Waived Dodger Is Claimed : Baseball: Claire won’t say who was wanted from procedural list, but if it’s Gibson, the possibility of a trade is effectively negated.

Fred Claire confirmed that one Dodger was claimed off procedural waivers shortly before the deadline Monday, meaning that the player cannot be traded for 30 days.

If that player is outfielder Kirk Gibson, as sources say is likely, he should remain with the team at least until he becomes a free agent this winter.

“We had one player claimed. We have withdrawn the claim so we can keep the player, and we’ll go from there,” said Claire, Dodger vice president who put virtually the entire team on waivers last week in hopes of freeing the players to be traded before the Aug. 31 deadline for postseason eligibility.

If a player remains unclaimed for 72 hours, he can be traded. Many expected Gibson to be claimed by a contending team hoping to block a trade that would send him to another contender, such as Oakland. Gibson, in fact, said last week that he believed he had already been claimed.

It did not help the Dodgers’ chances of getting him through waivers when he hit two home runs with four RBIs Sunday against San Francisco, shortly before the Monday morning deadline for claims.

Although Claire would not confirm it was Gibson, he said, “Frankly, I don’t see the claim as being all that significant from a standpoint of where the club is. We have gotten into a position to make a challenge (for the National League West lead), and I’m not interested in trading players who have led us to this point.”

Gibson has been one the Dodger leaders, with hits in 24 of his last 30 games at a .322 pace that has lifted his overall average to .291. He is second on the Dodgers with 11 stolen bases in 12 attempts.