The Angels have designated infielder Nick Franklin for assignment and will go with Kaleb Cowart as their primary second baseman, Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times tweets. “The direction we’re moving is not going to give (Franklin) a lot of at-bats,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. The Angels have also announced that they’ve selected the contract of righty Troy Scribner.
The Rays parted ways with Franklin near the beginning of the season, and he headed to the Brewers on a waiver claim and then to the Angels in a minor deal after the Brewers designated him for assignment. Overall, he’s batted .179/.269/.283 in 119 plate appearances for the season, failing to make much of an impression despite a solid offensive performance with Tampa Bay last year.
The 25-year-old Cowart batted a strong .311/.383/.482 in 413 plate appearances in Triple-A Salt Lake this season and has hit well in very limited opportunities in the big leagues. The Angels are trying to find a solution at second base after parting ways with Danny Espinosa earlier this month.
Good. It’s time to give Cowart some AB’s and find out what they have, whether it be at second or third.
Agreed
Finally! Cowart has earned a lengthy opportunity to see if he sticks or not. I certainly hope so. It would be good to have a young, cheap, controllable 2nd/3rd baseman that could the position for a few years. Then they could focus respurces on improving other areas.
They should make a move for profar let him play second see if he has any of that top talent potential left
They should contact Philadelphia about Cesar Hernandez I’m sure they would move him.
I do think the Angels are the best fit for Hernandez. While I don’t think the acquisition cost is going to be too high for him I would wonder if they have enough talent to land him. I like Jones but I don’t know that they would move him for Hernandez.
I never understood why they traded for Franklin in the first place.
They didn’t trade for him. They picked him up on waivers.
The Angels traded cash to the Brewers for Franklin.
Because he was good last year.
Because they DFA’d Espinosa and we’re probably getting the cheapest possible option to buy them time to make a decision on Cowart.
How many times can a player be DFA or released in one year..
It’s gonna be tough for this Angels team to make a trade and receive any sort of value in return. They have a weak farm and only 2 players of value on the major league roster….. Trout and Simmons, and I don’t see them being traded at this time.
A shining example of why one can’t put too much stock in prospects
there’s plenty of examples for both sides of the argument.
Should’ve DFA’d Pennington instead. He’s an FA after this year anyway and plays less positions and worse defense than Franklin.
Players are type “A” personalities a side of superstitious and a little neurotic so give him a position and leave him there to work out his demons. Amen
Gotta love Scioscia. “The direction we’re moving is not going to give (Franklin) a lot of at- bats”. No, not too many more as an Angel!
Direction should be Franklin to the independent league or overseas. Unless he’s quit being a douche?
and i remember an angel fan saying he was okay with a platoon of franklin and pennington for the rest of the year. Lol
Cowart is 25 now and has had more than enough time in the minors to develop. Maybe he’s finally ready to a major league starter. This is his chance. And it would solve a big problem in the infield going into the offseason.