The Angels announced a series of roster moves today, including the previously-reported selection of infielder Jake Lamb. To open a spot for Lamb on the roster, right-hander José Marte was placed on the 60-day injured list. Additionally, the club placed catcher Max Stassi and infielder Jared Walsh on the 10-day injured list, and placed right-handers Chris Rodriguez and Griffin Canning on the 15-day injured list.
Marte, 27 in June, was recently shut down for four weeks due to a stress reaction in his elbow. Even if that cool down period helps get him back to health, he will then have to ramp back up into game readiness at that point, so it’s not shocking to see the club doesn’t expect him back in the next two months. He’s made 15 major league appearances for the Halos thus far in his career with a 7.80 ERA.
As for other IL placements, they’re all of the smaller variety. Stassi has a hip injury while Walsh is currently plagued by headaches and insomnia. Both of those issues were reported earlier this week when it was reported that Lamb would make the team. In the case of Rodriguez, he underwent shoulder surgery last year and it was reported last month that the club would be ramping him up slower than his teammates as he gets back into game shape. To this point, there’s nothing to suggest that there’s been any sort of setback from that plan, and the fact that he hasn’t been placed on the 60-day IL suggests he could return fairly early in the season.
As for Canning, the club announced his injury as a groin strain, which is a recent development. Manager Phil Nevin told Adrian Garro of MLB.com about the issue yesterday. “It’s something that’s not really alarming, but it’s there for sure,” Nevin said.
Canning, 27 next month, has shown some promise in his career, particularly during the shortened 2020 season. He made 11 starts that year with a 3.99 ERA, 23.5% strikeout rate, 9.7% walk rate and 36.3% ground ball rate. Unfortunately, his ERA ticked up to 5.60 in 2021 and then he missed all of 2022 due back issues. He was healthy here in spring, making four starts with a 1.32 ERA. That got him into the conversation for a sixth starter job behind Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Anderson, Patrick Sandoval, Reid Detmers and José Suarez. Unfortunately, this groin issue will keep him out of action for the start of the season, seemingly giving Tucker Davidson that sixth starter gig, at least for the time being.
So right out the gate we will be tested on our new “depth.” Well now is the best time to do it. Let’s get this thing started Halos! I’m just nervous cause when we do well in Spring training that never translates to the season. Just like me on the driving range before a round… lol
Of that list only Walsh was really expected to be a starter with Stassi in a timeshare.
Rodriguez, Canning, and Marte were all AAA bound and this is more just roster maneuvering than anything.
Marte had not pitched all spring. We knew he was hurt and would be on the IL to start the season. The only question was if he would be going on the 60 day.
But Canning had 4 starts an threw 13.2 innings this spring and Rodriguez had been throwing bullpens and B games. To have both of them not make the squad out of camp is a surprise.
Not really.
Rodriguez hadn’t pitched in a real game. B games are a different animal.
Canning looked better than Davidson but Davidson is out of options.
Boom. It’s all about which players the team can keep. If they put Davidson on waivers, he’s claimed in a nanosecond. Rangers for sure would claim him with Odorizzi on 60-day. That would be a catastrophic loss for Angels.
Besides, both Canning and Rodriguez sat out 2021. It makes sense to bring them along slowly and let their bodies build up strength and stamina.
And he was very good this Spring. Let’s see how he handles the regular season before making big decisions.
B games are not different, they are just not in the stadium and they no longer tell you the stats or count them in the standings. They used to call them split squad games and they did count until just a few years ago.
Canning looked good and a quick trip to the IL allows the Angels to give both a little longer look. I would bet that Canning’s rehab assignment starts as soon as AAA starts play.
I go to spring training every year. I’ve been to B games. The rules are bent constantly.
An MLB guy who needs at bats can lead off five innings in a row. A pitcher who throws too many pitches in one inning can be relieved then come back the next inning.
That’s why guys rehabbing play in them.
A split squad game is completely different. There are 15 teams in the Cactus League so one team will often play 2 games in the same day. Split their squad. The Angels did this twice this year. Those stats are published, the games are at stadiums, rules are enforced.
The rules are bent in ALL spring training games. A starter is throwing too many pitches in an inning, so he is taken out of the inning and comes back to start the next one. A position player is taken out of the field, but continues to bat. Both of those thing happened in regular spring training games this past week.
B games are often filled with stars and not just rehabbing players. Ohtani batted in one after returning from the WBC. Trout played in one.
You aren’t confusing two different things.
B games and Split Squad games are vastly different things. B games take place every single day. Split Squad games only happen a couple of times per Spring.
They are different things.
You can watch B games for free on back fields all spring. You buy a ticket to watch split squad games in stadiums.
To be clear, there are a ton of games going on each day at Spring Training.
The general rule is the team playing in the home stadium sends their minor league players to the away team’s facilities. So if the Angels are hosting the Giants, there’s 1-3 games going on at the Giants facility.
Those are usually minor league guys with an MLB guy occasionally mixed in. Those are all played on the back fields Those are the B games. And free.
A split squad game involves guys from big league camp going to another big league squad. Those or big league guys in regular stadiums and require a ticket.
Yes the rules can be bent from time to time in all spring training games, but they are very malleable on the back fields.
I don’t think we can question the depth. We have options this year. I am much more comfortable with Lamb, Drury, and Urshela at first rather than Duffy, Jose Rojas, and Dave MacKinnon from last year.
Stassi getting hurt allows the Angels to keep Thaiss for a bit longer. The decision to put Thaiss on waivers or simply bump O’Hoppe down to AAA gets made in two weeks.
Well don’t all these late “injuries” make the tough choices easy. Despite all the fanfare and “not a dry eye in the room” moment of announcing O’Hoppe will be the youngest opening day starting catcher in Angel history, it’s a bit concerning he or others didn’t tear it up in Spring Training to make the decision easy like some of the other freshman phenoms like Volpe or Jordan. I hope it won’t be like the dozen or so “having the parents attend their rookie son’s debut at the Big A and in game interviews” from last year.
My feeling is. Anting would be pitching and the injury is more convenient that serious.
Stassi is always hurt. Always.
Actually Moniack was having a pretty good spring.
Angels did quite well this ST. I know it is only ST and players are playing against lesser competition and could be riding a hot hand. Both Moniak and Jordyn Adams played quite well. If the Angels OF wasn’r set in stone already, it is possible one of these guys made the team.
Let’s see if the can continue producing in the minors.
Unless it was your son…..
Too bad about Canning. I was looking forward to him finally being healthy and being the 6th starter.
Canning wasn’t going to get the six spot unless Davidson totally tanked, he is out of options. O’Hoppe will be fine and Thaiss will get an extended look behind the plate and at IB.
Davidson will be DFA’d at some point this season. He was atrocious last season.
orange2001 – I kind of did not think much of him. I do like the GM and his team and he knew him well from his time in Atlanta. He must have seen something and Atlanta used him in the World Series. Then I heard him say on a podcast that they were telling him to come up with new pitches and use them in his starts so they could get data points and either ditch the pitch or figure out how to improve it and the best way to use it. I can’t find it but I think he says the same on the Arm Barn podcast.
No wonder he got lit up! Not that it means he will pitch good, but maybe they see him as someone that is easy coach. I wonder if this is Perry Minasian had an effect on Matt Wise. The pitching staff seams to have improved after Perry came over. I didn’t know Wise was so analytical. This is the kind of stuff I really like. The way Perry Minasian has improved the pitching staff though the the organization. as a whole. He even added Bill Hezel this year, who I really like.
Jack Lamb has had more lives then a cat, the guy is not a quitter.
Canning didn’t seem to be limping yesterday. A phantom injury to get him a little moree time in AAA to build up
Has nothing to do with this article, but everything to do with how cheap Arte is.
#1 – Arte decided to save money by not having the radio broadcasters travel with the team. Just so you know, you pay by the hour, not by the person on the team’s chartered flights, so sending them costs 2 hotel rooms and possibly meals. About $160k per season each if the costs the Braves pay are similar to what the Angels pay. What an f’ing cheapskate.
#2 – Arte did not allow Minassian to hire additional Pac Rim or pro scouts for the upcoming season. The Angels are stuck at 2 and one doesn’t travel, he just watches video. WTH Arte? As huge as Ohtani has been here and Arte still won’t spend to hire a scout to see if he can find the next Ohtani. He won’t hire more scouts so Minassian can make the most informed trades if, by some miracle, the Angels are in it near the deadline
PLEASE, someone get Arte TF out of Anaheim.
Source?
theathletic.com/4360699/2023/03/29/angels-mlb-radi…
twitter.com/awfulannouncing/status/164118057533482…
Maybe they’re glad they are not traveling. Some broadcasters cut back on their travel in recent years. Vin Scully did only teams on the West Coast years before he retired They do have one thing in common they were older. .Same with The Padres Jerry Coleman. Bob Uecker cut back his traveling. And I’m sure a few more do as well. A guy with a $200m payroll a cheapskate?
A guy with more than $500 million in revenue and ONLY a $200 million payroll IS a cheapskate. If payroll is not 50% of revenue then the owner is pocketing tens of millions in profit over an above what most would consider a healthy profit. In every other majors sport the player payroll is required to be 48-52% of revenue.
Read the articles I just linked to above. Arte is a cheapskate.
Exactly, do you think people will even notice?
My friend told me, and he got this from a first hand source, Arte doesn’t like spending on RPs. I’m having a hard time reconciling that with how much he spent last year, but my source is solid.
I don’t mind radio not traveling. Most people watch the games today. And I don’t think Arte is cheap. But he need to hire a GM and let the GM make decisions.
Moreno has a net worth of $4.13B. Cut both the scouting department and player development departments years ago……….yes, he’s cheap. And that $200M you reference…….over 50% is taken up by Trout, Ohtani and Rendon………the shiny toys he needs to market the team and sell tickets despite of how non-competitive they’ve been over the last 7 years. Oh yeah…..and he was one of 4 owners to vote against raising the luxury tax threshold.
The most disappointing news this off season was Arte keeping the team. If you think the Angels broadcasters not traveling, you should look up what Arte did to the spanish broadcasters. The fact that he said he hasn’t had extension talks with Shohei is very concerning. I wished we had a better owner. If he would have spent the money on drafting and development over the past 10 years like he has the past couple years, we wouldn’t even need to be concerned about losing Ohtani.
Good farm system or not, You should always be concerned about losing a player like Ohtani. This is not a generational player. This is the type of player that comes around once every 100 years.
Canning…I know this is probably minor compared to the back issues. But he needs to pitch. I think he’s got potential but he can’t stay on the mound.
Happy opening day! Let’s go!
They lost.
Yup, it happens, hard hit balls were 2 to 1 on the losing team. That’s baseball and 161 more.
Don’t cry me a river on the BP losing it, you’ll win 2 games a year at best scoring 1 run.
The BP ‘s job is to lock down close games so yes, complaining about the BP is justified. Especially because game one is a continuation of exactly what happened in 2022: cold bats and BP can’t hold a lead.
Ohtani has to be (and should be) fuming after the the gem he pitched.