The Angels acted as sellers rather than buyers at yesterday’s trade deadline, moving Andrew Heaney to the Yankees and Tony Watson to the Giants in a pair of deals. However, these were the only moves made, as “we were not focused on tearing down this team by any stretch,” GM Perry Minasian told The Los Angeles Times’ Jack Harris and other reporters. The club also explored adding players (including “higher-salary players,” as Minasian put it) to the big league roster, but couldn’t work out any such trade prior to the deadline.
“I think this group has earned the opportunity to continue to compete. To me, we did not go into this trade deadline with the mindset of, ‘Let’s do a total rebuild’ or anything like that.”
With a 51-52 record, the Angels are only on the outskirts of the playoff race, sitting seven games out of a wild card slot and 12.5 games behind the Astros in the AL West. Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon are still on the injured list, so it isn’t entirely out of the question that Anaheim could mount a late charge once those two stars eventually return, and even this slim chance of contention was enough to hold the front office off on unloading all of its rental players. Rumors circulated around closer Raisel Iglesias in particular, though Iglesias remains in an Angels uniform.
Alex Cobb is another of the rental players who wasn’t dealt, and it could be that the veteran righty’s health situation factored into that situation. Cobb was placed on the 10-day injured list last night (after the deadline) due to inflammation in his right wrist, though the injury is thought to be relatively minor.
Acquired in a trade from the Orioles last February, Cobb’s first Angels season has been very solid, as he has delivered a 3.84 ERA/3.62 SIERA over 77 2/3 innings despite dealing with blister issues and now his current wrist problem. Re-signing Cobb would certainly seem like a solid option for a Halos team that still needs pitching, and Cobb told MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger that he has let Minasian know that he would like to stay in Los Angeles, though the two sides haven’t yet had any official extension talks.
“I knew this was somewhere I wanted to be months ago….I’ve told a lot of people, you can kind of see which team is on the verge of being a championship-caliber team, and I don’t know that ’on the verge’ is right, because we have so many talented guys,” Cobb said.
In less-positive news for the Angels, the team announced that Taylor Ward suffered a non-displaced left rib fracture during a Triple-A game yesterday, and Ward has been placed on the minor league injured list. There isn’t any current word on how long Ward could be out of action.
It’s a tough break on multiple levels for Ward, who won’t accumulate any MLB service time while on the minors IL. He was only optioned to Triple-A last week after spending much of the season on the Angels’ roster, hitting a respectable .240/.322/.426 over 232 plate appearances and playing at all three outfield positions.
Can’t tell if this is a rebuild or not. You know a team is poorly run when they don’t have a clear goal
You don’t rebuild with the likes of Trout and Ohtani guaranteed for 2 more years, you go for it all.
Like they’ve been doing? Oh, wait.
Hey swing, we agree on something. There is far too much talent on this team to rebuild.
Absolutely.
A decent ‘pen & the Yanks – for example – could very well be looking up at the Angels.
I feel like I heard somewhere this winter that they didn’t properly address their relief pitching…
Hey dent. You didn’t hear that from me.
You were completely prescient on this.
Which I am sure must kinda suck, actually, to be right in this case.
You nailed that one Halo. You guys have an awesome lineup, the two best players in the game, & pretty good starting pitching.
But your bullpen should all join Arsonists Anonymous.
Misanian explained it in the article.
You guys rip angels when they have little cap space and Perry has been there 1 year. Relax you don’t build a squad in 1 season. Imo they need a whole new scouting department maybe steal some guys from rays, a’s, giants, and dodgers. In 2/3 years we can evaluate Perry ability to acquire and develop talent.
at the beginning of the offseason they had appx. $27 mil. before the trade deadline, we had appx.. $11 mil. it’s not the room under the threshold. it’s the quality of players signed and the reason they were signed.
What you smoking? Cobb and Iglesias have worked out very well. The bullpen has been the problem and the starting pitching since dropping Bundy and Q has been absolutely fire. Don’t count the halos out just yet
look at the teams above the angels in wild card standings . angels struggled against most of them even with a healthy team. i am not getting my hopes up.
The Angels had plenty of money to spend on relief pitching. They wasted 8 million on Quintana.
Cobb and Iglesias have both been good.
Obviously isn’t a rebuild when you only trade Heaney and Watson and bringing up the top pitching prospect that’s killing it. They could put ALL those fireballers they got in trade and put them in the pen right now and they’d be an upgrade over what we currently have. Plus most of the pitchers we drafted are close to ready for the MLB pen
You really think most of the 20 pitchers you drafted are close to ready for the MLB pen. Just because they took a bunch of college arms doesn’t mean they’re ready. You’d be lucky if just one of those guys are ready to pitch in the bigs.
You can go from college to the pen pretty quickly. If the Angels are in this in September, I expect to see Bachman.
There is a huge difference between commanding four pitches vs commanding two.
Exactly, Bachman may see an Angels uniform this year but that’s about it. Most of those guys they drafted are going to require a year or two in the minors before they see Anaheim.
Say it ain’t so Joe… G-whiz Where do you get this idea about the draft picks being major league ready Allow the angels To restock the farm system cut us some slack Jack
@Geno
Read John’s comment above mine and you’ll see I was replying to his last sentence.
If Arte Moreno admitted he failed he wouldn’t sell many tickets and all Arte cares about is selling three million tickets every season. That won’t happen this season but ticket sales would really drop if the Angels said the season is over. He better start worrying about the only reason to watch his team. Is Ohtani going to see any pitches to hit? Why let him hit anything? The Angels beat the A’s today and Ohtani is the one who knocked in the one run.
Ohtani will see plenty of pitches to hit 450 feet in no time. There’s a guy named Trout on the mend, and once again you’ll be able to watch the best dou MLB has to offer. Stay tuned Mark.
One sad GM with no clear course after another. Good thing they have a lot of $$$ because if it wasn’t for $$$ who would want to go there knowing they aren’t winning and what a place that could be.
The only thing keeping the Angels from winning is their bullpen. Minasian failed big over the winter. He almost completely rebuilt the bullpen. Too bad he did that with bad pitchers. Plus, the Angels have a lousy pitching coach. Matt Wise was given the job as interim pitching coach when Callaway was suspended and later fired. It’s obvious he’s in over his head. Minasian better hire a real pitching coach this winter.
angels should have traded both iglesises. but arte wants to sell tickets and resetting the roster may not be great for the business, you know!
Correct. This is all about Arte and his inability to understand winning > selling tickets.
Arte has clearly said he doesn’t rebuild. Hence the broken record trade deadlines.
i chose my words carefully. haha!
If the Angels feel they are going to resign Iglesias, as they should, then it’s fine.
Now your talking Halo. +1
Vizionaire
I disagree if we would’ve traded both Iglesises It would’ve put up the white flag we’ve had major injuries The offense is not the problem the problem is been in the bullpen This group should have the right to continue playing and competing
Let the kids pitch. They’re doing that now and all of the sudden their rotation is putting up zeroes and going deep into games. And now Detmers comes up and starts tomorrow. It was well to buy. Unload, reload the farm system, bring up major league ready arms.
Angels should find a way to trade upton and get rid of his salary or even some of it
no-trade clause?
Justin Upton isn’t the problem on this team. Anthony Rendon is a bigger problem. Suddenly he’s made of glass. And he needs a month to start hitting once he comes off the IL. As soon as he starts hitting he gets hurt again. He should retire if that’s the future. Arte loves to overpay for free agents. Unless they’re pitchers.
Ok so where do I start.. happens to be my team. So if I come off harsh it’s because I’m frustrated. I think we have a GM who finally understands that in order to compete with the A’s you need to have an Arsenal of good pitching plus the development to go along with it. Our window with Trout is closing as I feel he will be on the IL more frequently. The Same with Rendon. If we would have had a decent back of the bullpen this year we would be in the hunt. It’s a 2 year window I hope Perry can pull some tricks this off season and keep Arte away from the free agent process.
Agreed that the window is now. Also, who knows how much longer Ohtani’s body will allow him to excel on both sides of the ball. You’ve got the A’s which presumably will be flushed with new money when they eventually get a new ballpark.
Speaking of Angels, Marlins and Angels almost finalized a dea headlining Meyers for Marsh. Let’s see if both teams can finalize the seal during the off-season.
Marlins definitely going to trade from their DEEP and TALENTED SP’ing depth for bats
No rumors on this, I don’t Marlins would do this
Actually it was the Angels who backed out.
would have been dumb for the angels.
I am very high on Meyer so I would have been sad to see him go. Prospect for prospect trades can be so volatile.
But for the Angels to walk away? Every place you can read about Meyer they agree he could pitch in the majors now (as a reliever with his fastball/slider combo). You would think the Angels jump at the chance to get someone like that in their system. Especially when they really don’t need offensive help.
it’s the value thing. everyday stars are much more valuable than star pitchers. not saying pitchers are valuable, though.
‘not’
You’ll never win with Maddon at the helm……
“Arte Moreno” is a blithering idiot !
As long as this loser owns the “California” – Angels, expect .500 at best !!
Remember…
It was “Disney’s” team that won the World Series in 2002, and it has been virtually down hill ever since !!!
Mike Trout, what were you thinkin…
Period !
Anyone who craps on Artie either wishes they had him for an owner or don’t understand that this is an extremely successful businessman.
The only people who don’t like him are the same trolls that post crap like that.
The fans love this guy and appreciate that every year he’s busting it for them.
Get real Nancy!
yeah, you are surely not aa goat but a sheep indeed!
Forced Vernon Wells trade, forced Josh Hamilton signing, forced Pujols signing, forced CJ signing, forced Upton extension. Dude has over ruled his GMs for a decade either signing or trading for several of the top 10 worst contracts in the last decade. He is by far the worst owner in the sport since Loria and McCourt sold.
Let’s see if Sandoval, Barria, and/or Suarez are rotation pieces. I think Sandoval is.
If so, and Detmers is what he’s supposed to be, we might actually be building a rotation.
That bullpen, however, is a whole nother story.
H.H. We agree on much. I wouldn’t count out Canning.
if the rotation holds till 7th inning there might be some hope.
Halo11fan,And I’ll give you a +1 on. Not counting out Canning. You’re still negative 113 thou.
what? do you celebrate being 11.5 games out of division? or 6 games behind for a chance to play a single game to decide if you could go on? laughable!
Who’s celebrating? I believe most have there champagne on ice for 2022 and or 2023.
You think I’m negative for pointing out the pen stinks. You think I’m negative about Adell, or Marsh, the starting rotation or the lineup? Do rip Moreno, the organization, the Manager?
Do you actually read what I write?
The pen stinks, it’s Perry’s fault. That’s a fact, it’s not even an opinion.
Six games out with this pen and without Trout and Rendon. This is easily fixable.
Ok Mr. Arm chair GM Halo11fan, Last off-season Angels needs were: a starting SS and OF, 2 SP’s, and 5 RP’s, you only have 30m to fill all your needs. Have at it.
BTW: Perry spent approximately 13m of the 30m on the Pen. A pretty fair amount considering all the needs. Don’t worry, next season will be more.
I don’t ignore the pen. I know Buttrey and Mayers are not the answer. And I don’t waste spots on Claudio, Gurrea and Slegers.
I said that months ago and was 100% right. Everyone but you seems to realize that.
no quintana at $8 mil, either.
I said that months ago as well. What was the point of adding Quintana when Sandoval and Barria were just as likely to be as good. I said something similar to that last year.
This is simple for most. You need more than 6 ready now SP’s. Hints why they believed they needed 2 more.
Go read what you wrote to me on the Quintana thread.
No need, I thought Q had a better chance of working out than not. Shoot, you gave Cobb little to no chance of working out, which I liked also. Guess were even, that’s good for you. Lol
you just don’t get it. when the job calls for a 20 gauge slugs, you don’t bring a 20 gauge birdie to do the job.
Your animus towards me is just as important as your inaccurate opinion.
Nothing has changed, Being wrong about everything has not changed you one bit.
I guess u get the last word with that poor analogy.
The bullpen stinking is Minasian’s fault but it’s also Arte’s fault. He should have handed Minasian a blank check and said fix the blowpen. Just putting new pitchers in it won’t fix it. He could have signed Yusmeiro Petit. He was available the whole winter until the A’s re-signed him. He pitched great for the Angels a few years ago and then Arte and Eppler let the A’s steal him.
Canning needs to reinvent himself I’ve been watching him pitch he can’t put batters away with 2 strike Canning quickly gets ahead of the count and then starts nibbling before you know it we’re at a full count it’s about attacking the strike zone making that 2 strike pitch count Trusting your stuff
I’m happy to see that people are starting to see through the smoke and mirrors with Arte Moreno. This discourse is 100% due to the fact that he prioritizes revenue over championships. He is a marketing guy and as long as his bottom line looks nice he doesn’t care what happens. He pigeon holes the GMs and didn’t allow Dipoto or Eppler to properly rebuild when they could be competing at a much higher level now should they have committed to a direction. When ohtani
batted lead off and pitched inning 1 of the ASG, Arte’s season was made. I’m sure he wouldn’t allow for the proper further spend to make a deal happen. #boycottarte
Hey, Nancy II, I don’t want an owner or be involved with ANY businessman whose not willing to SUCCEED and make a profit. Ask around your trailer park and see if anyone agree.
No dog fights in the comment section
ultimate truth! yeah, man!
Agreed dog, most Angels fans do support Arte. It’s just on these social media boards you have mostly haters and or trolls. hints all the negativity.
yup, he makes money by not spending on scouting and training. the dumb penny pincher even stopped paying his scouts. his minor leaguers are lucky if they can survive malnutrition during the season. yeah, you love him. but he is not a right owner for a baseball team. he could make more if he sells the team and invest in something else. like gold!
Why are you guys calling “Karen” “Nancy”?
tdoggnation, you pretty much nailed this one.
You could trade all the upcoming FA and it still is not considered a total rebuild. I was hoping for Cobb and Iglesias to be traded.
Yes very true, If it came down to it I believe they would of. I guess the slim chance at the wild card, out weighed the offers they were getting… With Cobb thou minor, the IR maybe had a little to do with it.
The Angels got Junk for Heaney (thats not even close to getting old) and crap (Sam Selman) for Watson. Minasian was never going to get the controllable players he thought he was going to get trading from the Major League roster. The Angels will do what they always do next winter–spend big on a bat (Corey Seager) and nickle and dime the pitching staff
One man’s junk is another man’s treasure. Heaney was totally expendable and the last man out of the terrible 4 Sp’s we rolled out there this year.
Oh, I wouldn’t bet the farm on the Angels signing Seager or any high priced SS..thanks for stopping by.
Rsox
Apparently you didn’t read between the lines of the young arms that also were in the giants trade and Yankees trade Come on dude give us the real news not fake news
take your Covid vaccine shot
I’ve been a fan since their inception. I won’t say that the bullpen was constructed the best from the get go this year but SP has been the down fall. The troubles with SP’s has had a domino effect on the pen. Their were overused early in the season and have never really recovered. I as many here have known for years that we needed to address pitching. It never happened. That said, we now have some promising pitchers. Otani, Sandoval. Barria and others very close. It finally looks like we may be making a step forward. Not this year but just maybe for the tenth anniversary of our only World Championship.
Ward wasn’t even on the roster?? What the?? This is garbage management. I been saying for years they gave been wasting away Barria. Said last year they needed to give Ward the run with time and not Adell. Finally gets a shot and they let Marsh and Eaton take his playing time? Garbage. I get it defense, but Marsh has his day coming, but it was definitely Wards year to lose. He was playing decent too.. they also turn Thaiss back into a catcher, only to be a bullpen catcher when on the mlb roster. Lame.
I mean… you have Trout and Ohtani, you’ve had Trout for years. Why not sell now, and buy hard in the off-season? You can’t win this year as currently constructed, go for broke while you have both players under contract. Ask the Marlins if extreme mediocrity between titles was worth buying a title 2x? Right now the Angels just have the mediocrity part down pat.
While you can certainly complain about the Angel’s bullpen, their real issue lies with their starting pitching. If they could get a consistent 6-7 innings out of their top 3 starters, their bullpen would be used less and the results would be better. The Angels need to focus on their rotation in the offseason and if successful, the bullpen will round into shape as well.