August 31 at 11:59pm ET.
That’s the last possible minute that teams have to shore up their 40-man roster and accompanying 60-day injured list so that those players can be playoff eligible. There is one little exemption, but that requires petitioning the Commissioner's Office to replace somebody put on the IL after the deadline.
That all sounds legit, right?
But the problem is this: on August 29th, the Los Angeles Angels put 6 members of their team on waivers. Those names were as follows:
Lucas Giolito
Reynaldo Lopez
Dominic Leone
Hunter Renfroe
Randal Grichuk
Matt Moore
What’s even more interesting from that list is that 4 of them were acquired at/around the trade deadline…not even a month prior! The transactions were as follows:
Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez acquired from the White Sox for Edgar Quero and Ky Bush.
Dominic Leone acquired from the Mets for Jeremiah Jackson
Randal Grichuk (and CJ Cron) from the Rockies for Jake Madden and Mason Albright
The Angels had a myriad of injuries/re-injuries and just overall poor performance that took them from mostly out of contention to pretty much completely out of contention in the span of a few weeks.
So, why would the Angels put those players on waivers? To help other teams? Well, no. That would be collusion. The real reason?
Of the 5 players, 6 were claimed (Randal Grichuk was not). By saving ~$5m, it looks like the Angels will end up under the luxury tax cap (a $233m threshold for 2023).
No matter how you shake it, dumping players that you acquired a few weeks before just to avoid the luxury tax is bad for baseball. It’s made worse for baseball because the waiver claims will impact the playoff chase for a number of teams. Since waiver claims are awarded in reverse order of standings, this does mean that the only teams that would legitimately be interested in walk year players aren’t losing teams, but rather teams that are competitive.
Teams out of the playoff hunt wouldn’t claim them. Why up your payroll unnecessarily with a month left? Why impact the evaluation of your younger players on the roster for guys that won’t be there next year?
Teams on the upper echelon of winning percentage (Braves, Dodgers, Orioles, Rays, etc.) never had a shot at being awarded waiver claims, because teams like the Guardians (64-70, only 5 back in the Central), Reds (69-66, 6 back in Central, 1.5 back in WC), and the rest get dibs well before them.
The problem is that waiver claims shouldn’t exist after the trade deadline. The trade deadline was August 1 at 6pm ET. That is supposed to be the demarcation line when teams have determined whether or not they intend to continue to contend. It’s an opportunity to bolster rosters. It’s an opportunity for the non-contending teams to set themselves up for the future.
It’s supposed to be fair for all. Contenders all could shoot their shot for the players that were available via trade.
The same cannot - in any way/shape/form - be said the same for the August 31st deadline. That deadline is bad for baseball. Other teams should not be able to acquire players from outside their organization after the trade deadline. And teams shouldn’t be able to weasel their way out of the luxury tax via salary dumps. Both of those are bad for baseball.
So, what could be done? Pretty simply:
Eliminate waiver claims after the trade deadline.
Only allow teams to option (if options available) players or release them outright while requiring those teams to be on the hook for their salary and not allowing that player to be on a different major league roster until the following season.
It’s really pretty straightforward. But the process today is broken.
Now the Guardians will have Giolito, Lopez, and Moore on their roster. The Guardians will still face the following contenders:
Rays
Twins
Giants
Rangers
Orioles
Reds
That’s bad for baseball. I wonder if we’ll hear some full-throated thoughts from some national baseball writers about the Angels being bad for baseball?
I wonder.