The August rules are a bit strange. Essentially, you place a player on revocable waivers. Teams have a time to claim hiim. If none claims him, which may be the case with Byrd, you can trade him any time up to the end of the month and have him eligible for the playoffs. If any team claims him, then the original team has 3 choices: allow him to go to the team awarded the claim, make a trade with that team, or pull him back. There's a time limit on the process. In the case of Byrd, it is possible that he was not placed on waivers until a few days ago and Pittsburgh was worst National League team to claim him, but it is more likely he snuck through waivers earlier in the month along with Buck.
