Waivers

Orioles owner Peter Angelos decided against trading pitcher David Wells and outfielder Bobby Bonilla before the July 31 trading deadline. Now they can't trade them even if they so desired.According to a league source, the Orioles attempted to pass Wells and Bonilla through waivers earlier this month, and if they had cleared, the Orioles could've traded them. But somebody else -- it's not known which team or teams -- claimed the two, and the Orioles pulled Bonilla and Wells back off waivers.

CLEVELAND - Orioles designated hitter Aubrey Huff could still be traded to a contender this month, but All-Star closer George Sherrill can't be. According to two baseball sources, Huff, who is having a resurgent season, passed through revocable "trade" waivers and can be dealt until midnight Aug. 31 and still be eligible for a contender's postseason roster. Sherrill, however, was claimed by at least one unnamed American League team and was pulled back by the Orioles. They now have lost revocable waivers on Sherrill, meaning he cannot be placed on waivers again without the risk of losing him with no compensation in return.

Orioles pitchers Calvin Maduro and Kris Foster cleared waivers this week, bumping them off the 40-man roster, and the club assigned them to Triple-A Ottawa. They have 10 days to either accept the assignment or become free agents. Maduro went 2-5 with a 5.56 ERA after being named the Orioles' No. 5 starter coming out of spring training. He underwent surgery in June to remove a fractured bone spur from his right elbow and missed the rest of the season. The Orioles acquired Foster from the Los Angeles Dodgers at the 2001 trade deadline, along with starting catcher Geronimo Gil, for reliever Mike Trombley.

The Orioles placed catcher Chris Hoiles on outright waivers within the last month, making him available to any team for $20,000, according to league sources. However, no team took Hoiles, who still has 3 1/2 years remaining on the five-year, $17.25 million deal he signed before the 1995 season.By placing Hoiles on waivers, the Orioles' obvious hope was to have another team claim him and take on the rest of his contract. Orioles assistant general manager Kevin Malone would not confirm that waivers had been asked on Hoiles, and wouldn't comment.

In the first overhaul of its 25-year-old subdivision ordinance, Anne Arundel County officials will try to legalize some of the pro-growth recommendations of a committee that studied the granting of school waivers.One of the most explosive ideas the committee outlined in June was to deny permission to build new houses in areas where elementary schools are at 115 percent of capacity and upper schools are at 120 percent of capacity."That's unbelievable," said school board member Thomas Twombly, referring to plans to overhaul the ordinance.

Last spring, when the County Council dumped a proposal to rein in the Owens administration's power on key development issues, it was heralded as the dawn of a new day of trust between council members and County Executive Janet S. Owens. No one is saying a deep freeze has set in, but that same proposal -- to require public hearings before the county could give developers major waivers to subdivision rules -- is back. Two council Democrats, Barbara D. Samorajczyk of Annapolis and Shirley Murphy of Pasadena, introduced two related bills Monday.

In a victory for Anne Arundel County, the state's highest court dismissed yesterday a developers' lawsuit seeking millions of dollars in refunds of money and property they gave the government in exchange for exemptions allowing them to build homes in areas where schools and roads were overburdened. The unanimous Court of Appeals ruling ends the prospect of the county being ordered to refund what developers claimed was more than $7 million the county collected over more than a decade in deals they said evaded county laws and nearly amounted to extortion.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Orioles manager Davey Johnson sat behind the desk in his office before last night's game, gazed at a small group of reporters and said, "Make it easy on me, guys. I've already had a tough day."He had spent about three hours in an organizational meeting, then had to inform six more players they wouldn't be on the Opening Day roster.The most notable was left-hander Rick Krivda, who won an important game last September in Boston and was a candidate to be the fifth starter.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The Orioles took a step toward shoring up their inexperienced bullpen yesterday, but enough uncertainty remains that they continue to check the waiver wire and discuss trade options for another reliever. Before their final home game of the spring at Fort Lauderdale Stadium, the Orioles announced they had added right-hander Jim Brower to their 40-man roster, basically securing an Opening Day spot for the 33-year-old veteran who had been a nonroster invitee. "I think that we need some experience out in the bullpen and he has done it before in the big leagues," Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo said of Brower.

WASHINGTON -- Struggling to boost its ranks in wartime, the Army has sharply increased the number of recruits who would normally be barred because of criminal misconduct or alcohol and illegal drug problems, once again raising concerns that the Army is lowering its standards to make its recruiting goals. Last year, almost one in six Army recruits had a problem in their background that would have disqualified them from military service. In order to accept them, the Army granted special exceptions, known as recruiting waivers.