Angels place Lucas Giolito, Hunter Renfroe and three others on waivers in stunning move

The Los Angeles Angels have pulled a post-trade deadline shocker: Lucas Giolito, Hunter Renfroe, Randal Grichuk, Reynaldo Lopez and Matt Moore — four of whom the team just acquired a few weeks ago for an ostensible playoff push — are all hitting waivers, per Jeff Passan.

For as bad as the team’s second half has been, it’s tough to figure why Los Angeles is doing this other than to dump salary — any team that claims any of the above players is on the hook for their salary for the remainder of the season.

Waivers will next be processed on Thursday. The inverse of the best records in the league will determine the order. The team with the worst record will have the first chance to claim a player. Waivers are processed individually by player. This means that the worst team in the league will have the first dibs on all five of these players. If they want them all, they will receive all of them. Whoever goes unclaimed by the worst team is then offered to the team with the second-worst record and so on down the list. If a player passes through waivers entirely, they become free agents and can sign with whichever team they choose.

There is expected to be a lot of interest in these players, so it is possible all of them are claimed. With playoffs looming, these players represent incredibly cheap options that could add useful depth to a roster.