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The baseball world appeared shocked to learn that the LA Angels placed several of their veteran players - several acquired at the trade deadline - on waivers. A quick look at a few readily available bits of information show why it makes sense for them to do it. In addition, many other non-contenders have placed veterans on waivers too.
Of course, this is a Minnesota Twins-related site, so the question has to be "Should the Twins place a claim on any of these players?"
The trade deadline this year was on August 1st. The Angels had a decision to make. Make a push in Shohei Ohtani's final season under contract, or trade him. They, almost inexplicably decided to not only not trade Ohtani, but they became buyers.
August is now coming to an end. The Angels are now 63-70, 12 games behind the Mariners, Rangers and Astros in the AL West and nearly the same out of a Wild Card spot. Mike Trout was hurt again and place on the IL... again. And worse, Ohtani now has a torn UCL which will likely require him to have a second Tommy John surgery.
So, according to Jeff Passan, the Angels placed veteran starter Lucas Giolito, relievers Reynaldo Rodriguez and Matt Moore, and outfielders Hunter Renfroe and Randall Grichuk on waivers. At about the same time, the Yankees placed center fielder Harrison Bader on waivers. It is likely that many players whose availability hasn't been leaked publicly are also on the waiver wire.
Those teams are completely out of contention. While many want to spin it as salary relief, and it most certainly is, I consider it a pretty classy move by those teams. While players can no longer be traded after the one trade deadline, players can be claimed. And, if a player is on an organization's roster before September 1st, that player is eligible to be on their new team's playoff roster.
By placing players on the roster on Tuesday, the waiver timetable means that they will be rewarded to their team winning the claim before the September 1st deadline. So, the Angels can save $1.7 million if someone claims Lucas Giolito. But Giolito can suddenly find himself back in a pennant race. The team that wins the claim gets to add Giolito to their roster. It's kind of a win-win-win for everyone.
The waiver order starts with the worse overall team in baseball. If they don't claim him, the team with the second-worst record can win the claim, and so on. Of course, these claims are done blindly, not knowing which other organizations have claimed players. MLB will let the teams know who 'wins' the claims.
The Question
So, that brings us back to the question from earlier. Should the Twins be active participants in claiming the players now available?
The Answer
The short answer is, of course, yes. The slightly longer answer is Absolutely Yes.
But it isn't that easy. The team shouldn't just claim everyone. If they win the claim, that player jumps onto the team's 40-man roster which necessitates other moves. The Twins still have guys that could go on the 60-Day Injured List. And yes, there are some players that could be DFAd.
What are the Twins needs?
This really hasn't changed since the trade deadline four weeks ago. At that time, the Twins needed a right-handed hitting outfield bat, and bullpen help.
They did claim Jordan Luplow on waivers a couple of weeks ago, and he has done a solid job for the Twins in his platoon role. But would Hunter Renfroe or Randall Grichuk be an improvement over Luplow? Certainly. Renfroe would cost around $2.0 million the rest of the season, and Grichuk would be closer to $1.7 million. Add Harrison Bader to that conversation as he is able to play center field well which may matter, depending on how Buxton responds to playing out there in his rehab starting tonight.
And, the bullpen... it was a need a month ago, and it's an even bigger need now. While Emilio Pagan and Caleb Thielbar have been good, and Jhoan Duran remains strong, Griffin Jax has struggled in August. The young guys filling three or more spots at the back of the bullpen have had ups and downs. Jordan Balazovic looked good for awhile, but he really struggled and was eventually sent down. Josh Winder has had a tough year, but his two most recent outings have been three scoreless innings each. Cole Sands has been fine, but they haven't found a lot of situations for him. Jovani Moran walked his way over to St. Paul, and Kody Funderburk did a very nice job in his major-league debut this week.
But there is no question that adding Reynaldo Lopez (about $600,000 remaining) or Matt Moore (around $1,200,000 remaining), or even Jose Cisnero (around $400,000 remaining), should improve that bullpen depth. I mean, if they wanted, they could claim Lucas Giolito (around $1.7 million remaining) and either have him start or see what he is capable of working one or two innings a couple of times a week. That's the role we have been envisioning for Louie Varland, right?
Summary
At least, in theory, the Twins roster will soon add Willi Castro, Alex Kirilloff and Byron Buxton. Bailey Ober will certainly come back up. Players like Trevor Larnach and Austin Martin are in St. Paul. The roster will be strengthened, but the Twins also have a unique opportunity to add contributors to their roster at this time, players who could fill roles that, even with the returning players, would fit the team's needs.
In addition, the Twins have one of the lowest winning percentages among playoff teams and teams competing for wild card spots. They would presumably have their pick of players.
This is a legitimate opportunity to make a couple of significant improvements to the roster at a time when other contenders can't counter with a trade.
Matt Trueblood has a couple of articles worth reading on the Angels situation:
1.) He ranks the Angels pitching options according to how much they make sense for the Brewers, but some of the same logic could be used for the Twins too.
2.) He thinks that the Cubs should just claim all of the waived Angels, but that there is one that stands out as a prize for them. Would the same pitcher rank atop the Twins wish list?
What would I do?
First, how cool would it be to actually be able to make these decisions... and how much stress would it be to get it right?
However, I think the Twins should claim at least two relievers. Reynaldo Lopez, Jose Cisnero would make the big league bullpen deeper. Matt Moore would give the team a second veteran lefty in the bullpen.
I also think they should decide on one of the three outfielders. Grichuk and Bader can play center field. Bader's got youth on his side among the group. Renfroe certainly fits the Twins mold with huge power and the ability to swing and miss a lot.
I think they should put in claims for all three of those relievers and hope they wind up with two of them, any two. The Twins should place a claim on one of the right-handed hitting outfielders, whoever ranks highest on their list, and hope.
What would you do?
Your turn. How active do you think the Twins should be in placing waiver claims these next days?
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