Gelb wrote about this. It's a pretty interesting situation because clearly the rule is meant to prevent you from making a guy who is basically damaged goods available to other teams, whereas in this case the other teams would all want him. And whatever they do you have to assume Chaim Bloom will complain. Ditto if he pitches a couple of times and is then "sore" (but how would he not be?)
When asked Thursday if the Phillies had any recourse to place a pitcher on the IL simply because he cannot pitch after a years-long layoff, Dombrowski declined to answer.
“Really, you’re getting into the technicality of the rules,” he said. “I don’t want to speculate on it.”
But, with the way the outright waiver rules are written, the Phillies might be able to explore a loophole. A club requesting waivers on a player, according to the MLB rulebook, “guarantees that the player … is capable of performing at the player’s accustomed level.” If Song is healthy at the end of spring training but unable to return to an “accustomed level” of pitching after a three-year absence in which he threw from a mound once, the Phillies could argue they are not able to place him on waivers. If that’s the case, Song would have to be placed on the IL. The Phillies would then have a better chance of making him big-league ready.
