How do the waivers and options work in baseball?

Question

I realized the other day I've watched baseball all my life and never thought of how it all worked.

(GO CUBS GO!!)

Answer 1

It's sort of complicated, especially Waivers [there's three kinds of those.]  Click on the link, you'll see the Options section first, Waivers is all the way at the bottom.

Here's a bit, from Cot's:

Waiver periods & waiver claim priority:

November 11 - April 30 (Nov. 11 - 30th day of the next season)

* The club with the worst won-loss record in the previous season has priority.

May 1 – July 31 (31st day of the season – July 31)

* The club with the worst won-loss record in the current season has priority.

August 1 – November 10

* The club with the worst won-loss record in the current season has priority, but American League clubs have priority for AL players, and National League clubs have priority for NL players.