The Angels and slugger Miguel Sanó are in agreement on a minor league deal, reports Enrique Rojas of ESPN. The deal for the Octagon client includes an invite to major league camp.
Sanó, 31 in May, has long had tremendous power but has also dealt with huge strikeout issues and health problems. From 2015 to 2019, he launched 118 home runs in 2,051 plate appearances for the Twins. He was punched out in 36.3% of those trips to the plate but also drew walks at a 12% clip. His .245/.338/.498 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 121. That included a huge 2019 that saw him launch 34 long balls. That was the “juiced ball” season but it’s not as though that power came out of nowhere, with Sanó having hit 25 or more homers twice before.
The Twins signed him to a three-year, $30MM extension going into 2020, with a club option for 2023. From there, his production dipped. Over 2020 and 2021, he still hit 43 home runs in those two seasons, with one of them being shortened to just 60 games, but his strikeouts and on-base numbers went in the wrong direction. He was punched out at a 37% rate in that time while batting .218/.303/.470. That was still above average, 109 wRC+, but below his previous levels. In 2022, knee injuries limited him to just 20 games and a dismal line of .083/.211/.133.
After that injury-marred season, the Twins decided to let him go, opting for a $3MM buyout instead of a $14MM salary. He held workouts for interested teams but ultimately didn’t sign anywhere for the 2023 season. Recently, he’s been playing for Estrellas Orientales in the Dominican Winter League and appears to be healthy. In 107 plate appearances there, he has struck out 30 times but also drawn 14 walks and launched a couple of homers, leading to a .225/.346/.405 slash line.
Sanó was primarily a corner infielder during his time with the Twins but was never highly rated on defense. The Angels have an open designated hitter spot, with Shohei Ohtani having been there in recent years. First base and third base also have some question marks. Anthony Rendon is the club’s third baseman on paper but he hasn’t played 60 games in a season since 2019 due to the pandemic and injuries. Nolan Schanuel could be their first baseman but he was just drafted last summer and only has 51 games of professional experience.
There’s no risk for the Angels in bringing Sanó to Spring Training, allowing them to get an up-close look at his health and performance. If he can bounce back into his previous slugging form, it would be a huge win for them. If not, he’s not even guaranteed a roster spot and could be quickly jettisoned even if added. For Sanó, it’s a chance to show his health and abilities to the Angels but also to other clubs around the league who will surely be watching.
That’s a name I have not heard in a while.
When it was crickets last year I figured he would never be heard from again. Or maybe get a shot in an Asian league
Best start him in the Dominican summer league
There’s Shohei’s missing power , magically restored in the guise of Sano!!!! Brilliant stroke!
Just four or five more tools to go and they will have totally replaced him!
Maybe try 8 or 9 more tools. Lol. Good comment though.
At least he’s not an epic singular Tool like Tony Two Bags.
Love his nickname. Hate his attitude.
Arguably the most underrated city in all of baseball (Anaheim).
cincy
No! Obviously it’s Oakland Coliseum, c’mon buy a clue before it’s too late
@f22
Did you change your username?
Also
Rosenthal, Nightingale, Davis, Carrabis etc.
Yep. It used to be FanoftheUmpires.
Gotcha, I figured that was him.
He’s very similar to Shohei Ohtani in that they both play baseball.
Geg, I wouldn’t even go that far…More similar to Shohei in that they both need oxygen to survive.
Love the new pfp, Trumbo.
Just realized what it was and had a good laugh.
Those back and forths between you,Clip, and whoever else bring a nice change of scenery to these often times “hostile” threads.
I also think they are both capable of leading the league in strikeouts
Genius move. Rendon and Sano can play half seasons each at 3B and call it a day.
Rendon playing 1/2 season? You are an optimistic person.
I think he meant to say that rendon will play half a day at 3rd and call it a season…
Yeah, I was going to say .. another potential 3rd base backup ?
Sano hasn’t seen regular time at third in 5 years. Good luck with that.
It’s too bad the season isn’t shorter. Then maybe Rendon could make it to half the games instead a third.
How I look at it anything is better than Anthony Rendon to tell you the truth I like it good pick up every now and then you gotta roll the dice in life, right
Haha, as a Twins fan HAHAHA. Sano at 3rd base! You should’ve seen the hilarity that ensued when the Twins briefly and desperately tried that. But that was when he was 25. I can only imagine now. He’s a DH only player, that’s for sure.
At the very least they managed to land a DH only type for the roster
Oh give me a break! This guy is 30 going on 43! Minor league deal or not, what are the Halo’s even thinking with this?!?!
I feel for you Trumbo. My brother moved to Anaheim (he lives in Corona now) years ago and became an Angels fan. He hasn’t been in a very good mood this off-season.
Joe, I was actually born in Corona haha. Hope he likes it out there. Yeah I am not expecting much from them this year. A resurgence from Trout and Rendon would be nice though.
Ummm… what?
Joel/Blackpink/KingofCards, pray for yourself…
He won’t. He hates all christians, and praying, and bibles. That’s Davey btw.
A resurgence from Rendon? I want what you’re smoking.
Not the good stuff I prefer, unfortunately =/
A no-risk signing in case there’s something there to fill in for Rendon? It’s actually good planning with the price being right. Why not?
I don’t think Sano is a likely option for 3B(anymore).
“I dont think”..I was thinking pretty much the same thing. Sano is not really a 3b option and is only a 1b/dh option if he’s raking.
Mlb, I don’t really associate Sano with raking anymore..Maybe I am off with my take on this guy, but I think it’s retirement time. Or maybe a 1 year bon voyage season in KBO. Not the Angels though.
I like this depth no risk signing. He could wind up platooning at first and playing DH. I will remind everyone that even his down seasons are more productive than Rendon. If this dude could hit .240 with 30 bombs and .340 on base he’s a huge upgrade. If we can keep him in reserve in case of an injury– even better.
I like the optimism, but theres no way he even makes the roster. Dude couldn’t even put up good stats in the Dominican Summer League, which is a whole different animal than the mlb.
He isn’t. Sano was below average at 3B even in AAA, and that was years ago. He obviously tried his best, however, which is far more than can be said for Rendon.
I like Al Conin, You probably aren’t aware that Sano is past his baseball expiration date. Should have retired 17 years ago that guy. In any case, it’s nothing I am going to give Perry a hug and pat on the back for. Plenty of other “no risk” guys they could have got…Really didn’t need Miguel Sano..
Trumbo, I agree with you on the likely outcome but there’s zero risk with a Minor League deal and possibly stashing him in AAA as depth if he shows anything. Perry and his team have done well the last year building org depth.
@trumbo – if you’re viewing this signing as a MiLB signing that is actually a MLB signing in disguise, I get it. But as a MiLB signing itself, you can do a lot worse than a guy who will likely be a non-issue, but with more pop if he does somehow find himself on the roster than whomever else would’ve been in his place if he were absent from the roster.
You wanted him to retire when he was 13 years old?
disadvantage, absolutely that is how I am viewing it lol. Personally I think the guy has absolutely 0 left in the tank. That is as short and sweet as I can put it. And I have vented about the guy enough on here already so I will drop it going forward. I am a big o’l Halo fan and look for any hint of reason to maintain any faith in them, but I have never been a fan of this guy and just think he was always over rated. I’ll pull for him of course, but I just think he doesn’t add a thing to the club. “Low Risk” as everyone keeps saying though. So no biggie.
Yes. A lot of the greats have retired at 13.
I like ac, yeah screw it why not. Bigger things to worry about with the Halo’s anyway.
Can’t really a knock a minor league signing if anyone gets hurt they are up a creek without a paddle. Still might be third place in Al west, with some luck. They should just sign moose for the last spot on the bench doubt he would cost that much.
Sano still has not faced justice for the sexual assault charges brought against him.
There weren’t charges. It was an accusation. Police investigated it and found it unsubstantiated.
“Sano still has not faced”..Besides this isn’t a court of justice, it’s a court of baseball commentary. Maybe you can find a court to try your “case”, but hopefully it won’t be the MLBtraderumors comments site.
Come on guy, get your predators right! He was exonerated.
The accuser, Betsy Bissen, put forth a non-sensical story years after she said the assault happened. Police investigated the accusation and found nothing worthy of bringing charges. MLB thoroughly investigated the accusations for months and found nothing.
twinkietown.com/2018/3/23/17157502/mlb-declines-su…
It was all race based.
A large addition.
Pun intended I assume?
I beg to differ. It’s an XXXXXXXXXL addition
Remember when that deranged woman concocted a story that Sano attacked her in the middle of a crowded Apple store in broad daylight?
@blackpink
I’ve seen a lot of Trumbo’s posts – not as many from Joel – but they both seem like good guys who rep the Angels and bring on good conversation.
So even if you’re 100% correct – they’re the same person *GASP* (which seems completely unsubstantiated) – posting random accusations on dudes who seem like pretty good guys on a comment that has nothing to do with them in fact makes you look like the dummy, not them.
@disadvantage
No use in conversing with this troll. I think he’s mentally unstable. Joel (KingofCards) and Trumbo are absolutely not the same person.
Joel is a crazy cardinals fan and Trumbo is an angels fan. Joel is also nuts. Trumbo is not. Therefore not the same.
JCL, Am I a teency bit crazy at times? Certainly… Nuts? Never… Thanks for believing in me amigo!
@Trumbo
That sounds like something Joel would say… YOU’VE BEEN FIGURED OUT! /s
disadvantage, Yep, red handed to boot!! Only a high level genius such as himself could have figured me out. That’s why I told him to leave the boards here. I knew he was close to blowing my cover…
Shessh…I could never in a million years forgive myself if I wasted the time that guy has wasted the amount of time trolling people on here. I have a hard enough time keeping up with my own posts, let alone masterminding and keeping up with 13 different troll accounts!
@jcl
Oh, I have no doubt they are different people. I just felt it would be fun to point out how big of a failure to troll this one was in particular.
That, even in a world where trumbo and jack were the same person (ie: not this one), nobody would really think any differently of trumbo or jack, but @blackpink looks like a fool either way for shouting it on a post that has nothing to do with either of them.
disadvantage, I’ve watched him troll for the past week straight. Polluting every thread practically. Then the other day he started talking crap to a few pals on here and it pissed me off. So for the past few days I’ve been hammering him on here. I finally got him good and irritated. So I don’t really care what he says about me. I just want him off the boards, for all our sake.
The comments and upvotes have finally partially resotred my faith in society not being overwhelmingly prejudiced people on the internet. I’m glad hate and bigotry in these types of situations is not as prominent as I otherwise thought.
It was a he said, she said. There wasn’t enough to prosecute, or prove her allegations were legit. It could actually be that he did get justice.
It was pretty much an open secret that Sano lacked discipline with his drinking (amongst other things) while with Minnesota. Hopefully he got that under control.
Not bad as a minor league deal.
I remember when this dude used to hit the ball a mile.
He probably still can, except he’s going to whiff more often than not…
A true 0 tool talent
Halo’s don’t need 392lbs of dead weight on the team. Minors especially. Don’t need the rookies looking at that guy as some kind of fitness role model.
Sano, Calhoun, White. Salt Lake is a who’s who of 2019.
You mean it’s a Who’s Who of Who used to be Who?
Exactly.
I wonder what our farm ranking would have been if we had them in AAA then.
from Trout-Shohei to Trout-Sano….
Forgot all about him. He should go to Japan. He’d probably have a Cecil Fielder type career, with luck. Not a bad move by the Angels. He’ll inevitably be needed when Rendon goes down.
Let’s hope Trout stays in the mix somewhere.
Keep doing minor league deals and hope for the best! The Angels used to give these has-beens $5-10 million or more, maybe they finally learned their lesson!
Well Chick’s still dig the long ball.
Sano might of ate some of Ohtanis women though
I saw a picture of him recently and he’s really slimmed down, and looks good. Rendon can handle the first 81 games, and Sano can take it from there.
He looks slimmed down? Well sheesh…I might have to give the guy an actual look now…Thanks for sharing Seager Slams.
But Sano was NEVER a good fielder at 3B, even in the minors. OK arm, but slow reflexes and no range whatsoever. Unlike Rendon he never lacked in effort, but he simply can’t field the position. If Sano plays 81 games at third, that’s really bad news for the Angels. Of course, the same is true for the poisonous Rendon, but that’s another story.
He was better when he was “15” and known as Juan Miguel Angel Sano exclusively.
So Happy for Miquel Sano! I hope he breaks camp with the Angels and slugs 45-50 home runs with 25% walks! Go Migge!
If it’s all about “no risk” or “nothing to lose”, why not just have open tryouts in Spring Training. They could make a reality show out if it.
If you fall out of a plane at 10,000 feet with no parachute you will die.
Skip Jutz – “there was this one time a guy didn’t die when that happened so you shouldn’t say that!”
He’s probably wondering about that minor league food allowance in case he doesn’t make the big league roster out of sprint training.
LOL!!
*spring
In fairness, he won’t make it out of sprint training, either.
Is there doubt that Schanuel goes into ST as an everyday player?
Stud, don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t..Or shouldn’t..
Hopefully they give him the same opportunity that Olerud got from the Jays when he was drafted.
Yes, Schanuel should start.
He has a slow bat and doesn’t hit the ball hard, Out of the 461 players with 100 PA, he’s 457th in maximum exit velocity and 439 in average exit velocity.
But he controls the strike zone.
Basically you are looking at 290/400/400. Which used right, is a useful player.
Halo11, that slash line looks better than 90% of the players in the show. Useful player indeed.
He has a pretty low ceiling, but as long as they don’t screw him up expecting more, I don’t see an issue.
Less power but a better player than 2002 Spiezio, and he has two rings.
People think I have a problem with him, I don’t. I am scared fans and the powers that be are going to be disappointed and not be satisfied unless he bangs 20+ HRs a year.
Lol Spiezio. I wonder if him and “Sand Frog” are still going strong.
Halo – I agree. If a guy gets on base, I don’t care about his exit velo. Get them on and get them in. But today, everyone expects homeruns from everyone. OBP is an important stat lost in the sea of minutia.
A 400 OBP guy who works the count and bats lead off is a useful major league player.
You can win with useful players.
Halo, your projected slash line for Schanuel is basically the last 8 years of Joe Mauer’s career, 2011-2018, when he hit 290/373/405. I would take that.
Wow, I didn’t realize that. Good research.
LOL
Sano was actually considered a plus defender at 3B initially, before he kept putting on insane amounts of weight. Despite his size, even at 250lbs he had quick reflexes for plus 3B range and a cannon arm. His last couple years, he looked incredibly lazy in his defensive preparation as he wasn’t even serviceable as a 1B.
It’ll be interesting to see if he’s back down to a good playing weight (240lbs or less) where he might be able to field again, though I’m not going to hold my breath. It’s been a long time since he looked MLB caliber.
I remember when the Panda shed some lbs when he got his big Sox deal and came back looking svelte and durable!
Yep. It lasted for a full year before he drowned himself in buckets of ice cream!
LOL!!!
Not so much “considered” as “hoped.” The Twins really really really wanted him to become decent at 3B, but it simply never happened. It never affected his hitting, but unless a ball was hit directly at him, forget it. Of course his trend toward portliness – even at AAA it seemed you could see him get heavier week to week – just made things worse. Crazier things have happened, but I just don’t see him suddenly transforming into even a slightly-below-average MLB 3B.
Gomez, good insight! You are either a serious Twins fans or follow baseball super close. Or perhaps both..
What’s he weigh these days?
The scale stops at 300lbs so they don’t know.
This morning I got a huge carnitas chilaquiles breakfast burrito from one of the street vendors here and it kept me full from 10am till dinner time around 8pm. I would imagine that Sano could polish off 3 of those, plus 2 of their tortas and 3 tacos in one visit..
The guy didn’t hit in Dominican Winter league.
I don’t see how this can possibly work. However, my only issue with this is with all these types of contracts. Don’t reserve a spot for him and treat the signing as no signing.
Pretend he’s not there.
I feel the same way about Plesac..
Even though I’m not a believer in Sano, the Dominican Winter League is extremely pitcher friendly.
Jurickson Profar managed an OPS of .705 in the league to Sano’s .750, not that Profar is a great hitter or something, but a reference point.
Sano led his team in extra base hits and had 10 doubles, ironically more than twice anybody else on the team. Among the batters on the team, Sano led everybody with 100+ PA in OPS. So I guess that’s something.
That said, Tatis also played on the team and managed a .346/.485/.577 OPS 1.062 line, but in only 33 PA.
Sano played part of one season in the OF. He played third and first mostly.
Yeah. He was so heavy that 1/2 season created stress reactions in his shins (he broke his legs because he ran on them LOL)
He is in on a minor league contract. Why all the fuss?
I would rather Calhoun or Sano catch lightning in a bottle as an Angel, than as a player for anyone else.
Sano to drugs, kids!
Best post of the day!
Thankfully, due to the pandemic most AYCE Buffets have shut down.
This has worked out well for Sano’s conditioning program.
Rumor is he is now under 400 POUNDS !!
LOL!!!!!
Thought the league had said say no to Sanó
Twins did the same thing with a similar type player years ago , guy named David Arias , wonder what happened to him.
Perfect low risk move. If he can find a freckle of his remote self, it’s worth it. Angels should make more moves like this
He was fun to watch in MN during his prime when he wasn’t hurt.
His demise has been blamed on his attitude/ laziness/weight, whatever, but hadn’t MN signed Cruz (He was a rockstar), I always felt Sano was simply meant to be a DH. MN hasn’t had the best track record developing ,or knowing how to use certain select players like he was (See Ortiz), afterall. “So what if he was if he was obese and lazy,” if those rumors were true. “DH him right away.” But they couldn’t in his prime, once again-I think it would’ve come out differently.
The only problem is that I think he’s a unique headcase, too-during his final season in MN, you could clearly see that the harder to get the bat back on track, the worse it got (And he was trying).
He’s not a dinosaur-I think it would take just the right hitting coach to turn him around. Unlike Gallo, though, believe it would still be possible.
He was not fun to watch for Twins fans most of the time. Guaranteed strikeout if the opposing pitcher was in a jam. 0-2 equals slider down and away, strike 3.
Sano was signed as a 185lb shortstop. Every year, he’d field questions about his weight and he’d respond by saying the Twins liked him heavy for more power. 195lbs. 205lbs. 220lbs. 230lbs. 250lbs. 280lbs (Twins asked him to report at 260 that year). 300lbs. He hired his sister as his “nutritionist.”
2016 He skipped Spring Training events in Ft. Myers to sign autographs in New York one season.
2017 He had the sexual assault allegation.
2018 He backed over a motorcycle police officer in the Dominican breaking the officer’s leg.
2018 He was so out of shape the Twins demoted him to SINGLE A so he could work on his conditioning.
2019 He was drunk and partying with no shoes on after a DWL game and nearly severed his ACL at the heel.
2020 He was implicated in a kidnapping/assault of a man
2022 Sano failed to properly condition himself and gained weight after a knee surgery. The Twins had to place him on the 60 day IL. He gained weight again and he wasn’t able to get into game ready shape.
Sano had an ego the size of Mt. Everest, didn’t care to work on his conditioning or defense, didn’t conduct himself well, and reaped what he sowed.
You mean “that 109 wRC+ was above average,” not the goofy way you wrote it. Hire an editor.