The Angels announced they have optioned infielder Michael Stefanic and selected the contract of outfielder Brett Phillips. No corresponding 40-man move will be required as the club still has several vacancies after losing various players off waivers in the past week.
Phillips returns to the majors for the first time since May. Signed to a $1.2MM free agent contract over the winter, the defensive specialist spent two months on the Halos’ bench. He got into 20 games, mostly as a defensive replacement or pinch runner. Phillips only hit 16 times before being designated for assignment and passed through outright waivers.
The 29-year-old has spent the past few months at Triple-A Salt Lake. He’s striking out in just under a third of his Triple-A plate appearances, posting a .230/.352/.366 line through 264 plate appearances. Strikeouts have prevented Phillips from assuming a regular role at the big league level, as he’s gone down on strikes in 38% of his MLB trips. He’s a career .187/.272/.343 hitter.
Phillips adds a defensive complement to the starting outfield of Mickey Moniak, Randal Grichuk and Luis Rengifo (who moved from shortstop to right field after the Halos waived Hunter Renfroe and promoted Kyren Paris). Now that he’s back on the MLB roster, Phillips is technically controllable via arbitration through 2026, though it seems likely he’ll be non-tendered at season’s end.
GOAT
YAK
Love Stefanic
What a clown show. Phillips has been horrible in SLC
I’m guessing its because there are only two outfielders on the MLB roster right now.. well, now there are three.
They need some bullpen help
Wow, there’s a name everyone forgot about.
I know I did. I thought someone picked him up several weeks back.
This is the move that will make a difference.
Bob Nightingale reported earlier today that the Angels have placed Randal Grichuk back on waivers. Anyone here know if that’s true or not?
I don’t see the point in putting Grichuk on waivers at this point.
Imagine trading for a guy only to put him on waivers not once but twice just a month or so later.
That’s a perfect snapshot of how well this organization is run.
I think having Ohtani and Trout on same team and cannot get to playoffs speaks enough on how bad they are.
I would say how bad of a owner Arte Moreno he’s not a baseball man who specializes in marketing, but he tries to manage handpick free agents
I think the team goes back up for sale
Datashark, they had a crushing amount of injuries. This team was otherwise good enough to compete.
Debatable at best. Their pitching and bullpen stink.
@alconin, you could say that about any team with injuries. The good teams have depth and don’t rely on their opening day starters and lineup to magically stay healthy for the whole season.
Really, Mario Mendoza should be paid 10% of all these guys salaries
Amazing that this guy can still get a job. Based on his huge clubhouse personality for a team that will not make the playoffs. A yoohoo guy, lets entertain the fans and get them all happy but not doing anything else besides that. Batting a career .187 yet there are countless others much more deserving in the minors, or without a job that he’s just clogging up a spot for. There’s a reason for my animosity for this, and I’m sure other players feel the same. But can’t say anything. Yay let’s get all pumped up Woo!!!
The things people waste time getting upset about. There’s less than 4 weeks left and they’re out of it. Let the guy enjoy MLB in what could be his last time. In a month you won’t care either.
I agree. People get all worked up over trivial things.
At this point it is all about positioning for better draft picks next year.
They wouldn’t be in this situation with better management throughout the organization.
I’m thinking bringing up Phillips is more about the barren state of the Anaheim farm than anything else. If they had a deserving, useful and ready top prospect he’d be up instead of Phillips. Definitely nothing to get upset, unhinged or chapped about, since it’s just standard baseball practice.
If there was a HOF for the best laughs of all time, he’d be a first balloter.
And with this the Angels are back in the playoff race
We suck. Phillips won’t help that. He will sign some baseballs for some kids and put smiles on their faces, though.
At this point, that’s a net positive.
Great. Now Artie sell the team. Thanks.
Glad to see Phillips come back to MLB!
The circus and carny shows are done for the summer.. he has to try and make it in baseball again for the final month
NO! We’ll be over the luxury limit now for sure!
I like Phillips, but the Angels baseball culture is “were a place to have fun and bring you family and if that includes winning thats a bonus.” It starts at the top and Arte Moreno has been the only throughline to everything.
As a lifelong Halo fan for 48 years this team has been a joke for many years. Arte and his buddies still within the organization are a complete waste of space. I wish fans would stop showing up even for 1 series. I was there in 86 when Dave Henderson did them in,but was also there for both clinches of the playoff rounds in 02. Only had e ough money left for game 1 of the World Series though. As long as Arte continues to own this team they will never get to the World Series again and maybe not the playoffs even. Come on Artemake a good decision for once,as long as he continues to own the tesm the value is going to start dropping.
I was there in ’86 too! Left field. What a game
Arte? What about the front office? They are horrible and it’s not the first time ie Eppler, DiPoto, Minaison, etc…
Arte installed his college buddies with no baseball experience as team executives. They’ve hired bad front office people who have hired bad coaches.
Ultimately it’s all on Arte.
crashingthepearlygates.com/2022/10/06/arte-morenos…
Yup, that article sums things up quite well.
Rags26, the problem IS Arte. If you go down the list of every horrible free agent signing (Pujols, Hamilton, Rendon and Matthews to name few) or trade (Vernon Wells) came from Arte’s baseball IQ. Those aren’t on the GM’s, those were demands and requests from Arte. The Wells trade for example, the GM at the time was told to acquire Wells immediately or else he would be fired, period. Let’s not forget that he also quickly fired Madden in the middle of his first season of a multi year deal.
The GM’s have to work around Arte’s horrible moves. Baseball is a team game and paying 3 or 4 players 80% off your team’s salary is not a recipe for success. Dipoto is a good GM, sorry to break it to you. Seattle scooped him up, he cleared out all the horrible contracts, and rebuilt the entire thing from the ground up. They made the playoffs last year for the first time in something like 20 years. They are very likely to again make the playoffs this year and into the future. They are no longer bogged down with horrible contracts. The difference between the two situations was that Seattle let Dipoto run the team.
Arte needs to understand that he doesn’t make good baseball decisions and to leave that to his GM’s. This team needs a full rebuild
He would make a great batboy.
This saves the season. Lol.