The Atlanta Braves claimed infielder Ha-Seong Kim off of waivers from the Tampa Bay Rays, it was announced yesterday.
Though running veterans through waivers at the end of August, with an eye towards seeing if a team will claim them (and their salary) before the deadline for a player to be in a team’s organization in order to be playoff eligible, has become commonplace since the elimination of post-July 31 trades a few years ago, the teams that put in claims for players are generally playoff contenders. Atlanta, at 62-76, is well out of the playoff hunt, and so claiming Kim does not help them this year.