Infielder Zack Cozart’s Murphy’s Law tenure with the Angels continues. Out since late May because of left shoulder tightness, Cozart revealed Tuesday that he’s not progressing toward a return, as Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times tweets.
“It’s not too promising,” said Cozart, who will visit a doctor Monday. Cozart’s still “hopeful” he’ll play again this season, per DiGiovanna.
For Cozart, this is the latest unsettling development in an Angels stint loaded with disappointment. The former Red joined the Halos on a three-year, $38MM contract in December 2017, though injuries and underperformance have defined his career since then.
Always known for his defense, Cozart found another gear at the plate during an eyebrow-raising .297/.385/.458 showing (140 wRC+) with 24 home runs in 507 attempts in 2017 – his last season in Cincy. Cozart hasn’t come anywhere near that line as an Angel, though, nor has he been durable. The 33-year-old underwent season-ending shoulder surgery last June, thus limiting him to 58 games and 253 PA, and came back this year to total 38/107 in those categories before landing on the IL with yet another shoulder problem. Worsening matters, Cozart has batted a miserable .190/.261/.296 (55 wRC+) with five HRs and minus-0.6 fWAR in 360 trips to the plate as an Angel.
Now, Cozart’s no longer the necessary piece the Angels regarded the veteran as when they signed him. Primary second baseman Tommy La Stella and main third baseman David Fletcher have each blown by Cozart on the team’s pecking order to help comprise a respectable infield alongside currently injured shortstop mainstay Andrelton Simmons. Still, it’s far from ideal Cozart’s eating so much payroll space. The Angels will owe him another $12.6MM-plus in 2020 to conclude his ill-fated deal.
That signing was bad.
In hindsight – sure. At the time, it was widely praised. Nobody expected a repeat of his 2017 season. However, with his defense and just a league average bat he would more than outplay that contract.
i’m not buying that. yes, his defense was decent but we signed him after an career year of offence going intro free agency. nobody expected this low level of production but the team surely over-payed him.
Yes, the Angels overpaid but it’s not like the Pujols or Hamilton signings, right?
hamilton signing was bad but do you know the team received extra billion in tv contract just for signing pujols? of course not.. besides, his jersey sales numbers are only behind of trout’s.
“the team received extra billion in tv contract just for signing Pujols” That is one of the most outlandish claims I’ve ever seen. WTF Man?
it is a fact. new in trolling?
PAID*
No such word as “payed.”
thank you, pee!
Pujols enabled the Angels to get a multi-billion $ contract from Time Warner, and at least he’s been productive. Hamilton on the other hand, I can agree with. Cozart was never a good signing, they had a chance to get Moustakas for about the same money and passed. However, Fletcher and La Stella have more than made up for Cozart’s absents.
i checked. you check. i agree i miss-spelled the word but there is a word ‘payed’.
Didn’t know that the Angels were on a Time Warner network. Interesting.
it’d fox,actually. initially, it was a $2 billion bit after ap signing extra billion was added.
You seem to know a lot about the transaction. You work for Fox or the Angels? The TV deal was agreed to PRIOR to Pujols and CJ Wilson signing. If you go back and read the Pujols/Wilson signing articles it is clear that the TV deal enabled the signings, not the other way around.
Praised by some? Sure. Widely praised? I don’t know, I seem to remember a number of eyebrows being raised at that deal when Cozart became an Angel.
This was a contract Eppler jumped on while most of MLB suddenly became skittish and stopped signing players like Cozart.
This site, like the rest of the media, likes to simultaneously sh– on teams for signing players too contracts that don’t work out, and for NOT signing players to contracts that probably won’t work out.
The Angels tried, and an 80% Cozart would have filled a need. It didn’t work out, but at least the team was willing to spend the money.
Agree. However, things happen and Fletcher and La Stella have more than made up for his absence
The signing made no sense. Signing a guy to move him to a new position is almost always a dumb move, especially a one hit wonder. They could have had Moustakis (or Todd Frazier) for less years and about half the money per year. And they were actually third basemen!
Cozart has definitely not been the signing LAA wanted.
Cozart signing was bad.
Pujols and Hamilton signings became bad.
CJ Wilson signing was really bad.
Justin Upton was an overpay.
Matt Harvey and Trevor Cahill were way overpaid.
Theft is embraced in Anaheim.
I criticized the Reds for not trading Cozart by the 2017 deadline and basically let him to walk into free agency without getting anything in return. CIN did not, however, attempt to retain him in any way, and that was a clear stroke of genius.
Not trading him at the 2017 deadline was the bonehead decision of the year. Reds did the same thing with Harvey last year.
Genius and the Reds should never be in a paragraph together. Ever
When a guys original team makes no effort to sign him, that’s a red flag.
maybe, just maybe he’s enjoying ‘vacation’ too much?
A player having a career year in a contract year? Shocking!
Don’t worry Zack the Angels don’t want you back.
Yes, because rooting for career ending injuries makes one a superior fan
It’s not like he has performed at all while he’s been healthy with the Angels. Guys gonna make $50,000,000 by age 35. After he’s back healthy he will ride the bench. He may even get released.
When I saw the headline “Zack Cozart not progressing”, I initially forgot he was injured and I just figured it was an article explaining why he still can’t hit at all.
He’s not doing anything to help the players fighting for more free agency money.
What a disaster…Just DFA the guy already.
I’m sure the Jays would be more than willing to listen on Sogard. What a year he’s having. Hard to believe he’s kept it up this long tbh.
La Stella signing by Eppler easily erases Cozart signing by 100 miles!
Eppler didn’t sign him. He was traded to the Angels. Nice try though.
Who traded for him?
He was on the Cubs bench
Take your time Zack. Don’t rush your return to the field and make things worse. Take the rest of the season off.
As a matter of fact, take next season off as well! And when you come back healthy in 2021, you will be a healthy free agent and maybe the Reds will take you back!
What the heck is “although, it’s far from ideal Cozart’s eating so much payroll space” doing as its own sentence? It’s not even a grammatically correct sentence. Poor editing at MLBTR yet again.
If Scioscia were still at the helm, he would play Cozart if he came back over LaStella or Fletcher. With Ausmus, I don’t think he’ll get much playing time if he ever gets healthy enough to return.
Ausmus was the one who decided to option Fletcher done to the minors to start the season.
Down not done lol
The season had to unfold a little and there was a log jam for Fletcher who had options. But Ausmus has always said that guys will have to earn playing time and that’s what he has lived by.
Somehow someway he will have a great 2020 season. After all it’s his Walk year once again. It’s Amazing how many times this happens.
that will be great. angels for the first time in many years will have an extra pick. nah!
Today’s news story. The streets run red with Cozarts blood.
not progressing? now that’s the best news i’ve heard all day. we can stop wasting out time.
Why is there 2 mm’s after a salary?
MM is the correct shortening of the word million. M is a thousand, MM is a thousand thousands… a million.
I wanted them to sign Moose