R.I.P. Waiver Deadline trades – Hello Salary Dumps

In 2019, MLB outlawed the “Waiver Trade”, where players could be dealt after the trade deadline, but only if they passed through Waivers. It created a sense of excitement and intrigue going into September, as teams would block other teams from acquiring players by putting in claims on players they had no interest in themselves, and the team that put the player on waivers would often pull them back to avoid losing them for nothing.

But a funny thing happened in 2023, when the Los Angeles Angels realized they could save a little bit of cash by waiving any upcoming free agents – or any players that had contracts they did not want to keep on the books – hoping that a contender would want to take on the remaining salary on the contract. The Angels may have gone a bit overboard, putting 6 players on waivers: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/38285769/lucas-giolito-host-los-angeles-angels-players-placed-waivers

This season, several players were put on revocable waivers – meaning the player is not designated for assignment and remains on the 40-man roster. Unless one of these layers is claimed, it is not reported, so there may be lots more players waived than we know about. They just we not claimed, and will stay on their original team. But only 4 players changed teams this way just before the deadline.

The Cubs have used this system to pick up one veterans who they immediately added to the roster as the two extra players that became available on September 1st: Aaron Civale. He has already contributed, with 3 great innings in their comeback win over the Braves. He already had a fairly big impact on the NL Central race, demanding a trade from the Brewers when he was bumped from the starting rotation, only to be shipped to the White Sox for Andrew Vaughn, who tore up the league in July before cooling off in August.

The other roster move teams have used is to simply release a player who is coming up on the end of his contract. These players may not have been claimed, and teams just decide to eat the rest of the contract to make space on the roster. The Cubs added Carlos Santana after he was released by the Guardians.

September 1 was a key date for acquiring any player, as they must be on a team’s 40-man roster before that date to be eligible for the playoffs. I would not be surprised if MLB does something about this in the future, as it does seem a bit sketchy for contending teams to get stronger, just so teams no longer in the playoff race can save a few bucks. But for now, it is legal, and the Cubs took advantage of the rule.

Here is the full list of players who switched teams before the deadline:

• Aaron Civale: White Sox -> Cubs (Waivers)
• Carlos Santana: Guardians -> Cubs (Free Agent)
• Ha-Seong Kim: Rays -> Braves (Waivers) – this one is interesting, as it happened after the deadline. But the Braves are not going to the postseason, and they want Kim for next year, when he is still under contract.
• Tim Mayza: Pirates -> Phillies (Waivers)
• Isiah Kiner-Falefa: Pirates -> Blue Jays (Waivers)
• Walker Buhler: Red Sox -> Phillies (Free Agent)
• Jose Urena: Twins -> Angers (Free Agent)
• Andrew Heaney: Pirates -> Dodgers (Free Agent)
• Luis Urias: Athletics -> Brewers (Free Agent)
• Nick Anderson: Rockies -> Mariners (Free Agent)
• Matt Bowman: Orioles -> Astros (Free Agent)