nats have placed their beefy first baseman on waivers, a spot where his big bat will undoubtedly attract plenty of interest.
That doesn't, of course, mean that Dunn will automatically be playing somewhere else by this weekend. Plenty of ballplayers are placed on waivers each August and it's almost guaranteed that the Nats will simply pull him back if they can't work out a trade with the claiming team. (For a good explanation of how the waiver process works, click here.)
Still, it's a newsworthy revelation because Dunn — who is owed about $4 million in remaining salary and becomes a free agent in the offseason — was arguably the biggest name that was expected to be headed elsewhere on July 31, but stayed where he was instead.
Since each National League team will have a crack at claiming him before their American League counterparts, it's unlikely the Chicago White Sox or Tampa Bay Rays would get a shot at working something out with Washington. But the San Francisco Giants should clearly be interested and as Troy Renck of the Denver Post suggests, it'll be interesting to see if the Colorado Rockies put in a claim on Dunn to block him from going to San Francisco. The intrigue is on. Stay tuned.