Can the Texas Rangers benefit from the Los Angeles Angels miserable season?

The deadline to add players to the roster and have them be playoff eligible is Thursday night by 11:59pm Eastern Time. I wrote about that earlier this month as far as players Texas should add internally to the 40-man roster to be eligible for the playoffs. Today we are going to look at players the Rangers could add from outside the organization. The Los Angeles Angels made news today when they placed these players on waivers.

The Angels are not the only team placing several players on waivers. Several teams have players on waivers in order to free themselves of those contractual obligations for September. In the past teams would place players on what was revocable waivers. If they were claimed then the teams could work out a trade, the team would be handed the contract, or the team that placed the players on waivers could revoke their waiver and bring the player back.

Texas once traded for Pudge Rodriguez in 2009 through this waivers system. A huge trade in 2012 between the Dodgers and Red Sox was once completed in the old waivers trade days. Same with Justin Verlander being acquired by the Astros in 2017 at the waivers deadline.

In 2019 Major League Baseball decided to do away with the August 31st waivers trade deadline. They decided to just have one trade deadline at the beginning of August. Teams can still place players on waivers as the Angels are doing, but no trades can be worked out.

That takes us back to the Angels and other teams that have placed players on waivers. Texas despite their additions at the trade deadline still have holes on their roster. They could use one or two bullpen pitchers and a more reliable left-field option. Their starting rotation is fine, especially with Nathan Eovaldi expected back soon.

Ken Rosenthal also tweeted out names of players he had heard were also on waivers prior to the deadline.

The problem Texas has is their success this season makes it less likely that they will be able to claim any of these players. The waivers are determined by win-loss record. The worst teams get to pick first and the best teams get to pick last. Right now Texas has the sixth-best record in the league. They would pick 24th out of 30 teams. It would not surprise me to see Texas make multiple claims and yet end up with no players. I do have a wishlist of players of these mentioned above that I think could help Texas.

Next: The players Texas should be looking to place a claim