On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Angels made the unconventional decision to waive six established players, making them available to playoff contenders for the stretch run.
Four of those players, Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, Randal Grichuk and Dominic Leone, were all acquired ahead of the Aug. 1 trade deadline, as the Angels revert course after going all in to make the most of what might be Shohei Ohtani’s final season in Anaheim.
The six players and an additional foursome on waivers will be awarded to teams that place a claim in reverse order of winning percentage as of Thursday. Since players must be a part of an organization by Aug. 31 to maintain playoff eligibility, there is sure to be a number of teams on the brink of a post-season position vying for the services of each player available.
We’ll know if these players have been claimed by Thursday around 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT, per The Athletic, and where they end up. In the meantime, it appears that the Toronto Blue Jays are considering how some of the castoffs would fit on their roster.
Sitting three games back of a wild-card spot with a 73-61 record, as of Wednesday afternoon, every game matters for the Blue Jays, who may not even get a shot at any of the players depending on how the teams below them in the standings act. Here is a look at how the six waived Angels players would fit on Toronto’s roster, ranked from worst fit to best.
RHP Dominic Leone
A case can be made for the Blue Jays to go after pretty much all six players that Los Angeles offered up to the rest of the league. But Leone seems like the least likely of the group to actually make much of a difference for a contending team.
After coming to the Angels from the New York Mets, the reliever has posted a 5.25 ERA over 12 innings while walking nine hitters. At the time of the trade, he had a 4.40 ERA but pitched well over eight innings of work in July, to emerge as a trade candidate.
With an already deep bullpen, it seems unlikely that Toronto would prefer Leone to any of its internal options.
Leone was effective out of Toronto’s bullpen in 2017, going 3-0 with a 2.56 ERA in 65 appearances for the Blue Jays
RHP Lucas Giolito
While Giolito could be a good fit for some contenders in the playoff race, he doesn’t make as much sense in Toronto. The Blue Jays have five capable starting pitchers, and Giolito has struggled since arriving in L.A. from the Chicago White Sox, so he certainly wouldn’t be high on Toronto’s wish list.
The 29-year-old righty owns a 6.89 ERA in an Angels uniform and has given up home runs in all but one of his starts since the trade.
Despite his struggles with Los Angeles, Giolito is sure to be coveted by teams that either missed out on adding to their rotation at the deadline, or feel they could be competitive next season and want to get an early look at the right-hander before free agency.
LHP Matt Moore
While both Moore and Lopez have been extremely effective this season, there just might not be that much room for either of them in Toronto’s bullpen.
The Blue Jays already added Genesis Cabrera as a second left-handed option to go along with Tim Mayza. And even if you’d like to add a third southpaw into the mix, Moore has actually pitched better against righties in 2023.
The 34-year-old has allowed a .256/.313/.590 slash line against lefties, compared to a .190/.248/.266 line in off-handed matchups.
With the back end of the Blue Jays’ bullpen loaded with high-leverage righties, Moore appears to be a lower-priority candidate.
RHP Reynaldo Lopez
Lopez has pitched effectively this season for both the White Sox and Angels, but again, the Blue Jays have a strong bullpen. In theory, the Blue Jays could option a player like Jay Jackson or Bowden Francis to create room on the roster for someone like Lopez.
A 29-year-old righty, Lopez has a 3.93 ERA this season, but has improved his strikeout ability. His strikeout percentage jumped from a 20.4-per-cent mark through his first seven seasons to 30.7 per cent in 2023.
One of the teams the Blue Jays are chasing in the standings, the Texas Rangers, has struggled to find quality relief pitching this season, especially of late. If Toronto wanted to block Texas from acquiring Lopez or Moore, the Blue Jays could put in a waiver claim. Since the Blue Jays have a worse record than the Rangers, they would have higher waiver priority, allowing them to gain a relief advantage over Texas.
Renfroe is a right-handed hitter with an established track record at the major-league level. He’s been especially useful against left-handed pitching in his career, coming into Wednesday with a career OPS of .864 against southpaws.
In theory, Renfroe is exactly what the Blue Jays have been looking for. However, after hitting seven home runs through the first 24 games of the season, he has struggled to generate much power since.
His two-run shot against the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday was just his fifth homer since July 1 and his first off a lefty since his hot April.
Despite his struggles, if Renfroe started to turn things around, he would bring some much-needed pop to Toronto. His 19 home runs and 31 doubles would rank second out of all Blue Jays hitters. His .192 ISO would slot third, and his .434 slugging fourth of any Jays with more than 100 plate appearances.
OF Randal Grichuk
Given the performance of the Blue Jays’ pitching compared to its offence, it would make sense for the club to prioritize Grichuk and Renfroe of all the players available.
At the trade deadline, Toronto had some interest in a reunion with Grichuk but ended up sticking with internal options, creating playing time for the likes of Davis Schneider.
Since then, injuries have left the Blue Jays lineup depleted, so it could be a chance for them to reconsider Grichuk, who homered, doubled twice and drove in three against the Phillies Tuesday night. Notably, the Blue Jays are already paying $4.33 million of Grichuk’s $10.33-million salary, but reacquiring him would mean the team would pick up approximately $1 million in additional salary.
If the Blue Jays were to acquire Grichuk, it would likely mean moving Whit Merrifield to the infield more often, but it could give Toronto additional options against left-handed pitching and off the bench late in games.
Grichuk owns a higher OPS (.970) against southpaws than Renfroe (.722) this season, and while both have been below average defensively in 2023, Grichuk’s -5 defensive runs saved tops Renfroe’s -8 mark.
Renfroe has historically been the better hitter, but when comparing what the two have done in the roles they would likely play with the Blue Jays, reuniting with Grichuk might be a better fit.
