Welcome back to Top of the Order, where every Tuesday and Friday I’ll be starting your baseball day with some news, notes, and thoughts about the game we love.
Don’t turn those Jeff Passan Twitter notifications off just yet, folks (I would say don’t ever do it, but I’m a known sicko): Transaction season is still here. I’d be shocked if we see anything as significant as when the Angels put about a quarter of their roster on waivers last August, but players changing teams is still possible for the balance of the season. Here’s how.
As a reminder, players must be on their new organization’s 40-man roster by the end of August to be eligible for postseason play. Transactions can still happen in September, but they’re generally moves of lesser impact for that reason.
Designated For Assignment, Claimed On Waivers
This is the most common and straightforward means of acquisition, and the one that of course happens dozens of times throughout the season. Churn on the 40-man roster is most pronounced around the trade deadline as teams add acquisitions to the roster and have to cut other players to make room, and while most will clear waivers, some will end up on worse teams than the ones they left, auditioning for jobs for 2025 down the stretch.
Twenty-eight players are in DFA limbo at the time of this writing, including a former top prospect who’s still in his pre-arbitration years in Cristian Pache, an intriguing lefty relief arm in Jake Diekman, and a perfectly useful swingman in Cole Irvin. I’m selfishly hoping that someone claims Yohan Ramírez so he can join Oliver Drake in being the only players in major league history to play for five teams in a single season.
Irrevocable Waiver Claims
And now for the mechanism by which the Angels got rid of Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo López, et al. last season. For more of the nitty gritty, check out the article I linked to in the introduction above, but in a nutshell: Any player may be placed on waivers and be eligible for the playoffs provided that they’re claimed prior to September 1. The claiming team assumes the entirety of the player’s contract; no other players, players to be named later, or cash may change hands. If the player is unclaimed on waivers, he is not automatically removed from the 26- or 40-man roster; he stays on his team’s active roster while the process plays out, unlike a DFA.
In Wednesday’s column, I highlighted a few players who weren’t traded ahead of the deadline but are on teams that are already out of it; those players may well find themselves on waivers before August concludes. So too might players on teams that bought or stood pat at the deadline but fall out of postseason contention as the month goes on, as well as players who are currently hurt but could come back in time to make an impact (for example, Trevor Williams of the Nationals).
Trades! But Minor Ones!
Players who’ve spent any time on a 40-man roster or the big league 60-day IL this season are now ineligible to be traded, but that doesn’t mean that no trades can take place. Anyone who’s played the entire year on a minors contract can move in trade. In fact, we already saw one such move on Thursday, when the Blue Jays traded minor league righty Troy Watson to the Tigers in exchange for cash considerations. Of course, players who’ve spent the entire season off the 40-man roster generally aren’t playoff-caliber, impact players, but if a team, say, really needed a backup catcher because of a couple injuries, they could go out and trade for Sandy León, who has plenty of major league experience.
Free Agency
The September 1 deadline for playoff eligibility applies no matter how a player is acquired, but that still means Rich Hill has over four weeks to latch on somewhere before throwing the final pitch of the World Series. The never-on-the-40-man caveat that applies to trade eligibility doesn’t apply to free agent acquisitions, so if the aforementioned Diekman clears waivers after his DFA (which feels likely considering he’s owed over $1.3 million for the remainder of 2024, but would only be owed the prorated big league minimum, or under $250,000, if signed) and refuses a minor league assignment, he could sign with anyone and still be eligible to pitch in the playoffs. Hill, Diekman, and any other free agent would remain eligible even if they sign a minor league deal, provided they’re added to the 40-man roster prior to September 1.
So, no, there won’t be a blockbuster like the Justin Verlander trade to the Astros in 2017, and there probably won’t be a flurry of waiver placements akin to the Angels’ fire-not-sale last year. But players can still change teams, so if you don’t want to miss out, keep those notifications on.
