The Los Angeles Angels are reversing course a month after they bought at the trade deadline.
Starter Lucas Giolito, relievers Matt Moore, Reynaldo López and Dominic Leone and outfielders Hunter Renfroe and Randal Grichuk have all been placed on waivers by the Angels, ESPN reported Tuesday. All six players can be claimed as early as Thursday as the Angels seek to get under the luxury-tax threshold.
[RELATED: Why the Angels put Lucas Giolito, deadline additions on waivers — and what happens next]
Waiver-claim priority is based on reverse winning percentage, so MLB’s worst teams will have the first opportunity to claim these players. It is likeliest they wind up with teams on the periphery of playoff contention, who are higher on the waiver order than the league’s best teams.
Los Angeles acquired Giolito, López and Grichuk ahead of the Aug. 1 trade deadline, sending a pair of their top prospects to the White Sox in order to get Giolito and López. But the Angels crashed after the deadline, losing seven games in a row to go from three games back of a playoff spot to eight games back in the span of a week.
The Angels’ struggles have continued through August. They’ve gone 7-18 in the month, falling to 63-69 as they sit 11.5 games back of a playoff spot entering Tuesday.
Los Angeles also learned earlier in August that Shohei Ohtani suffered a torn UCL in his pitching elbow, ending his season on the mound. He’s continued to hit since then, but it hasn’t been enough as the Angels made those moves in hopes of getting Ohtani to stay once he becomes a free agent this offseason. In addition, Mike Trout was placed on the injured list again after he was reactivated for two games last week.
Shohei Ohtani’s torn UCL, Ohtani’s future, Angels’ oversight & more
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