6:05pm: GM Billy Eppler says that Cozart will not return to action this year, as J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group was among those to tweet. The club is reinstating backstop Kevan Smith from the IL to take the place of injured catcher Jonathan Lucroy.
4:55pm: The Angels announced today that infielder Zack Cozart will undergo an “arthroscopic debridement of his left shoulder.” He has been shifted to the 60-day injured list, making roster space for today’s earlier transactions.
It’s not clear at the moment just what the expectations are moving forward for Cozart, whose tenure in Los Angeles has been an unmitigated disaster. There is no indication at present whether he will attempt to return later this season, though there does not appear to be much cause for optimism at this point.
Cozart had already been out for about a month when he revealed that his attempt to return without surgery had stalled out. After a few more weeks of waiting, he’ll now go under the knife. His three-year, $38MM contract expires at the end of the 2020 campaign.
When they signed him, the Halos hoped that Cozart would team with Andrelton Simmons on the left side of the infield to form an outstanding defensive and solid offensive pairing. Instead, Cozart has struggled to stay on the field and performed miserably when he has been able to suit up. The 33-year-old owns a meager .190/.261/.296 batting line in his 360 plate appearances in Anaheim.
cheese and rice. can this guy catch a break?!
This is the kind of deal modern GMs warn about. . .
Warn who? The ghosts of GMs Past?
Also this sucks.
Eachother. The Public. Front Offices.
Age. Stats. Unproven outside of Cincy bandbox. Only one team to his credit. Big Money. First big contract. Los Angeles. One good season before free agency. Not a full time starter. Etc. Etc. Etc. . .
Yup. This signing checks all the boxes for a red flag free agent signing.
Maybe MLB should have a player waiver named after DUD free agent signings like GMJ/Cozart etc. something like a “free agent Mulligan”. Crappy player gets DFA’d, player gets paid 75%?-100% of remaining salary (based on various criteria) but the team has the contract come off the books immediately for salary cap calculations. 1 mulligan every 2 seasons as long as the team isn’t still paying a prior FA Mulligan.
I missed it. I thought it was a good signing. Obviously it wasn’t and for all the reasons you mentioned, I should not have been fooled either.
But I was.
Do you even follow baseball 5tool?
All day. Why?
Cozart has 1 decent season, his FA walk season, at age 31 no less. It was a crappy signing.
Because a salary cap doesn’t exist in baseball.
I’m pretty sure he’s referring to the luxury tax, which essentially acts as a soft cap. You know that, and he knows that. Plenty of people refer to it as a salary cap, no need to attack the guy…..
I like the idea of mulligan signings haha. Why not? Nobody else is held accountable for their actions anymore. Let’s let MLB GMs off the hook too!!! Haha
Yes the luxury tax. It acts as a salary cap. As for the Mulligan idea, the NBA did it in 2011/12. I think it was called amnesty provision? 1 time only.
Amnesty *clause.
Man The Angels can’t catch a break! I really feel for the organization!
really? wait all this time to have a surgery now?
He had major surgery last year and arthroscopic surgery now. Right?
I don’t think the delay is surprising.
Cursed.
Fletcher is really good. LaStella has earned his shot. Cozart is an expensive utility infielder.
Fletcher has 582 lifetime ABs with a 4.5 WAR. That’s borderline All-Star production. Let the kid play. I don’t understand why Fletcher is not plan “A” at second base where he is fully capable of winning a gold glove.
amen!
I agree that Fletch is a good young player. But he seems like a better 3rd baseman at this time and he can move around the infield. I think Rengifo is more in line as a solid 2nd baseman. Either way….sucks that the Halos can’t seem to catch a break (literally and figuratively). Things need to start going better within the next season or so due to our Trout extension. I think next season is when the competitive window/door will open up
I totally agree and it must be said, Ausmus has his favorites and history shows it in Detroit and Fletcher is not one of them
Go get Anthony Rendon in the offseason, and sign an ace. If not Trout won’t see the playoffs. Arte Moreno needs to finally spend the money again.
Artie has been spending money since day 1. Spending it wisely …. that’s something he is still needing to work on.
I’m hoping they go after Rendon and Cole. Give Fletch 2B. They are close to being a solid contender again. And Arte does spend money, just hasn’t panned out unfortunately, but Epp has rebuilt the farm.
that deal was terrible as soon as it was signed. one good season. one.
Solid 3rd place team.
Fun bit.
Solid last place repetitive comment. Get out of your parents basement in South OC and get some new material Halo Shane.
Well…not really surprised. Let the good times roll. I definitely feel like my Halos are snake bitten the last few seasons. Let’s hope that our farm system is as good as they say. Let the kids play…
Last few seasons? Let’s start with the 1961 season,
Let the kids play. I couldn’t of said it any better.
Not every transaction is going to be a winner. On the plus side because of his injury we discovered Fletcher and LaStella..
Wonderful.. lets move on. Fletcher and La Stella Are our guys anyway.
This has zero to do with the Angels not being able to catch a break and everything to do with the Angels being clueless. They need starting pitching and have for what seems like forever yet it never gets truly addressed. Nope, instead they sign Cozart, a one year wonder with a couple of other small stretches of decent play to a $38 million dollar contract. They got exactly what they deserve. If you’re an Angel’s fan and you have hopes of Gerrit Cole signing here well let me be the one to crush your dreams. It’s not happeneing, the Angels don’t sign pitchers of that quality.
It’s safe to say Cole will likely sign with one of the following teams…NYY, BOS, CHC, HOU, LAD, LAA, SD (top contending teams or SoCal “home” teams). The Angels have a glaring need for a top end SP now more than ever and I’m sure it will be addressed. They have expiring deals coming off the books, and money to spend and they have shown they aren’t afraid to commit big $$$.
What you fail to mention is the ridiculous number of SP injuries they’ve had the last 3-5 years, the fact that Eppler has had to rebuild a farm system from dead last in 2014/15 to ranked about middle of the pack currently. Sure they could’ve signed more top “A list” FA players but the cost was losing a 1st/2nd round draft pick for each player signed. Teams are wary of losing picks as seen by the Keuchel/Kimbrel delayed signings.
If players like Cahill and Harvey pitched like the did last season in OAK and CIN the Angels would likely be a current wild card team and worst case they would have trade value at the trade deadline, further improving the farm system.
The Angels should NEVER be allowed to sign a FA ever again. let’s think: Mo Vaughn, Josh Hamilton, Mark Langston, Albert, now Cozart. All of these guy minus Cozart are Multi-Million Dollar Busts. And you want them to sign more? They should just stick to the Minor league system instead.