The Angels announced that they have selected the contract of outfielder Peter Bourjos. He’ll take the club’s remaining open 40-man roster spot.
As he closes in on his 32nd birthday, Bourjos returns to the place he broke into the majors and found his most notable success. When he was shipped out of Los Angeles in the 2013-14 offseason, he had a track record of approximately league-average hitting with quality glovework and baserunning. Bourjos compiled 8.2 rWAR in just 1,136 plate appearances with the Halos.
Things have soured since. In the intervening seasons, Bourjos has mustered a meager .229/.286/.366 batting line in 1,152 total plate appearances. While his other skills seem largely to be intact, that’s just not enough bat to create many opportunities.
Bourjos came into camp battling for a reserve role or a spot on the depth chart in Triple-A. As it turns out, his strong showing and the Angels’ injury situation have conspired to open the door for significant playing time at the start of the year. Bourjos popped three long balls and slashed .288/.339/.558 in 56 plate appearances this spring; Justin Upton is headed to the injured list along with several other outfield options.
It’d make quite a bit of sense for the club to add a left-handed-hitting, complementary outfield piece. Free agent Denard Span is a match on paper but wouldn’t be ready to go at the start of the season. It’s likelier that the club will look into low-cost players who lose camp battles with other teams. Brian Goodwin stands out as a hypothetical possibility, with others sure to join him in the coming days.
Blast from the past.
Never got enough AB’s to know what type player he could have been. Elite defender with speed. Tough kid that played the game the way you want your kids to see it played!
He played everyday on STL the first year and he stunk. Nice glove, trash with the bat.
He got about 200 ab. His one full 500+ ab season was good, but then is was all part-time work.
He didn’t play every day. 264 at bats all year. Matheny couldn’t wait to get his gopher, Jon Jay, in there.
St Louis must have only played 2/3 of schedule that year? “Everyday” in your world isn’t “everyday” in reality. Excellent try though
Eh, 2000+ ABs is a lot of game time to see what he has.
Well, apparently he’s got enough OVERALL talent to still be in the majors for 8 years. People get all amped up with hitting when defense and baserunning are two other aspects of the game. He’s a good complimentary piece to fill the void until Upton returns. Then he becomes a good late inning replacement to play D and pinch run.
My point was just that we’ve seen enough of him to know what player he is. Not that he is entirely useless.
Never said it wasn’t, however game is hard enough. Playing “everyday” or playing day after day and getting in groove instead of playing every other or third. But hey all you would know. Never out on a glove or spikes.
Guess who’s back, back again.
Bourjos is back. Tell a friend.
Angels are the Mets of he west
I’d say the Padres are a better comparison. At least the Mets have pitchers and have some recent playoff success.
Fairly confident he meant solely that they can’t make it through a week without someone going down with injuries, much like the recent Mets
With the best player in baseball. Unlike the Mets
Last 5 seasons
Mets
2 playoff births
4 playoff series
8 playoff wins
1 League Championship
3 sub-500 finishes
Angels
1 playoff birth
1 playoff series
0 playoff wins
0 League Championships
3 sub-500 finishes
Pitifully, the Mets have clearly done better despite not having said “best player in baseball”
why did you put “best player in baseball” in quotes? thats not a debatable comment
Because it was a direct quote?
Not exactly rocket science here
Berths*
Nobody was born.
Angels are the Angels. Mets are the Mets.
Is that his Little League pic?
Why can’t Span get a job?
Or Keuchel… Weird times
Because he’s 35 and his last 4 years of defense have accumulated into a -41 DRS. -41!! He’s Upton, except older, a lefty and without the power.
Good deal.
“While his other skills seem largely to be intact”
That is not quite true. Starting in 2013, his fielding has been very inconsistent, and occasionally outright bad. Running has been slightly inconsistent since then too, but still generally above average despite his having seemingly lost the ability to steal bases. Specifically, he’s at 16 SB against 16 CS the last four seasons, and didn’t even attempt one last year.
That is a noticeable difference from his 2010-12 seasons when he was well above average for both.
He currently seems to be – no hit, fair runner but who can’t steal, okay defender
Peter Oh for fourjos!
Gorgeous Bourjos! Awesome, good luck PB.
How does this guy continue to make major league teams. He was like the worst player on a basement dwelling Phillies team a few years back.
He was competing with Jarrett Parker and a AAA kid who both got hurt. Then Upton got hurt.
I like the guy and all, but he had some breaks go his way.
I guess a .900 OPS in spring had nothing to do with him winning that spot? Plus he’s a better defender and runner than those other guys.
-1.5 Def total the last 4 seasons, with 16 SB and 16 CS over that time.
Yes, he’s been good on the basepaths when not trying to steal, but he only got himself there at a pitiful .284 rate (13th worst of the 342 guys with 800+ PA over that time)
This idea he’s a good fielder or stealer is extremely outdated, and his complete inability to get on base negates his only true skill; he rounds the bases quickly
It didn’t hurt. Parker was crushing the ball until he went down, though.
Not that anyone should read much into Spring numbers.
One thing I don’t like about baseball is that any exceptional athlete is touted as a 4-5 tool prospect despite not actually displaying more than 1-2 tools. This is a common occurrence in the international draft.
PB isn’t exactly overrated but he never came close to the expectations. I think he’s a solid and affordable backup on a team that lacks the talent on the farm. (Or doesn’t want to start a minor leaguers service clock)
Agreed STL. Once Pete is back into his role as 4th outfielder/pinch runner/platoon partner for Calhoun, he’ll be just fine for his role.
With a couple of guys in AAA who could potentially replace him but the real talent a year or two away from MLB ready, Pete is a low cost option that fills a relatively minor need.
+5 DRS in very limited action. I don’t care about steals. It’s a lost state in today’s game, but not many guys are faster from 1st to 3rd, 1st to home or 2nd to home. He gets paid $1M. Good 24th/25th man on a roster. EVERY team has a player that needs to fill this spot.
No he wasn’t, but your exaggeration is noted.
welcome back home!
Yikes. The Angels definitely could have done better. They need to give some young guys with actual upside a chance. Be ballsy, make a trade, for palka or delmonico from cws for example. They’d play real well at that park.
When Upton is back, Pete will be relegated to 4th outfielder and perhaps spell Calhoun in right against a lefty.
No need to give up prospects to fix a two week problem.
I can’t believe he’s only 31, I feel like he’s been around forever…
Ben Revere just got released from Texas. That would be a better option than Bourjos.
Revere is horrid, and yet another guy with a career WAR less than Bourjos. And they both came into the league in the same year.
Over 9 MLB seasons, PB had two decent seasons with the bat: 2011 when he batted .271 with an OBP of .327 with 552 plate appearances and 2013 when he batted .274 with an OBP of .333 with 195 plate appearances. The only other season he batted over .250 was 2016 when he batted .251 with an OBP of .292 with 383 plate appearances.
His benefit is clearly his defense with a career .993 fielding percentage and no fielding errors since 2016.
Here’s what I find amusing. People are clamoring for guys who just got released to replace a guy who just made a ML roster by competing in Spring. Goodwin and Revere just got dumped because they played like a pile of dump.
You seriously don’t know what you are talking about. 2 things stick out to me…1) Bourjos played out of his mind in ST – meaning way above his expected rate…so what. Did he suddenly relearn how to play baseball. 2) In the previous 4 years 2015-2018 PB has a negative WAR. Not what I’m looking for in a guy…trending down hard. All of his career WAR IS PRE-2015…with more than half his career WAR in 1 season. Also, since 2015 has the same numner of SB as he does CS (16 each). No thanks.
Now conversely, 1) Revere play to his career averages in ST, which tells me what to expect starting right away in the regular season. Just doing his thing and getting ready. 2) BR has a 1.5 WAR since 2015 (22% of his career total) which is pretty steady. He also steal a hell of lot more bases than PB and if he is hitting at the bottom of the lineup in front of Cole, it might help open up the right side a little more. Since 2015, BR has 66 SB to 18 CS. Much better.