Three Teams Reportedly Protest Blyleven Deal, but Commissioner’s Office Upholds Transaction

Three American League teams protested the Cleveland Indians’ waiver-trade of Bert Blyleven to the Minnesota Twins, but the baseball commissioner’s office has upheld the deal.

Blyleven was allowed to be claimed on waivers by the Twins on Thursday, and the Twins, in what the Indians said was a separate but related deal, sold pitcher Curt Wardle and minor league players Jay Bell and Jim Weaver to the Indians.

The Chicago White Sox, Boston and Toronto reportedly claimed the deal violated baseball rules.

“It was a fairly complex application of the rules, but it was well within them,” Indian President Peter Bavasi said.

Six teams had claimed Blyleven on waivers, so the Indians had to wait until the Twins had the lowest winning percentage among those teams before letting go of Blyleven.

The league’s manager of waiver and player records, Stephanie Vardavas, said the protests “questioned whether the second part of the deal (the sale of the three players to Cleveland) could stand alone. If the second deal was part of the Blyleven transaction, it would have been a violation of the waiver rules.”