All players may be placed on waivers at any given time. The penalty or "cap hit" depends on the amount of salary for the player dropped.

If a players salary is:
$300k to $750k, that player may be dropped without penalty.

If the players salary is:
$751k to 1.5m then the cap hit is 50% of salary.

If players salary is:
1.51m to 3.5m the cap hit is 40%

If the players salary is:
3.6m to 7m the cap hit is 30%

If the players salary is 7.1m to 15m the cap hit is 20%

If the players salary is 15.1m and above the cap hit it 10%

An owner is responsible to pay the cap hit for the remainder of the year regardless if the player is claimed.

The waiver order to claim a player that has been dropped is the opposite of the MiLB draft order. Once a team has made a successful claim they will move to last and all other teams will move up.