Angels remain over the luxury-tax threshold after salary dump. Here’s what that means
When the Angels put six players on waivers earlier this week, many around baseball speculated about the benefits of doing so.
Offloading various contracts represented a salary dump for the Angels. But if they could have gone back under the Competitive Balance Tax threshold to avoid paying a luxury tax bill after this season, it could have meant the difference between a compensatory draft pick at the end of the second round next year and a pick at the end of the fourth round if Shohei Ohtani opts to leave the Angels in free agency.
On Thursday, five of the six were claimed. Friday, general manager Perry Minasian confirmed to reporters in Oakland that the team did not get back under the luxury tax, though highlighted a second benefit in discussing reasons for the move.
Patrick Sandoval struggled, giving up five runs on five hits in the Angels’ 9-2 loss to the Oakland Athletics.
“There was a multitude of reasons,” Minasian said. “Financially, obviously. One of the things we talked about: giving some of the younger players opportunities, like [Kyren] Paris, who deserves it. He played really well in Double A. We felt like he deserved the opportunity to come here and play and see what he can do and I think we did this last year with some of our younger players… and we felt like it made an impact on the following year.”
Minasian declined to tell reporters how close the Angels got to getting under the first CBT tier.
The Angels were estimated to be a little over $3 million past the $233 million threshold, according to COTs Baseball Contracts, though COTs did not include the Angels’ recent selection of Paris’ contract prior to Friday’s game.
Fangraphs’ Roster Resource already estimated the Angels as already being under that threshold, though Jon Becker, an MLB roster assistant for Fangraphs, clarified on Twitter that their estimates could be off due to a few players on the injured list.
Along with rosters around MLB expanding to 28 on Friday, having space to call up a player such as Paris could, as Minasian pointed out, be more beneficial in the long term.
The Cleveland Guardians claimed three Angels pitchers, and the Cincinnati Reds took outfielder Hunter Renfroe, leaving the Halos with seller’s remorse.
Rookie catcher Logan O’Hoppe got his first taste of the big leagues at the end of the 2022 season, which gave the Angels a snapshot of potential and major-league readiness. It translated to a hot start in 2023, particularly at the plate, though O’Hoppe missed most of this season, being on the IL recovering from surgery on the labrum he tore in April.
“To get this opportunity, it’s a blessing,” Paris told reporters in the Oakland clubhouse. “I’m excited to go out there and give it all I’ve got.”
Paris batted .255 with an on-base-plus slugging rate of .810, with 14 home runs, 45 RBIs and 44 stolen bases in 113 games at Double A this season. The infielder was ranked the sixth-best prospect in the Angels’ organization. He started at shortstop and batted ninth for the Angels on Friday.
During the Angels’ off day on Thursday, the team said goodbye to veterans, outfielder Hunter Renfroe, starting pitcher Lucas Giolito and relievers Reynaldo López, Matt Moore and Dominic Leone.
Giolito, López and Moore went to the Cleveland Guardians with Renfroe heading to the Cincinnati Reds and Leone heading back to the Seattle Mariners, the club that drafted him in 2012. Randal Grichuk was the only player who was not claimed.
Giolito, López and Leone were three of the five players the Angels traded for in the days and minutes leading up to this year’s Aug. 1 deadline. It was an effort on an all-in push for the playoffs that lasted less than a month before Minasian changed course.
For most of their history, the Angels have been beset by mediocrity and misfortune. The latest development with their two superstars only adds to the narrative.
The team that started a three-game series with the A’s in Oakland on Friday had a different look than the one that left Philadelphia two days prior.
It was a necessary pivot made by the front office in a season that started with so much promise, but all came crashing down by the end of August. The Angels (64-70) entered Friday’s game 11 ½ games behind the Texas Rangers for the final wild-card spot in the American League, with an elimination number of 18.
“We appreciate everything those players did for us,” Minasian said. “All those guys contributed one way or another.
“But this is the way it goes,” he said. “When you’re not playing well and we took a look at where we were at and what was happening and we felt like this was the best way to go and give some other guys some opportunities and that’s the direction we went in.”
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