Mariners Notebook: Teams put in claims for Ibanez, but he doesn't expect to move

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Baseball's waiver rules are so complex and the rumors so rampant, sometimes it seems like anything can happen.

"I heard the Red Wings put in a claim on me," Mariners outfielder Raul Ibanez said.

OK, almost anything.

Ibanez won't be strapping on skates, but there's a chance he could be in the uniform of another team by the end of the week. He said he has been told the Mariners put him through waivers and that more than one team claimed him.

One report had Tampa Bay, which just lost outfielder Carl Crawford for the season, close to a deal for Ibanez.

"I would bet that it's not true," Ibanez said. "That's what I'd bet. I've heard there were claims, but that doesn't mean anything."

For one thing, the waiver wire works in reverse order of the standings at the time the waiver is requested, so the Rays would be 12th in line. Any American League team other than the Angels would have been able to claim him and block the Rays, risking only a $20,000 fee and the obligation to pay about $1.5 million owed to Ibanez for the remainder of the season.

The Boston Red Sox, in second place behind Tampa Bay in the AL East, recently made a waiver claim on the Padres' Brian Giles, reportedly to keep him from the Rays (the Padres ended up pulling Giles back). So they could do the same with Ibanez.

Toronto was in talks about an Ibanez trade ahead of the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, but is now eight games back in the wild-card race and might not be looking to add.

The Mariners stand to gain two good compensatory draft picks if they retain Ibanez and then lose him this offseason as a free agent, so any package coming back in a trade would have to be better than the picks. Any players traded to the Mariners who are on another team's 40-man roster would also need to clear waivers, but the Mariners, by virtue of the league's worst record, could claim them first.

A report last week said Jarrod Washburn had cleared waivers without being claimed, but a report on foxsports.com Wednesday said that he was claimed. The Yankees are one team that has shown interest in Washburn.

"Washburn came and asked me, 'Can you tell me who claimed me?' " Mariners manager Jim Riggleman said. "I don't know anything about that. I haven't heard anything about that. I have to think at this time of year a lot of players get put on waivers and a lot of guys get claimed."

Mariners general manager Lee Pelekoudas declined to comment on the waiver rumors.

"We're not allowed to and I'm not going to," he said.

According to baseball rules, a team whose player is claimed has 48½ "business day hours" to either reach agreement on a trade with the claiming team, pull the player back from waivers or let the claiming team have the player for the $20,000 fee.

It's not clear when that deadline would be in the case of Ibanez or Washburn, though foxsports.com, citing unnamed major league sources, said the deadline is 1:30 p.m. EDT on Thursday.

"I don't think anything is going to happen," Ibanez said. " It's so speculative and so out of my control, it's truly irrelevant from what I'm trying to do (on the field).

"I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's more complicated now."

While getting prospects in return for Ibanez and/or Washburn has some appeal, the subtraction of two of the best players on the team would not help the Mariners in their quest to avoid a 100-loss season.

"You've got to look out for the best (interests) of the organization, but certainly Wash has done a great job," Riggleman said. "Raul, his performance speaks for itself and of course we love having him. We hope whatever happens is best for the organization and best for Raul."

BACK TO THE PEN: It looks like R.A. Dickey's time in the rotation has come to an end, at least for this season.

Riggleman said Dickey will not make his scheduled start Sunday as the team looks at someone new. The manager declined to say who the starter would be, but the best bet appears to be Ryan Feierabend, who is 7-1 with a 2.16 ERA in an injury-interrupted season for Triple-A Tacoma.

Feierabend started for the Rainiers on Wednesday, but came out after 2 1/3 innings and 53 pitches despite giving up just one run, so he could be ready to go Sunday.

"We're going to be having R.A. available in the bullpen from this point," Riggleman said. "We just want to look at some other options, basically. R.A. has been a staff-saver for us, he's given us some good starts, he's done some great stuff between starts, and when he's pitched strictly in the bullpen he's done a good job.

"I think ... the best way for him to help the club is out of the bullpen."

The numbers this season support that assertion. The knuckleballer is 2-7 with a 6.03 ERA as a starter, but 1-0 with a 1.80 as a reliever.

VIDRO RELEASED: Designated hitter Jose Vidro, designated for assignment Aug. 5, was officially granted his unconditional release Wednesday after the Mariners failed to trade him.

"We looked into working a deal with some teams, but it just wasn't there," Pelekoudas said. "I'm sure he'll hook on with somebody."

Vidro, 33, batted .234 in 85 games this season. The Mariners have to pay him the remainder of his $8.5 million salary.

DRAFT DODGERS: The Mariners are facing a Friday deadline to sign their players from the June draft or lose their rights, though that deadline does not pertain to unsigned first-round pick Josh Fields.

Because Fields, a reliever from the University of Georgia, was a college senior, he cannot re-enter the draft until just before next year's draft. Fields, represented by agent Scott Boras, is the only unsigned player among Seattle's top eight picks. It had been projected that he might have reached the majors as early as September.

The Mariners have signed 20 of their first 24 picks. Their ninth-round pick, Western Michigan pitcher Billy Morrison, and their 10th-round pick, Pepperdine's Nathan Newman, are college underclassmen and likely to return to school.

NOTES: Injured LHP Erik Bedard (shoulder tightness) will throw to a catcher on flat ground all three days during the upcoming series in Minnesota, and could begin throwing regular bullpen sessions after that. ... Entering play Wednesday, the Mariners had a .301 batting average since the All-Star break, tops in the AL.