If the Red Sox placed him on waivers, Josh Beckett would likely pass through unclaimed. The team could then shop him in a trade before the end of the month.

Beckett has a 5.23 ERA and is owed $16 million through 2014.

While the Red Sox talked to a couple teams about Beckett before the non-waiver trade deadline (July 31), one rival executive said Boston "weren't trying very hard to trade Beckett."

Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington agreed with that assessment, saying, "No, we weren't. We had a handful of inquiries from teams looking for starting pitching at the deadline."