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Anthony Varvaro Waiver Claim Voided
The Cubs waiver claim of RHP Anthony Varvaro has been voided by the MLB Commissioner and he has been returned to the Boston Red Sox, where he will be placed on the BoSox MLB 60-day DL. Varvaro will undergo surgery to repair a torn elbow flexor tendon later this week.
Varvaro was Designated for Assignment by the Red Sox on April 23rd, and was claimed off Outright Assignment Waivers by the Cubs on May 3rd. The Cubs almost immediately placed Varvaro back onto waivers, and the Cubs sent him outright to AAA Iowa on May 8th after Outright Assignment Waivers were secured.
The elbow injury was detected after Varvaro threw a bullpen side-session, at which point the Cubs requested through the MLB Commissioner's office that their waiver claim be voided and that Vavaro be returned to the Red Sox, because he had a pre-existing injury and therefore should not have been placed on Outright Assignmmt Waivers. Varvaro remained inactive on the Iowa Reserve List for two weeks while the matter was under review by MLB.
This is similar to what happened with RHRP Brian Schlitter a few years ago, when the Yankees claimed Schlitter off waivers from the Cubs in January 2011, and then the Phillies subsequently claimed Schlitter off waivers from the Yankees in February 2011, only to find out in Spring Training that Schlitter had a pre-existing elbow injury and needed a UCL elbow ligament transplant (TJS).
The Phillies then contacted the MLB Commissioner and requested that Schlitter be returned to the Cubs, with all previous waiver claims voided. And Schlitter was indeed returned to the Cubs at the end of Spring Training, underwent TJS on the Cubs dime, and spent the balance of the 2011 season on the Cubs MLB 60-day DL. The Cubs also had to return the $50,000 waiver fee they received from the Yankees (although the refund actually was channeled to the Phillies, since the Yankees got their money back in February when Schlitter was claimed off waivers by the Phils).
The Cubs faced a similar-type situation earlier this month, when they wanted to remove RHRP Blake Parker from their MLB 40-man roster to open up a slot for LHRP James Russell. Because Parker was on the AAA Iowa Cubs 7-day DL with right elbow inflammation and was not physically healthy enough to play, he could not be placed on Outright Assignment Waivers at that time. So in order to remove Parker from the MLB 40-man roster, the Cubs had to either recall Parker from his minor league Optional Assignment and place him on their MLB 60-day DL (and pay him a big league salary for at least two months), or release him and then try and re-sign him to a minor league contract (for his minor league split salary). The Cubs chose the latter (although of course Parker had to agree to go along with it), and Parker is now rehabbing his elbow injury at Extended Spring Training in Mesa.
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