Cleveland Claims Three Former Angels Off Waivers

Starting pitcher Lucas Giolito and relievers Reynaldo López and Matt Moore are all heading to Cleveland to pitch for the Guardians in September.

There are so many ways a front office can try to improve its team, but Thursday's additions certainly came in a rare way.

The Cleveland Guardians were officially awarded waiver claims on three Los Angeles Angels pitchers, all at the same time. Right-handed starter Lucas Giolito, right-handed reliever Reynaldo Lopez and left-handed reliever Matt Moore are all Cleveland-bound.

All three players were put on non-revocable waivers, and the order of the claim process is sorted by record, where the team with the worst record has the first chance to add the players. Among the teams that put in claims on each of these players, Cleveland had the worst record.

Giolito, 29, is a former first round pick of the Washington Nationals. He's spent the majority of his career in Chicago pitching for the White Sox. He has a 7-11 record this year with a 4.45 ERA, but he was previously an AL All-star back in 2019.

Lucas Giolito

Lopez, 29, is a native of the Dominican Republic and has pitched in 229 Major League games. He's had a solid season, and was traded with Giolito from Chicago to Los Angeles in a deal that cost the Angels two of their top prospects at the trade deadline.

Reynaldo Lopez

Moore is a 34-year old lefty that has pitched all over the league. Opponents are hitting just .208 against him this season. This is his fifth different team in five years, but the last two seasons have been quite productive for him.

Matt Moore

Cleveland Guardians team president Chris Antonetti just wrapped up with the media and said the decision to add all three players is certainly unique in that it doesn't happen often that a team doesn't have to lose players in order to add three Major League caliber guys. It's even more rare for this kind of opportunity to present itself this late in the season.

You can watch Antonetti's brief press conference in the video above.

He also said the team was not any more-or-less motivated to make these moves just because it's looking more likely that Terry Francona wouldn't return to manage the team next year. Francona hasn't announced his retirement, but the winningest manager in club history insinuated recently it was getting more difficult for him to do the job the way he wants to do it.

The Guardians are idle on Thursday before opening a homestand Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays. They trail the AL Central-leading Twins by five games as September baseball commences.