Which Other Players Could Land On Waivers This Week?

In recent years, non-contending teams have used the waiver wire to shed some money at the end of August. The Angels opened the floodgates in 2023, dumping a handful of veterans to dip underneath the luxury line and get a slightly better draft pick when they lost Shohei Ohtani in free agency. While no other team has gone quite that far, there have been a few instances of teams dumping a notable salary or two via waivers.

The logic is simple. These players are typically impending free agents on teams with little to no chance of making the playoffs. If the club decides they’re not interested in re-signing the player or issuing a qualifying offer, they’re going to lose them for no compensation regardless. Losing them on waivers in late August sheds their final month’s salary, allows the player to join a contender, and can provide a boost to a claiming team for a playoff run.

[Related: Reds Place Suárez, Friedl On Waivers]

A player needs to be in an organization by the beginning of September to be eligible for a playoff roster. The waiver process is 48 hours, so teams would need to begin that process by Saturday. Teams can still make waiver claims in September, but the primary appeal for a claiming team is that anyone they add by Monday could play in the postseason.

There’s minimal downside for a team placing a player on outright waivers. They can do so without informing the player — though sometimes the move will get out publicly via a leak — and it doesn’t impact their availability to continue playing. If the player is not claimed, the team can keep them and proceed as though nothing happened. They can’t revoke the placement if another club makes a claim, but they’re hoping the player gets claimed to get them off the hook for the money.

It was more difficult than most years to identify candidates for the waiver dump. That’s partially due to the compressed American League standings. The Angels, A’s and Royals are the only AL teams that are completely buried. There’s more separation in the NL, where it looks like there are seven teams in the mix for six spots. It’s not a coincidence that most of the players we’ll highlight are currently on NL clubs.

There also aren’t any teams who can realistically use waivers to change their luxury tax status. As shown on MLBTR’s Payroll Tracker, the nine teams who are on track to pay the CBT are at least $10MM above the $244MM base threshold. There are five teams that are north of the $284MM mark at which their top 2027 draft pick will be dropped 10 slots; all five are at least $30MM above that line. Teams can still save money, but no one is hovering around a clear target line.

All that said, there is at least one big name whose huge performance this month makes him the biggest player to watch this week.

Luis Robert Jr., Mets CF ($20MM salary, $20MM club option/$2MM buyout)

Rarely does a month go by without speculation about Robert moving. The White Sox made the long awaited trade to the Mets last offseason. New York didn’t give up much in young talent but assumed the $22MM in guaranteed money to take a flier on Robert’s ceiling. He got hurt again, missing nearly three months with lumbar spine disc herniation.

By the time Robert returned in the second half, the Mets were buried. The two-week runway before the deadline didn’t generate any trade interest. Robert looked destined to finish the season on a bad team and get bought out at the beginning of the offseason. That might still be the case, but he has played well enough in August that a late waiver claim seems plausible.

Robert has homered three times in his last four games and is hitting .305/.358/.627 in 18 games since the trade deadline. He remains an elite runner with an above-average arm who can play a good center field. The durability concerns aren’t going away, but a claiming team would only be betting on Robert to stay healthy for another six weeks or so.