The MLB waiver wire is an awfully busy place this time of year.
As ESPN's Jayson Stark noted, "every player" in the bigs hits the the wire at some point in August. Of course, it's also an extremely mysterious place, as only a fraction of those major leaguers will make it through unclaimed and subsequently become available for a trade prior to the August 31 deadline.
According to MLBTradeRumors.com, there are only three players known to have cleared: James Shields, Chase Utley and Jose Reyes. Those three all fit the description of players who most frequently become available for August swaps: underachievers playing on outsized deals.
Looking around the league, there are an array of guys who would be strong candidates to clear waivers because their production hasn't matched their salaries during the current campaign. In other cases, despite strong performances, players have cracked the list because they are still owed a lot of money in 2016 and beyond and find themselves on a struggling club.
The idea here is to highlight the 10 best such players. In the ranking process, the most important factor was how well a given player has performed in 2015.
The big leaguer who claims the No. 1 spot has been on an absolute tear over the past month-and-a-half and has the potential to be a game-changer in the playoff race if he ends up switching clubs this month.
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