The way I understand it, right after the TD, it’s not uncommon for teams to basically put everyone on the roster on revocable waivers, from the stars to the bench scrubs (every player can go on R-waivers once a season). It’s a strategy to mask a team’s intentions in regards to certain fringe players (e.g. Romo) and not necessarily to throw bait out for trade partners. It’s a pretty weak smokescreen but the idea is that since the whole roster is on RW’s, opposing teams won’t know who to put claims on and who to ignore since they don’t know who you’re serious about unwaiving, releasing, outrighting, etc. (and they can’t just put claims on everyone because then they’re responsible, or potentially responsible, if you then don’t revoke a given player off of waivers). Deep breath. Does this make sense?

Anyway, in the case of Romo, what I imagine happened was he was procedurely placed on R-waivers along with everyone else (or at least a few Giants fringe players), and then the Giants optioned him without considering his status. The fact that he was on R-waivers to begin with however could very well have been incidental to their decision to option him.

This brainfart is perhaps symbolic of this regime’s inattention to detail, and is pretty shameful. But practically, it’s not at all that much of a big deal.

The buck stops with Sabean. He’s the boss. If something completely f’ing retarded happens on his watch, it’s ultimately his responsibility. Period.

If it turns out that one of his minions was responsible for this cock-up, then that person needs to be fired immediately, if not sooner. Require some god-damn accountability in your organization.

Example: “Hey Boss, I was thinking I might trade Tim Lincecum for Fernando Tatis, whatddya think?”