Angels desperately trying to save on luxury tax bill with another waiver

The Los Angeles Angels looked like a potential playoff team as the MLB trade deadline closed in rapidly. They made additions, hopeful to not only make the postseason, but also to prove to Shohei Ohtani that they could be a winning team, a perhaps futile attempt at convincing him to re-sign with them in free agency this winter.

After the deadline, the Angels failed to keep the momentum going. A playoff spot moved out of reach quicker than expected, meaning the Angels had expended prospects to get players for essentially nothing.

The Angels put players on waivers with the hope that other teams would pick them up, relieving the Angels of their financial obligations. Furthermore, they could save on their luxury tax bill if they got low enough.

Their first round of waived players didn't even get them that far, but they're still trying. Los Angeles has put Randal Grichuk back on waivers after no one picked him up last time.

The Angels acquired Grichuk in a trade. Similarly, Lucas Giolito who made a six-start stop in Anaheim, also was acquired before the trade deadline and now plays for the Guardians after waivers.

The Angels sole goal right now is saving money on their luxury tax bill. It's a sad state of affairs for the Angels with them staring down the barrel of a potential Mike Trout trade request in addition to Ohtani's possible departure.

Seiya Suzuki has made his 2023 arrival for the Cubs just in time

Seiya Suzuki was not having a bad season for the Chicago Cubs, per se, before August and September. But he was not following up his rookie 2022 season with as much growth in the power department as fans were hoping for in his sophomore run.

Suzuki, from opening day to the end of July, was remarkably available for the team, but his slug was .383 after closing out at .433 last year. In those first 88 games, Suzuki hit eight home runs. Since then, in just 28 games, he's hit eight more, with a slug of .718 and an OPS of 1.111.

Suzuki has officially woken up, and just in time for the Cubs stretch run in September as they chase the NL Central win. Suzuki also just wrapped up his fourth-straight multi-hit game on Wednesday afternoon, following up the four hits he put up on Tuesday night.

It's Suzuki's longest streak of multi-hit games in his young MLB career.

Chicago, after a win and Brewers loss, sits 3.5 games back from the Brewers for the NL Central lead. Chicago has a 91.6% chance of making the playoffs and a 32.5% chance of winning the NL Central according to Fangraphs' model.

Of course, the final series of the year is Cubs at Brewers. It could be a wild one. And if Suzuki continues to hit the way he has, the Brewers might be in for a rough ride.

Juan Soto could get an extension from the Padres, which will end trade chatter

One of the most intriguing questions as the offseason draws near for non-playoff teams, like the San Diego Padres (1.2% chance of making the playoffs, per Fangraphs), is which players might be available beyond those expected to hit free agency already.

Questions linger about players like Marcus Stroman, who has a player opt-out, and stars like Juan Soto entering the final years of their current contracts that teams may prefer to trade.

Soto has an arbitration year in 2024 and becomes a free agent in 2025. If the Padres think it's unlikely they'll want him in tow for the next phase of their World Series hunt, or, on the flip side, if there's little interest on Soto's side to return, seeing what he'd return in the trade deadline could be wise.

It sounds like those trade murmurs won't come to bear, though. MLB reporter Hector Gomez recently reported that talks on a Soto extension with the Padres are going, "very well."

With such a lead on things and talks moving in the right direction, it's hard to envision Soto truly becomes available this offseason.

Now, if he has yet to get an extension by the deadline next year and the Padres are losing with the deadline creeping up? That'll be a vastly different story.

For now, signs point toward Soto coming off the trade market.