Philadelphia Phillies Miss Out on Obvious Waiver Claim

If the Philadelphia Phillies were looking for help on the waiver wire on Thursday, they came up empty-handed.

More than 10 players Major League players went through the waiver process on Thursday and many of them were acquired by someone other than Philly. That included a former Phillies starting pitcher.

Most notable for the Phillies was what the Cincinnati Reds did. They picked up two players — New York Yankees outfielder Harrison Bader and Angels outfielder Hunter Renfroe.

That could have an impact on the Phillies, even though the Reds aren’t in their division. Both are in the NL Wild Card chase.

The Phillies are the top Wild Card team, five games ahead of the field in the National League. The Reds are in pursuit of the final berth, one game behind San Francisco.

The likelihood of Cincinnati catching Philadelphia is probably small. Plus, the two teams don’t face each other in the final month of the season. But, if Philadelphia goes cold and Cincinnati gets hot, that race could be worth watching.

Elsewhere, the Cleveland Guardians were the most active, picking up pitchers Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Matt Moore off waivers from the Los Angeles Angels.

Angels reliever Dominic Leone ended up with the Mariners.

That means the Phillies missed out on bullpen help that could have been useful down the stretch, especially Moore, who pitched for the Phillies in 2021 and has become one of the top left-handed relievers in the game the past two seasons.

Because the Guardians (64-70) had a worse record than the Phillies (74-59), Cleveland got the earlier option to acquire what was left on the waiver wire. The Guardians opted to pick up three players, as they are chasing Minnesota in the AL Central and are more than 10 games out of the final Wild Card berth.

There is a chance the Phillies could pursue three players that cleared waivers on Thursday — Angels outfielder Randal Grichuk, Mets pitcher Carlos Carrasco, White Sox pitcher Mike Clevinger.

They now revert back to their teams unless their teams designate them to a minor league affiliate, at which time the player could elect for free agency.

In that case, the Phillies — or any other MLB team — would not have to pick up the remainder of that player’s current contract and can sign them to a new deal. It’s likely that Grichuk, Carrasco and Clevinger cleared waivers because no one was willing to take on the remainder of their salaries.

The Phillies are coming off an August in which they went 17-10 and hit a franchise record 59 home runs in August. It also tied for the third most home runs of any team in any month since 1904.

The Phillies start a three-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday.