Kole Calhoun had spent his entire pro career in the Angels’ organization until the club bought him out for $1MM in lieu of a $14MM team option last November. The two sides had some discussions about a reunion over the offseason, reports Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic, but talks didn’t get particularly far.
“(There was) never really a moment I thought I’d be back,” Calhoun told Ardaya. Instead, the corner outfielder inked a two-year, $16MM contract (with a 2022 club option) to join his hometown Diamondbacks in December.
As Calhoun himself points out, it’s not particularly surprising the Angels didn’t ardently pursue a reunion. That’s not a knock on Calhoun, who was solid again in 2019. He hit .232/.325/.467 (108 wRC+) with his typical strong right field defense. All told, he was worth upwards of two fWAR in five of his six full seasons in Anaheim.
Rather, the organization’s reluctance merely reflects its comfort with the current outfield mix. Justin Upton was always certain to get an opportunity for a bounce-back season in left field. Brian Goodwin, meanwhile, looks to have established himself as a solid placeholder in right until top prospect Jo Adell reaches the majors, which will almost certainly be at some point in 2020. David Fletcher, having been displaced as the everyday third baseman by Anthony Rendon, is in line for some work in the outfield as a utility option, as well, Ardaya notes.
With the Angels shelling out $245MM for Rendon and making multiple additions to the starting rotation this offseason, it never seemed likely they would top the market to bring back Calhoun. There’s no animosity, as Calhoun called his time in Anaheim “a heck of a ride,” before telling Ardaya he’s turning his attention to Arizona, where he figures to be the Snakes’ top option in right field.
Is anyone surprised?
Yes
Kole Mendoza
TYLER SKAGGS? Remember him? Mr. Moreno and Mr. Carpino hired lawyers.
I was thinking he would resign for 8 years $240 mil
gonna miss that cannon of an arm
anyone else think Adell looks awful in spring right now ?
No. He’s batting .318 this spring with a .757 ops. He will only get. better too.
He has looked pretty solid to me so far. Small sample size. Definitely not every day ready…yet. But he can hit, he can run, he can play the field and he seems a lot better than other prospects that I have seen in our system the last few seasons after Trout. If you compare any player especially a rookie to Trout then that just isn’t fair. I feel like he will get called up around May or June depending on his AAA numbers and how well or bad Goodie plays. I am excited about hopefully seeing him in the outfield for years to come.
Hitting over .300, only 20 years old. I think he’s ok. His arm looks meh but he looks just fine
Calhoun the “Red Baron” will be missed. His arm is amazing.
Reminded me of Dwight Evans. Amazingly strong and more accurate than most.
Calhoun can’t hit or run, any AAA outfield would do better for league minium.
Larry – Again, as I sad below, you say that because you don’t watch him play. Calhoun is an amazing defender with a cannon for an arm. He struggled with the bat and was injured in 2018 and made some adjustments on his rehab assignment. Also, like I said, he will not be a .300 hitter, but his defense makes up for it. As for not being able to run, he’s not walking in these highlight clips:
youtube.com/watch?v=9zSHc0w8ob4
Anyone who thinks Calhoun is a AAA outfielder knows nothing about baseball.
Nothing.
I suppose you think Joc Pederson sucks as well?
Why would angels want Calhoun who hit only.232, when any replacement would hit better than that. I expect him to suck for the two years in Arizona also.
The Angels are surely going to wish that they had rolled with David Fletcher at 3b and spent the roughly 250 MILLION, that they gave to Rendon on pitchers like Zack Wheeler, Hyun Jin Ryu and Jake Odorizzi, all of which they could have gotten for about the same money that they gave to Rendon ALONE….
All fine and dandy, but Odorizzi accepted the qualifying offer.
Wheeler never wanted to play in the west coast, Odorizzi accepted the qualifying offer, and Ryu was probably overpaid (time will tell).
cole is way over-paid, too!
No he’s not.
Time will tell. He has to deliver a championship like CC did. NINE YEARS?
You’re assuming those pitchers wanted to play for the Angels. Case in point, Wheeler wanted to play on the east coast
Wheeler has a good arm but injury history
The other two I wouldn’t call them anywhere near elite
Rendon as an everyday player produces a lot more and has stayed healthy.
I am interested to see what type of production he produces. I have said if he reverts back to 800 OPS it is much different than if he is closer to 1000 OPS.
Gives the Angels the chance to have 3 900 OPS guys
Trout, Rendon and Ohtani.
Need the development of young cheap arms more than signing a huge free agent.
If need be the Angels pull a July trade for a top of the rotation starter.
Much better than investing 200+ million in pitching
I read some where that starting pitcher don’t want to come to angel does anyone know why?
Larry
Its completely false. The Angels weren’t the highest bidder on any of them. The talk heading into the offseason was Cole wanted to land in SoCal but when the Yankees outbid them and he signed in New York all of a sudden the narrative was Cole wanted to land in New York. I did hear some rumors(that’s all they really are)that Wheeler wanted to land East but that wasn’t tested by the Angels again weren’t the highest bidder so it’s hard to say the reason was he didn’t want to pitch there. Money talked as it typically does
@mlbfan There are so many things wrong with what you wrote that it is hard to believe you really ARE a fan of this sport. Wheeler turned down more money from White Sox to play closer to family in Philly. Ryu wanted a guaranteed 4th year that only the Blue Jays would offer. Odorizzi wasn’t even a free agent.
Something Angels fans have difficulty understanding is that many players have no interest in playing on the West Coast. But…the sunshine, the weather, the beach! The problem is, for 2/3 of the population in the country, games on the West Coast happen too late to be watched on TV, too late to have recaps in the morning newspapers. Many players like a big stage, and don’t like the idea of having their exploits happening off-hours. Just throwing money at the player often isn’t enough.
East Coast, West Coast, whatever… 100 million on Wheeler?
People are choosing Wheeler over Rendon?
It blows my mind. I would have loved some other options, but I think people are nuts.
2 or 3 SP would have made the Angels a contender with or without Rendon . Rendon is not a difference maker, he is good player but does not make angel significantly better.
Before Canning went down, Percota had the Angels a playoff team.
The Angels are a contender. Will they make it? Will they stay relatively healthy? I think the answer to both questions is the same.
Let’s get real here Larry
Rendon is an everyday player Has been a 900 OPS guy the last 3 years
I don’t know if he will duplicate what he put up last year
But Rendon has the personality to play with a huge contract over his head
Guy is loose and won’t press.
I expect Rendon to be an elite performer the next 3-4 years.
The question becomes what happens with the Angels.
Do they trade Simmons?
Do they trade for starting pitching?
They could go both ways
Hey Scrub – Rendon is a huge difference in the line up. You state things just to stir people up. It’s evidenced by the fact that you never have an actual discussion. You just post nonsense that’s contrary to reality. Please learn something about baseball.
The Angels got 2 or 3 SP, they got Teheran, Bundy, and a healthy Ohtani. Rendon is a huge piece for this team and it’s simply incorrect to say he’s not a difference maker, he’s likely the team’s second most valuable player.
I tend to think the Nationals are going to struggle a heck of a lot more this year without Rendon than most others seem to think, he was a consistent high level producer for them, more so than Harper.
that comment will not age well
You mean all of which they could’ve gotten had those pitchers CHOSEN to sign with the Angels. No one can force a player to sign.
Of course you do.
Larry – That’s because you’ve never watched him. It’s kinda ignorant to look at one or two years of one number instead of a career of performance. He will not be a .300 hitter but he more than makes up for it on the field and in the clubhouse.
So now hitting .232 is considered solid?
When combined with a .325 obp and .467 slugging, yes it is solid.. If his slash line was ,232/.295/..390, it would be a different story.
still not even a .800 OPS. if you want to be considered “solid” at that average you gotta at least OPS .800
Angels felt like Goodwin and Calhoun would be equal this year
It is the price more than the production.
I guess it depends on your definition of “solid.” His overall offense was slightly above average. I wouldn’t say slightly above average is “good” but it’s better than average, so “solid” works as a definition. It’s certainly not worth the option, which is why Angels bought it out, but he’s worth what the Diamondbacks are paying him. He’s obviously not good enough to block a top prospect like Adell, but he’s perfectly playable..
When you hit .232 you are never solid. You are exposed with a weakness primed to be exploited.
whats considered solid to you? the difference between 260 and 230 over 600 at bats is 20 hits. As socalbball pointed out, the type of contact is more important
18 hits but hey, who’s counting? An extra 30 brings the average to .280. That would be solid, and since a player rarely plays 162 games these days we can round it off to a hit per 5 games which could make a difference.
.280 is the new .300 batting average, that’s way better than ‘solid’ these days.
But why are we even talking about average? His OBP was .325 which isn’t great but when combined with the power he showed he was indisputably above average with the bat (108 wrc+).
My biggest concern with Calhoun is that we could see the 2018 pumpkin version again since his offensive value was tied to putting up his highest ever iso with the juiced ball. he’s the type who could see a bigger drop off than most in the power department and if he’s essentially the same hitter as last year without the added pop…yikes
Over the last few years, he’s increased his patience at the plate, to where his OBP was about 90 points higher than his BA in 2019. So look out if he manages just to get his BA back up to .270.
Not likely playing in NL west. lots of really good pitching compared to A:L west and more pitcher-friendly parks.
That doesn’t stop the Dodgers.
Here to wish Trey Mancini a speedy recovery since I couldn’t in his own article ♂️
you can thank those moron troll commenters for depriving you that ability. glad there’s someone here with respect.
What happened? It’s one thing to disagree about players, contracts, etc., completely different to be a troll on an article of that nature. I hope everything’s all good for him too
People made assumptions as 2 what type of procedure he had
The comments were pretty bad on that one people coming in joking about what kin of procedure he was having done you think it were s bunch of elementary schcoolers commenting here if any grown men actually thought the content of those comments were funny then they’re only grown by age and not maturity.
Yeah, that Mancini thread sure escalated quickly. I’ll miss Calhoun’s arm too, but gotta think letting him go was the smart move. Adell is looking good in spring, and he should be up in June or so.
Cole, Thank you for playing with passion. Great arm and great attitude.. Enjoy playing at home in AZ.
Just read Cole and Verlander were cheating by using a foreign substance on the ball when pitching for Houston in 2019.
Such wit.
Well now that MLBTR deleted the juvenile Mancini-troll comment I was responding to, my previous comment seems lonely.
Weren’t they all juvenile on that one? I’m sure a lot of those trolls were probably giggling to themselves thinking they were being funny and couldn’t wait to push post comment just to sit back and watch the up votes come pouring in at their original and oh so funny sense of humor! Which was the equivalent to pointing at the kid with glssses on in class and yelling “Nerrrrrrd”
angels knew. calhoun knew. most fans knew he wasn’t coming back no matter what. everyone parted amicably. non-story!
If they’re so comfortable with their OF mix then why did they almost acquire Joc Pederson? Or, was the main goal to get Ross Stripling, and then deal Pederson for more pitching later?
Because he is an above average player on a one year contract for less than $8 million. That’s the type of contract that allows you to bring Adell up when he’s ready and you don’t have to rush him or worry about blocking him. I’m sure they would have been comfortable bringing Calhoun back if he would have signed a 1 year deal for $7-$8 million too.
Rengifo
Could be their starting SS to finish the season.
Most likely will be their starting SS next year
Good idea to keep him
The Dodgers really valued him. Could have ended up being an ugly trade if Luis Rengifo ends up being an everyday middle infielder
Eventually Adell and Marsh will be ready. Adell should be in RF by mid April and Marsh could be up by seasons end. No need to spend on Calhoun beyond maybe one season. Pederson could have been useful as a backup at all three OF spots and (dare I say it) 1B.
2 wins is replacement level. Goodwin probably gives them that for a lot less.
Actually, by definition, 2 wins is above replacement level by exactly two wins. Replacement level is 0
Yeah, by definition a 2.0 WAR player is +20 runs above replacement level and +2.5 runs above average.
Two Wins Above Replacement is not Replacement Level, the A in WAR stands for Above.
Wins “Above” Replacement. 2 WAR is your average major leaguer.
He stinks …. look, the pop is nice I guess but didn’t get on base enough to justify the low avg and home runs. Especially for a team that’s so close to taking the next step and spending a country’s gdp on a few players lol
Really weird writing in this, especially the last sentence of the 4th paragraph.
This site is crazy….it said, in an earlier post about Jairo Munoz, that his .273 batting average didn’t really point to an expanded role with his then team. But, here, they speak of Calhoun having been solid when he only hit .232.
A lot of ignorant baseball nerds talking about batting average when the guy had a solid OPS, solid defense, and runs the bases ok (they said averaging 2 WAR, making 16 mil for 2 years!). It’s nursing home baseball nerds from the 1980s on here! Your baseball IQ is childish when you talk about batting average like it’s the most meaningful stat.