Headlines

  • Lance McCullers Jr. Headed For MRI After Experiencing Setback
  • D-backs GM Mike Hazen On Trade Deadline Needs
  • Jacob deGrom To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
  • Yankees To Place Aaron Judge On Injured List
  • Blue Jays Option Alek Manoah
  • Reds Promote Elly De La Cruz
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2023-24 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2024-25 MLB Free Agent List
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Arbitration Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Angels Designate César Valdez, Select Chris Okey

By Darragh McDonald | May 9, 2023 at 6:29pm CDT

The Angels announced a series of roster moves, recalling right-hander Jimmy Herget and selecting catcher Chris Okey. In corresponding moves, righty César Valdez was designated for assignment while catcher Chad Wallach was placed on the 7-day concussion injured list . Sam Blum of The Athletic reported on the moves prior to the official announcement (Twitter links).

Valdez, 38, was just selected to the club’s roster yesterday. At that time, it seemed like he was there in case the club needed someone to eat multiple innings of long relief. José Suarez only last 2 2/3 innings on Sunday and Chase Silseth had to throw 3 1/3 innings of relief to get the club through that game. With Suarez then placed on the IL and Silseth seemingly ticketed to replace him in the rotation, the bullpen was a bit vulnerable going into Monday’s night game. But Patrick Sandoval was able to toss 6 1/3 frames last night and the Halos finished out the contest using only two relievers, Matt Moore and Carlos Estévez.

With the bullpen a bit more refreshed and an off-day coming up on Thursday, it seems they decided they could get by without Valdez and have designated him for assignment just about 24 hours after he was added to the roster. The veteran has been in and out of the majors over the years, having recently leaned hard into being a changeup specialist. He’s thrown the pitch 76.7% of the time over his 49 appearances dating back to the start of the 2020 season, posting a 4.84 ERA in that stretch.

The Halos will now have a week to trade Valdez or pass him through waivers. In the event that he clears, he would have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency by virtue of having a previous career outright.

As for Herget, he will get a chance to get his season back on track after a rough start. He registered a 6.23 ERA through his first eight appearances and got optioned down to Triple-A Salt Lake. That was a disappointing dip from the encouraging breakout he had last year when he had a 2.48 ERA, eventually earning nine saves and six holds. Since being optioned, he has a 5.40 ERA in five appearances despite strong strikeout and ground ball rates of 28% and 50%, respectively. A .462 batting average on balls in play and 83.3% strand rate likely inflated his ERA but his 16% walk rate surely played a part as well.

Turning to the backstops, the Halos have been doing a bit of scrambling behind the plate this year. Max Stassi has been on the injured list all year with a hip injury and personal issue while Logan O’Hoppe had his hot start ended by a torn labrum that’s going to cost him four to six months. Chad Wallach was added to the roster over two weeks ago to join Matt Thaiss as the club’s catching tandem but will now join Stassi and O’Hoppe on the injured list.

All of that has created an opening for Okey, who made his major league debut with the Reds last year, though he got just 13 plate appearances in seven games. He was outrighted off the club’s roster in July and reached free agency at season’s end, signing a minor league deal with the Angels. He’s made 45 trips to the plate for the Bees so far this year but has hit just .125/.205/.225 in that time. His overall Triple-A batting line is a bit better, coming in at .208/.283/.333 in 401 plate appearances dating back to 2019.

In one other note relating to the Angels, Suarez won’t require but will be shut down from throwing for four weeks, per Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. He’ll have to ramp back up at that point, meaning he likely won’t be available for a couple of months. He seems likely to be replaced by Silseth, who will join Sandoval, Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Anderson, Reid Detmers and Griffin Canning in the club’s six-man rotation.

Share 0 Retweet 8 Send via email0

Los Angeles Angels Transactions Cesar Valdez Chad Wallach Chris Okey Jimmy Herget Jose Suarez

Meibrys Viloria Elects Free Agency
Main
Evan White To Undergo Hip Surgery
View Comments (27)
newest oldest

Comments

  1. 86mets

    1 month ago

    They called Chris up? Okey dokey.

    4
    Reply
  2. AverageCommenter

    1 month ago

    Come on, don’t post a pun if it’s just Okey. At least make it good

    3
    Reply
    • TheGreatBaseballMind

      1 month ago

      Or at least average. Right, AverageCommenter? 🙂 Is average greater then okey?

      1
      Reply
      • bronxmac77

        4 weeks ago

        The Average White Band was pretty good. Okey?

        Reply
        • TheGreatBaseballMind

          4 weeks ago

          I disagree as if they were they would have been called The Pretty Good White Band. Okey? 🙂 Thanks, bronxmac77! Were you at the game today?

          Reply
  3. kellin

    1 month ago

    Glad to see we WON’T be seeing Valdez sputter over the pitchers mound. Herget’s not much better, though. His ERA is worse than it shows since he’s allowed all three runners to score that he inherited.

    Reply
    • Halo11Fan

      1 month ago

      I’m glad we are not seeing Valdez, but man, one day he’s on cloud 9, the next day he’s released. I hope they were honest with him.

      1
      Reply
      • FletcherFan69

        1 month ago

        Getting called up and DFA’d is pretty standard for emergency call-ups on minor league deals. Valdez went through the process last year and Okey will do the same once Wallach is back. Don’t infantilize the man and make him seem oblivious

        2
        Reply
        • Halo11Fan

          1 month ago

          And he didn’t dream of pitching three scoreless innings. And Okey was not dreaming o& going 4-4 and sticking?

          Reply
      • orange2001

        1 month ago

        Thought the same thing. I’m sure he was ecstatic to get another crack at the big leagues only to be DFA’d the next day… at his age, there may not be another opportunity.

        1
        Reply
        • Halo11Fan

          1 month ago

          Orange, according to Fletcher fan, you must believe Valdez is a child if you have such a thought.

          1
          Reply
  4. orange2001

    1 month ago

    Maybe they should’ve signed Gary Sanchez.

    1
    Reply
    • pohle

      1 month ago

      meibrys viloria is another depth option, who actually is a catcher. younger too, less expensive if they ever see the major league roster, is a decent depth option for any team to have but i dont think anyone else has three catchers on the IL so angels bringing him in should be prudent for them

      Reply
  5. bkbk

    1 month ago

    No mention but Taylor Ward came up exclusively as a catcher. Id guess hes their break glass in case of emergency option.

    1
    Reply
  6. vandilioff

    1 month ago

    Valdez is certainly a journeyman. Hardly anyone from his rookie team is still active.

    Reply
  7. bronxmac77

    1 month ago

    When the time comes, Valdez better see a World Series share. Elsewise, some people are going to answer to ME!

    1
    Reply
  8. This one belongs to the Reds

    1 month ago

    Okey was one of those ballyhooed prospects who ended up a suspect. I hope for your fans sake he finally figured it out.

    Reply
    • RedLegJason

      1 month ago

      Well he only batted .125 in AAA this year so I’m guessing he hasn’t. Haha

      1
      Reply
  9. prov356

    1 month ago

    Yeah, not sure why they put Valdez through that. The dude has really bad numbers.

    Reply
  10. Rsox

    1 month ago

    He’ll do Okey…

    Reply
  11. Plugnplay

    1 month ago

    I never expected Valdez to make more than 1 or 2 mop up duty appearances, good or bad, before they needed his roster spot. Turns out zero.

    2
    Reply
  12. deranaheimer

    1 month ago

    Angels need Wallach. Right now he is their only hope as catcher.

    2
    Reply
    • outinleftfield

      1 month ago

      He looked like he was having trouble putting one foot in front of the other without concentrating and had that glassy eyed stare going on. Angels fans are well familiar with that from Stassi. I hope Wallach will be ok health wise.

      Reply
  13. algionfriddo

    1 month ago

    Matt Thaiss had defensive issues early on. Is he improving any? His offense (very small sample size) looks decent. High K rate but good walk rate. He shows some pop.

    Reply
  14. bronxmac77

    4 weeks ago

    Angels struck out 14 times last night, and 13 (so far) today.

    Seems they can’t sniff a whiff of Astros pitching.

    Reply
  15. bronxmac77

    4 weeks ago

    SHO-time!

    C’mon boys! Rally time!
    Keep that line moving!

    Reply
  16. bronxmac77

    4 weeks ago

    Not quite.
    Alas, the Angels again fall short.
    ):*(

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.
Log in Register

ad: 300x250_1_MLB

    Top Stories

    Lance McCullers Jr. Headed For MRI After Experiencing Setback

    D-backs GM Mike Hazen On Trade Deadline Needs

    Jacob deGrom To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

    Yankees To Place Aaron Judge On Injured List

    Blue Jays Option Alek Manoah

    Reds Promote Elly De La Cruz

    Red Sox Designate Raimel Tapia For Assignment

    Mets Designate Tomas Nido For Assignment, Activate Omar Narvaez

    MLB Hires Albert Pujols As Special Assistant

    Guardians Designate Zach Plesac For Assignment

    Diamondbacks Extend Torey Lovullo Through 2024

    Red Sox Place Chris Sale On Injured List With Shoulder Inflammation

    Reds Disinclined To Trade Jonathan India

    Yankees Activate Stanton, Donaldson, Kahnle; Rodon Transferred To 60-Day IL

    Tigers Place Riley Greene On Injured List Due To Stress Reaction In Fibula

    Braves Select AJ Smith-Shawver, Designate Lucas Luetge

    Orioles Sign Aaron Hicks, Place Cedric Mullins On IL

    Brewers Designate Luke Voit For Assignment

    White Sox To Activate Liam Hendriks From Injured List

    Royals Release Hunter Dozier

    Recent

    Best Deadline Rental Returns In Recent History, #6: The Cubs’ Fire Sale

    Nationals Release Erasmo Ramírez

    Pete Alonso Likely Headed To Injured List

    The Opener: Alvarez, Jimenez, Urias

    Red Sox To Select Joe Jacques

    Mariners Sign Didi Gregorius To Minor League Deal

    Blue Jays Outright Zach Thompson

    Red Sox To Designate Matt Dermody For Assignment

    Phillies, Drew Hutchison Agree To Minor League Deal

    Tigers Release Jermaine Palacios, Jace Fry

    ad: 300x250_5_side_mlb

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Shohei Ohtani Rumors
    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Go Ad-Free
    • 2023-24 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2024-25 MLB Free Agent List
    • MLB Player Chats
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    ad: 160x600_MLB

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • Feeds by Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    hide arrowsFOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top
    Close

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version