Mike Trout has been cleared to run and throw, and the former MVP is scheduled to take batting practice on the field today. Trout and Angels head trainer Mike Frostad spoke with reporters (including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register) yesterday, with Trout expressing confidence that he’ll be able to return to the lineup “sooner rather than later.” A more specific timeline isn’t yet known, as Trout may require a minor league rehab assignment.
Trout has now missed a full month of action due to left ribcage inflammation and back spasms, and Frostad’s past update about Trout’s larger-scale back problems (a costovertebral dysfunction) left concern over both Trout’s short-term and near-term future. Given that Trout ended up missing almost all of the 2021 season due to a calf problem that just kept lingering, fans probably won’t be fully relieved until they actually see Trout back on the field, no matter this latest positive news about his rib injury.
More on the Halos…
- Frostad also provided details on several other injured Angels players, including 60-day injured list members Michael Lorenzen, Matt Duffy, and Archie Bradley. Lorenzen has thrown two bullpen sessions this week and will face live batters on Tuesday. The right-hander (who has sidelined by a shoulder strain) is tentatively expected to be activated from the 60-day IL when first eligible on September 2. Duffy’s first eligible activation date is August 26, and the infielder is slated to start a minor league rehab assignment next week as he makes his return from back spasms. The news isn’t as good on Bradley, who has been out since late June with a fractured right elbow and has yet to start throwing, though Frostad suggested that Bradley could start throwing this week. Given Bradley’s long layoff and the amount of rehab still to come, he might not pitch again in 2022.
- Mickey Moniak’s season was though to be in jeopardy when the outfielder fractured the tip of his left middle finger, which sent him to the 10-day IL on August 7. Frostad said that Moniak’s stitches were removed yesterday, and depending on how he heals, might be able to return even if Moniak might still be playing through some discomfort. Acquired from the Phillies as part of the Noah Syndergaard trade at the deadline, Moniak played just five games for the Angels before hitting the injured list.
- The Mets and Yankees were among the teams also interested in acquiring Raisel Iglesias prior to the deadline, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman writes. However, neither New York club was willing to cover all of the $51.5MM remaining on Iglesias’ contract, while other teams were willing to take that deal entirely off the Angels’ books. Los Angeles ended up moving Iglesias to the Braves for Tucker Davidson and Jesse Chavez, but though the Halos dealt Iglesias and Syndergaard, Shohei Ohtani remained. “Half the teams or more” around baseball inquired about Ohtani, Heyman reports, and Heyman views owner Arte Moreno’s refusal to trade Ohtani as a missed chance. With Ohtani set for free agency after the 2023 season, there has already been a lot of speculation that he could be on his way out of Anaheim, and in search of a potential record-setting contract that reflects his unique two-way skillset.
He’s a 2-4 WAR level player going forward in terms of what can be expected in terms of actual production. Prime ended with the 2019 season at the latest- arguably 2018 since that was his last season as a complete player, but definitely no later than 2019. The red flags began with the 2019 season and they were highlighted big time in 2020. He has been around a 4-5 WAR level player since 2019- 4-5 WAR pace in 2020, 2 WAR in 2021, 4 WAR up to this point in 2022. With the latest injury, he will be a 2-4 WAR level player.
Trout should learn to play through injuries now & again. Bryce Harper wants to play baseball, tough-it-out, at times I don’t get the same impression from Trout. Here’s hoping Trout can stay on the field.
Teams and trainers take less chances when teams are 16 games back at the all star game
Agreed, Dusty. The Angels’ mediocrity lends itself, down the stretch, to “shutting down” certain players. Would be great to see Trout play 150 games next year.
Agree with Heyman. Angels lost their best opportunity to trade Ohtani to receive maximum return. I think we have seen the best of Ohtani’s career. Hard to imagine any human even a freak like Ohtani burning the candle at both ends forever. I think we will start to see him breakdown next season. Sure hope I’m wrong though, he’s fun to watch!!!
I hope Trout also doesn’t have Ringworm!
“might be able to return even if Moniak might still be playing through some discomfort”
Why is it so important he plays even if he’s still hurt?
Audition for next season
But if he’s playing hurt, you aren’t going to get a guage as to how he’ll perform next season when he’s not
It’s just silly
Dark-He’s not going to play if he feels he can’t. But if he does choose to do so He will have some discomfort. Stop being a drama queen.
“Playing through some discomfort” is why Trout has 115 games played over a 2 year span, why Fletcher has played 26 this season, why Rendon has merely 155 games in 3 seasons with the club, why Upton was rarely on the field for long or playing productively over his 5 years, why Ohtani has 54 starts over a 5 year career, why Canning has 25 sarts over the last 3 years, why Skaggs was self medicating to the point it killed him, and on and on
It’s not dramaqueen to question why the team keeps doing the same exact dumb thing while just expecting different results
All that matters is production not how a player produces. Isn’t what they produce called production? Like, by definition of the word? Hit me with some more WAR talk and tell me I’m nothing like every other reply to your nonsense
Ok, so you’re 1 of the people who ‘doesn’t believe in WAR’. The point about how a player produces is that many think Ohtani has extra value because he produces from both the mound and from the plate, but it’s irrelevant- especially when a 6 pitcher rotation is required for him.
opener – I think you are alone in your assessment of all things baseball.
WAR is just a sum of all the basic stats you value, what is the problem here?
Because it’s a matter of valuation. For example, there may me a metric based on, say, HR, AVG, and SB. However, the metric may value SB significantly more than I do, and HR much less than I. Should I live then by said metric?
Good news about Trout. He’ll be ready for the Angels’ September pennant chase.
LMAO
Mike Trout: The Biggest Loser
Coming to a ballpark near you!
Trout is anything but a loser.
The GM and owner of the Angels is the magaloser here. Maybe he should have spent more on pitching, and less on “their own”, like signing the useless Rendon when you already had 3B options and no pitching.
There we’re no 3B options. Trust me.
So Cozart was the Angels starting third baseman before Rendon. Cozart couldn’t hit or field. The Angels problem this season, hasn’t been their starting pitching. It’s been the fact that they can’t score runs.
Nah, Trout is comfortable losing and making piles of money. A winner would have gotten the hell out of Anaheim a long time ago.
Weird how both NY teams acted like brokies at the deadline. Or how their scouts and front offices did a bad job saying Iglesias wasn’t worth that deal, when he was.
“The Opener” should “close” shop. Terrible takes.
WAR is the most useless baseball stat since the ” Quality Start”.
It’s a good catch all stat, but it is not the be all end all of a players value and performance.
wRC+/OPS+ (take your pick although I prefer the former) combined with OAA is the best combo IMO for hitters and ERA+/FIP for pitchers
Ironic,
WAR = basically wRC+/OPS+ plus OAA factored for playing time
WAR = basically ERA+ plus FIP factored for playing time
Results are hitters WAR is very, very accurate to what they actually accomplished on the field
Pitchers, not so much. The main ingredient of pitching WAR, FIP, assumes a baseline skill needed to pitch in the MLB so it corrects for just poor performance. Things like flat fastballs, tipping pitches, etcetera, are inadvertently corrected for, despite the pitcher possibly having those issues. So FIP, and therefore Pitching WAR, is more best case scenario situation, not a true representation of ability shown
MLBTR must have changed how the comment section is administered. It’s been all jacked up for about a month. It triple posted my comment above and the edit timer disappears if I refresh for new comments. It never used to do that. It’s been very glitchy.
I think Alanis Morissette summed up Mike Trout’s career quite nicely!
“A young man turned 27. He signed a 400+ contract extension, and his career died the next day, and isn’t it ironic, don’t you think?”
Bold move quoting Alanis Morissette lyrics on a baseball site. Your on man-card probation for 30 days.
I sure hope the Cubs were one of the teams calling about Ohtani. A rotation next year of Ohtani, Stroman, Steele, Thompson, Hendricks / Killian/Wesneski/Asad/ Wicks inspires some real potential. Maybe Moreno is tired of playing High Money, real Life Fantasy Baseball and at least pretends to have someone develop a Farm System. The Cubs finally got a GM who saw the need to hire first class Minor League instructors with a plan. The Angels IMO need to seriously consider an approach like that. Thoughts Angels Fans?
Are cubs really at a point where they should be traded 4-5 top prospects for a player 1.5 years away from free agency?
I wouldn’t doubt it because lately it seems like they don’t have a clear vision, not trading their valuable expiring contracts was a weird move, as was the stroman signing.
The Cubs aren’t as far away as people think. They also have enough quality arms to trade a couple and OF’s and C’s too and get an ACE. Ohtani is an ACE. Yeah, an ACE might emerge from the group I mentioned but your’e never sure. I would want Ohtani to really just pitch. Then the next day I would just let him PH to rest his arm. Then and only then would I let him DH or maybe teach him to play 1B where he doesn’t have to throw much if at all. For 1 and a half years and a chance to extend, I’d take the risk.
I think they are better off playing in free agency.
If they believe they are getting closer, it might make sense for them to bring in a quality arm and probably SS, use money and keep prospects.
There are no Aces in FA this year. The only 2 I know of are deGromm and Verlander and I don’t see either flipping teams.
The Cubs have some decent young players. How they approach free agency in the next couple years is critical. I think they need to do some very precise spending on the right players to get back in contention.
At least three of Steele,Thompson, Killian, Hayden, or Wicks are in the package so that rotation woln’t look that hot.
You’re not going to get 3 P’s for 1 1/2 years. Keep dreaming. At least not that highly ranked anyway.
Mike Trout showed what he’s become last season when at the end of the year he literally said if the Angels were in the race he could have played. I guess it never dawned on him that they need him to have a chance to be in a race. I don’t care what anyone says no player should ever miss that much time for a strained calf. Not torn strained. I think the problem is how teams view these players they give these exorbitant contracts to. If they get the slightest ding they’re instantly trying to IL them. That’s a problem because in the real world when you get more money at your job you’re expected to produce more. Not in baseball nope in baseball larger contracts means more time on the IL protecting the investment. Trout may have been the best player in the game for a stretch but he is no longer that. He will go down in history as a great hitter but he’ll never be considered a winner.
Trout and Ohtani were both healthy and performing well and the angels were still losing and no where close to contention. I agree with a lot of what you’re saying, but the angels are not a deep or balanced team and the last person who should be blamed for their lack of success is Trout
He deserves plenty of blame. Obviously not all but a good chunk as he’s not rushing to get back any time soon. He seems to love the IL way too much. Who knows how last season might have played out if he didn’t go stale on the IL for a strained calf. Ohtani had an incredible year but when a guy making $37M sits out almost the entire year for something minor that’s a killer. How much money do they have to make trades and add to the team? Not much at all. Do they even want to spend not knowing how long Trout is gonna sit for? They have so much money tied up in two guys that are living on the IL in Trout and Rendon. I’m not blaming him for everything but a player like that has to speak up within the organization to make it known that winning is the most important thing but it’s hard to do that when your ass is entrenched on the IL for stretches. Those fans deserve better than their two highest paid guys barely playing yet taking up over $70M a year in salary.
What? Trout speaks quite a bit how he wants to win.
At least he’s showing his support for the team by traveling with them. Oh, right- a lot of the time he doesn’t even do that. $37 million per year.
You really can’t quit can ya?! Haven’t seen a troll like opener in all my days!
You said you were out of here…so be gone. Even if you had an MLB Career you’re cleay obsessed and jealous of Mike trout. Honestly…it’s pathetic.
The Yankees never met my asking price. Heyman is usually wrong about these things. Why not come to me and ask me directly?
Dad are you drinking again?
Also, I wouldn’t trade Ohtani for Yankee prospects. Yankees prospects are drastically overhyped and rarely amount to anything in the major leagues, particularly their position players.
That’s all prospects my friend
Yeah but over the years Yankees prospects get a lot of play and when they finally come up and play for the yankees or get traded to another team. they flame out. The Yankees over hype these guys up so they can get more in a trade..
@The Opener – Do you know anything about baseball itself or do you just read stat sheets and watch the home run derby?
A huge amount about baseball.
Opener guys like you are laughable. If Ohatani or Trout were on your team you wouldn’t be spewing this garbage. Guys like you always try to put down these players like their some kinda mirage and they can’t possibly be this good.
Go away and go root for whatever team it is you follow. Your post reek of jealousy.
Maybe a poster with more than 1,900 PA in MLB would know what he’s talking about.
You said 1,600 PA earlier, which is it?
Maybe you forgot one of your seasons!
1,900- 1,600 was a typo. Guess what? Former major league players actually exist.
If you say you have 1900 major league ABs, I will take you at your word. That said, you have not posted a single comment that suggests you have any perspective on the game.
Point taken.
and guess what? they dont automatically know everything.
You’re a true, bona-fide idiot opener. And now you’re repeating yourself. that’s it! Your benched!!
The Iglesias and Syndergaard situations are exactly why LAA is going nowhere with their current FO group. Parting with a pick to overpay for Syndergaard for just one year was a miss, and then compounding the Iglesias mistake by selling low on him. I like Davidson and I can see Moniak finding himself in LAA, but they should have gotten more for the two of them after the investment they made in both arms in FA.
Thor cost a 2nd rd pick, and was likely gone in 2 months anyway…Moniak previously struggled with Philly but 47 mlb games is hardly a good sample to call anyone a bust.
He was showing signs breaking out/finding himself before the broken finger. Moniak could easily out perform the loss of the 2nd round pick, and at a quicker timeline as well. A 2022 comp pick may take 3-4 years whereas Moniak has put in the time and may have a new outlook since the move west. It’s sucks the injury happened I was looking forward to see how his season played out. Now we wait til ST and see what he’s got.
5toolMVP- I agree. I like the small sample size I saw of Monica. Plus we got a good catching prospect. Sure it was gamble to signing Thor. But who knows maybe he can come back in 2023. As crappy as this season has been. I like the possibilities going forward. Rengifo has finally shown some promise. Fletcher is back..Now we have find out what is going with Walsh.
All the money coming off the books we can sign some pitching and a good corner OF.
Whatever Monica can do for the Angels.will be a lot better than what Marsh was providing.
.
Monica is good at her job. Lol
It’s Moniak.
It was a typo. Meant Marsh.
trout is done. another wasted contract by the Angels
Besides the money, id be interested to see how other teams would play Ohtani. Frim what i gather, Ohtani does what he wants w the Angels, but contenders would challenge him more i think. Would some ask to try to play some 1st or LF? Would they ask to pitch more often or deeper into games? Or how about more relief and less starts. Would they work on his hitting stance swing etc? Maybe thats why he wasnt ready for an outright trade request.
I really wish Arte would look at the successful organizations and model himself after those owners and back the F off and let the baseball people do their jobs.
I wish Trout all the best to get back on the field and finish off his career. I doubt he’s in CF much more but should still contribute well enough.
Typo alert on the Moniak blurb: “season was though to be in jeopardy.”
“With Ohtani set for free agency after the 2023 season, there has already been a lot of speculation that he could be on his way out of Anaheim, and in search of a potential record-setting contract that reflects his unique two-way skillset.”
Please Giants offer a blank check to Ohtani. Bring some relevance back to the Bay Area
Ohtani couldn’t handle the pressure of being on a team with a winning tradition. Some of the reason he chose Anaheim was to limit exposure.
He chose a team in LA to limit exposure. Lol
Maybe Seattle or Minnesota but LA. Ok. He wanted to pitch and hit so that limited him to the 15 Al teams.
Except for the small fact that Anaheim isn’t in LA and the team in Anaheim receives nowhere remotely near the coverage as the team that’s actually in LA.
The los angeles basin. It’s still a major market.
Wrong. He chose the Angels
A. They’re on the West Coast
B. They’re were willing to let him hit and pitch.
Get your facts straight.
I wouldn’t rule out the Giants or the Mariners when Ohtani hits free agency. It also makes you wonder how the Dodgers approach their offseason this year. If they go big on Trea Turner that might keep them from being able to pursue Ohtani. Odds are better than not that he stays out west and the only team that can really be ruled out is the A’s (though that would be one heck of a surprise move if Billy could pull it off)
The broader scope is that the Angels have been ran questionably for so long that its almost bad comedy at this point. The bad contracts this franchise has been saddled with time after time is absolutely insane.
If you take a close look at just how bad their farm system has been since Trout came up, it’s just alarming. They’ve produced a long line of subpar major leaguers to compliment him both on the hitting and pitching side.
They may have to trade Otani just to get some relevant pieces to build around again. I feel badly for Angel fans.
This site needs a down thumb too!
Mike Trout has one career post-season hit. ONE.