The Angels announced several roster moves Thursday: They selected the contracts of outfielder Jon Jay and catcher Jack Kruger, placed backstop Max Stassi (concussion) and right-hander Chris Rodriguez (shoulder inflammation) on the 10-day injured list, and reinstated righty Felix Pena from the IL.
Jay spent time in the majors with the Angels earlier this season, but they designated him for assignment on April 16 after he went 1-for-8 at the plate. He’ll rejoin an Angels outfield going through some upheaval at the moment, as Justin Upton is battling knee problems and Jared Walsh is heading to first base in the wake of the team’s decision on Thursday to designate Albert Pujols.
Kruger, 26, could make his major league debut with Stassi out for at least the next week. The Los Angeles native was a 20th-rounder in 2016 who hasn’t played above Double-A ball yet. He owns a .265/.326/.357 line with 15 home runs in 1,392 minor league plate appearances.
Rodriguez has held his own out of the Angels’ bullpen this year, having thrown 15 2/3 innings of 2.30 ERA ball with 17 strikeouts against eight walks, but manager Joe Maddon said his injury isn’t serious (via Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register). They’ll replace him with Pena, a regular in their pitching staff from 2018-20. Pena amassed 215 2/3 frames of 4.34 ERA ball during that span, though he hasn’t contributed this year after straining a hamstring during the spring.
Rodriguez just can’t stay healthy. Such a shame.
Rodriguez is a big big loss, but it explains why he only pitched one inning last night.
After Albert Pujols clears waivers—- Do you see a trade in the near future for Pujols??
I see the Angels acquiring a Lefthanded batting infield utility man. Although he’s only hitting a little above .200 in a secondary role— he has 5 homeruns and 10 RBI’s already. He has played 3 of the infield positions already this season.
Matt Carpenter hasn’t been the Matt Carpenter All-Star player for a while. Albert Pujols is no where close to being the Albert Pujols when he was with the Cardinals.
However—- it’s not a wild guess that Pujols would like to retire wearing the birds on the bat uniform.
I see Matt Carpenter coming to the Angles and the Cardinals absorbing all of his salary for the remainder of this season. I see Pujols going to the Cardinals as a back up 3rd baseman or 1st baseman—— on a player/Coach contract. (Possibly the coaching position would be the new hitting coach).
The Angels wool absorb all of Pujols salary where ever he goes. If he goes.
I don’t see anyone wanting Albert, but I hope I’m wrong.
Who wants a DH who can’t hit? Who will sign him?
I’d love to see him play again. But who is going to give him ABs?
Prime Albert Pujols was one of the most devastating RH hitters I’ve ever seen.
There was just too much going on in the original thread for me to wade through. I just got back from West Dakota this afternoon & had a bunch of work stuff to do & that was all a lot of internet for me at the moment.
But curious as to your take on his being DFA’d, @Halo11. The numbers sure look rugged.
I’m sad but he hasn’t been an adequate hitter since 2016. Unless the Angels want to to throw in the towel this year, it had to be done.
I get it.
Sucks when we see an all-time great wallow in mediocrity (or worse). Absolutely no reason for the Halo’s to give up on ’21. So…
Looks like injuries have been hitting your squad too. I think we all figured it would be a big story of this season. Unfortunately, it’s kind of: The Story.
Trevor? Or is that the Story to come?!
Pujols for Trevor Story.
Who hangs up first?
We are talking the Rockies here.
Colorado
Pujols -.5 war
Story .9 war
#ducky
Really hard to believe this thought it could address its bullpen issues with the waive4 wire. Truly stupid.
Bullpen loses kill ya, don’t they?
Yanks pen got rocked this afternoon. I thought the game was well in hand & we were going to sweep the damn Astros.
Alas.
I’ve caught parts of Angels game’s a couple times this year. Madden seems flummoxed about what he should do in the late innings.
He can’t get to the right combination. It’s Rodriguez, then Watson. The eighth with no one on base is Mayers. Then Iglesias.
Mayers should have never come in the game in the 7th. But he didn’t have Watson.
Where is West Dakota?
Right next to North & South Dakota of course.
It’s what my girlfriend (who is from North Dakota) calls Montana. I think it’s probably just some weird regional rivalry stuff, but I’m smart enough to not point that out.
Beautiful part of the country though.
Funny, the contractor who did our latest kitchen (fabulously) moved to Montana with wife and sons. It takes awhile to re-establish but he loves it there. NJ has lots of work and people with money but it’s a hot mess. There are some beautiful areas but you never stop hearing civilization. And the traffic, especially pre-pandemic. Ugh. Even the FAN is just yankee fans complaining about taking Cole out too soon. No Mets fans even call in, they’re just a train wreck. Sigh.
I get it.
I go back to the Bronx every few years. Funerals. It was a great place to grow up, but when I’m there now all I want to do is leave.
One of my friends from high school has a “fashionable” place on the Upper West Side. I went to see him. I couldn’t live like that, man. All the noise, pollution, grime, people crammed next to you & on top of you. No yard. Less than a thousand square feet of space…
Just not me anymore.
Joe G would have gone batter to batter there. Boone doesn’t seem to know you can do that. Or – more probably – the front office forbids him to. At this point he’s much more well trained than my pup.
Long enough sample size for me to know that: Joe G >> Aaron Boone. Savages rant be damned.
What part of The Bronx? The issue with growing up in The Bronx is that you get accustomed to all the noise, and it is more than offset by walking to the corner for pizza, Chinese, Italians, etc. If you live in Iowa, and want good vindaloo, you probably have to take the day off to drive to Des Moines and back.
Past that, I have no idea where Joe G. gets his good reputation. He has spent the last 6 seasons with two of the richest teams in BB, and finished 2nd 3x, 3rd 2x and 4th once.
That said, I’ve got little use for Boone either. In his four years there, I don’t remember him saying one single thing. Some guys, like Torre and Cora, have the knack for being honest and critical, but without making it personal. To listen to Boone, you’d swear that everyone is hitting the ball hard.
North. Way up by Westchester, @brady.
Girardi was better with handling the ‘pen.
Also: Joe G’s teams – with essentially the same players – were above average defensively as opposed to being one of the worst fielding teams in MLB. & the Yanks didn’t do all that dumb stuff on the bases either.
I think Boone is a downgrade.
I said I would give him two seasons until I would judge him. I think the Yanks could do better.
Why would the Angels want Carpenter?
Why would the Cardinals do such a scummy thing?
Trade Matt Carpenter, a career cardinal, just to give Pujols a Cardinal send off? This is after Carpenter said he loves being a cardinal but would have waived his no trade clause if it benefitted the club and Pujols left of his own accord.
Trade? He’ll be released. No way anyone gives up anything for him.
Cardinals aren’t taking on Pujols Salary and have no place to play him with no DH and Goldschmidt at 1B. I get that Cardinals fans want to be rid of Carpenter but its not going to be this way. After Albert clears waivers and hits free agency a signing like him would be a very A’s thing to do
No one has to take his salary. He can be had for the minimum.
If Pujols clears waivers, then there is no trade to be made. He’ll be a free agent and can sign with any team of his choice, well, any team that expresses an interest, that is.
You seem to be trying to structure some type of transaction with Pujols being traded to the Cardinals for Matt Carpenter, and the Angels absorbing Carpenter’s $18.5M deal on top of what they owe Pujols. The Angels aren’t doing that. Also, Pujols can barely play 1B now. He’s not backing up at 3B.
I’m really not sure where Pujols will go. Not sure any team will have an interest. Who does Colorado have at 1B? Maybe he can go and hit some bombs in the thin air of the Mile High City.
It looks like they have Cron holding down 3 on the scorecard with the recently added Matt Adams spelling him from time to time. My best guess is if Albert wants to play it’ll be a DH on a non-contender or as a bench bat somewhere but I honestly don’t know anyone at the moment who would take the flier. Which sucks cause he’s a legend but when it’s time it’s time.
Baltimore?
Hey anything is better than Chris Davis but they’re trolling Mancini and Mountcastle at 1B and DH. I think someone said Royals earlier and it might make sense. He went to high school around there but Cardinal fans will probably faint if that happens. But they could platoon him with Santana.
If he clears waivers I thought he would be a FA
Albert poojols
Well my tigers aren’t going anywhere this year , maybe they sign him to DH
Waste of a roster spot.
They already have been be future HOF’r that can’t hit anymore.
First two innings of Rays-Angels:
Outs: 12
Strikeouts: 11
There has also been one walk and one single.
I believe strikeouts are going to increase even more as the season progresses. Pitchers will be throwing an even crazier amount of insane pitches with movement as they get used to the new seams on the current baseballs. It’s so like Manfred/MLB to worsen a problem as they’re trying to correct it.
i dont think so. it’s clear pitchers are ahead of hitters with the ball right now. batters have more room to adjust to how the ball flies vs how pitchers with how it handles (which likely changed less)
Maybe.. The weather will warm, which generally increases offense, and the hitters will begin to catch up more, but I think there’s some funky enough about this baseball that pitchers will begin to manipulate it even more. We shall see.
I agree with you 100%! The spin rates and movements these pitchers are getting is out of control.
lorddgg: Entering today, MLB is on pace for 6,591 more strikeouts than hits. We are also on pace for the lowest cumulative batting average in MLB history. Shutouts and HBPs are trending at an all-time high, triples at an all-time low, double-plays at an all-timer low simply because not enough balls are being hit into play. Home runs, doubles, and total bases are way down.
MLB needs to do something because these trends will not reverse themselves. As it is, this is the most unwatchable season anyone could imagine, despite some truly elite young talent, In theory, the game should be wildly entertaining. In reality, it couldn’t be less so.
Is it time to push the mound back? After the 1968 horror show, they lowered the mound, which made the game more watchable. Modifying the baseball won’t solve anything.
I’d be fine if they pushed the mound back if this continues. Of course, we won’t really know what will happen when they do that…until they do it! Run scoring isn’t as low as it was in 1968, but in some ways it’s worse in that the way runs are scored are, well, boring.
It’s worse now because the athletes are better and can hit the ball farther. Back then, every team had 2-3 automatic outs plus the pitcher. Now, every guy can take you deep, though they also whiff a ton. So, they are allowing the superior athleticism of modern players to be wasted. This should be a boom time for MLB. Instead, they have a boring product.
Pushing the mound back would eliminate a lot of problems, such as the plethora of eight or nine-pitch at-bats that end in a strikeout. While it’s true that pushing the mound back would boost the offense, it would also shorten games because pitch counts would go down. This would save wear and tear on pitchers, which could lead to fewer injuries. It might also lead to less emphasis on “missing bats” (I hate that term). because it would change the pitching strategy. Ideally, pitching is about trying to disrupt a batter’s balance by changing speed and location. Now, it is all about strikeouts, with hitters doing their best to foul off pitches until they find one they can drive. The pitchers, meanwhile, throw as hard as they can with little regard for finesse. No surprise these guys are dropping like flies. Three-up/three-down innings should not typically take 18-plus pitches.
Moving the mound back would put those would-be foul balls in play. Shorter games with a more marketable product that emphasizes athleticism and real strategy. An opportunity to market the sport and its young stars internationally the way the NBA did. Guys like Tatis, Soto, and Acuna play with a flair that young people would love. So why not create a game that showcases the full extent of their talent. Pitchers would adjust, especially the really good ones. Moving the mound back would also eliminate much of the excessive shifting because batters would stand a better chance of using the whole field to hit. Batting averages would go up, especially for lefty hitters. And let’s not kid ourselves; batting average matters because it deals with balls being put into play as opposed to working out a 10-pitch walk.
Btw, it was creepy how MLB tried to manipulate home runs to take our mind off the strikeouts. It made the game worse, not better. They must think we fans are really stupid.
Creepy indeed ….Also creepy how they looked the other way on Steroids till they could pin the blame on Bonds and fall back into the shadows; yet this sh%t is never really discussed anywhere, we like to pick certain players/teams to unleash our frustration on when really its the Guy behind the wheel driving the boat
Baseball will fail if they don’t find their Adam Silver, somebody whoes going to put the sport in-front of all the shakedowns and ongoing allegiances/backstabbing’s….ofc it will go to court (because thats how baseball do when threatened ) but hopefully they get slammed down there as well
I heard a different point of view concerning the increase in strikeouts. It focused on the idea that batters have become susceptible to the high fastball now, because they had altered their swings into an upward motion to achieve the launch angle they so desire, and can no longer catch up to that particular pitch.
And now Ohtani has done it again. A long blast out to the center field seats, less than 24 hours throwing 5 innings, 1 hit and 8 K’s.
And 6 walks in a game the Angels lost.
None of those walks scored. No what your talking about. You don’t like the apparent second best player in mlb, just say so.
Know. Not no.
Have multiple people close to me saying Pujols will clear waivers making him a FA and the Royals will be signing him. He’ll make the league minimum and will get the majority of the PA at DH for the Royals.
I’d put him on 1B for the Brewers. Can’t do much worse than what we’ve run out there so far! League minimum and see what he does against the old NL central! Was a Crew killer back in the day…
Sign Puig
No one wants the headache that is Puig. He is bad news on a number of levels.
He’s having a grand old time in the Mexican league right now anyway lol
If it is true, I am disappointed that the Angel Front Office benched Albert on Wednesday. That is the manager’s responsibility to make the lineup not the front office nerds.
Old school is not necessarily better. In my opinion, one of the positive aspects of the modern game is the general manager and field manager working together to achieve a common goal. If anything, the FO should have insisted on benching Pujols sooner. This is an early indication that Minasian is all about winning and making the proper baseball move. Something for Angels fans to cling to as the team looks to carve out their post-Pujols identity. Who knows? Maybe it will start a trend of teams biting the bullet on high-salaried players who are no longer productive. There are a few of those guys out there.
Maybe Pujols can pitch relief.
At this point, its worth a try.
Hard to believe how much flack I took when I pointed out that Perry was making a huge mistake by not addressing this bullpen and hope and pray was not much of a strategy.
He wasn’t going to turn them into a contender in one off-season. It’s difficult enough trying to stabilize the rotation. Tonight’s bullpen performance is hideous, though.
Angels relievers through eight innings:
OUTS: 4
RUNS: 8
They are a contender with a good bullpen and he did next to nothing addressing the bullpen
The make the playoffs last year if they had a bullpen. A few times over the last dozen years they make the playoffs if they have a pen, but they continue to ignore the pen.
I disagre, the Angels are more than just a bullpen away from contending. They are A pitching staff away from contending. It just seems the Angels can’t catch a break. They find a gem with a starter(Bundy)and the starter that is expected to be solid (Quintana) falls flat on his face. Which puts tremendous pressure on a already suspect bullpen. The Angrls will need more than 5 innings from guys other than Bundy and Othani to have any chance at the post season.
No problem disagreeing. The Angels pen has already blown four or five games. Right there that puts them in contention. And last year if they don’t blow all those games early in the season, they make they make the playoffs. There is not much of a debate there.
Great link on fangraphs today about the Angel pitching. It’s better than you think. The defense has been horrible. Check it out.
Claudio has their lowest FIP of any RP thats pitched over 2 inns
3nd lowest era ( Best currently with Rodriguez/Watson Dl’ed)
3rd highest ERA + (108) behind those same 2 Dl’ed guys
The pen was totally a massive problem and still is but yall should be happy to have Claduio and is 108 ERA+ today
I don’t give a FIP about FIP. Claudio isn’t very good. He’s been mediocre in this small sample size. Amazingly LH are hitting him better than and RH. The best you can say about him is he’s not the problem. However he’s not a solution either.
I’m not happy with a guy who has been poor in prevented inherited runners from scoring. And since he almost always come in with outs already on the table, he should be well below league average instead of well above league average.
My problem with the Claudio signing was always about doing more. If he’s your 13th pitcher, that’s fine. He was not the pitcher they should have signed in December. He’s the last guy you sign to fill out your staff.
Sometimes doing more (Iglesias) is less
Bullpens hardly run a strong correlation between dollars and production
Claudio’s been a fine ink so far, the rest well…..
I disagree about Iglesias. When he comes in the game in the last inning, as closers do, he’s been perfect.
You add pieces to get to him and the Angels can’t get to him. The Angels didn’t do that. What good is a closer if you can’t get to him?
The one game he blew should have been over but Rojas did three things wrong on a ground ball and instead of out number three, the Angels lost the game.
Rojas can’t play 3rd.
Hey, how ‘bout that Jack Kruger promotion? Exciting news there, huh?
Call up Jo Adell lol
Around Memorial Day, if the reports are good, I expect them to call up Adell.
Not sure why they decided to cut Pujols. The bench is anemic.
He didn’t want to be a bench player. He want 500 ABs.
Do they really think Jay will do better this time around than what they’d get from keeping Pujols?
Yankees sign Pujols for the league minimum, Angels still paying this years contract. Put Pujols in the lineup protected by Judge and Stanton and watch him have a “resurgence”