The Angels have designated veteran catcher Jonathan Lucroy for assignment, per a club announcement. His roster spot goes to just-acquired receiver Max Stassi.
Additionally, the Halos announced that southpaw Adam McCreery was outrighted to Triple-A after clearing waivers. McCreery was designated for assignment recently.
Lucroy. 33, was designated for assignment right on the heels of his activation from the injured list. He had suffered a concussion and broken nose in a scary collision at the plate.
While the Halos forewent a chance to swap Lucroy at the deadline, it would have been tough to swing a deal due to the quick succession of transactions. Stassi only became available after the Astros added Martin Maldonado earlier that day. And it was the first game back for Lucroy.
Now, Lucroy can’t be traded. If and when he’s placed on outright waivers, rival organizations will have a chance to claim his contract, which would mean taking on the remainder of the $3.35MM he’s guaranteed this year. (The deal also includes bonuses based upon games started as a catcher and plate appearances.) If he clears, Lucroy can reject an outright assignment and keep his guaranteed money, signing on with another club as he chooses. In that case, the Halos would stand to save a pro-rated version of the MLB minimum salary for any time Lucroy spends on the MLB roster of a different team.
While Lucroy likely won’t be seen as a difference-maker, he’s an experienced veteran who could improve some contenders — or, at least, bolster the depth at a key position. Through 268 plate appearances this year, Lucroy carries a marginal .242/.310/.371 batting line that’s only slightly better than his output from the prior season.
That stinks
Noe Ramirez is going to missle a ball right where Moreno and everyone else important sits for that.
Billy eppler should be fired I keep saying this Disaster with free agents Arte Moreno is throwing away his money
Eppler is an awesome GM. I wish the Red Sox would hire him. Then again I am a Yankee fan so…
I guess Billy eppler didn’t learn nothing from Yankees GM Cashman
the Angels are bringing up their homegrown Talent rebuilding the Angels will rise once again all they need is two starting pitchers free agency or trade they have the two best players in the American League Trout and Ohtani could be the Ace of the staff next year
welcome back, welcome back, welcome back, welcome baaaaaacck
(Insert team here) has to go get this guy.
Yeah, he has to be a better option than (insert player here), that guy’s been terrible for months now.
I’d take him in Philly over Knapp
Braves fans:
“Should have gotten Lucroy for the pen. Cheap GM”
I think he would make a great bullpen catcher lol
Haha this is great. Along with Cheap, their is Worst and finally, Fired GM.
Oakland A’s. They wanted him this offseason but didn’t want to pay. Well a pro-rated contract will certainly be better than A’s could have ever asked for.
You know these parts well!
Breaks nose for the club.
Appreciate the help breh… see ya…
Tough break for him.
Man, Lucroy got screwed. First he gets demolished by Marisnick, then loses his spot on the team because of it. Oh, and by a former teammate of Marisnick no less. Ouch.
When were they teammates? Not in the majors at least
He was talking about losing his roster spot to Max Stassi who was an Astro before being dealt to LA.
Oh that’s right. I apologize
Wait a minute? Humility!?! That never happens here! 😉
So if he goes unclaimed and accepts a minor league assignment could he be traded as a minor leaguer under the new rules?
no, outrighted players can not be traded after the deadline.
I don’t believe so. I think since he was on a major league roster sometime during the year he can’t be traded, but don’t quote me on it.
From what I’ve read that is correct
He would most likely never accept the assignment as he gets all of his money by rejecting the assignment and is then free to sign with any MLB club and somebody will pcik him up. Or he can wait it out a couple of weeks and see if somebody has an injury and needs him. As long as he is on an MLB roster by Aug 31 then he is eligible for the post season with that team.
If another team signed him to a minor league deal, would he become trade eligible? I know it’s unlikely since he is likely to get a major league deal but just wondering if a guy could be cut, signed, and traded after the deadline.
mlbtraderumors.com/2019/08/so-what-can-teams-do-in…
mlbtraderumors.com/2019/05/understanding-the-new-t…
Whaaa? That’s surprising. Also seems kinda wrong to do just after activating him…
I think Gm’s are spooked by injured players like they are a jinx, especially on Concussions. Mac Williamson of the Giants was doing real well, hitting the ball into tomorrow when he tripped over the bullpen mound at oracle park chasing a fly ball…crashed into the wall knocking himself silly, then tested positive for a concussion…went on the Injured list for it and was doing real after being activated from the IL at AAA Sacramento, so the Giants brought him up and he couldn’t hit a lick after homering at Coors Field on his first at bat after being activated.
I think his middle name is “K,” because he had that next to his name almost every game he played in the box score. He was DFA’d and picked up by the Mariners.
The last time I checked Williamson was playing for AAA Tacoma against the Rivercats, his old team and he had that initial next to his name again…”K.”
Let me recap that he was knocking the cover off the ball as “Pops” would say, before the concussion
So, having said all that, Farhan Zaiti is like the character in “Money Ball” that Brad Pit played and if you don’t get on base by any means, you are DFA. Unfair and may be true, but seems like players that have had concussions, never get back to where they were BTC and Buster Posey might be one of them as well as Belt. which makes them damaged goods and a smart GM will let that be some other team’s .damaged goods and bring in someone who is healthy and can get on base.
At least they waited for him to come back.
They had to, you can’t release or demote someone on the IL.
Well at least they let him play a game
Lol better
He will be a Met.
I think they’re OK sticking with Nido and Ramos.
If the O’s don’t pick him up they aren’t trying to win
Then they won’t pick him up
ive got news for you buddy…
Phillies should pick him up for a backup. He’s better than Knapp.
Agreed
Have you ever watched an Orioles game.
Highly under rated piece of sarcasm here. Take a thumbs up.
That is correct…they ARE NOT trying to win. In fact, they are going a long way to assure that they will NOT win. They picked up Rondon (who is no better than Martin) just before the deadline. They already had 8 infielders in the Bigs and 8 in AAA. ALL of whom are better options then both…but…#notwinning
The Angels Management team is terrible. I feel bad for Trout! He will never win the world series with this organization.
Trout chose to sign the extension. I don’t feel bad for him.
Trout could’ve held out and gone home. Philly would’ve given him more. It was trout’s choice to stay. He made his bed.
Ohtani, Fletcher, Rengifo, Thaiss, next year Jo Adell. The Angel’s have a good core of young controllable players. Over 60 million falls off the payroll for next season. They need 2 arms next year, hopefully Gerrit Cole and Zack Wheeler. A rotation of Cole, Wheeler, Canning, Ohtani, Heaney is good enough to compete.
You think cutting Lucroy is mismanagement?
exactly plus large chunks of money coming off the books each year for the next four years. This team is one on the rise. Its lazy research to say otherwise.
Not a stretch to say that an organization that has sucked for the last decade will continue to suck.
well, angels, at least, don’t have a troll with iq of 11. and that is you.
It literally is. It’s not even an observable variable. its the defintion of a bad take with no thought.
Exaggerate much or just ignorant? 2009-2018 the Angels have the 7th best record in baseball.
The last five years.. 2014-2019 they rank 9th.
Very True. Angles are a lot like those early 2000’s Twins teams.
@baseballpun – Hyperbole much? There are exactly nine teams in ALL of MLB with more wins than the Angels 2010 thru 2019. Five in the AL (NYY, BOS, TBR, CLE, TEX) and four in the NL (LAD, STL, WSN, ATL).
And they only have to pay Albert Pujols for another 3 years
I dunno if you are counting this season, but 2021 is the final year of Pujols’ deal ($30M). And 2022 is final year for Upton($28M). So crafting FA contracts with that much payroll dropping off in the next 2-3 seasons is feasible.
Well, Thaiss and Rengifo are just pieces. There is a core in Anaheim. The loss of Skaggs is huge. Fletcher can play, but he’s wasted at 3rd, which mean should be fodder.
They need to sign an ace.. They need Ohtani to pitch like an top of the rotation starter. And they need Canning and Heaney to stay healthy.
If that happens, they will likely be good.
We need a decent bullpen too. They got a couple decent guys but the rest pretty much suck.
Lol in what universe is designating Lucroy bad management? He stinks
Stinks is right. With Lucroy catching almost the full season, the Angels have become the team with the most wild pitches.
Lucroy’s an alright hitter at the position, but he’s cost the Angels a lot by being a bad framer and completely unable to block off speed pitches in the dirt.
Good riddance to very bad rubage.
A team in need of a platoon option at 1b might take a chance too…
Man what happened to this dude.
The Angels hate catchers that have a batting average over .200
Do some teams not?
Angels typically get rid of catchers that produce halfway decent for their position in favor of better defensive guys that can’t hit to save their lives. Stassi, Mathis come to mind. They should never have gotten rid of Maldonado.
His defense behind the plate was really bad even before holy saint Jake hung a left and sent him to the hospital.
I doubt there much of a market for him, but wish him well.
Stassi is part of the future, Lucroy wasn’t.
“Stassi is part of the future, Lucroy wasn’t.”
I’d say he’s part of the present, as in probably this year only. The future isn’t very bright for a 28 year old career backup catcher who is currently boasting a -.06 bWAR.
Stassi has 3 years of club control and the Angels system is scary thin at catcher. Max will be in training camp next Spring. Lucroy won’t.
but I do agree he creates a new baseline, not a new ceiling.
Stassi’s value is in his excellent pitch framing and well above average defense.
But he gets destroyed at the plate. I never felt his defensive was enough to make up for his offense. (especially when White was in the order with him)
He probably should have accepted that trade to Cleveland.
I think about that a lot.
The Indians ended up trading Mejia for Hand/Cimber while Chang is a solid prospect and Greg Allen is a capable role player (Shawn Armstrong was only traded for slot money I think). I’m sure that the Indians are glad he turned them down too.
He was really good for the second half of that season with the Rangers. It was that next season that he sucked. And man that drop off was swift and brutal.
As a Brewers fan here, I’m glad he didn’t. The Crew got a better package from the Rangers, which included Brinson. Without Brinson, we wouldn’t have gotten Yelich. So I’d say everything worked out quite well. Who knows, maybe we let Grandal go and sign Luc as a backup to Pina.
I could see the Brewers picking him up simply cause he is very good with pitchers, there is no denying that. Plus him or Grandal could get some at first
Very good with pitchers? He gave up more base advancing “wild pitches” than any catcher I’ve ever seen. I lost count of the times this year that an opponent on first advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch, then scored a batter later. THAT was on Lucroy, not the pitchers. I’m pretty sure the pitching staff is HAPPY to see him go.
Did the Angels make any signings that are still on the roster
Was Tommy La Stella signed or traded for?
Traded for pretty much nothing
Traded for a lefty reliever who had yet, and still has yet, to pitch in the big leagues.
How about Brian Goodwin?
Oh….
Billy eppler should be fired I keep saying this Disaster with free agents Arte Moreno is throwing away his money
The answer is 1: Trevor Cahill.
And, honestly, he should have been dumped to keep Meija, who at least has relative youth and some club control on his side.
Interesting how the lack of an August deadline has caused teams not really in it to cut bait on veterans on expiring contracts. Creates a whole new market.
Definitely an interesting way off looking at it. Good way to pick up veteran depth on the cheap.
Right up Klentak’s alley.
Seems odd but not
Moves like this will become even more common once September call ups is reduced from 40 to 28
That’s next year, right? They changed the trade deadline rules this year, but they couldn’t do that this year because it’s in conjunction with the change to 26 players for the rest of the season. It’s similar with the 2-way [pitcher/position] player rule. To meet that requirement, you have to have a certain amount of appearances in order to play both without adversely counting against your pitcher limit. The Angels will have to apply for some exemption to allow Ohtani to pitch and hit next year. Because of his TJ, he only counts as a position player this year.
I read up on how that would work on Ohtani. I believe they can list him as a pitcher, but he can still DH while doing so. There are limitations to how many pitchers you can bring to a game, but not how many position players.
Forgive me, I see your point now after reading more thoroughly, that is an interesting point!
Should Andrew Knapp be worried?
I would hope so. I used to be a Knapp supporter, but he just doesn’t have it at the MLB level. His defense and pitch framing are not enough to make up for his lack of offense.
Glad to see him go. Not hitting, poor pitch framing, and the Angels have had an extreme number of wild pitches when he catches. Sorry, Jon, but it wasn’t working.
still a bit cold.
I see this as possibly being a good will gesture. We are out of the playoff hunt. We won’t want you next year. Good find a team making the playoffs. I wouldn’t be mad if I were him. I’d be thanking them.
Remember when Lucroy thought he was going to get that 100mm contract? I know I shouldn’t feel bad for a 25 million dollar man but I do.
Damn! Angels did this guy dirty! Takes one for the team, gets DFA. Business or not, that sucks!
Angels blew it. They were hanging by a thread of contention. Once we (tragically) lost Skaggs, there was no way of making up ground. If it’s true that teams had interest in Lucroy, Goodwin and Calhoun, they should have traded all 3 for whatever they could have gotten (including the proverbial bucket of balls).
there is no reason to trade goodwin when he is making league minimum. and the other two did not have much of trade value..
Pretty Dirty Deal.
Astros for catching depth.
hope they do and take him to the po.
Not to be mean but
‘Recover from a Broken Nose & Concussion/ get released by team’ sounds a lot like a Bad Luck Brian meme.
Seriously though I feel bad for Jonathan and hope he gets hired by another team soon.
At least the team paid for his medical expenses.
Might be a blessing in disguise for Lucroy. Goes home, rests his body, if someone offers him a job, great, if not, he gets paid anyway, has the offseason to recover more fully, and then looks for a slot (probably a minor league contract) next Spring. If there’s anything left in the tank someone will be looking for an experienced veteran catcher for a #2.
This makes no sense. The Stassi thing baffles me.
WTF? Why didn’t they just trade him? This is bizarre.
why would anyone trade for him when they didn’t know whether he recovered fully or not?
He had a concussion, not a ruptured Achilles.
do you even know the lasting effects of concussion?
You’re aware a concussion isnt just a headache, right ?
Well aware. I’m also aware that he wouldn’t have come off the IL if he hadn’t passed the concussion protocols, which he obviously did. If you guys think he wasn’t traceable due to his concussion, perhaps you should go see the neurologist yourself.
It takes two parties to make a trade. You’re assuming there was a market for Lucroy.
……should’ve accepted that trade to Cleveland.
He used to be such a good hitter…..
A’s reunion
Has team control become so important that you take a guy batting .167 (WAR -0.6) over one hitting .242 (WAR -1.0) . This has Angels written all over it, lol. Only reason Lucroy’s WAR is lower is because he plays more, but at least he can somewhat hit his way out of a wet paper bag.
Angels have DFA most of their offseason signings only Cahill remains
He should’ve been the first to go
That is low class IMO. This guy gets laid out trying to make a play and gets hurt.
Bad move by the Angels.
They still will have to pay him. They just don’t want him on the 25 man roster and he can’t be optioned
Insult to injury
Lucroy to Houston, anyone?
Eppler the “ Genius “ at it again. How does this guy keep his job. Harvey, Cahill, Allen, Lucroy, Upton. 55 million a year for what? Wow
Mike Trout!
Othani!
Rebuilt the farm!
How do you keep your job? Keep delivering those papers.
Trout was there. Othani wanted to play in California. Rebuilt the Farm. Bahahaha.
This (along with a flurry of similar moves today/yesterday) shows why there should still be the waiver-wire trades. Idk it just seemed to add order to the process and provided a little excitement here and there for the fans. Now veterans are just being released to sign elsewhere like in the NBA — I think I liked the old system better.
The Braves should get him, Flowers is erratic and McCann could use the help.
Took one for team, then waived. Cruel!
Forewent. +1
Bit of a tangent, but for some reason, Lucroy’s career kinda reminds me of Jason Kendall’s playing career.
Angel fan here, what the article fails to point out is how terrible he was on defense. The angels have the worst catchers in baseball, they give up 90 feet like it’s nothing which takes away double plays and automatically puts runners in scoring position. Something had to be done! Yes the timing of it wasnt ideal but This is a performance based business, Lucroy got hurt, they tried to get him back so he could play a few games and maybe get traded before the deadline but he came back on deadline day… Nothing could be done, instead they went out and got a defensive minded catcher. Finally they realized the mistake they made, Our catching has never been the same since we traded Maldonado. Stop trying to get offense at every position and focus on defense for once… Catching is the most important of the field and the angels are having a terrible season partly because of it.
No amount of musical chairs at the catcher position is going to make a pitching staff improve the 75% it needs to in order to have a winning team. It’s the pitching, stupid.
Cubs now need him with Contreras going down with a hammy
That’s what I was thinking. But is he fully healed. Carratini seems like he can definitely handle everyday being a switch hitter. And they have Taylor Davis in the minors, but I’d take Lucroy over Davis. They should have held onto Maldonado