MLBTR Podcast: Twins And Orioles’ Injuries, The Guardians And Angels’ Quiet Offseasons, And Chris Sale’s Extension
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- Twins right-hander Pablo López requiring Tommy John surgery (3:20)
- The Orioles losing Jordan Westburg due to a partially torn UCL in his elbow (13:15)
- The Guardians signing Rhys Hoskins to a minor league deal but doing little else this winter (23:45)
- Angels owner Arte Moreno making some curious statements (35:50)
- The Braves and Chris Sale signing an extension (47:35)
- Tony Clark resigning as executive director of the MLBPA and being replaced by Bruce Meyer (53:40)
Check out our past episodes!
- The Tigers’ Rotation, A Brewers-Red Sox Trade, And Late Free-Agent Signings – listen here
- Twins Front Office Shake-Up, The Brendan Donovan Trade, Eugenio Suarez, And More! – listen here
- Examining MLB’s Parity Situation – Also, Bellinger, Peralta, Robert, And Gore – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of Jonah Hinebaugh, Imagn Images
Angels Owner Arte Moreno Discusses Payroll, Broadcast Situation
Angels owner Arte Moreno spoke to reporters (including Jeff Fletcher of Orange County Register and MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger) today about various topics related to the team. Fans are encouraged to check out the article for all the details, but Moreno’s comments about the Halos’ payroll and uncertain broadcast situation are particularly noteworthy.
The two issues are naturally connected. Last season, the Angels were on FanDuel Sports Network West, owned by Main Street Sports. The company has been in a rough financial spot for a while and recently missed some payments to teams. In response, the Angels and the eight other teams who were signed with Main Street terminated their deals last month. Six of those clubs will now have their broadcasts handled by Major League Baseball itself, though the Angels are (for now) one of the holdouts.
Moreno promised some clarity “in the next five to seven days,” and said that “I’m not telling you I won’t” eventually sign with MLB. That would seem like the easiest route for the Angels this close to the start of the season, since as Fletcher notes, plenty of “more work and negotiation” would be involved if the Halos pursued an alternative like starting their own TV network.
In signing on with MLB as a broadcast partner, teams can provide their fans with a blackout-free streaming option, but with less revenue going back to the club. Travis Sawchik of MLB.com recently wrote that such clubs get an average of roughly 50% less revenue than in past broadcasting contracts, and naturally it is no small thing having a consistent revenue stream suddenly halved.
With less money coming in, some teams have reacted by curbing or cutting spending on player payroll. The Angels have taken this route, as their 2026 payroll of $180.5MM (as estimated by RosterResource) is well below their $206MM figure from the end of the 2025 season. While Los Angeles has made some notable moves this winter, the club’s most substantial transaction from a payroll perspective might’ve been its agreement to buy out Anthony Rendon‘s final season under contract, deferring his $38MM salary for 2026 and spreading out that money over a five-year period.
Rendon’s bust of a contract is one of many high-profile signings that haven’t panned out for the Angels during Moreno’s ownership, so it makes some sense that Moreno would want to alter his approach. The owner is now prioritizing young talent ahead of bigger-ticket free agents as a way to finally get the Angels back on a winning track.
“The question is do one or two players substantially change (the record)? If you go out and spend $15 or $20 million a year times three or times five, it doesn’t get it done,” Moreno said. This doesn’t mean the Halos will keep going forward with a reduced budget forever, as Moreno said “will [payroll] get back to $200 million? Probably. We’ve got to get our TV thing worked out and we just have to improve our brand.”
Moreno bought the Angels in early 2003, and the first half of his ownership tenure has been far more successful than the second. From 2003-15, Los Angeles enjoyed 10 of 13 winning seasons and won six AL West crowns, twice advancing as far as the ALCS. The last decade, however, has been dismal — the Angels have endured 10 straight losing seasons, and are coming off a 72-90 showing in 2025. Between the many question marks on the L.A. roster and how even other teams within the AL West look much stronger on paper, it is hard to see the Angels getting back over the .500 mark this year.
This sustained lack of success has done untold damage to the Angels’ “brand,” which speaks to the catch-22 that Moreno faces in turning the team around while also spending less. Barring either a full teardown or a much stronger minor league pipeline being developed, it’s hard to see the Angels succeeding with what seems to be a half-measures approach to rebuilding.
The headline quote from Moreno’s interview will be his claim that, according to fan surveys, Angels supporters aren’t overly concerned with a winning team as part of their gameday routine. “The number one thing fans want is affordability,” Moreno said. “They want affordability. They want safety, and they want a good experience when they come to the ballpark. Believe it or not, winning is not in their top five….The moms want to be able to afford to bring the kids. Moms make about 80% of the decisions. They want to be able to bring their kids and be affordable and they want safety and they want to have a good experience, so they get all the entertainment stuff or whatever.”
A winning Angels team above all is prioritized just by “the purists,” as Moreno said, though he says he shares that goal. “For me, I’ve always wanted to win. It’s just what’s the cost of winning right now?”
After 10 losing seasons, it seems like a tone-deaf response for Moreno to downplay his fans’ desire to see a winning team. Every fan would naturally want to take their family to the ballpark without having to break the bank, yet it is fair to say that Angels supporters would be more willing to spend a bit more on tickets if the team was competitive. The fact that fans apparently have winning so low on their list of priorities isn’t a good thing, as it may reflect a lack of faith from fans in their team, or a sign that if affordability is such a concern, fans may decide their entertainment dollars are better spent elsewhere than a team that never wins.
Unsurprisingly, Moreno feels “we can compete” in the coming season, feeling his team’s pitching will be substantially better. Moreno praised the work of GM Perry Minasian, but also hinted that this may be something of a make or break year given how the Angels have yet to get over the .500 mark in Minasian’s five seasons in charge of the front office. The possibility of a GM change may be one reason new manager Kurt Suzuki was only given a one-year contract last fall, as 2026 is also the last guaranteed year of Minasian’s contract.
“I really like Perry. At the end of the day, you have to start adding up wins and losses,” Moreno said.
In terms of his own stewardship of the franchise, Moreno said he has no plans to sell the team. Moreno did explore selling the Angels back in 2022, but pulled the team off the market in 2023, and reiterated today that he continues to love owning the team.
Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images
Will The Angels Make A Late Offseason Splash?
It’s been a relatively quiet offseason for the Angels and they are currently slated to open 2026 with a notably lower payroll than last year. What’s unclear is if they plan to use that difference to make a move before the season starts or if they’re simply cutting costs.
The Halos began the offseason with some initial savings. A number of players hit free agency, taking some money off the books. 2025 was the last year of Tyler Anderson‘s three-year, $39MM deal, which paid him $13MM annually. Kenley Jansen‘s $10MM one-year deal ran its course, among others.
Some of the savings were going to be undercut by an arbitration raise for Taylor Ward. He made $7.825MM in 2025 and was projected to almost double that, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him for a jump to $13.7MM in 2026. The Halos quickly avoided that by flipping Ward to the Orioles in mid-November, just a couple of weeks into the offseason. In return, they received Grayson Rodriguez, a former top pitching prospect who has struggled to stay healthy. Since Rodriguez has not yet reached arbitration, they essentially wiped Ward’s entire projected salary from the 2026 payroll.
Not long after that, in late November, it was reported that the Angels were trying to work out some kind of financial arrangement with Anthony Rendon. The frequently-injured third baseman was set to be paid $38MM in 2026, the final year of his ill-fated seven-year, $245MM deal. It took a few months to get everything worked out but the two sides eventually agreed to pay the money over five years in even instalments. The Halos will pay Rendon $7.6MM this year instead of $38MM. That’ll cost them more in future seasons but free up more than $30MM for the short term.
That led to some optimism that the club was clearing the deck for something bold, but that hasn’t come to fruition. The Angels have given big league deals to six free agents, all one-year pacts, none of them worth more than $5MM. Brent Suter got $1.25MM, Jordan Romano and Alek Manoah $2MM each, Drew Pomeranz and Yoán Moncada $4MM apiece, and Kirby Yates $5MM. Put together, those six deals add up to $18.25MM.
Taking everything into consideration, where does that leave the Angels? RosterResource projects them for a payroll of $181MM, though that includes Rendon’s full $38MM salary. They opened last year at $204MM, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. That means they could have more than $20MM of space relative to last year, before even factoring in the Rendon savings. They probably want to put some of the Rendon money aside for the deferred payouts but theoretically have some extra powder dry in the short term.
Perhaps the plan all along was to wait until late in the winter, as the free agents who linger unsigned the longest usually have to settle for below-market deals. The tide has indeed shifted in that direction recently. Since the start of February, the notable free agent deals have all come in under what MLBTR predicted at the beginning of the offseason.
Eugenio Suárez was projected for $63MM over three years but settled for $15MM on a one-year deal. Framber Valdez was projected for $150MM over three years but got $115MM over three. Zac Gallen was predicted for $80MM over four years but settled for one-year and $22.025MM, with notable deferrals. Chris Bassitt was projected for $38MM over two years but got a one-year deal worth $18.5MM. Nick Martinez was predicted for $25MM over two but got $13MM on a one-year deal with the Rays. Justin Verlander was always expected to get just one year because of his age, but his heavily-deferred $13MM deal with the Tigers was well below his $22MM projection.
There aren’t many free agents left at this stage of the calendar, but one area with a bit of meat left on the bone is starting pitching. Lucas Giolito, Zack Littell, Max Scherzer and others remain unsigned. Giolito was predicted for two years and $32MM at the start of the offseason but won’t get that now. Littell’s projection was a bit lower at $24MM over two years. Like Verlander, Scherzer’s age will cap him at one-year offers. MLBTR projected $15MM in the fall but that doesn’t seem possible now.
The Angels have added Rodriguez and Manoah to the rotation but there’s room for another arm. Yusei Kikuchi projects as the top guy on the chart. José Soriano will be in there. Soriano is coming off a healthy season but has a lengthy injury history. Rodriguez and Manoah have hardly pitched in the past two years. Reid Detmers is going to get a chance to return to the rotation but was pitching in relief in 2025. Everyone in that group apart from Kikuchi can be optioned to the minors.
Perhaps the Angels are looking to strike in that department, but it’s also possible they have simply been trimming payroll for its own sake. The Angels are one of nine teams who terminated deals with Main Street Sports as that company is apparently in poor shape financially. Early this month, six of those nine pivoted to having MLB handle their broadcasts in 2026. The Angels followed suit a week later.
As recently as 2023, the Angels were getting expected annual revenues of about $125MM from their regional sports network (RSN) deal. Main Street, previously known as Diamond Sports Group, was in bankruptcy proceedings and dropped the Angels going into 2025. The two sides worked out a new deal for last season but presumably with a lower fee payment. That was supposed to be a three-year deal but, as mentioned, the Angels and several other clubs cut ties with the company not too long ago.
Now that the Angels seem to be going the MLB route, that should be another hit. Travis Sawchik of MLB.com reported in January that teams who have lost their RSN deals are now getting about 50% of the revenues they used to receive on those pacts.
Perhaps owner Arte Moreno’s response to that declining revenue is a payroll decrease. That would be a frustrating situation for the club and its fans. The Angels are the club with the longest active playoff drought, with their last appearance coming back in 2014. They won 72 games last year, finishing ahead of just the Twins and White sox in the American League standings. They look like one of the weaker clubs going into 2026. FanGraphs’ Projected Standings have them second from the bottom in the A.L., ahead of just the Sox. The PECOTA Standings at Baseball Prospectus are even more pessimistic, putting the Halos behind Chicago.
Long-term help may not be on the way either. The club has a tendency to use top draft picks on college players and then rush them to the majors, which has contributed to a farm system that isn’t well regarded. Baseball America ranks their system 28th out of the 30 clubs in the majors. ESPN puts them 27th and The Athletic 29th.
Signing someone like Giolito or Littell wouldn’t solve everything that’s currently ailing the franchise, but it would raise the floor on a team that’s currently below sea level. At this part of the calendar, it’s that or nothing. Based on the way the offseason has gone, the smart money might be on nothing.
Photo courtesy of William Liang, Imagn Images
Mike Trout Prefers To Return To Center Field
It appears Mike Trout is set to return to his old position. The future Hall of Famer told reporters this morning that he hopes to be primarily a center fielder this season (links via Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com and Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register). General manager Perry Minasian and skipper Kurt Suzuki are evidently aligned with that plan.
“I talked to (Suzuki). I definitely want to play center,” the three-time MVP said. “I told him I’ll play anywhere but obviously prefer center. It was good communication with him and Perry and they’re on board with it.” Suzuki said that Trout will also continue to see work in the corners during Spring Training but sounded broadly open to giving him significant playing time up the middle. “We’ll keep our options open, but he does prefer center, so we’ll take a look,” the manager told reporters.
It’s not completely out of nowhere, as Minasian said as far back as December that the team wasn’t closing the door on Trout getting some center field action. It seems that’ll be more than just part-time work, though it’s not clear how much of a defensive workload he’ll be able to log in his age-34 season.
That was the impetus for moving Trout off center field a year ago. The Angels felt the position was putting too much physical stress and contributing to his unfortunate series of injuries. Trout didn’t play a single inning up the middle last season. He moved to right field and started 22 games before sustaining a bone bruise in his left knee. He missed most of May and was a full-time designated hitter for the remainder of the season.
Trout disagreed with the premise that right field was any less of a physical burden. “Honestly, I felt like when I was in center, it was less on my body,” he said today. “Right field felt like I was running a lot. It’s just a preference thing. Talking to some other outfielders, they feel the same way sometimes, that center is less on your legs. I just feel more confident in center.” Although Trout didn’t have a huge sample of right field work off which to base that assessment, it’s hardly surprising he feels more comfortable with his reads at a position where he has more than 11,000 innings of experience.
At his age and with a history of lower body injuries, Trout is unlikely to be a plus defensive center fielder. He remains a slightly above-average runner at full speed, so he could probably play close to average defense. That’d be a marked improvement over Jo Adell, who was one of the worst defensive center fielders in MLB and should be a right fielder. Whether Trout can stay healthy is the much bigger question, though it’s perhaps notable that many of his recent injuries have come either as a hitter or while running the bases.
Playing Trout in center would allow the Halos to use Adell and Josh Lowe primarily in the corners. They’d have Jorge Soler mostly in the DH role. Trout will surely still see a fair bit of DH action as semi-rest days. Soler would draw into a corner on those occasions with either Adell or Lowe moving to center in what would be a lackluster defensive group. Bryce Teodosio is the best defensive outfielder on the roster but has hit like a fifth outfielder. Jose Siri is in camp on a minor league deal as an alternative to Teodosio for an all-glove depth role. Prospect Nelson Rada is likely ticketed for Triple-A to begin the season but might be the team’s best all-around center field option by midseason.
Trout has five seasons remaining on his $360MM extension. He’ll make $35.45MM per season between 2026-30.
Angels To Sign Adam Frazier To Minor League Deal
Veteran infielder Adam Frazier is heading to the Angels, reports Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. It’s a minor league agreement with an invitation to MLB Spring Training. Frazier is represented by McKinnis Sports.
Frazier has been with five teams in his 10-year MLB career. He split last season between the Pirates and the Royals. After struggling with Pittsburgh, Frazier delivered near league-average offensive production while chipping in at four different spots in the field with Kansas City.
It’s been half a decade since Frazier pushed his wRC+ above 100, but he was once a reliable bat with positional versatility. He was drafted by Pittsburgh in 2013 and made it to the big leagues three years later. Frazier emerged as a regular in 2017, splitting time between second base and the outfield. He remained a fixture in the lineup for the next four seasons.
A career year in 2021 led to Frazier’s lone All-Star selection. It also led to his departure from Pittsburgh. The infielder hit .324 in the first half as the table setter for the Pirates. Frazier was then dealt to San Diego ahead of the trade deadline for Tucupita Marcano, Michell Miliano, and Jack Suwinski.
Frazier has bounced around since leaving Pittsburgh, including a repeat stint with the club. He was traded to Seattle following his half-season in San Diego. He signed with the Orioles after a year with the Mariners, and then inked a deal with the Royals after his time in Baltimore. Frazier found his way back to the Pirates this past offseason. Pittsburgh swapped him for Cam Devanney in a midseason deal with Kansas City.
The Angels have an uncertain situation at second base. Their approach this offseason has been to gather a large quantity of veterans. Frazier joins Chris Taylor, Nick Madrigal, Yolmer Sanchez, and Donovan Walton as non-roster invitees with big-league experience at the keystone. The current outlook at the position includes some combination of Christian Moore, Vaughn Grissom, and Oswald Peraza. As a left-handed bat, Frazier might have the inside track to a roster spot. Moore and Peraza are both right-handed.
Photo courtesy of Jay Biggerstaff, Imagn Images
Angels Re-Sign Chris Taylor To Minor League Deal
Feb. 13: Taylor signed a minor league deal with a spring training invite, per Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. He reported to camp this morning.
Feb. 12: The Angels are in agreement to bring back veteran utility player Chris Taylor, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. It’s not clear whether it’s an MLB deal or a minor league contract with a Spring Training invite, though the latter seems more likely. Taylor is represented by Meister Sports Management.
Taylor finished the 2025 season in Orange County. He signed a big league deal after being released by the Dodgers in May. Taylor made 30 appearances for the Halos. He started games at all three outfield positions and at second and third base. He didn’t make a huge impact beyond that defensive flexibility, as he struck out 29 times and hit .179 across 90 plate appearances. Taylor almost immediately went on the injured list with a broken left hand. A brief return in July proved unsuccessful and he was essentially shelved until September.
The former All-Star combined for a .186/.256/.301 batting line over 125 plate appearances between the two Los Angeles teams. Taylor’s offense has cratered over the past two seasons. His bat speed and power production have dropped, putting more of a focus on his already high strikeout tallies. He has fanned at a 32% clip while hitting .196/.284/.301 with six home runs over 371 plate appearances in the last two seasons.
Taylor will compete for a bench role. He’s still an above-average runner who can fill in anywhere other than catcher and shortstop. The Angels have a wide open second base competition between Christian Moore, Vaughn Grissom, Oswald Peraza and non-roster invitee Nick Madrigal. Third base belongs to Yoán Moncada for now, but he’s hardly a picture of durability. They’re patching together an outfield that’ll include Jo Adell, Josh Lowe and at least one of Mike Trout and Jorge Soler with the other working as a designated hitter.
As a player with six years of service time who finished last season on the major league roster, Taylor hit the market as an Article XX(b) free agent. If he’s signing a minor league contract, it would come with a trio of automatic opt-out dates under the collective bargaining agreement: five days before Opening Day, May 1, and June 1.
Angels Bullpen Notes: Joyce, Stephenson, Sandlin
The Angels are counting on a number of pitchers to bounce back from injuries, as they seemingly didn’t have interest in making any notable moves on the free agent front. Their bullpen consists of almost all reclamation types after the departure of Kenley Jansen and with Reid Detmers moving back to the rotation. They signed Kirby Yates, Drew Pomeranz, Jordan Romano and Brent Suter to one-year deals at $5MM or less.
Their highest-ceiling relievers are those coming back from injury. Ben Joyce throws as hard as any pitcher in MLB. It’s easy to envision him as a potential closer when he can run his fastball to a staggering 104 mph. Joyce was capped at five appearances last year before suffering a shoulder injury. He underwent season-ending surgery in May.
The flamethrowing righty threw a bullpen session on the team’s first day of camp workouts (link via Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register). It was his first work off a mound since the operation. Joyce and general manager Perry Minasian each said they’re uncertain whether he’ll be ready by Opening Day. It nevertheless seems he’s making good enough progress that if there is a season-opening injured list stint, it’s not an extended one. “I’d rather him miss two weeks than six months. We’re going to take our time with guys that need it and kind of see where it goes,” Minasian said.
If Joyce isn’t available, Robert Stephenson would be the presumptive favorite to close. Of course, that’s conditional on him being healthy — no small caveat given how much time he has missed over the past two seasons. Stephenson missed all of 2024 after undergoing Tommy John surgery out of Spring Training. He was out of action until last May. The veteran righty made one appearance but went back down with a nerve issue in his biceps. He missed another three months, was active for about a month, then was shut back down for the season’s final week by elbow inflammation.
Stephenson told Fletcher and other reporters on Wednesday that he learned over the offseason that he had experienced symptoms of thoracic outlet syndrome. It doesn’t appear he received a full-fledged TOS diagnosis, as he treated the issue with an injection plan but no surgery. Stephenson conceded he’s “a little bit behind everybody” coming into camp but expressed confidence he’ll be available for Opening Day.
Considering Joyce and Stephenson each have health questions, it comes as no surprise that first-year skipper Kurt Suzuki isn’t eager to name his closer. “I think the benefit for us is we have options and we can be flexible. But in that ninth inning, I wouldn’t put a name out there to be our closer right now,” Suzuki said this week (link via Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com). Romano and Yates each have multiple 30-save seasons on their résumés. While the Angels aren’t lacking for ninth-inning experience, both pitchers were working with diminished stuff and had rough numbers in 2025.
In one other bullpen health update, Fletcher reports that non-roster invitee Nick Sandlin underwent arthroscopic elbow surgery last October. The righty had finished the season on the injured list with the Blue Jays but the surgery had not previously been reported. Toronto moved on from Sandlin after injuries limited him to 19 appearances. He has a 3.19 ERA in 211 2/3 career innings and has a decent chance to pitch his way onto the MLB roster with a good spring. Sandlin tells Fletcher that he’s scheduled to throw his first bullpen session this weekend, which presumably sets him up to get into Cactus League games if all goes smoothly.
Reid Detmers Loses Arbitration Hearing To Angels
The Angels have defeated left-hander Reid Detmers in arbitration, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. He’ll be paid at the team’s desired $2.625MM rate rather than his camp’s $2.925MM filing figure.
Detmers is coming off a strong season in which he worked as a full-time reliever. The former 10th overall pick tossed 63 2/3 innings of 3.96 ERA ball while striking out more than 30% of batters faced. He picked up his first three career saves but worked mostly in a leverage role in front of Kenley Jansen, collecting 13 holds in the process.
The season ended on a bit of a sour note, as Detmers was placed on the injured list in the middle of September with elbow inflammation. It’s not expected to impact him going into camp. He’ll build back up as a starter, the role he held for the first four seasons of his MLB career. Detmers has shown flashes out of the rotation but has been up and down, ultimately tallying a near-5.00 ERA over 75 career starts. He projects as the #3 arm in Kurt Suzuki’s rotation behind Yusei Kikuchi and José Soriano. The Angels are counting on a handful of reclamation types — arguably including Detmers considering he posted a 6.70 ERA in his most recent rotation work — to fill out the back of the staff. Grayson Rodriguez and Alek Manoah are the favorites for the final two spots.
Detmers was the only Angel player to go to a hearing this year. His loss is just the second for the players out of nine cases that have been announced so far.
Angels To Sign Hunter Strickland To Minor League Deal
The Angels have signed reliever Hunter Strickland to a minor league deal, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Strickland has spent parts of the past two seasons with the club. The right-hander is a client of All Bases Covered Sports Management.
The 37-year-old Strickland has pitched for seven different MLB squads since 2019, but the Angels have been his most consistent home. He first came to the organization in a 2021 trade from the Rays. That stint only lasted a few weeks, but Strickland returned to the club on a more permanent basis in 2024. He logged a career-high 73 1/3 innings with the Angels that season.
The veteran righty opened the 2025 campaign in the Rangers organization, but ultimately found his way back to the Angels on a minor league deal. Strickland was promoted in May and appeared in 19 games at the big-league level. He posted a 3.27 ERA over 22 innings, but went down with a shoulder injury in July and missed the rest of the year.
Strickland debuted with the Giants in 2014. He became a fixture in the San Francisco bullpen the following season. Strickland notched a sub-3.00 across 226 innings in his five years in the organization. He capped off his time in San Francisco with a career-best 14 saves in 2018, though that season included a lengthy IL stint due to a broken hand. Strickland suffered the injury after punching a door following a blown save.
The Angels have stacked older relievers with closing experience this offseason. The club has added Kirby Yates, Jordan Romano, and Drew Pomeranz over the winter. Brent Suter was also recently brought in to add a left-handed look in middle relief. Strickland doesn’t have a clear path to the big-league roster, but he’s had a knack for finding his way into an Angels uniform.
Photo courtesy of Gary A. Vasquez, Imagn Images
Angels Outright Kaleb Ort
The Angels announced Monday that right-handed reliever Kaleb Ort passed through waivers unclaimed following his recent DFA. He’s been assigned outright to Triple-A Salt Lake. He’s never been outrighted before and has fewer than three years of major league service time (2.108), so he’ll remain with the Angels as a depth option in Salt Lake.
The 34-year-old Ort made his big league debut with the Red Sox back in 2021 and has logged time in each of the five seasons since. He’s spent the past two as a member of the division-rival Astros. Ort pitched well for the ‘Stros in 2024 and was shakier in 2025, but his overall numbers with Houston are respectable: combined 4.08 ERA, 26.1% strikeout rate, 10.8% walk rate and 38.2% ground-ball rate in 70 2/3 frames.
The hard-throwing Ort has averaged 96.8 mph on his four-seamer in that time and notched a strong 12.6% swinging-strike rate, generating plenty of whiffs with his slider, in particular. In addition to a walk rate that’s a bit heavy, Ort has been far too homer-prone. Opponents have tagged him for 25 homers in just 122 1/3 career innings in the majors (1.84 HR.9), including 15 dingers across the past two seasons in Houston (1.91 HR/9).
Ort is out of minor league options, which likely contributed to him going unclaimed on waivers. If the Angels select him back to the 40-man roster at any point, he’ll need to stay in the majors or else be designated for assignment and placed on waivers once again. At that point, even if Ort were to clear, he’d have the right to reject an outright assignment to a minor league affiliate in favor of free agency, thanks to being outrighted this morning.