Study · Transactions
After the DFA
Clubs designate 57% more players than a decade ago. Half clear waivers, and 60% of the players who are claimed get designated again within a year.
Designating a player for assignment removes him from the 40-man roster and starts a clock. Within days he's traded, claimed by another club, or put on waivers and, if no one claims him, sent outright to the minors or released. This study follows every designation in MLB's transaction records from 2015 through 2026.
Clubs designate far more players than they used to: 360 a season on average from 2015 to 2018, and 565 from 2022 to 2025, up 57%. This year has 586 so far.
What happens next has hardly changed. Across all years, 53% of designated players cleared waivers and were outrighted, 19% were claimed, 11% were traded and 13% were released. The rest were recalled, reinstated or left no record within three weeks.
The waiver wire is a carousel. Of 1,606 players claimed off waivers, 60% were designated for assignment again within a year. A claim is usually a short look, not a long commitment.
Designations cluster in July and August, around the trade deadline and the promotions that come with it, and again in November, when clubs clear 40-man spots before the Rule 5 draft.