2:22PM: It isn’t but recognized if the Angels have ducked below the tax line, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register notes that placing Stassi on the restricted checklist will save the crew roughly $300K off the tax invoice (because of how the posh tax determine is calculated by common annual worth, not by pure {dollars}). It won’t be revealed till after the season whether or not or not the Angels have gotten below the tax threshold.
1:31PM: The Angels introduced that catcher Max Stassi has been positioned on the crew’s restricted checklist (retroactive to September 2). Stassi hasn’t performed in any respect this season because of each a hip pressure that required a 60-day IL placement, and a private state of affairs involving his household.
That latter motive has led to the restricted checklist placement, since as per the membership’s announcement, Stassi “knowledgeable the Angels that whereas he is able to resume actions to return to MLB, he has voluntarily chosen not to take action for the rest of the 2023 season on account of a critical household medical problem. Out of respect for Max and his household, the Angels won’t have any additional remark. The Angels want Max and his household all the perfect.”
A veteran of 10 Main League seasons with the Astros and Angels, Stassi was dealt to Los Angeles on the 2019 commerce deadline and hit fairly nicely in part-time catching motion for the Angels in 2020-21. That prompted the Halos to signal him to a three-year, $14.5MM contract extension that runs via the 2024 season with a membership possibility (price $7.5MM with a $500K buyout) for 2025. Sadly, Stassi then struggled via the 2022 marketing campaign, and entered this previous Spring Coaching competing for enjoying time with Logan O’Hoppe and Matt Thaiss.
Stassi’s hip damage eliminated him from the catching image, and it seems as if he has been wholesome for a while, however has as a substitute been spending time together with his household. We at MLBTR specific our assist for Stassi and his household throughout this tough interval.
When on a Main League restricted checklist, gamers can’t amass any large league service time or wage. Consequently, the Angels received’t need to pay the $1.16MM nonetheless owed to Stassi over the course of the 2023 marketing campaign, which has some bigger-picture implications for the crew. The Athletic’s Sam Blum (X hyperlink) writes that with Stassi’s remaining wage off the books, the Angels will have the ability to duck below the $233MM luxurious tax threshold.
This want to keep away from a tax fee was a part of the explanation for the Angels’ latest flurry of waiver wire placements, as Lucas Giolito, Hunter Renfroe, Dominic Leone, Matt Moore, and Reynaldo Lopez have been all claimed away from the crew previous to September 1. Nonetheless, as a result of Randal Grichuk wasn’t claimed, the Halos remained barely above the $233MM tax line, however at the moment’s transfer with Stassi has now apparently cleared the final monetary hurdle.
The Angels hadn’t been tax payors since 2004, however have been ready to surpass the brink this season in a push to contend in what may be Shohei Ohtani’s last season in Anaheim. The Halos have been aggressive in including to their roster final winter and through the season, together with a busy commerce deadline push that noticed them land Giolito, Lopez, Leone, Grichuk, C.J. Cron in three separate trades. Nonetheless, Los Angeles’ 8-19 report in August and Ohtani’s UCL damage led the membership to successfully throw within the towel, and put six gamers on the waiver wire within the hopes of recouping some cash to at the very least keep away from any tax penalty.
In staying below the $233MM threshold, the Angels will keep away from the (pretty minimal) tax fee itself, however will achieve greater rewards by way of free agent compensation guidelines. The Halos will have the ability to signal qualifying offer-rejecting free brokers with out having to pay a much bigger penalty by way of draft picks, whereas L.A. will obtain a compensatory choose previous to the third spherical of the draft for any free brokers (i.e Ohtani) who would possibly reject a QO and signal elsewhere. Had the Angels been tax payors, that compensatory choose would’ve fallen past the fourth spherical.
