The Angels are slated to welcome back reigning Rookie of the Year Shohei Ohtani, an exciting development for a team that could use a jolt. He’s not going anywhere near the pitching mound this season, which limits his value, but it’s intriguing to wonder whether that’ll actually open the door to even greater offensive output from the two-way performer. You might anticipate just that if you peruse Fabian Ardaya’s profile of Ohtani at The Athletic (subscription link), which paints a picture of a player with immense physical abilities, learning capacity, and competitiveness.
- The progress has been steady for Reds second baseman Scooter Gennett, as MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon reports. He’s still at least a week or two away from on-field activities; there’s good reason not to rush his return from a significant groin strain. Gennett indicates that he’s doing well with walking and jogging, but feels weakness and is still avoiding quick directional changes to avoid aggravating the injury.
- Righty Addison Reed is launching a rehab assignment as he returns from a left thumb strain, as LaVelle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune was among those to report. Given the nature of the injury it would stand to reason that Reed could work back quickly, but it doesn’t sound as if the team is in a particular rush. GM Thad Levine explained that the club assigned Reed straight to Triple-A in order to give him a long look at advanced competition. Beyond the injury, the veteran reliever is looking to regain his form after a subpar 2018 season.
- In another update from the Twins organization, it doesn’t sound as if there’s a huge rush to move slugger Miguel Sano back up the ladder. He’s currently working at Double-A. In that case, though, there’s a May 20th deadline to wrap up the rehab assignment.
- Cardinals righty Carlos Martinez is moving his rehab assignment up to Triple-A, as MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch tweeted. It seems promising that he’s heading right to Memphis after one game at the class A level. Martinez could be a MLB option rather soon; given that he’s returning in a relief capacity, he won’t need to build up his pitch count.
Really excited to have Ohtani’s bat, speed and overall presence back with the team. The Halos are a much better team with him helping in anyway that he can. Hopefully it gives the team a jolt indeed…
Fascinating.
A jolt for what? So they stink a little less. Should just let Ohtani rest his arm.properly, not put his recovery at risk so he can hit for a losing team.
Probably not a popular take, but something the Angels should really consider if it’s July and they’re not close to contention.
How do you not rest your arm at DH?
I’ll answer your question with a question:
How do you not use your elbow to swing a bat?
Touché Stan Lee the manly
So the Angels lost their number one, two and three hitters. Yes, Trout was hurt again where he pulled a groin muscle, missed 3 games and came back and hit 206 for ten games following his return. That’s two weeks.
They lost their number 1 and 2 starters and have just brought up their #1 pitching prospect.
Two games ago they had a plus run differential until they played in that joke of a park in Mexico. So their season is over on May 7th?. Good to know.
Are you saying the Angels will make the playoffs?
I don’t think they will. But who is the 6th best team in the AL? Now that the Indians have lost so much pitching, I think I can make a case it’s the Angels. I’m sure there are other teams that can make the same case.
The top five make the playoffs. The Angels are going to get healthy.
And if you think you are the sixth best team in a league, I don’t think it takes all that much to be one of the five teams that make the playoffs.
If they stay healthy, they have a shot. I don’t think you throw away the season on May 7th. Especially since they haven’t played a single game with anything close to their best team.
DH’s don’t throw.
It’s hard to believe fans don’t understand that.
Of the 278 hitters with more than 300 ABs last year. Ohtani was 8th in wRC+. Having him in the lineup is a huge boost to Trout and the Angels.
How good was 8th. Judge was 10th. Soto was 12th. Trout, Betts, JD Martinez and Yellich were one through four.
Hopefully the Angels cut Boar.
I believe Miguel Sano has an option left and it wouldn’t surprise me if the Twins were willing to use it to keep him in the minors longer, even if Sano is hitting well. I think making Sano slowly earn his way back after the last couple years could be an especially attractive route for the team if Marwin Gonzalez shows up at the plate in the near future.
Addison Reed is cooked well done. His velocity has disappeared over the past two years and, from my understanding, it wasn’t looking good pre-injury in Spring Training, either.
That 8 Mil is a sunk cost. Cut him loose and wave bye bye to him and the money.
It seemed like he gave up countless walk off homers last year
Hopefully Martinez should be back starting soon.
He doesn’t want to.
He said he wants to after the all star break per Jen Langosh
I see the cards building Cmart up to long relieve, and possibly/hopefully he throws enough quality innings to be considered for the starting rotation by midseason. I kinda feel the same way about Alex Reyes at this point too… they know both those guys have big talent, but are fragile at the same time. I feel like sending Reyes to AAA and bringing Cmart along as a reliever is best for both players at this point. Hopefully both are in midseason form and somewhat rested in the 2nd half.
the way the Halos are managing Ohtani concerns me as a fan of him as a player. i know they think he can help at DH this year, but now is as good a year as any to sacrifice the present for the near future.
He’s DHing. How does that mess with his arm. And considering he’s going to hit five times a year next year, how is him not getting ABs for an entire year going to help this team in the future?
I don’t understand the logic.
This whole 2 way player thing is uncharted waters for everyone. Adding in the TJ surgery just makes it more difficult. Ohtani has been wanting to come back earlier in the season but it was the Angels saying either he wasn’t ready or needed to stick to his rehab schedule. Either way, as a fan we at least get to see him hit this year and if all goes well then pitch and go back to his original schedule like last season. I think the team has done as well as they can with the player and fans wanting him back asap. Glad to see him in the lineup tonight
How do we feel about Sano going forward? Is he still a major power threat? What type of seasons do you guys foresee from him going forward?
Seems like a lot of Twins fans still think of Sano as the 2015 rookie version. I’m not one of them.
His off field behavioral issues seem to never end from the ditching Spring Training workouts to party in NYC in 2016 to the sexual assault allegation in 2018 to running over a police officer and paying them off in 2019 before somehow getting injured in drunken celebration after a Dominican Winter League Championship party, it just never ends.
Add in his conditioning problems which I’m not remotely convinced have actually been addressed this past off-season despite the obscure quotes about losing 25lbs (from what, when he was 300?) and no quotes about his actual playing weight this spring.
Then top it off with how injury prone he’s been (likely because of the weight) and how poorly he’s played over the past 1.5 years (437 PA, wRC+ 86 since 2017 All Star Break), and my expectations are very low. Even if you go back to post ASG 2016, Sano’s stat line only jumps to wRC+ 105 in 1020 PA.
I just don’t believe there’s been a case in MLB where a player has been such a mess off the field, had such a major conditioning issue starting at age 22, and then turned everything around for any significant length of time to live up to the hype.
The way you are saying this, it sounds like maybe Sano is the next Josh Hamilton. And Hamilton had a couple of pretty good years. Just wondering if you have seen Sano this year in the minors? I have, and he looks to be in pretty darn good shape. He looks like a solid linebacker. If this is going to help him from getting injured, the future still looks good for him. Personally, I am looking for the 2017 version, but in better health. I think his realistic future is a .270-.280 average and 30-35 HRs a year. He is only 25 right now.
I’d say he’s more like Pablo Sandoval or former Twins player Oswaldo Arcia. Sano carries his weight very well from an appearance standpoint, but excess weight is excess weight. For a guy who’s leg literally broke from him running on it, I’d say looks can be deceiving.
So what you’re saying is he’s going to be better than he’s ever been in his career? He’s never hit better than .269 or more than 28HRs in his career. I’d say you’re awfully optimistic considering his track record.
But really though….all Sano has to do is outhit Marwin and I’m a happy camper.
I hope the Twins unload him. He’ll never amount to anything.