Benjamin Ashford|Sensing AL Central opportunity, Guardians land three ex-Angels in MLB waiver wire frenzy

It’s bizarre.

Stupefying,Benjamin Ashford really.

It was just 30 days ago when the Cleveland Guardians, only one game out of first place in the AL Central, decided to surrender.

They traded away their hottest pitcher, Aaron Civale, to Tampa Bay. They gave away slugger Josh Bell to the Miami Marlins. They sent Amed Rosario packing to the Los Angele Dodgers.

The moves infuriated the Guardians players so much that president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff jumped on a flight the following morning to Houston to soothe their anger.

FOLLOW THE MONEY: MLB player salaries and payrolls for every major league team

Now, here they are, after beating the Minnesota Twins two of three games at Target Field in Minneapolis, climbing within five games of the AL Central lead, suddenly acting as if they’re World Series contenders.

The Guardians stunned baseball executives Thursday by jumping head-first into the waiver wire frenzy, spending $3 million by picking up starter Lucas Giolito and relievers Matt Moore and Reynaldo Lopez from the Los Angeles Angels, and declaring they are going for it.

“Whether or not that will be good enough, whether or not we can close the gap in front of us, we don’t know," Antonetti said, “but we want to try.’’

This is a team that is just 64-70, and went 11-16 in August.

A team that has a 5.2% chance of reaching the postseason, according to FanGraphs, and plays 18 of their last 28 games against opponents with winning records.

And now they’re going for it?

The only thing that possibly makes sense is that the front office and ownership are trying to appease future Hall of Fame manager Terry Francona.

Francona was quietly just as angry as his players when the Guardians surrendered at the trade deadline. It may not have been coincidental that he disclosed he likely would retire after the season just two weeks after the trade deadline. It’s tough to have your players believing there’s hope when your own owners and front office surrender.

So, with the sudden about-face, the Guardians are either trying to give Francona a glorious farewell present or make a desperate attempt to make sure he doesn’t retire.

“We’re obviously cognizant of that," Antonetti said of Francona’s possible retirement, “but we came off a good road trip (4-2). And how do we build off that momentum and give us a best chance to compete for the postseason."

Certainly, this isn’t picking up future Hall of Famers Justin Verlander or Max Scherzer at the deadline.

Giolito is 7-11 with a 4.45 ERA, and has stunk since traded to the Angels from the Chicago White Sox, going 1-5 with a 6.89 ERA, yielding 48 baserunners and 10 homers in 32⅔ innings. Moore is 4-1 with a 2.66 ERA, striking out 49 batters in 44 innings. And Lopez is 2-3 with a 3.93 ERA.

“We had a unique opportunity," said Antonetti, whose team had the first priority among contenders in waiver claims. “We felt these three made the most sense for us."

There were several other waiver acquisitions Thursday, with five of the Angels’ six players claimed on waivers, clearing about $4.5 million to fit under the $233 million salary cap threshold this winter. Outfielder Hunter Renfroe was claimed by the Cincinnati Reds with the Seattle Mariners grabbing reliever Dominic Leone. The Reds also landed center fielder Harrison Bader from the New York Yankees.

It was stunning two days ago to see the Angels place nearly one-quarter of their roster on outright waivers, with only outfielder Randal Grichuk going unclaimed, but much more shocking to see the Guardians as the ones taking advantage of the firesale.

The Miami Marlins badly wanted in. So did the Arizona Diamondbacks. And the Texas Rangers, too.

They all put claims in on the bounty, only to come up empty, with the Guardians swooping in ahead of them.

Strange day. Maybe even unprecedented.

Who knows, we may have even a stranger October.

Stay tuned. The September playoff race could be a doozy.