The Rays placed starter Drew Rasmussen on the 15-day injured list yesterday (retroactive to June 12) with a left hamstring strain. Ralph Garza Jr. was recalled to take his roster spot. The 26-year-old Rasmussen has been solid for Tampa over 12 starts, posting a 3.41 ERA/3.90 FIP across 58 innings. Garza has been a frequent call-up for Kevin Cash’s club, making 11 appearances with a 3.27 ERA/4.64 FIP over 22 innings. He’ll return to his spot in the bullpen for now. Elsewhere around the game…
- The Cubs placed second baseman Nick Madrigal on the 10-day injured list yesterday with a left groin strain. The move was retroactive to June 12th. The Cubbies were lauded for their acquisition of the 25-year-old, but he has yet to find his stride in Wrigleyville, hitting just .222/.263/.250 through 115 plate appearances. He’s been solid defensively, however, posting 3 DRS without making an error thus far. Veteran Jonathan Villar has taken over at the keystone in Madrigal’s absence, with Andrelton Simmons and rookie Christopher Morel also seeing some run there.
- The Angels are nearing a decision point about Anthony Rendon, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. Rendon has missed four games because of the same wrist that caused him to miss 12 games earlier this month. If he can’t get back in the lineup soon, the Angels won’t have much choice but to put him back on the shelf. A litany of setbacks has kept Rendon from achieving his Nationals form over his three-year tenure with the Angels. So far this season, he was slashing .228/.324/.383, not a bad mark overall (106 wRC+), though still lacking in the power department.
Man…I think the decision point should be to find a trade partner for Rendon. Pay out some of the money and try to get something back. For the amount of money we have already paid him and still owe him I’d rather see it go to Ohtani. Rendon has been a bust and cant stay healthy and nothing close to the elite talent he was supposed to be(besides his glove when he plays). There has to be a point where it is time to move on and use the money more wisely.
No one’s taking that contract unless the Angels eat most of it and then what’s the point?
Find a better use of a roster spot is my guess
It was a horrible contract when it was signed, and is so much worse now. Don’t know why the Angels shelled out that kind of money for an aging, injury-prone 3B in the first place. I said it then, and I say it again now.
What’s interesting is that he wasn’t injury prone. He averaged 147 games the last 4 years with Washington.
So the problem is why do the Angels keep getting these types of guys / contracts? Is it the team culture? Are guys encouraged to sit unless they are a full 100% (which is rare for any athlete)? Is it the casual fans? The players knowing they’re not going to get lit up in the media?
That whole org needs a re-do. It starts at the top.
Used to watch the Angles in the years when Gene Autry overspent to bring in Lynn, Burleson, Carew, Grich, DeCinces, Reggie Jackson, etc. It seemed like the mentality was……
Watch your investments and endorsements and the hits and wins will take care of themselves..
And trading away young players, which depleted their depth.
They dealt Carney Lansford (Fred Lynn), Tom Brunansky (Doug Corbett and Rob Wilfong), and Dennis Rasmussen (Tommy John), which would’ve saved them a lot of money to where they would’ve had the money to re-sign Nolan Ryan (if Buzzy Bavaria could zip it), and still have Reggie Jackson. You erase Fred Lynn and perhaps Doug DeCinces. You then have Lansford at 3B, or SS (he was a SS in the minors) if they still sign DeCinces. Brunansky in CF (he broke out in 1982 and played all 3 OF positions throughout his career). Rasmussen was still a year away.
This is what made them contend one year, then falter the next season in those days. Although, they almost won consecutive division titles in 1985 and 1986, and were 2nd place or higher in 6 of 9 seasons from 1978 through 1986. They’re repeating those same mistakes after they already have an 8 year period from 2002 through 2009 that shows everyone exactly what works for the Halos to win.
Then again, the Angels would’ve loved the current playoff format. There would’ve been a bigger playoff history to talk about there anyways.
The Angels, as many teams who miss out on the Playoffs, have the win now approach to signing FA’s. This may work for the Yankees but not many others. Their line WS Championship the roster was mostly home grown. This is where the issue is, player development. In the 70’s, 80’s, early 90’s, and once again 2005-
Time for new ownership! Invest in Central America, scouting, and coaching.
Look at Houston and the Dodgers.
it is gonna be tough with as many years are left on it. I could see the giants doing what they did in the wil wilson trade with the angels a few years ago but it is going to take a lot more than 1 prospect to make it happen
Angels is the place where FA’s go and collect money and do nothing. It’s okay though, will probably trade Ohtani and the Angels will be the new Boston Redsox and not win another championship for another 100 years.
There’s more truth to that than I probably want to admit.
Who isn’t injured for the Rays? Back to four starting pitchers on the IL, 2B, SS, catcher, and now prob KK. Not to mention all of the high-leverage relievers. Tough year. No excuses…just painful.
This is the story across most of baseball. So many injuries coupled with sub par offense.
Heard a remark the other day that FO people around MLB are concerned about what will happen if the pitching injuries continue in the 2nd half of the season.
Something is amiss here, and it has nothing at all to do with Covid or the lockout – it has 100% to do with the FO’s over the past 20 or so years changing the way MLB is played…and it’s gotten worse every year.
KK Has a huge defensive presence when healthy but he seems to be made of glass over the past few seasons. Can’t keep off the IL.
“So far this season, he was slashing .228/.324/.383, not a bad mark overall (106 wRC+)” Not a bad mark overall if he was a league minimum or lower type salary- but considering his contract I think it’s fair to say it’s a pretty bad
You have to wonder what his long term future is with the Cubs. If the Cubs sign a SS next season, Horner fits well at second leaving Madrigal (barring a big second half), the odd man out… Morel has been the silver lining for them this dark cloud of a season.
It’s way too early to give up on Madrigal. He has the talent to be a perennial .300 hitter; the Cubs need to give him one more year to see if he can live up to his natural talent.
Hoerner, Happ, Steele and until recently Thompson has been the only reason to watch the Cubs this year. I’ll be happy when Suzuki returns as well…
I’m wondering if we could put Ross on the IL? This is some of the worst Cubs baseball I have seen… sure am happy Hoyer gave him his undeserved extension.
This is the second massive losing streak under Ross’s watch… the first completely knocked us out of playoff contention last season… and this recent losing streak has been an embarrassing. Blow out after blow out… after leading! How many leads have we blown this year?
Hey drasco—what do you think happens when a possible 10 game losing streak and 14 game winning streak collide this weekend?? Yikes.
It never made any sense to me why the cubs choose to give Ross an extension when simply picking up his 2023 option was the play to make. Now they are stuck with a guy who’s led two double digit losing streaks in consecutive seasons.
I don’t think anyone expected the Cubs to be competitive this season (a bit more competitive sure) but losing streaks reflect horribly on managers. Take into consideration the Cubs at some point led the majority of these games makes it even worse. Then, for the PBO to say, “he’s doing a great job” is a slap in the face to any knowledgeable baseball fan.
Losing is a gm/pbo fault. Losing streaks are managers fault. It really is as simple as that. Motivation, focus, making the proper baseball move is the managers responsibility and those decisions keep streaks from happening.
As for your question, I cannot imagine it get any uglier than the padres wiping the floor with us the way they have the past couple games….
@mike127- A cubs win of course! Lol #CantPredictBall
Sad when a .228 average is considered not bad. Lol
“Fun” Fact about Rendon, assuming he’s shut down for the rest of the season to heal up:
Through 3 seasons on the Angels he’s played to a total of:
155 games, with 20 HR’s, producing 89 RBI’s and accumulating a 3.1 WAR.
So over 3 seasons and $64,844,44M paid to him, Rendon has given the Angels approximately $18M worth of value.
If there hadn’t been the pro-rated season, he’d have probably given them about 3.3 WAR total (based on his 2020 performance) and maybe 0.3 WAR for 2021 if he’d kept playing, though possible -0.3 WAR in the end… and he’d have been paid a total of $94,214,286 for the equivalent of about $18M worth of production.
I remember when he was a free agent and was talking like he was seriously toying with the idea of retirement after 2019 and saying he didn’t care that much about money and that he only wanted to play 2-4 more years at most and then he signed that 7 year deal with Anaheim because that’s what they offered and because they were a smaller market club out of the spotlight of Los Angeles proper, or New York or Boston, etc. as if Anaheim isn’t a major league ball club that gets tons of media coverage either way.
Rendon and Charlie Morton are the kings of parlaying threats of retiring early and going out on top into doubling the length of their careers and being paid many multiples of their total career earnings up to the “considering retirement” comments. (Morton talked retirement prior to his 2 year/$30M Rays deal, his $15M 1-year deal with Atlanta and his 1 year/$20M deal with Atlanta, all of which more than doubled his previous career earnings had he actually retired like he was saying he would prior to the Rays deal)
Charlie Morton is a beast. Say what you want about his retirement thoughts (threats?), the man broke his leg in a world series game…and kept pitching. HE BROKE HIS LEG DURING A WORLD SERIES GAME AND KEPT PITCHING. Charlie is what you call a gamer. I’d take him any day. 100% legend. (And the Rays, stupidly, just let him go…)
Right, Rendon’s ‘retirement’ talk was always a lie- he was always going after the money. Add to that his regular talk about how he ‘doesn’t owe the fans anything’, and he’s a really unsavory signing. In addition to the fact that he was already 30 when the incompetent organization signed him. Ohtani will go for the most money too
Awesome Fun Fact. above….If I’m the Angels I’m hitching my wagon to Ohtani and MLB should start a free Mike Trout campaign. Any Mets fans out there? How about this scenario?
Mets get Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon and Kurt Suzuki
Angels get Escobar, McCann, Baty and Maurico
I figure that the Escobar and McCann contracts help absorb some of the Rendon money and you have to believe Rendon can get back to .260/20/70 type numbers. Baty and Maurico are blocked on the MLB roster and the prize is Trout. The Angels can then build around Ohtani and move on.
Angels aren’t trading Trout. That would like trading Frank Robinson or Willie Mays or Henry Aaron or Mantle or DiMaggio. (Yes, I know Willie and Hank were traded, but they were over 40.)
That’s also way too much risk for the Mets with those huge contracts.
Only way Trout is traded is if he ask to be. He has a no trade contract.
Actually Robinson was traded and went to 4 WS with the Orioles (lost 1 with CIN). So he’s actually an example of what Trout could do somewhere else.
Correct. Can you imagine Robinson on the Big Red Machine?
Also, scratch Mantle and DiMaggio. The Yankees were winning regularly during that time.
Throw in Cano’s and Bonilla’s contract and you’re getting started
Poetic justice for the Sox. That Madrigal trade made zero sense.
Will Angels ever learn about long term contracts?
Wow, offense has really fallen off this year if Rendon’s slash line is above league average
I blame manfred
That’s weird, Rays place another pitcher on the IL.
Crikey, the Rays have like 14 pitchers since the of the start 0f 2021 go on the IL with substantial injuries,
The Rays go through dozens of pitchers a year, particularly relief pitchers. They don’t have a closer. They always start the season stashing reserves in AAA that they will call up when pitchers on the ML roster don’t produce in a reasonable period of time. So the pitchers are going to throw as hard as they can, and do whatever they have to do to get the most spin on the ball to stay in the major leagues (and get those astronomical salaries).
With all the injuries to pitchers league-wide due to batters being taught and encouraged to hit endless foul balls, the Rays are league leaders in demanding their pitchers “miss bats”. It’s the key to their recent success.
Package Rendon and Ohtani in a trade.
Ahhhh Rendon.
Msqboxer, No way that trade happens. Not even close. Trout alone should bring more than that bunch. And you’d have to include a top tier pitching prospect or two. But no way Angels trade Trout anyway. Can’t trade Rendon when his value is so low. And Suzuki will not head back to the East coast again. He’s from O.C. and will retire instead of go there.
Absolutely hopeless team. Most dysfunctional organization in MLB, especially when payroll and ‘off the field issues’ are factored.
Sadly if not traded, Mike Trout will be the new Miguel Cabrera, with the exception that he will never play or win a World Series.
They should NOT mix and match stuff from different teams. It’s silly. I came here for Madigral while others can here for Rendon, not Madigral, etc. At any rate, Madigral needs to hit the weight room and get more throwing and hitting power. Regarding injuries, just don’t let him run. ::-) I thinks he thinks the game is faster than it is and reacts accordingly. H:e is very smart, and just needs to slow (down in his head. He should be an All Star one day, IMHO.