The Angels anticipate that outfielder Justin Upton will miss eight to twelve weeks of action, manage Brad Ausmus told reporters including MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger (Twitter link). He had previously been diagnosed with a turf toe injury that turned out to be quite a bit more problematic than had been anticipated.
It’s rather poor news for the Halos, who already faced a tough road to the postseason this year. Upton and Shohei Ohtani supplemented Mike Trout last year in the middle of the lineup. Now both Upton and Ohtani are on the shelf; though the latter is making progress toward a return, it’ll still be at least a few more weeks before he’s back.
Upton slashed .257/.344/.463 last year, with thirty long balls in his 613 plate appearances. That’s actually a step back from his big 2017 campaign. Over a dozen years in the bigs, Upton carries a .268/.348/.478 batting line — just what he put up last year and just what might reasonably have been expected in 2019.
There’s simply no way the Angels will be able to replace that sort of productivity. The light-hitting Peter Bourjos had been on track to serve as a fourth outfielder after signing a minors deal. Instead he’ll platoon with Brian Goodwin, who was just picked up after being cut loose by the Royals.
That pair will hold down the fort for the time being. The front office could look for creative opportunities to upgrade, but it’s hard to imagine any particularly appealing names coming available. GM Billy Eppler all but snuffed out that possibility, saying he didn’t think an outside addition would take place. (Also via Bollinger, on Twitter.)
Neither does it seem the team can hope for much help from within. The depth options on hand were deemed inferior to Bourjos and Goodwin already. And there aren’t any particularly exciting upper-level prospects. Unfortunately, the club’s most talented pre-MLB player, Jo Adell, was slowed this spring with injuries to his ankle and hamstring that figure to keep him on ice until the summer. Even if the club was willing to consider an aggressive promotion timeline, he’ll need to get back to full strength first.
You gotta be kidding me… 🙁
Ouch
Welcome to this episode of “Which Angels player is on the IL now?”
What’s an IL? Is MLB saying the DL is strictly for injuries now? PC nonsense belongs in the junior leagues, namely the NBA and NFL.
The disabled list is now the injured list. MLB didn’t want to offend anyone.
I know plenty of legally disabled people and none of them are offended by the “DL”
Nobody ever said it was about people being offended. Words evolve in their usage. These days, there are kids who are being taught that their physical or mental disabilities do not need to limit them, etc. For those youngsters, the concept of a “disabled list” might not send the best message.
This change was done without any public campaigns, without anyone being blamed for anything. It was a quiet recognition that seems sensible and utterly non-controversial.
In situations such as team nicknames that are arguably offensive, I can at least understand why people have an emotional desire to keep things the way they were. In this case, I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone suddenly cares in the least that the disabled list still be called the disabled list.
And for people who don’t care too much about being sensitive and all that, just look at the meanings of the words. Is someone who is banged up for 10 or 15 days in any way disabled? Disabled (hope this doesn’t sound insensitive) is like someone stuck in a wheelchair or someone who is blind or something, it isn’t someone who stubbed his toe or has a blister or strained his groin.
Maybe you could make some type of argument that the 60 day should still be called the DL based on seriousness of injury but again it is still just that, an injury, not a disability.
I don’t think anybody cares. I like the way they changed it, without fanfare or a big announcement. Good for MLB.
I don’t really care either way. They’re hurt and not coming back for a while.
You complain about people being “too easily offended”, yet you seem genuinely offended about something as inoccuous as MLB changing “disabled list” to “injured list.” Why this should bother you or anyone else is truly perplexing.
Angles couldn’t do it with him, certainly won’t without. Goodbye.
They couldn’t do it with Trout hurt and their entire pitching staff hurt. Few teams could. It is a really ignorant comment.
That’s rather obtuse.
What kind of angles? Acute?
Because they’re never right…
How is this even possible? Best pitcher… on the IL. Best prospect… out two More months. Second best hitter, Ohtani, on the IL. Third best hitter, on the IL for 2+ months. Enough already!! At some point it doesn’t seem possible.
Mets just as bad w injuries over the years! I feel ure pain! Here’s to health in the future for our orgz!
As a Mets game who pulls for the Angels, I second that. I couldn’t have picked worse two teams to root for that go through the injury bug like these two.
Mets have been hit as well.
Well, part of the problem is your GM consistently fails to acquire quality pitching. Due his incompetence, the best years of Mike Trout have been wasted.
Trout is just barely entering his prime…his best years have yet to come.
Not an angles fan; but : why would you write this ChiSoxCity?
Looking over at that team from downtown LA, feel that Arte is 2 real effective starting pitchers away from being decent.
Eppler ain’t the problem.
Neither is trout
Yeah…ok. How many years has Trout been an Angel? How many playoff appearances? That team isn’t going anywhere fast, with the best player of this generation on the roster. Nuff talk.
Nuff talk?
2 real effective starters away from being decent… so you’re striving for decent now? And you make it seem like grabbing 2 pitchers is easy, who are they going to get now thay they got that trout contract?
Potentially poor conditioning. Worth for the Mets and Angels to look into this and their staff.
Angels have revamped pretty much the entirety of their medical staff.
It’s the curse of Nick Adenhart. He will haunt the halos until they retire his number
No big deal, I was anticipating a 77+ win season this year anyways. We will be contenders when pujols contract ends and we make a bid at a true pitcher
Another fan who knows more than this site and fangraphs. If you know so much about baseball, you should create your own site.
Fangraphs, thru ZiPS, projects the Angels for an 81-81 record, and 8th place finish in the AL.
That was before the injuries to Heaney and Upton were known
Not sure how you believe his expections are out of line at all.
If anything, accounting for Upton, and if Mondays news on Heaney isn’t good, 77 might be high
We get it, you think the Angels stink. What team do you root for?
So you must know, I’m very much an angels fan and a padres fan, but being realistic on our season(granted it just started) and the way things are already shaping up, missing 2 months of upton and ohtani and possibly losing a season of Heaney is not going to get the angels to a division or a wildcard spot, especially when teams like the Yankees, twins, and rays got noticeably better this year.
No worries. I was talking to darkstar61. He’s on every article making sure to point out every weakness the Angels have. It’s boring and old.
Unfortunately this is the team that I follow, and like KingMojo, I live in the real world
This is opposed to most of the fans of the Angels on here who, regardless what happens, proclaim it is no big deal on bad news or instantly claim a fantastic pickup when it’s merely some scrub the Angels claimed after he was released by another bad team
Macstruts here was saying KingMojo doesn’t understand baseball because he gave a realistic assessment of the Angels roster this season. A few comments lower he goes on to say they won’t win the division but will win “the second wild card, easily” – this despite the very site he said KingMojo should look at projecting them for their 4th straight 500 or less finish even before learning 3 of their merely 4 above average players will miss at minimum 2-3 months.
You look at the articles of nearly any team and you will see the fan bases assessing things pretty honestly, or even with an pessimistic view of their clubs moves. This even when that team is good.
Here, the Angels are on pace for their 4th straight 500 or lower finish and you’d think they are 3-peating camps with a well built roster that should be pre-planning for the playoffs again this year. It’s literally insane, and makes the Angels fanbase look like the most clueless bunch of rubes on the planet.
Fans of this franchise should be beyond furious what has been going on – best player the game will likely ever see and absolute garbage around him, resulting in continual mediocrity or worse. Fans that comment on this site though? Well they eat that crud sandwich and happily say “thank you sir, may I have some more”
So I’m sorry it makes you feel bad when something as scary as simple facts are pointed out – but yeah, the simple facts are the website Macatruts said people should look at thinks the team will finish 81-81, in 8th, and even lower now because of the injuries it’s week. If Macstruts were an honest person living in the real world he’d be saying that himself. Instead he’s attacking other for realistic assessments and proclaiming people should prepare for the postseason now. It’s rather pitiful
Or how about this, how about we put it this way
Over the last 6 seasons (2013-2018) the Angels finished sub-500 in 4 of them, and only did that because they got lucky in 2015 (their pythW-L% that year was .490)
List out all the teams that had 5 sub-500 teams like that over the last 6 years. I think that list will look like this
White Sox
Marlins
…and that’s it, I believe.
The other 27 teams have found ways to put at least 500+ teams on the field. Yes, even teams like Bal and Tex and Pit.
The Angels though, who have gotten 54.2 Wins from Trout alone over that time, have 5 seasons with a pythW-L of 500 or worse, and are positioned to likely to add a 6th.
Again, Angels fans should be pissed – they have one of the higher payrolls yearly, and best player there is, yet field a team that can top .500 only slightly more often than the Marlins and White Sox!
Well darkstar, I am proud to be an Angels fan, for better or for worse. My plan is to see what they do with the team they have put together before I write off 2019 after 2 games. Cheers.
Last I looked they had them at 84, 1 game short of a wild card. The injuries to Heaney and Upton, then I’m not surprised.
Yes, I know you are happy. Afterall, as the old saying goes, ignorance is bliss.
The problem comes in the fact that you and others here fight extremly hard to hold onto that ignorance; praising bad play, horrible decisions and extremely poor players, all while shrieking in horror and whining about supoosed bias when anyone dares point out actual reality.
I get it, you don’t like the fact that statistics say they were going to be a 500 team BEFORE losing their best pitcher and 2nd best healthy hitter. You think recognizing or stating such simple realities is mean and shows hatred and it needs to be combated against. No matter what you do in an attempt to hold onto your fantasies though; reality is still reality.
And reality is, when removing Trout from the equation, the Angels have been as bad as the Marlins the last 6 years (429-541 for Marlins, 441-531 for Angels-Trout) – that is how poor the supporting team this organization has fielded has been, and you’ve had your head buried too far in the sand to even see it.
Trouts unbelievable play has been masking one of the single worst organizations in baseball for years, and the fact they have finished with a pythW-L at/under .500 in 5 of the last 6 seasons should ultimately surprise no one who lives in the real world and paid any attention
Dark – You’re trying really hard to convince me of something that I’m not arguing with you about. All I’ve said is I’m not going to call 2019 a loss until 2019 is lost. I don’t buy into speculation or projections because they can be flawed or biased. My outlook is simple. I’m going to enjoy watching the Angels win or lose. God Bless you man.
That’s not how building a championship team actually works. The Angels have one of the fastest growing farm systems in the game. When that is ready, is when they’ll be shoe on contenders. Because they can then supplement that all they want to, with or without Albert’s contract. So many fans want to get rid of that contract, but then want to continue spending. Angels will be in the exact same boat after that contract expires if they don’t get their farm system ready.
How can you be sure these “fast growing prospects” are going to live up to the hype? It’s really silly to proclaim them as shoe-ins when they haven’t sniffed the big leagues yet. Prospects are just that…. prospects.
Yes, Isth, and speculation is just that, speculation. We have a top half ranked farm system. Let’s see what they can do over the season as they called up.
Justin or no Justin, the Angels are a solid 3rd place team.
So without there number 1 pitcher, and without there number one prospect and without there number two and three hitter, they are a third place team. I agree, but when they were healthy, how could they not have been a playoff contender?.
I believe what he’s saying and I agree. It wouldn’t matter of all those you mentioned above were healthy. That team can’t win that division with its current roster construction
The division no. The second wild card, easily.
he is just a troll. ignore him.
Their*
Look at that Angels roster, and I mean really honestly look at it.
Best player in the world aside, it is composed of past their prime vets, Hail Mary rebound candidates, and spare parts. Not a playoff team by any stretch. To be honest the Mariners have a better shot at making the playoffs injuries or no injuries,
Do the Angel’s have any desire to pick up Renfroe from the Padres? The team is overloaded in OF and he is a RH power hitter.
Curious to know.
There goes any chance of sneaking into the playoffs.
2-3 months off will seriously hurt his chance at 500 home runs.
2-3 months will cost him 12-15 homers, probably. A dent, sure..but not a serious impact.
It’s not like he’s at 480 and retiring at the end of the year.
Castellanos?
Just my opinion: I don’t think LAA or SFG are good trade partners for DET. Nick Castellano can’t be moved where LAA needs him when Justin Upton returns. Also, the only player I see worth Castellanos is SP Grayson Long and I doubt LAA will trade him for one year of Castellanos.
Time to take him off my fantasy team, hope he feels better 🙁
A guy on HalosHeaven had a sensible idea of calling up Jared Walsh. He’s not a “top prospect” but has had sustained success at AA&AAA and can play corner OF/1B as well as RP. We seem to be developing him as a 2 way player but I’m not sure those two things can’t be congruent.
I feel like the Angels should be better than they are, instead of the Mets of the west.
No comparison. The Mets have pitching
I think he/she is implying that they are always hurt. Just like the Mets.
Yes always hurt and overall as a franchise. playing 2nd fiddle in the city.
Angels are definitely the best team in Anaheim
Angels can get Duvall from Atlanta , maybe a new league would get him going again?
Terrible way to start the season. I’m sooo sick and tired of these injuries……
Fowler to Angels makes all the sense in the world. Signed, Cards Fan
They should swing a trade for Kevin Pillar. Pillar can’t match the offensive production, but he is solid defensively.
They already have a solid defender playing LF
First sentence second line “manage Brad Ausmus” should read “manager”
Jose Bautista still available?
Bautista? What is wrong with some of you people?
trolls!
How is this trolling?
He’s still got pop
Put Pujols in LF. Problem solved!
With his complete lack of range, Pujols could have one of those Brian Downing-style 1.000 fielding percentage years in LF.
Evan Gattis might add a little punch.
Dang they needed everything to break right. This is breaking wrong, literally and figuratively…
Hope you folks are enjoying the game tonight!
Let’s go Angel’s!!
you too, buddy!
Dexter Fowler should be available
Matt Kemp I’m sure is available!
SHOULD HAVE TRADED TROUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!