The Angels will activate lefty Andrew Heaney for his first action of the season, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register was among those to cover (Twitter links). He’ll take the ball Sunday after opening the season in the injured list due to elbow inflammation.
Though he’s a bit further off, outfielder Justin Upton can now begin working in earnest toward his own activation. His turf toe injury has healed to the point that he can “run on 100 percent of his weight” and participate in batting practice and outfield work on the field.
It’s nice to see some positive health news for the Halos, who have become accustomed to crushing blows in recent years. Unfortunately, the team just sent shortstop Andrelton Simmons to the injured list with a significant ankle injury.
Heaney, who’ll soon turn 28, had Tommy John surgery in July of 2016. It was quite promising, then, to see him turn in thirty starts and 180 innings of 4.15 ERA pitching last year. And the elbow issues that cropped up this spring were all the more concerning.
Though he has only made one formal rehab start, it was quite a good one. Heaney allowed just two hits and a walk while racking up ten strikeouts in 4 1/3 scoreless innings for the club’s top affiliate. Hopefully, he can build off of that showing and give a boost to a beleaguered rotation.
Heaney is earning $3.4MM this season. He’s eligible for arbitration twice more, with free agency beckoning after the 2021 campaign.
As a Mariner fan this is good news. Always like seeing the Angels when their good players aren’t all hurt.
Wow….look at that. Some GOOD injury news for my Halos. Let’s see who gets the bump from the rotation. Right now I would rather see Harvey be a long reliever since he seems to only have flashes of his old stuff. We need all the help we can get lately…
This means nothing… The owner needs to back out and hire a GM that understands the game with a direction. Until then, this is just a solid middle of the road team with ZERO playoff hopes. A 5.04 team ERA will get you….. Exactly, grab your trash can.
you aren’t very bright
How so? HaloShane gives some good points. And you? Nothing but an insult. Care to elaborate or are you too busy with your games in your parents basement?
Jorge – Shane has never posted a positive comment about the team he claims to root for. All of his “points” as you call them are nothing more than conjecture.
Eppler has re-built the Angels’ farm system from being ranked dead last to being in the top ten. He has helped sign the best player in the history of the game to a lifetime Angels contract. He hired a manager who believes that playing time is earned by performance. There’s more, but you get the picture as I see it.
The Angels have a rotation problem that Harvey and Cahill didn’t solve. I believe our current rotation should consist of Skaggs, Heaney, Barria, Canning, and Pena. Harvey and Cahill should be used out of the pen in certain situations until their year contracts are up.
I don’t pretend to be a baseball expert, just a fan.
You are the most negative person on this board. So the owner needs to hire a GM because they had no real money to spend and a lot of holes? Eppler if nothing else has done a really nice job of drafting and building the farm.
Their pitching has been a joke for nearly a decade now. That falls squarely on the GM snd his personnel moves. You can’t load up in position players and expect to win unless you’ve been drafting quality arms.
Sorry bud but Eppler has only been GM for 3 years. Can’t pin a decades worth of moves on him either. He’s added Ohtani and Canning who are strong long term pieces.
Chi – Eppler spends the money the owner gives him. Moreno has set his spending limit, a big chunk of which is taken up by Pujols, who was signed long before Eppler joined the team. Hamilton worsened the money situation and, again, was signed long before Eppler was hired. Now if both of those guys lived up to their money, then no problem. But they didn’t come close and the team suffered for it, and still does.
And as a side note, which can be open for debate, you will find an inordinate amount of pitching injuries over the past several years.
Don’t see how its Epplers fault that Upton & Heaney started the season unable to perform. We already had to account for no Ohtani but adding more setbacks ( along with Simba now) is a lot to overcome. While the Harvey/Cahill/Allen signings look regrettable there is some real promise on the current roster suggesting light on the horizon. The guy on the hill tonight is a good example
I say go all in next season, Sign Anthony Rendon to play third, move fletcher to second full time, La Stella can be a platoon at short. Go after Zach Wheeler or Gerrit Cole .
Good luck with that.
Wow.412. First, our infield talent as it sits right now is very strong and definitely not the source of our problems . But I have no idea why platooning anyone with the best SS in baseball is a good idea. We need a strong and consistent rotation above everything else. With a strong rotation, I submit that this is a playoff team.
Mariners will trade Dipito for Eppler straight up
Clueless.
I would respectfully disagree, Eppler has done an outstanding job rebuilding the minor league system that Dipoto destroyed. Yes, he added a couple 1 yr rentals that haven’t worked out, but next year’s pitching free agent class will tell the real story if Eppler wants to win now. Adel will be a stud outfielder and will most likely start next year as Calhoun hits FA. Thias is going to be a gutsy 1st baseman. Canning looks like he could be the ace Eppler drafted.
Cookmeister has an interesting comment… “So the owner needs to hire a GM because they (I assume Angels) has no real money to spend and lots of holes”?
Did the Angels sign Trout to a 12 years at 430 million dollar contract? If that’s the case… sounds like the organization has plenty of money.
For once I’m with you. Eppler grossly misplayed the pitching market this year.
Harvey at $11 million, Cody Allen at $8 million. He had money, not a ton, but he spent what he had horribly. That’s on top if the Cozart disaster signed last year. Over $30 million wasted on those 3 horrible players.
He seems to be great at drafts and trades, but bad at free agents.
What else should they have done? Harper? Machado? Dallas K?
Gio, Miley, even Pomeranz looked better than Harvey.
Allen was a total bust. Looked bad from day one.
Eppler way overpaid for blah whole the rest of the GM’s got better pitchers for less money.
Allen is a closer and in that role he is 4 for 4. He’s struggled when he hasn’t been in save situations.
Yeah, about that…
It’s worth noting that Gio signed with the Yankees to MiLB deal, pitched poorly, and exercised an opt-out when Yankees didn’t call him up. He subsequently signed with the Brewers. The takeaway from that is that he could just as easily started out miserably in Anaheim.
I’ll concede the point on Miley, though he was far from a sure thing, too. The thing we don’t know on any of the FA pitchers (except Keuchel) is what their expectations were in terms of guaranteed years. Eppler intentionally kept the deals for Harvey and Cahill at 1-year; it’s possible in November, Miley, Gio and the rest were firm on 2 or more guaranteed years. The market caught a lot of players by surprise.
In 2020, the Angels have Ohtani, Skaggs, Heaney, and Canning as probables to make the rotation, with Suarez, Ramirez, Sandoval, and Peters to fill out the other two slots, plus the opportunity to make a play for Cole (though doubtful it would be for most $$$ and instead offer chance to return to SoCal).
Eppler is working a plan, which coalesces in 2020, with a window of several years, which means he’s not looking at short-term fixes in 2019.
I feel like Harvey & Allen were signed with the intention to flip at the deadline when/if we were out of it by then. Guys like Gio or Miley may be better overall but their low ceiling makes the potential return insignificant. Obviously two BAD moves in hindsight but I can see the rational at least
It wasn’t hindsight to see Harvey had been bad for years and Allen was declining.
Cahill and Cozart have fallen off much further than expected.
That deal doesn’t move the AAV up all that much (about two million) so that is irrelevant
Over/under 3 starts before Heaney back on the IL?
3 innings
hasn’t Canning been scheduled for his TJ surgery yet ?
I would respectfully disagree, Eppler has done an outstanding job rebuilding the minor league system that Dipoto destroyed. Yes, he added a couple 1 yr rentals that haven’t worked out, but next year’s pitching free agent class will tell the real story if Eppler wants to win now. Adel will be a stud outfielder and will most likely start next year as Calhoun hits FA. Thias is going to be a gutsy 1st baseman. Canning looks like he could be the ace Eppler drafted.
Canning looks every bit as good as the possible ace Eppler drafted. If Skaggs and Heaney could just stay healthy, that’s a very good top 3. Fletcher is a fantastic utility player. Eppler has done a great job rebuilding the farm system, and as the Astros have proven it takes a little time to get a mix of talented youth and key free agents to contend. Next year will tell the real story as the pitching free agent class will be deep