The Rangers have traded catcher Drew Butera to the Angels for cash considerations, Texas announced. This will be Butera’s second tour of duty with the Angels. To make room, the Angels designated Jack Kruger for assignment, per Bill Shaikin of the LA Times (via Twitter).
The 37-year-old Butera was expendable for the Rangers. Their catching corps is secure right now with Jose Trevino and Jonah Heim at the big league level and John Hicks serving as depth in Triple-A. Butera had been on the Rangers’ taxi squad, but he did not get into a game. The 11-year veteran hit .154/.190/.205 in 43 plate appearances with the Rockies in 2020.
Butera will presumably be added to the Angels’ active roster to serve as Kurt Suzuki‘s backup in the near term. Max Stassi was just placed on the 7-day concussion protocol yesterday.
is he the reason the angels kicked out a hall-of-famer?
Ouch!
Albert pujols has been replacement level for 5 years straight. The angels owe him nothing. They paid him crazy money for namesake only. He only hung on for the money. Definitely not pride.
astros2017-2019cheaters!
*below
@Astros2017Champs
1. Don’t talk about pride. The astros organization has none.
2. If he retired he would have his contract bought out which would likely mean he would get all of not the majority of his money.
3. Unlike Bregman, Altuve etc., he is the perfect role model and someone I truly believe is still in the game for the love of the game.
Its easy to love the game when u make 30 million a year. And the red sox fan says my organization is prideless!
The garbage can they were banging on was full of your opinions
I don’t disagree with you that pujols has been replacement level… but you *are* aware that butera has somehow been in the league since 2010, despite posting a -3.6 rWar and 50 OPS+ for his career right? And he’s nothing to write home about defensively either. He’s actually a below replacement level player.
What makes you think they kicked him out.? We don’t know, but it wouldn’t surprise me that the Angels told him Ohtani was going to start at DH, Walsh was going to start at second and he might get five ABs a week. He wanted to see if he could get more playing time somewhere else.
I realize these are message boards and people are firm in beliefs based on no real information, bit I’m trying to find out. Right now I don’t have a clue what happened.
Per multiple beat writer accounts this sounds right. Pujols was even bad at defense. Moving Walsh from the grass to first base improves the defense in two spots. Having Ohtani DH over Albert significantly improves the offense.
So, Albert’s playing time was going to be minimal and he said he’d rather get released.
Halo, the answer to what happened is on that super secret website. ESPN MLB home page written by Alden Gonzalez.
“The Angels talked through different options with Pujols on Wednesday night, but designating him for assignment was “the most agreeable to all of us,”
I should read more writers and get less information from front offices. After all, we all know how accurate reporting is. Heck most of the world still believes Al Stump accounts of Ty Cobb even though there is no evidence backing up his claims.
But it was in readers digest and they made a movie about it, so it must be true.
You really don’t understand why pujols was released? Do u watch angels games? Pujols cant run. He cant field. He only swings for dead pull hrs. I dont care how great a guy he is. Making 30 million a year to be terrible is pathetic. Retire with pride. I love the guy but 550 million compared to 400 while killing your greatness is not worth it
Funny post from Halo11: “I should read more writers and get less information from front offices.”
Thank goodness we can all rely on Alden Gonzalez to get multiple quotes and tons of information from the Angels front office and not rely on Halo11.
You shouldn’t get your information from me. But you’re a fool if you believe writers or anyone else on the internet.
I get my baseball news the same way I get my spices. From merchants after they return from the East Indies.
They are probably as accurate as anyone.
That one gets me too. Wait until someone dies then piss on his grave and make allot of money for it.
Ahhh, nooo!! Pujols was hitting below the mendoza line and it was time for him to leave about 3 years too late. However, I get your point. This signing also makes no real sense, but that’s the Angels for ya.
I thought they kicked him off the team because he felt like his career stats vs Ryan Yarbrough justified him starting over Ohtani or Walsh.
You have to respect Perry Minasian for having the brass balls to recognize pujols was a detriment to the angel’s record and making a business move just like pujols did when he left STL.
Then him saying that pujols deserves to be starting somewhere and that is why they cut ties when we all know that isn’t true? That’s Perry with the chefs kiss on top
Pujols sucked
His last serviceable year was 2016. I can’t disagree with what you wrote just how you wrote it.
@Vizionaire Butera is clearly not the reason that Pujols was BFA’d.. Pujols can play 2 positions, 1B and DH. Brandon Walsh is an elite 1B and has been great at the plate since Sept last year. Ohtani is a much better hitter than Pujols at this point, so Pujols should not DH with the Halos much either. Angels are much better with Walsh at 1B and Ohtani at DH. Pujols wants at bats to add to some stats,unfortunately he doesn’t really have a position with the Angels. I am sure he will get more ABs with another team.
Butera was just added until Stassi gets back that is all.
No pujols decided to leave he wanted to play every day and the angels wanted Walsh in the line up everyday who is a better player at the moment. So they agreed to part ways.
Why would you acquire a 37 year old catcher who has no future and get rid of a 26 year old catcher who may or may not be good but is 11 years younger not a fan of this
Because one has proven to be a serviceable back up at the major league level and one hasn’t.
It’s not that Kruger > Butera, it’s that he was selected yesterday when we have another catcher on the 40 man that wasn’t at risk of being claimed on waivers. Strange for sure.
This baffles me a bit too. Kruger had his contract selected yesterday or the day before as our “top catching prospect”. If Stassi went on IL, Bemboom could have come back up for a day. Weird timing, for sure. Really hope we don’t lose Kruger for nothing, but also shows what the organization thinks of him.
Bemboom hurt, aching back
Just astonishing to me what kinds of players (OK, catchers) can hang on and on and on in this sport despite quite obviously not being a major league player anymore (in some cases never were). Butera isn’t even a good fielder.
His batting line is right there with Albert’s. Solid lateral move offensively but Drew can actually catch the ball so slight upgrade.
As a Rangers fan I approve of this comment 😉
Refsnyder still available.
Huh?
Funny how the ones not pitching a fit about AP’s release are Angel fans, Cards fans, the Angels and Pujols himself.
Seems to me that AP wants to keep playing which left the Angels without many options. The only way to make it happen was to release him. If he wanted to retire and have a “farewell” I suspect that’s what would have been done.
To me Albert Pujols was not a team player I always Felt he was trying to hit home runs in the last few seasons always to pull happy trying to pull the outside pitch Trying to chase 700 hundred home runs Why should we risk Jarrett Walsh playing right field he is a premier defender actually Pujols contract for the last 10 years Has kept us handcuffed Arte Moreno Makes bad baseball decisions wears two hats owner and GM I’m surprised he made so much money in billboards
Albert’s contract while an albatross has not handcuffed the Angels at all. Even after signing Pujols they signed Josh Hamilton, C.J. Wilson, Justin Upton, Anthony Rendon, and Mike Trout to big money contracts. The lack of competitive teams stems from the inability to build Pitching staffs from inside or outside the organization while also being absurdly snake bitten when it comes to injuries. Arte spends money with the best of them, he just doesn’t usually spend it wisely
Geno – they sell keyboards now with punctuation buttons.
PLAN THE PARADE
How to Fix the Angels….
I seriously have No clue on this one. One of my favorite things to do is scroll spotrac/mlb pipeline and try to speculate what Id do to move orgs in the right direction
There is no pitching staff next year – 4/5 SPs are free agents
Theres no bullpen , half are free agents 22 ; the others (well ya wish they were)
Sure the Pujols ” Wait till that money comes off the books crowd” can slide right over to Uptons 28 next year but this isn’t a plan, its more just kickin the can….
I know it will never happen and will upset some in here but there’s a case to be made at blowing the whole damn thing up IMO and ofc that includes dishing Ohtani and Trout for a Kings Ransom ….. It would be painful no doubt, but what the hell do you call Trout’s last decade at this point ….One things apparent tho, there just isn’t a plan and hasnt been for a long long time
The way to fix the Angels if Arte Moreno Sells The team or Arte Moreno Decide to spend money on pitching
I’m surprised Arte Moreno Still has hair on his head have you noticed he’s in seclusion you don’t see him around the ballpark no more laughingstock of baseball And I am an angel fan frustrated under Arte ownership Let’s not forget when he bought the team the team had some good years only because he was riding Disney’s and Bill Stoneman coattail
Yea Im not Anti Angel, although I do feel a fool for picking them to win the West this year preseason …..I just don’t see an identity here ; and they are not getting the buffers of a team that gets help from good drafting and development so that really really hurts ….
I can look at a team like Det and say, well our identity is our young pitching…we KNOW we need to build an offence up slowly (and we have a little time )
With the Angels I really just dont know what the hell are they doing…Are they playing for today? Are they going to just try and piece -meal scrap Sps forever?
Not all plans will work accordingly but my God I sure dont see how not having one has a chance of succeeding…. Lord Im not even a fan and Im frustrated, cant Imagine your pain
Arte is a good man. But he will never be a hands off owner.
He is too loyal to shake things up. Definitely needs better people in management who aren’t his cronies and aren’t afraid of conflict. Perry is a good start but man its still way off the rails in OC.
Despite a few really talented players, still as hard of a team as ever to watch.
Witness the meteoric rise and fall of Jack Kruger…..
I’ve just been super happy watching the games this last week without having to listen to that train wreck of an announcer Daron Sutton…
Totally agree. He probably is a quality person but hard to listen to his delivery..like nails on a chalk board.
Totally agree. He probably is a quality person but hard to listen to his delivery..like nails on a chalk board.
Totally agree. He probably is a quality person but hard to listen to his delivery..like nails on a chalk board.
from espn
Angels players, meanwhile, indicated they were still caught off guard by Trout’s release from the team Thursday.
Fun Fact PSA:
Drew Butera and his father Sal Butera’s combined career FanGraphs WAR (-4.2) is a better than Chris Davis’ 2018-2020 combined WAR (-5.2).
You can all use this as an icebreaker when talking to people, just make sure to give me credit. As well as a detailed report as to how it went and what you could improve upon next time.
Still in baseball? Damn
The cash consideration better be 100 million.
You’re probably about $99,999,980 off
Butera is also a butter substitute in New Zealand..
What are you saying ?
Another year of loosing but at least one nightmare is over
Baseball is business there is no loyalty anymore, players go after as much $ as they can and teams make do what they feel is best for the team no matter how shrewd the move may seem.