Mr. Livingston, I Presume
By
Amanda
Posted at 11:42 pm
It seems like just yesterday that Wayne Krivsky traded Jason LaRue to Kansas City, thereby freeing up a roster spot and clearing out some room behind the plate. But no sooner had David Ross and Javier Valentín stretched out in their suddenly uncrowded position, but Kriv-dawg squeezed Chad Moeller in there with them.
So it probably doesn't surprise you that, after cutting loose Brandon Claussen, a soft-tossing lefty who failed to meet expectations last year, to clear a spot on the 40-man, he's immediately picked up another soft-tossing lefty in Bobby Livingston off waivers from the Seattle Mariners.
The story with Livingston is that he was claimed off waivers by Tampa Bay just this week, and MLB nullified the deal for no reason they saw fit to share. Marc says it best:
The Reds have claimed left-hander Bobby Livingston off waivers from the Seattle Mariners. No big deal there, except the Devil Rays claimed Livingston off waivers from the Mariners earlier this week and flipped him to the Phillies for cash.
How did this happen? Well, MLB nullified the previous waiver claim and trade, with no reason given. Apparently the powers that be felt the Phillies were circumventing the waiver process, which is prioritized by record, by cutting a prearraged deal with the Rays and sending Tampa cash for its part.
I'm glad to see Kriv-dawg putting some attention on the pitching aspect of the team for a minute, but I don't see how this really helps matters.
One thing Livingston has over Claussen: he’s got an iron arm. He goes deep into games. He can pitch a ton of innings and it doesn’t seem to bother him. As Yankee fans found out this past season, that can make a big difference. Having Jaret “Five innings is just about” Wright in the rotation was murder on the bullpen.
OK, let’s play “Which Which Is Which?”
According to the Dayton Daily News, Wayne’s explanation was that he had no idea the Reds were next in line, but he thought the Devil Rays claiming Livingston just so they could trade him to the Phillies wasn’t right, so he put in a call to the league.
Which looked at it, basically said, “You’re right, that’s bogus,” and nullified the Devil Rays’ waiver claim (Which meant the trade with Philly never happened since Tampa Bay can’t trade a player they didn’t have in the first place).
Which meant that Livingston rightfully belonged to the next team in line after the Devil Rays in the waiver wire pecking order.
Which happened to be the Reds.
Which is why the 40-man roster on the official site now lists 41 players.
Well, that and the fact that somebody who works on the Reds’ website apparently never got the word that Brandon Watson, who’s still listed as one of the outfielders, cleared waivers Nov. 30, refused to be outrighted, and became a free agent, and was signed to a minor league contract by the Tigers on Dec. 8.
Which means Watson should not be listed on the Reds’ 40-man roster.
Which means you can’t even trust what you see on the team’s official site.
Which is why you should always have a Hard Facts Staff on hand to clear up these issues.
😎
HMZ
Thanks for explaining that. I was wondering about it.
Why would Watson refuse to be outrighted to Louisville, but sign a minor league contract somewhere else? Did he feel the Reds had treated him unfairly?
Probably feels he has a better chance to get in the majors elsewhere.
He hit below the Mendoza line, last year and this year. Does he really think he’ll get more of an opportunity in the AL..for the Tigers, no less, who have a lot of OFers, including the newly acquired Gary Sheffield.
Hey, you think the MLB.com folk read this blog? I just noticed Watson is now off the roster! 😀