August 31st is the final day for MLB teams to add players from outside of their organization and have them eligible for playoff rosters. It was unsurprisingly so that the non-contending teams like the Angels, White Sox, Yankees and Mets placed players on irrevocable Waivers so they could possibly be claimed. In the case of the Angels, putting up an astounding six players who are impending Free Agents, it was seen throughout the industry as an attempt to off-load contract money so they could sneek their way back under the luxury tax threshold. Most of these players, the teams had or have no plan on giving them a Qualifying Offer in the offseason, unlike, say, Shohei Ohtani for instance. Or, some of them have already been given QO’s, therefore not being eligible for another.
This was a pure salary dump by the LA Angels, which has been frowned upon by many fans and those in the industry. The only players whom they didn’t put on waivers were guys who have Club or Mutual Options like 3B Eduardo Escobar ($9M Club Option for 2024) and RP Aaron Loup ($7.5M Club Option for 2024), or who have been consistent contributors like 3B Mike Moustakas and players with Qualifying Offers available to them like Shohei Ohtani.
The White Sox, Yankees and Mets were doing somewhat of the same thing, just not on such a drastic scale. The Sox ended up placing SP Mike Clevinger on waivers Tuesday, and the Mets placed SP Carlos Carrasco while the Yankees placed OF Harrison Bader on waivers the same day, as well. The Angels opted to place SP Lucas Giolito, RPs Reynaldo Lopez, Matt Moore, Dominic Leone, and OFs Hunter Renfroe and Randal Grichuk on waivers on Tuesday. It was jarring to hear and read the news, then see them wear their team’s jerseys until the bitter end. Hunter Renfroe showed that he could still add to someone’s offense in the form of a 3-4 game against the Phillies on Wednesday which included a Homerun and four RBIs.
A lot of people get confused by waivers, and how they work, so we’re going to go through a quick breakdown (this is by no means meant to be taken as a full explanation of how waivers work).
- A Team chooses to place a player on irrevocable waivers, which last 48 hours.
- The other 29 teams are then notified that a player or players have been placed on waivers, and can choose to place a “claim” on any or none of these players.
- If a claim, or more specifically, multiple claims are placed on a player, the order of which team gets first choice is made by the current win-loss record/win percentage (end of August 30th), and any ties are broken using the previous year’s record.
- Most years, teams who are in the hunt for a playoff spot will make a claim on a player, but not always. The teams towards the middle of the claim order usually end up with the most players, those at the beginning tend to ignore waiver players, and those at the end of the claim order tend to not to get a claim in.
This year’s claim order went as follows:
- Oakland Athletics
- Kansas City Royals
- Colorado Rockies
- Chicago White Sox
- St. Louis Cardinals
- Detroit Tigers
- Pittsburgh Pirates
- New York Mets
- Washington Nationals
- San Diego Padres
- Los Angeles Angels
- Cleveland Guardians
- New York Yankees
- Miami Marlins
- Cincinnati Reds
- Arizona Diamondbacks
- Minnesota Twins
- Boston Red Sox
- San Francisco Giants
- Chicago Cubs
- Toronto Blue Jays
- Milwaukee Brewers
- Philadelphia Phillies
- Texas Rangers
- Houston Astros
- Seattle Mariners
- Tampa Bay Rays
- Baltimore Orioles
- Los Angeles Dodgers
- Atlanta Braves
As we see from who has been claimed so far, none of the bottom eleven teams put in a claim, rather three of those teams (White Sox, Mets, Angels) had players on the “waiver wire” as it’s called. The only team above those three who had a player out on waivers were the Yankees, at number 13 on the claim list, and sitting almost 18 games out of first in their division, they surely weren’t going to claim any impending free agents as it had recently been announced that they were calling up two of their top prospects when the rosters expanded on September 1st. But, sandwiched in between the Angels and the Yankees, we find the Guardians who are only 5 games back of the first place Twins going into September, and they were eager to add to their roster, grabbing three of the six players who the Angels put out in Giolito, Lopez and Moore. Just a couple of spots below them, the Reds who are in third place and 6 games back of the Brewers in their division and only 1 game back of the final Wild Card spot, added Outfielders Harrison Bader and Hunter Renfroe. Surprisingly deep into the claim order, at the 26th spot, the Mariners who are tied for first managed to snap up a player as well in Relief Pitcher Dominic Leone.
All of these claims will save the LA Angels around $5M and change when all is said and done, and OF Randal Grichuk will be returning to Anaheim as none of the other 29 teams chose to claim him. The White Sox and Mets are out of luck as nobody chose to pick up the Pitchers they placed on waivers. It’s also being reported that the Miami Marlins put in claims on Giolito, Moore, and Lopez, as they sit only 2.5 games out of the final NL Wild Card position. However, as the list above shows, the Cleveland Guardians ended up landing those three players because they sit two spots ahead of the Marlins in the claim order.
These moves could drastically change the landscape of the AL Central, AL West and the final NL Wild Card spot. Hunter Renfroe and Harrison Bader bring depth to the Reds in the outfield, while another Starter and two fairly decent Relievers will help the Guardians pitching staff, and Dominic Leone will solidify the middle of the Mariner’s Bullpen.
EXTRA: In other news, the New York Mets plan on calling up top Prospect OF/INF Ronny Mauricio, the Yankees plan on calling up some of their top Prospects in OF Jasson Dominguez and C Austin Wells, perhaps a reason why they waived Harrison Bader to fit in “The Martian” on the roster. The Red Sox have already called up INF Prospect Ceddanne Rafaela earlier in the week. The Angels have decided to call up SS/2B Prospect Kyren Paris for his first taste of the Majors, and most likely to fill in at SS and platoon with Luis Rengifo or Andrew Velazquez as Rengifo can play 3B/SS/2B and the corner Outfield positions, but is best suited for the middle infield; Getting rid of Andrew Velazquez is an option, as he hasn’t performed as well with his glove in 2023 like in past years, and his bat hasn’t improved. The Detroit Tigers are calling up 2019 third round draft pick and 2B Prospect in Andre Lipcius to the Majors. The Kansas City Royals have decided to call up Utility Player and top 5 Prospect in Nick Loftin the Majors. The Chicago Cubs have decided to call up OF Prospect Alexander Canario veteran SP/RP Shane Greene to the Majors. All moves were in response to rosters expanding on September 1st, waiver claims, or injuries.
