Commentary: Angels lose 5 to waivers: Team saves chump change, likely regrets trading prospects
The problem with the Angels returning items purchased a month ago is not so much that they only got back 50 cents on the dollar. It’s that they didn’t get back the players they forked over in trades.
So while they saved $2.427 million when the Cleveland Guardians claimed starter Lucas Giolito and reliever Reynaldo López off waivers Thursday, the two highly regarded minor league prospects they sent to the Chicago White Sox at the trade deadline for them will remain on the South Side.
Five Angels players placed on waivers were claimed. The Guardians also grabbed reliever Matt Moore, saving the Angels $1.3 million, the Cincinnati Reds claimed outfielder Hunter Renfroe, saving the Angels $2.1 million, and the Seattle Mariners took reliever Dominic Leone, saving about $100,000.
In addition to saving the $5.93 million the four players are paid in September salary, the Angels also saved $1.186 million in what they’d have paid in luxury tax of 20%. It’s unclear whether the money saved brings the Angels payroll under the luxury tax threshold of $233 million, although they are close enough that the tax wouldn’t be burdensome.
Of greater importance is that if the Angels are below the threshold, they would receive a second-round pick if Shohei Ohtani leaves in free agency. If they are above the threshold, they would receive only a fourth-round pick.
A sixth player placed on waivers by the Angels, outfielder Randal Grichuk, reportedly was not claimed, meaning the team must pay the remaining $1.6 million of his salary.
For most of their history, the Angels have been beset by mediocrity and misfortune. The latest development with their two superstars only adds to the narrative.
What is clear is that the Angels saved chump change for the players claimed while the cost in prospects to acquire them might be immeasurable. And that’s not even considering the prospects they could have obtained had they traded Shohei Ohtani at the deadline.
The trade for Renfroe also triggers seller’s remorse. Reliever Elvis Peguero, one of three pitchers the Angels shipped last November to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for the slugger, has emerged as a bullpen stalwart after refining his sinker to get more vertical movement.
Considered expendable after struggling to a 6.75 ERA in 17 appearances last year for the Angels, Peguero, 26, has posted a 3.42 ERA in 53 appearances in Milwaukee. He won’t be arbitration eligible until 2026, making him a tremendous bargain.
Conclusion? The Angels gave up too much for Renfroe’s 19 home runs and a .242 batting average, even if the other pitchers in the trade — Janson Junk and Adam Seminaris — never pan out.
And depending on how well catcher Edgar Quero and left-handed pitcher Ky Bush develop in Chicago, Angels general manager Perry Minasian could rue his trading deadline spree for years.
The Angels reportedly placed starting pitcher Lucas Giolito, relievers Reynaldo López, Dominic Leone and Matt Moore and outfielders Hunter Renfroe and Randal Grichuk on waivers.
Quero, 20, vaulted to the top of Angels prospects lists after batting .312 with 17 home runs and 75 RBIs at class-A Inland Empire last year even though he was more than two years younger than the average California League player.
The Cuban import hasn’t hit as well at double-A this season but continues to exhibit exceptional bat-to-ball skills, having struck out only 70 times while drawing 67 walks in 415 plate appearances. Most impressively, the average double-A player is 3.6 years older than Quero, who is ranked as the No. 3 prospect in the White Sox farm system by MLB.com.
The Angels drafted Bush, 23, in the second round of the 2021 draft out of St. Mary’s College. Bush, 6 feet 6 and 240 pounds, was 7-4 with a 3.67 ERA last season in 21 double-A starts and pitched in the Futures Game, climbing to No. 2 behind Quero in the Angels’ prospect rankings.
An oblique injury set Bush back early this season and he’s exhibited command issues in 11 starts since his return, but MLB.com still has him ranked as the White Sox’s No. 9 prospect.
Conclusion? The Angels overpaid for Giolito, the Harvard-Westlake High product who was a disappointing 1-5 with a 6.89 ERA in six starts, and López, who notched two saves in 13 appearances since the trade.
Angels GM Perry Minasian says Shohei Ohtani turned down a chance to undergo imaging on his cramped finger earlier this month.
Leone, a 10-year veteran, was nearly useless to the Angels, posting a 5.54 ERA in 13 innings. Yet the price for him was steep. The Angels sent to the Mets versatile double-A infielder Jeremiah Jackson, a second-round pick in 2018 who turned down a scholarship to Mississippi State to sign for $1.95 million.
The Guardians and Reds — who also claimed New York Yankees outfielder Harrison Bader — were able to snag multiple players because waiver priority is determined by reverse order of winning percentage.
Teams with zero chance of making the playoffs had no incentive to claim a player who would be with the team for only another month. Teams on the fringe, believing they can earn a wild-card berth — or in Cleveland’s case a division title — despite steep odds, had first dibs of players on the waiver wire. The Guardians were the first of those teams, and the Reds were third, following the Miami Marlins.
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