Once August hits in Major League Baseball, the only way to make a trade is through a waiver process. Teams can put a player through revocable waivers, which gives the team the option of pulling back any claimed player and keeping them the rest of the season. Only if a player passes through waivers is he willing to be traded. Right now the waiver process is reportedly underway for Chase Utley.
Jon Morosi of Fox Sports reports:
#Phillies placed Chase Utley on trade waivers Saturday, sources say. @JSalisburyCSN reported #SFGiants have interest. @FOXSports
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) August 10, 2015
The Giants' interest comes as the team lost starting second baseman Joe Panik to injury.
The waiver period is just 47 hours. Therefore, depending what time the Phillies issued the waivers, Utley may have been claimed or has officially cleared already. Should a team put a claim in for Utley, the Phillies can pull Utley back and keep him the rest of the season, or let the claiming team (with Utley's consent, given his no-trade protection) assume Utley's contract. That means they must pay the balance of Utley's $15 million salary and Utley's $2 million buyout.
Few teams can take on Utley's salary requirements. Should Utley clear waivers, he would be fully available for trade. The process is not a public process, but chances are we will know what happens with Utley as names of players who clear often get leaked to the media.
UPDATE: Morosi corrects his previous tweet:
Repeating earlier correction: Chase Utley placed on revocable trade waivers Sunday, not Saturday, so claiming period expires Tuesday.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) August 11, 2015
