Rays place waiver claim on Nationals' David DeJesus

The Tampa Bay Rays have placed a waiver claim on Washington Nationals' outfielder David DeJesus, according to ESPNChicago's Jesse Rogers. As FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal reported this morning, the claim was placed on Wednesday, meaning that the teams would have until 1 PM ET on Friday to work out a deal. The Nationals have three options: to pull DeJesus back off waivers and keep him, to award him to the Rays for no compensation, or to trade him for agreed-upon compensation.

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DeJesus has been the subject of a unique string of events over the past four days. The 33-year old was traded from the Cubs to the Nationals on Monday in exchange for a player to be named later or cash, and had to immediately switch clubhouses at Wrigley Field to join his new team.

Later that night, Rosenthal reported that Washington had placed DeJesus on revocable trade waivers, and that it was likely that another team would show interest in him within the next few days.

Less than two days later, the Rays claimed him off waivers, and now will try to acquire him for the stretch run.

After the initial claim on Monday, many speculated that the Nationals either claimed DeJesus in error or made the move to immediately flip him for a return greater than the one they sent to the Cubs. The Nats are already set in the outfield with Jayson Werth, Denard Span and Bryce Harper, and Rosenthal wrote on Monday that rival executives were speculating that Washington wanted to clear the money owed to DeJesus, which amounts to $1 million guaranteed for the rest of the year as well as either a $6.5 million club option for next season or a $1.5 million buyout.

The Rays make sense as a destination for DeJesus, as they are known to be in search of outfield help for the last month of the season. In addition to placing the claim on DeJesus, Tampa also signed free agent outfielder Delmon Young to a minor league deal on Thursday.

In 86 games on the season (84 with the Cubs, 2 with the Nationals), DeJesus has hit .248 with 6 HR and 27 RBI. He has been known throughout his career as a high on-base percentage hitter, and has registered a .353 on-base percentage in eleven major league seasons with the Royals (2003-2010), Athletics (2011) and Cubs (2012-2013).

For the latest waiver wire updates, be sure to check out our August waiver wire tracker.