Optional Waviers

Mike Rizzo tries to explain the process through which Matt Chico will return to the minors: “Because he’s had over three years of service time, you have to get optional waivers on him before you option him back to the minor leagues. That takes 48 hours. Because he was in Double A, we brought him for only 16 hours, or one service, we couldn’t obtain optional waivers on him. What we do is, we designate him for option. A lot of times, when you designate for assignment, it’s for assignement for release. This is designate for optional assignment. On Monday, we will put him on optional waivers. He will get through, and then we’ll send him back to Double A. He won’t be claimed, he can’t be claimed and we’re not going to lose him.” Why can’t he be claimed? What’s the point of waivers if another team can’t claim him? Shouldn’t it be “unlikely to be claimed?”