Late last week, the Pittsburgh Pirates made headlines when they placed shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa on outright waivers.

Outright waivers are a little bit different than designating a player for assignment, so I cracked open the ol’ MLB glossary to give you the specifics, if you wish to read.

When a player is placed on outright waivers, the other 29 Major League clubs have the opportunity to claim him. The claiming club assumes responsibility for the remaining money owed to the claimed player, who is placed on his new club’s 40-man roster. 

Claiming priority is based on reverse winning percentage. So, if a player is placed on outright waivers and claimed by more than one team, the team with the worse winning percentage gets priority. If two or more claiming clubs are tied with the lowest percentage of games won, the priority goes to the club with the lowest percentage of games won in the previous season. (A previous version of the rules gave priority based on the league of the team waiving the player, with NL teams getting priority for NL players, and AL for AL, but that is no longer the case.)

If the player clears outright waivers without being claimed, his team has the option of assigning him outright to the Minor Leagues. 

However, players with more than five years of Major League service time can reject an assignment to the Minor Leagues, and players with more than three years of Major League service time, or who have been previously outrighted, may reject the outright assignment in favor of free agency in lieu of the assignment.

The move was the latest in an odd string of decisions with the Pirates regarding the pending free agent Kiner-Falefa, including not trading him at the trade deadline when the likes of David Bednar and Ke’Bryan Hayes, guys with years left on their deals, were traded.

But this might be the worst one yet.