Justin Upton will make his season debut on Monday when the Angels open a series in Toronto against the Blue Jays, Angels manager Brad Ausmus told Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group (Twitter links) and other reporters.
Upton has missed the entire year recovering from turf toe, but will be activated off the injured list tomorrow and is set to take his usual spot in left field. There isn’t necessarily a great way for the Angels to ease Upton back in terms of a positional role, as giving him DH at-bats would mean that Shohei Ohtani would have to sit, though Upton has been regularly working in left field during his rehab assignment and seems ready to go.
Unexpectedly strong contributions from Brian Goodwin, Cesar Puello, and utilityman David Fletcher helped the Angels generate some solid offense from the left field spot even without Upton. He isn’t the only star who could be on his way back to Anaheim, as Ausmus also said that shortstop Andrelton Simmons (out since May 20 with a left ankle sprain) could potentially rejoin the club during its road trip through Toronto and St. Louis.
The returns of Upton and Simmons will only help an Angels lineup that has quietly been very productive this season. The Halos have received surprise breakouts from Fletcher, Goodwin, and Tommy La Stella, Kole Calhoun is enjoying a comeback year, Ohtani is beginning to heat up after his own extended IL absence, Albert Pujols is showing some of his old power, and (of course) Mike Trout is his usual superb self.
Despite this offensive pop, however, Los Angeles is still only 35-36 on the season thanks to a subpar pitching staff. The Halos sit 3.5 games out of a wild card spot entering Sunday’s action, and it remains to be seen if the club will look to add some arms before the trade deadline in the name of a postseason push.
Keep Puello as 4th OF
No. Goodwin.
It will be Goodwin because Puello has options.
I don’t believe puello has options .. hence why he’s been tinkering with 1B
Can’t DH him because of Ohtani, but let’s activate him after having turf toe and let him start on that artificial turf in Toronto. Don’t understand that decision.
Turf toe is a sprain, not a stubbed toe? I think artificial grass it probably better for a player coming back from a strain than grass.
Now if if was a bum knee, you may have a point.
Never have I ever read a take like this. The term Turf Toe was coined for that injury from AstroTurf.
Google Turf Toe. It’s a silly name. But it is what it is. He got the injury kicking a wall while making a catch.
Turf toe is a sprain of the big toe joint resulting from injury during sports activities. The injury usually results from excessive upward bending of the big toe joint. The condition can be caused from either jamming the toe or from repetitive injury when pushing off repeatedly when running or jumping.
Per what PopeMarley said in response, this is why I don’t like MLBTR having removed the thumbs-down button and why I visit here less.
Okay, sounds good. Looking more and more like a solid 3rd place team.
Nice insight that you cut and paste into every Angels article
You’re preaching to the choir bruh.
Worst halo fan of all time. Only comes round to complain. Go cry elsewhere Shane.
About time. Simmons always seems to mend faster than your average MLB player.
he’s a special player no doubt. I didn’t care for the trade from Atlanta but glad to see him grow into a descent hitter. Always will be a fan of Andreltons.
what kind of an umpire can call the last pitch of the game strike when it was 2 balls outside?
Not only that. He called Trout out on a ball.
The umpire was terrible, but virtually every close game is decided by the home plate umpire blowing multiple calls. Pitchers have exceeded the ability of umpires. Catcher’s tricks have exceeded the the ability of umpires. It’s time for robo-umps.
Get some pitching. Between his bad defense and inconsistent hitting, Upton is not going to help any more than what his replacements have done.
Angels left fielders: .250/.322/.385, .706 OPS, 6 HR, 29 RBI, etc. etc.
Justin Upton in 2018: .257/.344/.463, .808 OPS, 30 HR, 85 RBI, etc. etc.
And that was considered somewhat of a down year for Upton after a .904 OPS in 2017.
Justin Upton will definitely provide a big boost to an already productive lineup. At full strength their offense we would be one of the best in baseball. And that could possibly be enough to get them a playoff spot. They’d just be an offense heavy team. But they do have better prospects these days to acquire effective arms.
And Goodwin is a horrible LF. I’m not sure Puello is much better.