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In a swift retooling of the pitching staff, the Guardians have claimed right-handers and and lefty off waivers from the Angels, and of ESPN report. Its a sudden, jarring final push to salvage a postseason appearance by Cleveland one that would have seemed impo sible just 72 hours ago. The Angels decision to place roughly a quarter of their roster on waivers , and all hit waivers on Tuesday as well stunned the industry, though the rationale behind it is at least sound. The Angels aggre sively pushed for a postseason berth at the deadline, acquiring Giolito, Lopez, Grichuk and , but have since lost two-thirds of their games and fallen from postseason contention in a stacked AL West. (Somewhat amusingly, their 64-70 record is the same as the Guardians, though the AL Central is the sports weakest division.) That slate of trades pushed the Halos over the luxury tax threshold, which would reduce their draft compensation in the event that signs elsewhere after rejecting a qualifying offer. Theyd also face steeper penalties in 2024 in the event that they exceeded the tax barrier next year. But, by waiving this slate of players and seeing each of Giolito, Lopez, Moore, Renfroe ( ) and Leone ( ) all come off the books, the Angels will duck back under the tax threshold. Their theoretical comp pick for Ohtanis departure would come prior to the third round of the draft rather than between the fourth and fifth rounds. They also wont face any escalating penalties in the event that they wind up as a luxury tax payor next season. Its a bad look for MLB to see such a brazenly non-competitive move by a team that just four weeks ago energized its fanbase and clubhouse with a bold win-now push. At the same time, the Angels cant really be faulted for the decision at this juncture, given the manner in which things have played out. Theyre merely taking advantage of the rules that have been collectively bargained between the league and the Players A sociation. None of the players they waived wouldve been eligible or considered for a qualifying offer anyhow, so theres quite literally no incentive for the Angels to hold onto them and strong incentive for them to engage in this tactic now that their playoff hopes are all but mathematically dashed. While Major League Baseball perhaps ought to look into ways to prevent ma s roster purges of this nature in future Augusts, theres little to be done about it now and the Guardians stand to benefit. Cleveland has spent the entirety of the year looking up at the Twins in the American League Central standings, and after taking two of three from Minnesota in their just-completed series now Ian Desmond Jersey faces only a five-game deficit. Its worth wondering what mightve happened if the Twins had swept or at least won the series Minnesota was within one strike of winning yesterdays game, but the bullpen couldnt hold the lead though perhaps Cleveland wouldve made the claims even if facing a six- or seven-game deficit. A firm answer to that hypothetical probably cant ever be known, but its a moot point anyhow; the Guardians comeback win yesterday brought them within striking distance of the Twins in the division, and theyll now add three high-caliber arms to their pitching staff. Giolito, of course, is the most notable of the bunch and perhaps the most vital, given the extent of the pitching injuries that have ravaged the Cleveland rotation this year. Each of , and has been out more seven weeks. The Guardians, acknowledging that their playoff hopes had slipped, traded to the Rays prior to the deadline. Giolito joins a rookie-laden rotation, adding a veteran arm to stand alongside the impre sive trio of , and . The expectation is that Quantrill will soon be ready to join that group, and the club has also expre sed optimism that Bieber could return late in the month. While the 2023 season has been Giolitos worst in recent memory, thats largely due to poor results with the team that just waived him. After pitching to a 3.79 ERA with a 25.8% strikeout rate and 8.3% walk rate in 121 innings with the White Sox, Giolito was torched for a 6.89 ERA with worse strikeout (22.8%) and walk (10.3%) rates as a member of the Halos. Most dramatically, an already too-high home run rate of 1.49 per nine innings pitched spiked to 2.76 as an Angel. Looking at Giolitos track record as a whole, however, its easy enough to see why he was claimed by several teams (the others all having lower waiver priority than Cleveland). Dating back to 2019, Giolito sports a 3.99 ERA in 743 innings. His strikeout rate has dipped over the past two seasons, but hes still averaging 93-94 mph on his heater, punching out about a quarter of his opponents, and has generally shown good command throughout his MLB career. The Cy Young-caliber breakout many expected perhaps never came, but Giolito is a durable mid-rotation arm who mi ses bats, limits walks and is a playoff-caliber arm. Meanwhile, an already excellent Cleveland bullpen will now add two formidable arms in Lopez and Moore. Guardians relievers already rank fifth in the Majors with a 3.48 ERA, and the addition of two veterans just in time for rosters to expand will put them in the conversation for best relief corps in baseball. Lopez, 29, is one of MLBs hardest throwers, averaging a blistering 98.4 mph on his heater this year. Hes seen his previously strong command erode in 2023, walking a career-worst 12.6% of his opponents, but hes also fanning a career-best 29.8% of hitters and boasting a career-high 14.1% swinging-strike rate. In 55 innings of relief, the former top prospect has a 3.93 ERA. Lopez is limiting hard contact at the best levels of his career as well and throwing his blazing fastball more often than ever before generally at the expense of his third and fourth pitches (curveball, changeup). Hes primarily been a fastball/slider pitcher this year, and while the results have been a bit mixed, hell add a power arm capable of mi sing bats in droves to Terry Franconas bullpen. Moore, meanwhile, gives Francona a second lefty alongside . The 34-year-old has found new life in his career since moving to a full-time relief role last year. Hes pitched 44 innings for the Angels in 2023, working to a 2.66 ERA with a career-high 28% strikeout rate and a very strong 6.9% walk rate. Once the games consensus top pitching prospect, Moore impre sed early on with the Rays before Tommy John surgery derailed his career. The left-hander never seemed to fully recover. After pitching to a 3.53 ERA from 2011-14, he mi sed most of the 2014-15 seasons recovering from that surgery, and posted a 5.26 ERA over his next 620 2/3 innings post-surgery. Moore had a one-year stop in Japan along the way and pitched fairly well there, but it wasnt until signing a minor league deal with Texas last year that he became a pitcher of note at the big league level again. Moores 1.95 ERA set the stage for a $7.55MM deal with the Angels this year, and hes now logged a combined 2.21 ERA in his careers second act as a late-inning reliever. All in all, its a borderline unheard-of boon to a Major League pitching staff at this stage of a season and all it will cost the Guardians is the collective $3.727MM that remain on the trios 2023 contracts. Each of Giolito, Moore and Lopez will be a free agent after the season, and the Guardians wont receive any compensation if and when they enter free agency. Theyre still a long shot to erase that five-game gap in the standings, particularly with the Twins still having series against the A Brendan Rodgers Jersey |
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发表于 2026-3-24 18:12:44