Angels first baseman C.J. Cron has come up as a possible trade candidate in the wake of the team’s agreement with free agent Luis Valbuena on Thursday, but the Halos’ decision to add another corner infielder has more to do with Albert Pujols’ uncertain status, according to FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal. Pujols could miss the beginning of next season as a result of December foot surgery. In the meantime, the Angels will play the lefty-swinging Valbuena against right-handed pitching and deploy him at Pujols’ positions – designated hitter and first base – as well as third base, writes Rosenthal. When Pujols returns, the club could take advantage of the fact that Cron and Jefrey Marte have minor league options remaining and send either to Triple-A Salt Lake City, Rosenthal notes. Looking ahead a year, third baseman Yunel Escobar could depart in free agency next winter. That would enable Valbuena to take over at the hot corner on a full-time basis in 2018.
More from the American League:
- Right fielder Jose Bautista, who brought an end to a drawn-out saga when he re-signed with the Blue Jays earlier this week, didn’t seriously consider joining the Indians, reports Terry Pluto of cleveland.com. The Indians inquired about Bautista, but it doesn’t seem as if either side was gung-ho about a union. After all, manager Terry Francona declared that the Tribe’s pursuit of Bautista in free agency – which may have included a bid – was overstated.
- While the Astros committed a guaranteed $14MM to Charlie Morton earlier this offseason, the right-hander isn’t a lock to win a spot in their rotation, general manager Jeff Luhnow suggested to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com (Twitter link). Luhnow does expect Morton to end up in the Astros’ starting five, but he’s only “softly” part of the rotation for now. The Astros have been pushing to add a front-line starter all winter, and picking one up could relegate Morton to a bullpen role. As of now, in addition to established starters Dallas Keuchel, Lance McCullers, Collin McHugh, Mike Fiers and Morton, the team has intriguing young options – including Joe Musgrove and Francis Martes – knocking on the door.
- Once regarded as key building blocks for the Astros, first baseman A.J. Reed and third baseman Colin Moran are long shots to crack the big league roster this year after rough seasons, writes Jake Kaplan of Baseball America (subscription required/recommended). Reed, whom BA ranked as baseball’s 11th-best prospect a year ago, got his first taste of major league action in 2016 and batted a weak .164/.270/.262 with a 34 percent strikeout rate in 141 plate appearances. The soon-to-be 24-year-old did rake at Triple-A Fresno (.291/.368/.556 in 296 PAs), though he’s now behind $47.5MM man Yulieski Gurriel and Marwin Gonzalez on the Astros’ first base depth chart. With Carlos Beltran and Evan Gattis also on hand, Reed stands even less of a chance to garner at-bats as a DH. Moran, the sixth overall pick in the 2013 draft, didn’t help his cause in Fresno – .259/.329/.368 in 511 trips to the plate – and the emergence of Alex Bregman in Houston only added to his problems. Bregman looks like the Astros’ long-term solution at third, putting the 24-year-old Moran’s future in question.
Money, money I want, give me money, give me now
And you don’t?
The Stros need to give AJ Reed another chance. Full-time job and plenty of at-bats. He’s too good not to workout. Don’t let him waste away in triple-A.
Hard pass. He looked ridiculously over-matched at the plate and at minimum 30+ lbs overweight. Maybe if he takes conditioning seriously he may have a chance, but our team is going to be far too good to keep a liability like him on the roster. I’m all for trading him and running the risk of it blowing up in our face (which isn’t likely from what he showed).
Yea a quarter season of atbats is enough for you to know he will never make.. ask Rizzo how that turned out for the friars
When you know, you know. A quarter of a season is a very good indicator. Take off your rose colored glasses that only see minor league numbers, the big leagues are much more difficult and Big Rotundo Reed couldn’t hack it.
Respectfully disagree. A.J. has hit in college (As a Frontline Starting Pitcher), and at every level of the minor leagues to this point. Even if he spends all of next season in AAA, I think he is the first one called up in September. He’s been too good for two bad months of inconsistent ABs to discredit him.
In most cases I believe 1/4 of a season is not enough to evaluate a player but Reed proved he does not belong in the bigs. Slow bat, no athleticism, no defensive value. He’s gonna have to seriously slim down and figure out how to be a well above average hitter if he ever wants to get meaningful playing time in the bigs.
I’m glad someone else noticed his slo-mo bat speed. Sleepy-eyed McHugh has more bat speed than Reed does!
He’ll never pan out because instead of relaxing he tries to hit every pitch out of the park. A trade could help him but getting nothing for him hurts. He’s hurt the Astros in every option until he learns to R E L A X !
He still has a trade value and I see a 3-team swap as a real possibility between the Astros, Rockies and White Sox.
Astros send Reed and Joe Musgrove to White Sox, White Sox send Jose Quintana to Houston and Jose Abreu to Colorado, Rockies send Ryan McMahon and Raimel Tapia to Chicago.
Don’t forget about Tyler White. Spring training will show who really wants it.
Nooo!!!! Would much rather say see ya to Escobar than Cron. Cron is in line for a BREAKOUT YEAR im talking.270 BA, 25-30HR, and 80 RBI!! Im calling it, if he could stay in the line up for at least 130 games. Ditch Escobar for a Reliever or decent starter and put Valbuena full time at third. He could easily hit .240, 20 HR, and 60 RBI from the left side. Not to mention he is a big upgrade defensively over Escobar
1. Nobody cares about RBI. Worst stat in baseball along with pitcher wins.
2. Cron is not a better hitter than Escobar and probably won’t ever be. Why do you think he’s all of a sudden gonna break out?
AJ Reed for Cron. Reed has killer AAA stats and is definitely the kind of guy to bring donuts!
Cron is legit. In three seasons he’s transformed from a “DH only” prospect into a well above average bat who ranked near the top as a 1B defender last yr. In fact, he was a significantly better hitter than Yunel last yr (117/108 OPS+) and much more valuable overall. Gone are the days of Cron being thought of as Trumbo lite. If the guy can stay healthy he’s poised for a breakout.
Trout field…are you in my fantasy baseball league? 🙂
IDK. Did I win last yr?
@rols: Cron is a different type of hitter than Escobar. Escobar tends to hit for a higher avg., while Cron has more power. As for why anyone would expect Cron to break out next season, Cron’s BA, OBP, & SLG, have (for the most part) improved steadily each of the last 3 seasons, & he just turned 27 a couple wks ago, so he’s entering his prime.
You are incorrect sir. Just because YOU don’t care, Please don’t assume everyone else is willing to discount a legitimate stat. When enough teams have abandoned its significance, it will become the next moneyball stat. The Pujols, Beltrans, Cabreras of baseball make their money and increase the viability of their teams making the playoffs by that stat you ignore.
RBI is a useless stat. If you really care about a players ability to drive in runs, looking at their numbers with runners on would be far more informative.
Didn’t Escobar hit over 300 for them last year?, I think if anybody should be the odd man out it would be cliff pennington and let Escobar be the utility guy or platoon guy with valbuena
Escobar is the ultimate example of an empty batting average. He just makes so many outs. Look at his GIDP numbers over the years. He hits everything hard, he’s really slow, and he kills rallies with all the double plays. There’s nowhere in the lineup where his skill set is useful.
The reason that he hits into so many DPs is b/c he doesn’t K a lot & puts the ball in play. Look at the active leader in DPs, either single season or career, & you’ll see a lot of great players on that list, incl. Miguel Cabrera, Pujols, Robinson Cano, Beltre… Of course, lack of speed is a factor, but you’ll notice all those guys hit for average & don’t K too much (or didn’t at 1 pt in their careers). DPs are a natural consequence for guys putting the ball in play, & eating the occasional DP for a guy who doesn’t K too much & hits for avg. is a trade-off most managers will take.
Pujols and Cano hit for power, not average
Are you freakin’ serious? Pujols has a career .309 BA, hit over .300 10x in his career, & won a batting title. He may not hit for average now, but he did most of his career. And he was in in the top 10 in GDP for most seasons in his career, incl. when he was hitting for avg. in StL.
Cano has a career .307 BA, has hit .300 8x in his 12 MLB seasons. In fact, he’s only hit below .295 2x in his career. I would say that’s hitting for average… And yeah, like Escobar, Cano averages about 18-25 GDPs a yr. Also like Escobar, his K-rate is relatively low.
I’m telling you… Look at the list of people who lead the league in GDP. It’s not guys who aren’t clutch or who suck. It’s guys who are pretty good at making contact. You know who didn’t GDP a lot? Adam Dunn & Dave Kingman. It’s not b/c they were so fast & could beat out the DP; both were slow as molasses. It’s b/c they K’d so often & didn’t put the ball in play. That’s the trade off. You K a lot, you’re not going to GDP. You make a lot of contact, you’re more likely to GDP. And again, over a long season & all things being equal, most managers would prefer the guys who make consistent contact.
Not sure why people don’t get what you just said. You shouldn’t even have to explain it
GIDP is an empty stat. As others have explained, some of the most feared hitters in the game occupy the top 10 lists in DP’s. Escobar’s BA and OBP did a lot to help improve the table setting at the top of the Angels’ lineup in 2017. They were much more productive in the top half of their lineup because there were far more RBI opportunities for Trout and Pujols than there were in 2015.
Escobar is not going to get us anything worthwhile or else he’d be gone. Besides hes a good leadoff hitter and I’d much rather have the depth and ability to keep him off of the hot corner whenever possible.
The “money, money” comment is epic
Is it me or does Pujols get some kind of foot surgery every year?
Every year.
because he has plantar fasciitis
If Pujols comes back healthy and Valbuena does well, they could flip Escobar at the trade deadline if he hits for a solid average like 2016 and move Valbuena to 3rd this year instead of waiting until next.
I really hope they don’t trade Cron.
Sometimes when you’re trying to contend and don’t have the prospects to deal you have to give up something on your major league roster to get what you need. And that is likely CJ Cron.
Reed and Moran will end up in Oakland in a Sonny Gray Deal. Those 2 and Musgrove maybe. seems like an Oakland kinda deal.
If the Astros wouldn’t include Musgrove for Quintana, they certainly won’t for Gray coming off of a very bad year. I’ll pack Moran and Reed’s bag if that’s all we have to give up for the upside of Gray though. It’s a big risk for both teams, by the best trades work out that way.
they might move musgrove just not him and martas
I saw Reed in two AA games and was very impressed. I know he looked bad in majors, but I’m not giving up. I hope he starts at AAA and rakes, then gets call up as needed
Reed and 3 other prospects that aren’t named musgrove or martes for quintana or archer.
Just like after Swihart struggled at the major league level, Reed is being tossed about in every trade with the expectation that he will fetch back top talent. It doesn’t work that way. Reed had that value BEFORE he was exposed to the majors, just like Swihart did. And just like Swihart, every other team watched what occurred. If you want to move Reed for a number 4 starter, maybe it would work. Maybe you could even trade him for Swihart. But if you want top talent, Houston will have to give up something that isn’t tainted. Maybe Reed will become a dominant player, but right now, with Houston fans doubting, you have to understand that other teams are doubting, too.
People forget that Valbuena was primarily a 2nd baseman (w/ a decent glove) until 2011. He moved to 3B b/c the position was more of a need for his team, but still played the occasional game at 2B as recently as 2012.
With that in mind, it would seem to make some sense for the Angels to use Valbuena in a sort of super-utility role where he would play virtually everyday at different positions (1B, 2B, 3B, & DH). Aside from being an offensive upgrade at 2B, of the guys currently slated to start in those positions, Valbuena is the only LH bat, so he would figure to get a lot of ABs if LAA rotated him around those positions.
the angels could somehow sneak in and get Weiters
oh man i hope so! And I’d b okay with trading Cron but we better get a solid number 3 starter or decent closer
With the number of 1B-DH types still available in FA, Including last year’s HR champ, Chris Carter, I sincerely doubt Cron will be able to net a 3 starter or decent closer. Cron holds more value to the Angels than he would as trade bait.
Cron and JC Ramirez for Antonio Bastardo and Tony Watson
Bastardo and Watson for Cron and Ramirez
If Hank Conger can land them Nick Tropeano and Carlos Perez then Cron can get them a decent young starter.