By Nick Cafardo, Globe Staff

CLEVELAND — The Red Sox placed catcher Kelly Shoppach and shortstop Mike Aviles on trade waivers Friday.

While it's not unusual to have players go on waivers before August 31st, the Sox had gone nine days without placing anyone on waivers, which is unusual. On August 1, the Sox placed Carl Crawford and Nick Punto on trade waivers and both of them cleared.

What does this all mean?

In Crawford and Punto's case they both can now be traded without any restrictions since no team put in a claim on them. If a team claims Shoppach or Aviles, the Red Sox can do one of three things: pull them back so they can not be traded the remainder of the season, award the player to the team claiming them, or work out a trade with the claiming team.

In the case of multiple claims, the team with the worst record gets the claim. Both players would go through the American League first and then the National League.

Shoppach and Aviles might be attractive to contending teams. There had been interest in Shoppach at the trade deadline, but the Sox didn't pull the trigger. Aviles is a gritty shortstop who might be able to help a contender like the San Francisco Giants, for instance.

The Red Sox need to make playing time for Ryan Lavarnway who is the DH in tonight's game. The Sox could also stand to bring up Jose Iglesias and let him pla,y or allow Pedro Ciriaco to play shortstop the rest of the season.