The Angels announced on Monday that they’ve optioned first baseman/designated hitter C.J. Cron to Triple-A Salt Lake and recalled infielder Nolan Fontana in his place.
Entering the season, Cron was a popular trade candidate once the Angels signed Luis Valbuena, as it was reported that Valbuena would spend quite a bit of time at first base. The 27-year-old Cron, though, injured his left foot late in Spring Training and has hit poorly in 90 plate appearances since being activated: .232/.281/.305 with just one homer (a grand slam in yesterday’s game).
[Related: Updated Los Angeles Angels depth chart]
Slow start notwithstanding, Cron’s demotion comes as a mild surprise. He spent the entire 2016 season on the Angels’ Major League roster and hasn’t been optioned to the minors since early June of the 2015 campaign. And from the time of his recall from that most recent Triple-A stint through the end of the 2016 season, Cron slashed an impressive .281/.325/.481 with 31 long balls over the life of 735 Major League plate appearances. While that’s not quite elite production, it’s considerably better than the league average (121 wRC+).
From a service time vantage point, however, the move isn’t likely to impact Cron one way or another. He entered the year with two years, 110 days of Major League service time, meaning he needed just 62 days in the Majors to reach his third full year of service, thereby keeping him on track to reach free agency following the 2020 season. While he hasn’t quite reached the requisite 62 days, he needs just 12 more days of service time in order to do so. Even if Cron were to spend the bulk of the season in Triple-A, he’d still accrue those final 12 days as a September call-up, so the only real way this would delay his free agency would be if he were to incur a season-ending injury in the minors and finish out the year on the disabled list.
With Cron in the minors and Yunel Escobar on the disabled list, it seems likely that Valbuena will spend a considerable amount of time at third base, with Jefry Marte handling duties at first base. Albert Pujols could see a bit of action at first as well, though he’s played in the field just twice in 40 games this season, so the team doesn’t appear to view him as a regular option there.
Thank you Angels. This made my day.
Mets should option another lumbering 1B although ours hits from the left side…
Yes.
Grand slam came a little late I guess.
25 games 1 homer 7 RBI’s and 3 doubles. Cron was long over do to get to get sent down.
Unreal Pujols has four years left on his deal, after this year at almost $30M a season. I wonder if Angel fan are liking that contract. Seems like the Cardinals knew what they were doing when they let him walk.
Pujols had over 30 homers and 119 RBI’s last year so yeah lpl
It sucks but it’s a reality we have come to terms with. Kind of surprised by the Cron demotion. He needs some time to get rolling, maybe they wanted him to get consistent ABs
Cron is not entitled to playing time, especially in his fourth season without ever playing a full season in the big leagues. And Angels fans don’t need to accept anything about Albert’s contract except the history they get to witness right before their eyes. It only sucks for the people sitting in their armchairs with a beer in their hand, yelling at the TV. If you actually believed that Albert was supposed to hit .320/.450/.600 we’ll into his thirties, and that those numbers are the only thing that justifies a contract like that, that’s on you. And you have a lot to learn about how professional athlete contracts work. Albert has done just fine as an Angel. Perhaps better supplementing behind him and Trout should be the main focus. And the Angels have about $160 million left in AAV on their payroll after Albert’s contract so that excuse is out the window.
RyAn you forgot to mention. How Pujols contract allowed the Angls to negotiate a better tv deal. Fox sports offered the Angels around 125 million per season. Which would have been one of the lowest tv deals in the majors. Fox Sports told Arte Moreno, get someone we can sale to the advertisers. And we will negotiate a better deal. As soon as the Angels signed Pujols, that tv contract became 250 million per season. So for the rest of you who can’t figure out numbers, Pujols contract paid for itself.
You guys are getting a bit preachy here. I’m not saying Pujols is a worthless piece of garbage but an albatross is an albatross. $30m/yr is way too much to pay for a replacement lvl player. If he made all of his scratch in the form of a signing bonus I couldn’t care less but that $30m is counting against our luxury tax and will be for the next few yrs some of which are Trouts prime aka contention yrs. You’re crazy if you believe that’s the best way to spend that $$
As I said before, about $160 million left on their payroll after Albert’s contract. That’s more than enough to build a contender.
Your answer should have clarified for all! Thank you.
Why can’t all admit that the cards were right to let him go and based on your comment (and that of RyAn below about milestone merchandising) Moreno was right to sign him the way he did.
well another $30+ goes to Trout so that only leaves $125m for the rest of the squad. Regardless, its not good practice to have a replacement lvl player getting 10+% of the payroll. If we have a do-over I have a had time believing we give the Pujols contract again. Hindsight 20/20 but Beltre would have been a better investment.
Because we’d get to watch so many historic milestones from Adrian Beltre. Ridiculous. As I’ve said several times already, the value of a contract goes far beyond a player’s WAR.
Absolutely true. Pujols brought a lot more than the greatly diminished on-field play. Like you mentioned he helped secure a massive tv deal, is a great mentor (basically a player coach), ect. Still, that doesn’t override the fact that his AAV is that of a superstar and he’s far from that performance wise. Like I said before I have no issue with Albert being compensated for those things but it should have been in the form of a signing bonus. As it is that deal hurts the team more than it helps. Really don’t see how you’re justifying it.
Oh, and milestones aside Beltre has averaged 5.5 WAR since 2011, played great defense and a position of need (for us), and is clearly a great mentor. Milestones don’t win games and ultimately that’s what’s important.
Per others, he’s replacement-level or a touch above. Those gaudy stats were worth 1.4 WAR, including his D.
Except Cardinals fans called him a traitor when it happened, way to revise history #WorstFansInBaseball
Wait what how did he revise history? He said it now seems like the Cards made the right decision to let him go… he’s not saying everyone was happy about it at the time, or that Cards fans thought it was a good idea, he just said that their management made the right decision in retrospect, which they did, so you have no argument. #WorstFanInBaseball
He said the cardinals knew what they were doing. i.e. The organization. The fans may have wanted him back but the organization makes that choice not the fans. Hence, he is not revising history. Go troll somewhere else.
One bad start to a single year doesn’t mean the whole contract was bad. Yeah, it may be bad from now on, but that doesn’t mean the whole life of the contract was a bad deal
his 5 worst seasons have been his 5 years with the angels. he went from a perennial MVP candidate to an above average starter. that contract was bad.
And you would’ve been ecstatic if he signed with your team. Angels fans not only get to watch the best player in the game reaching historic milestones, they get to watch the previous best player reach his own historical milestones. About to enter top 10 in RBI’s all time. Very close to his 600th HR. And due to reach 3,000 hits by this time next season. All this while selling lots of merchandise, bringing the kids to the ballpark, mentoring Mike Trout, and being a serviceable cleanup hitter on the field. Little history lesson. Only a handful of players in history have matched Albert’s seasonal HR/RBI totals during their age 34-36 seasons. The OBP has gone down but the power and run producing is still there. There’s a lot more to a large contract like that than what the armchair quarterback yells about at the TV during games…
Cardinals knew not to give him that long of a contract. The Angels didn’t.
Has there been a 10 year contract that has worked out?
Cardinals offered him 9 years. They had additional offers for him leading up to him signing with the Angels.
And to answer your question: Dave Winfield.
Albert’s contract has worked out just fine.
I think this is the year that Miggy Cabrera starts the plunge, but the DD has moved on from Detroit and will probably beat the rap for offering that.
What does this have to with Cron?
what a joke of a statement. Nobody signing a player to a 10 year deal expects him to produce like he did in his prime throughout the deal. And the cardinals didn’t “let him walk”, they bid on him
Hopefully, he can be traded for something of worth and he can get a new start with a good organization.
The Cardinals didn’t let Albert Pujols walk, Pujols took an outrageous contract from
The Angels. The Cards had no realistic choice.
They had a 9 year offer ready for him but the Angels outbid them. Otherwise, he’d still be a Cardinal.
every comment you make is so condescending. how could you possibly know that
No need to get butt hurt over that comment. I’m gonna say it was reported that they offered him that
not just that comment its pretty much every comment he ever makes. i don’t comment a lot but i see everything
Oh BS! And there was nothing condescending about my comment either. I was simply adding to what GarryHarris was saying.
Lol Everyone should know that by now.
Guy hits a grand slam to help you win the game, then gets sent down. Now that’s gratitude.
no versatility and he’s not hitting. Angels had to make this move. I wouldn’t mind a trade, but i cannot imagine his trade value will bring anything decent back