The Angels have a new shortstop, as they’ve acquired veteran Jose Iglesias from the Orioles in exchange for minor league right-handers Garrett Stallings and Jean Pinto, per announcements from both clubs. It’s the second straight winter with a notable trade between the two teams. The Halos acquired Dylan Bundy from the O’s last winter.
It’s something of a surprising move — one that rather definitively closes the door on a reunion between the Halos and free-agent shortstop Andrelton Simmons (though most expected Simmons to land elsewhere anyhow). Baltimore general manager Mike Elias has previously spoken of Iglesias’ importance to the roster, calling him a “perfect fit for what we need right now” (link via Nathan Ruiz of the Baltimore Sun). Elias said it was an easy decision to pick up the $3.5MM club option on Iglesias for the 2021 season, although the Orioles waited until the last minute to formally make said decision.
Iglesias, 31 next month, may not be the generational defender that Simmons is, but he’s long been regarded as one of the game’s premier defenders at the position. The knock against him has typically been his offense (or lack thereof), but he flipped the narrative in 2020 by slashing .373/.400/.556 with three homers and 17 doubles. Iglesias shouldn’t be expected to repeat that production, as he benefited greatly from a .407 average on balls in play while landing in just the 12th and 36th percentiles, respectively, in average exit velocity and hard-hit rate.
That said, Iglesias still has some value at the dish. The 2020 season was actually the third of his career in which he’s batted .300 or better, and he’s been one of the more difficult hitters in the game to strike out since making his MLB debut back in 2011. He lacks any real power and doesn’t draw many walks, which often leads to a rather “empty” batting average, but those bat-to-ball skills do allow him to get on base at a respectable clip (career .319).
Iglesias’ BABIP-fueled surge was well-timed, as he wasn’t able to play much at shortstop in 2020 owing to a nagging quadriceps injury that limited his mobility. Assuming he’s healthy in 2021, he’ll give the Angels a shortstop who’s posted 18 Defensive Runs Saved and a 35.4 Ultimate Zone Rating over his past 4672 innings at the shortstop position.
It’s a cost-effective means of addressing a glaring hole on the roster — one that should allow the Angels to maintain a strong infield defense. That the Halos filled such a clear need via a trade bodes poorly for this winter’s crop of free-agent shortstops, however. With Simmons hitting the market, names like Marcus Semien and Didi Gregorius were surely eyeing the Angels as a potential fit. Iglesias’ salary is light enough that the Angels could still add another shortstop and use Iglesias in a utility role, though it seems unlikely that they’d have traded away young talent to acquire a utility man with so many other options on the market. In all likelihood, Iglesias will be tabbed as the starter, leaving Gregorius, Simmons, Semien and other shortstops looking elsewhere for homes in free agency.
In Stallings and Pinto, the Orioles will add another pair of far-off pitching prospects who could add to the organization’s depth down the road. Stallings was the Angels’ fifth-round pick out of the University of Tennessee in 2019 and now slots in 26th among Orioles farmhands over at MLB.com.
Stallings has yet to pitch in a professional game because the Angels shut him down after signing him out of the draft, citing a heavy college workload. MLB.com’s report on him credits him for having a legitimate four-pitch mix, albeit without a plus offering. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen tabs Stallings as a “low-variance, fifth starter prospect.” The 19-year-old Pinto has just 12 pro innings under his belt and didn’t rank inside the Angels’ 30 best prospects, nor does he land on Baltimore’s top 30 list.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported the deal (via Twitter).
Can he pitch? Lol
Not if he’s on the Angels.
Hahaha… awwww now I’m sad.
You did alright with Bundy…
Ooo, I like the trade though I wonder what they gave up… Iglesias was fire last year though.
I thought Iggy was excited to be back with the Orioles and. Now this…
Funny to think that Jose Iglesias and Ryan Church have the same last name, in a way
Can we add in Johnny Temple?
Mo Mosque?
Johnny Temple’s real tho
Stevey Synogogue
Sweet Jesus Sucre, I like that
Also Blue Jays youngster Alejandro Kirk
Looks like they’ll be interested in making a splash with next year’s SS crop
Yup.
Same thought crossed my mind especially with Pujols’ contract off the books
Gotta like the deal. He’s a cheap replacement at SS. Perry is saving $ for pitching.
I’m happy with the angel trade good defensive shortstop Makes good contact good line drive hitter
way to blow up my prediction board Angels
Probably saving money for a starting pitcher but I thought LAA would have signed Didi and Kolten Wong.
why would they need another 2b when they have a future all star/gold glover?
Yeah apparently Fletcher is pretty good. Had read that Angels might have interest in Wong.
that’s when we didn’t have a ss. it is pretty awesome infield now.
So position wise:
Max Stassi – C
Jared Walsh – 1B
David Fletcher – 2B
Jose Iglesias – SS
Anthony Rendon – 3B
Justin Upton – LF
Mike Trout – CF
Jo Adell – RF
DH – Ohtani/Pujols
That’s not a bad lineup.
The pitching though…
Seriously JUST GET A GOOD PITCHER ALREADY ANGELS
I still think they sign Bauer and possibly trade for Snell
yes
I think the # 1 target should be Tomoyuki Sugano. I think he might be a better bargain and maybe more consistent than Bauer. Then with the cubs wanting to shed $ , trade for Darvish. He may have just fully recovered from his surgery. He is owed alot and he is getting older. Having said that I would be very happy with Bauer and Snell.
Despite his expensive salary, the Cubs need Darvish to compete. They don’t currently have many good pitchers beyond him, Hendricks, and Kimbrel.
I don’t think you can pencil in Adell
Fair enough, service time considerations still loom in the distance.
I thought they couldn’t manipulate his service time after he’s already played for them for a while.
Adell has minor league options and frankly needs AAA time. If he spent some time down there the Angels could manipulate his time.
Hoping they can sign mccann to be catcher at a reasonable contract
It amazes me that so few fans (and GMs) understand this. Adell performed very poorly in AAA and in the AZFL. There was no reason to reward him with service time after he had a 43/10 K/W with -0- in the PCL. Those are really awful numbers in that league.
If they were smart, and forward-looking, they’d start Adell in AAA until he had a 2:1 K/W ratio, And then sign a short-term outfielder like Rosario or Schwarber. Those two are likely to have the same WAR as Adell, and the cost of their salary is way offset by another year of service time for Adell.
Or put another way, by sending him down, you are losing a year of the 21 year old Adell, in exchange for a year of the 27 year old Adell, which should be much more valuable.
As long as someone has options, you can screw with their service time at any time
Most teams do it before they debut because they hope their prospects will be good enough to stay in major-league baseball. Adell clearly needs AAA time
It’s a very nice lineup for sure. Get some good pitchers and you’ve got a competitive team.
Ward instead of Adell just makes it even better
It’s December 2nd. Plenty of time.
He had a very good year for the O’s last year. A doubles machine and when healthy a very good defender
Solid move for a solid player.
Well this just made all my predictions for where SS are going this winter a lot safer. I had no SS signing with LA, because I expected either a 2b signing or a trade. Here’s the trade.
I love this move. No need to go out and spend 10+ million on a shortstop now. All the focus is now on pitching.
I like this trade. Fletcher can handle SS but is really better suited to be a 2B. The Angels improved quite a bit defensively with this move, and Iglesias seems to have at least as much if not more potential in his bat as Simmons at this point. I think I’d rather have Iglesias on a cheap one year deal than several other higher profile shortstops on expensive multi-year deals. And as others have said, this move will allow them to throw more money at the pitching staff, which we all know is needed.
I have to be honest, I don’t know too much about him. I did a quick look at fangraphs graphs and sorted by defense at Short over the last three years, He ranks 5th.
Simmons and Lindor rank 1 and 2. This doesn’t seem to be a bad move, but what follows?
pitchers and a catcher.
Mcann next, worse case they can be moved at deadline for additional assets.
There was a game last year where he pulled the Jeter cutoff play.
Iglesias has tremendous baseball instincts, joy to watch.
Iglesias 985 defensive average lifetime
Simmons 981
Lindor 981
Nice. Solves SS, keeps Fletcher at second, strong defense. Hopefully pitching comes next.
This a good first move for Minasian, now they get the pitching!
Cool now package adell + for snell and sign bauer this offseason.
I don’t feel like I say this often, but nice move Angels.
It’s funny because as I read the comments I can’t remember the last time the majority were positive regarding an Angels transaction
And that’s not because you have a faulty memory; it’s because no one has ever liked their moves. I was going to say the same thing as you and connfyoozed. I don’t remember ever having liked any of their moves.
Upton, Pujols, Wells, even going way back to trading future HOF Edmonds.
Angels are moving two RHPs when they need pitching?
they don’t seem to be worth much. i like the trade. and what the angels need in pitching is lights out kind.
Those two pitchers aren’t on the Angels top thirty.
MLBPipeline.com rated Stallings as the Angels’ No. 21 prospect
Stallings might crack a rotation in 2 years. He put up good numbers in the SEC and was apparently doing well at the alternate training site.
But that’s 2 years off, if ever, and Iglesias us now. Pinto is much further off abs not as heralded.
A real baseball trade, even. Useful veteran, on a non-competitor, for 2 young pitchers with some upside.
Good get for both teams.
Well said!
This board should go down in history as the perfect Angels fan board. They traded two minor league “possible” pitchers for a solid, proven SS. “Meatheads” immediately post “what about the pitching?” They think that the Angels should be able to sign whatever pitcher they want ignore the fact that this deal frees up $15.4 mm vs offering Simba a qualifying offer, which I saw some of you advocating.
It also assumes that the Angels have some sort of magic wand for FA pitchers. That no matter what the pitcher and his family want, the Angels have the ability to convince those pitchers to sign with them. It’s myopic.
Iglesias was fun to watch last season. Great defense and hit double after double. Good move by Elias though to lock in his salary then dump the salary while getting a prospect in return. The Orioles have now taken 6 pitchers from Angels in 2 years, probably not the best place to poach pitching.
Iglesias is a quality glove and fair at the plate. Cheap alternative at SS. Happy as a Reds fan that all of the top FA SSs are still available.
I mean why do this now, and not after the non-tenders so they know what the whole SS free agent field looks like? Iglesias is injury-prone and Semien is a safer bet with a higher ceiling not to mention Simmons. Angels potentially leaving the SS market race is huge for a team like Oakland, bold of Angels to take this risk when their rival would potentially benefit.
How is Iglesias injury prone?
He averaged over 130 games the previous 5 seasons.
Sounds more like he’s a guy you can count on every day.
Maybe the new GM had talks with 29 other GMs and knew/had a solid idea of who the non-tenders would be?? Also this was announced as the non-tender deadline passed. Oakland won’t be spending wildly for SS.
Orioles having a good offseason so far. Add Yolmer on the cheap, bring in a couple of solid prospects in Cullen, Garafino, Stallings and Pinto, like I respect it
Yolmer probably replaces Iglesia at SS. Unless the Orioles plan on giving Richard Urena or Richie Martin another chance
The O’s spent about 6 years with DD, and I didn’t like a single move in 6 years.
I don’t hate the move for the Angels, but I do love the move for the Orioles.
Didn’t like a single move DD made? Sorry, but that’s absurd. Twere moves I disagreed with (e.g. Parra). But if you disliked signing Cruz or regret drafting Grayson Rodriguez or many other moves that made the team the winningest franchise in MLB for 5 years, you wouldn’t like anyone’s moves.
Angels get a solid SS for a reasonable price rather than overpaying for Gregorious or Simmons or Semien.
I thought the Angels were going to sign Kim (KBO) but this is a nice, low cost deal for them. Do the Angels have any young SS/2B prospects in AA who are close to being ready? If so, this makes even more sense.
Jahmai Jones. However David Fletcher is still young enough at 2B
Ironically, when the Angels signed Billy Eppler his first big splash move was getting Simmons. Here we are with Perry solving the whole Simmons left behind as his first move as GM.
Go get the pitching dude…
.. but this is a good start
Good move!
Once again another underwhelming move how much longer before #27 says I want out
You wish.
Trout likes being under the radar.
I personally can’t believe he’s not back home in Philly.
Given his contract pretty much never
Winning the offseason so far. Good move. Keep it coming.
I really love this trade!
Angels Fans: Great move – this frees up a bunch of money for pitching!!!
Arte Moreno: Sign George Springer for 5/$125m!!!
angels are getting a great clubhouse guy, nice bat, he’s not gonna hit .370 tho haha, great glove, BUT he’s 31 and he was hurt the entire season so BEWARE. Also, angels thank you for another two pitchers
This is exactly how the Angels should’ve addressed shortstop — they filled the hole with an adequate vet, and now should have the money to add a catcher and boost their pitching staff.
Completely agree. Stassi is a placeholder, and I could live with him another year if the FO does nothing else but signing 2 or 3 SOLID SPs. I’d hate to see them blow the bank on a Realmuto which would mean they’d only sign iffy SPs. The pitching needs to be addressed properly once and for all this winter.
A “cost effective” 30 y.o. ss to replace Simmons? The Angels just got worse… and that’s saying something.
With Cincy looking for a SS, would you part with Fletcher in a deal for Sonny Gray?
Not that Gray would solve all their problems, but he would be an improvement to the rotation. Another big SP add would still be necessary, of course.
Excuse me : you said that :” Iglesias, 31 next month, may not be the generational defender that Simmons”
A lifetime 985 defensive average is much better than Simmons ( 981) ,than Ossie (978) ,than Ordóñez ( 976)
and a lifetime ERRORS AVE PER YEAR IS ONLY 5 .Simmons 9,Ozzie ( 15) and Ordóñez (11) IGLESIAS IS A MONSTER MY FRIEND
and Iglesias lifetime 278 hitter ,Simmons 268,Ozzie 246,etc
Sign one of: Bauer or Tanaka. Get creative with a contract that allows for a slightly lower 2021 salary, but jumps big after Pujols is off the books next year.
Trade Fletcher+ to Reds for Sonny Gray
Sign 2B C.Hernandez
If cash allows, try for Joc Pederson or Eddie Rosario, in case Jo Adell continues to struggle at the major league level
C Stassi
1B Pujols
2B Hernandez
SS Iglesias
3B Rendon
LF Upton
CF Trout
RF Adell or Rosario/Pederson
DH Ohtani
Bauer/Tanaka
Bundy
Gray
Heaney
Canning