Last offseason, the Angels moved Mike Trout out of center field. They hoped that he’s stay healthier as an everyday right fielder after he’d been limited to 82 games or fewer in three of the previous four seasons. Things didn’t go as planned, as Trout suffered a bone bruise in his left knee that cost him almost all of May. He avoided the injured list the rest of the way but was a full-time designated hitter.
Trout didn’t log a single inning in center field. He made 22 starts in right, none after the end of April. Nevertheless, general manager Perry Minasian told reporters this week that the Halos could bounce Trout around the outfield next season. That might include some playing time back up the middle.
“I’m not ruling anything out,” the GM said (link via Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com). “We’ll see where the team looks like when we get to Spring Training and what’s in place and what gives us the best chance to win games. (He) might be playing center. One day might be playing left. One day might be DHing.”
As Minasian noted, a lot could depend on what the remainder of the offseason looks like. The Angels entered the winter with a logjam in the corners. That’s not so much the case after they traded Taylor Ward for Grayson Rodriguez. It’d still be ideal to have Trout playing regularly in the outfield again, especially if they want to give Jorge Soler a rebound opportunity.
Soler should be a DH but was forced to start 39 games in right field (with predictably poor results) by Trout’s injury. The Angels gave Jo Adell 724 innings in center field. He was arguably the worst defensive center fielder in MLB and found himself back in right field for the final two months of the season. The best defensive alignment has Trout in left, Adell in right, and Soler at DH.
That requires someone else to step up as the regular center fielder. Bryce Teodosio is an excellent defender, but he’s coming off a .203/.248/.304 showing in 50 games. Kyren Paris and Matthew Lugo picked up a handful of center field starts but didn’t hit well either. They presumably don’t want Trout playing there on an everyday basis.
The Angels are so aggressive with their prospect promotions that it’s probably not out of the question that 20-year-old Nelson Rada gets a chance to break camp. He’s a speedster and potential plus defender who split his age-19 season between Double-A and Triple-A. Rada stole 54 bases and reached base at fantastic .398 clip behind a 12.7% walk rate. He’s a gifted pure hitter but has essentially no power upside in his 5’9″ frame. He hit just two home runs this year and has six longballs in his professional career. Baseball America ranks him the #4 prospect and the top position player talent in a weak Halos’ farm system.
Even if Rada begins the season at Triple-A Salt Lake, it’s likely he’ll be in the majors at some point next season. That could give them enough confidence to patch things together at the position internally. “Do we have to go get a center fielder? Not necessarily,” Minasian said. “We have some players that we believe can fill the position and obviously, Teodosio can play defense at a very high level. It’s more player-specific. … I wouldn’t say it’s a must, but is it an area we’re looking at? Absolutely.”
As is often the case, the center field supply is limited. Harrison Bader is the only regular available in free agency, unless a team feels Cody Bellinger could move back to the position in an everyday capacity. Luis Robert Jr. is a long shot trade possibility. The Astros are shopping Jake Meyers but want MLB starting pitching, which the Angels don’t have in abundance. A role player like Nathan Lukes or Jacob Young come could available but may not move the needle enough for the Halos to prioritize them.
The Angels have various other needs to weigh against their center field situation. They should add a multi-positional infielder who can handle both second and third base. They need at least one starting pitcher and one or two high-leverage relievers, ideally ones who throw from the right side. Minasian confirmed this afternoon that they’re still in the bullpen market after signing Drew Pomeranz and Jordan Romano last night (via Bollinger). An outside addition could push Robert Stephenson and Ben Joyce to succeed Kenley Jansen in the ninth. “There’s no set closer right now. We’re still looking at the bullpen. It’s not an area where we’re done,” Minasian said.
Ummmm…. Why expose him to playing in CF?
Ruh roh
Ummm because he’s a exceptional CF?
Hasn’t been that in 10 years
NyyfaninLLA land: “Hasn’t been that in 10 years”
Well, he did lead AL CF’ers in DRS in 2018, which was only seven years ago….so you are exaggerating.
Exactly. He was a good CF 7 years ago. It’s like riding a bike, he should be just fine next year. Just have to ignore the last 6 years as anomalies.
Just pointing out that “hasn’t been [exceptional defensively] in 10 years” is not really accurate.
I’m not a big Fan of DRS,, but Trout has been an above average CF for awhile. In 1024, in limited time, his range was in the 84 percentile.
Correction: “because (sic) he once was a (sic) exceptional CF?” … back in 2012.
After all, 2012 was the last (and only) year in which Trout posted…
– >7 DRS, >5 UZR OR >5 OAA.
On the whole, there isn’t a defensive metric that hasn’t rated Mike Trout, CF at “exceptional” since that truly epic 2012 season.
Year-by-year and overall, he’s been much more an average-ish defensive CF with a career -2 DRS, career 1,8 UZR, and career OAA of 0. He’s also never swung wildly fantastic (other than 2012) or wildly horrible in any of those for a particular year or the rate version of UZR, UZR/150 (worst single-season UZR/150 of -8.5).
All of this goes to say he’d also probably still be the best daily option for CF for several playoff-caliber teams if he himself could stay healthy enough to play the field every day. Due to his health issues and age, he’s comfortably a below-average CF now, but there are several even defensively worse — and still viable — CF on teams that were in the playoffs recently.
DRS and UZR are obsolete stats. Not really valuable anymore.
If you want to say he’s slightly below average, I have no issue with that. But he ‘s still very fast, takes good routes and his jumps are adequate. I think he’s a little above average.
KFCF
That may be addressed in the article
I appreciate your point. I would rarely make that type of comment because a player got injured or just began to suck. But Rendon is a special case because of his comments that the game just isn’t that important or interesting to him. Maybe he shouldn’t have to give any money back, but he sure owes fans and teammates an apology.
Top100
“he sure owes fans and teammates an apology.”
No. He doesn’t.
The fans and teammates didn’t sign the contract.
You want better, but it doesn’t always happen.
What ever happened to having some class or integrity? Seriously. Rendon earned his money with the Nationals… not the Angels. The Angels did not even get remotely close to what they paid for. Rendon did not have control over the injuries, and because of that he could not perform but he did not earn his money with the Angel’s and in public, he showed little regret, or remorse for not delivering on it. Those of you that think that he was “entitled” to a pay check for the product he returned are out of your minds. End of story. Also, don’t lecture me on contracts, because I fully understand the contractual obligation that he gets paid. This comment has nothing to do with the contract.
@oldhalo. If he had class and integrity. He would pull a gil meche, and retire with money on the table. At this point the buyout is going anywhere so you might as well have him sit on the bench, and have him play 40 games until he gets hurt, and cut him mid-season.
The team does.
“What ever happened to having some class or integrity? Seriously. Rendon earned his money with the Nationals… not the Angels….The Angels did not even get remotely close to what they paid for.
”
Neither did the Nationals
With Nationals 916 games, 30 WAR, $236 million in production, $45 million salary
With Angels 257 games, 3.8 WAR, $31 million in production, $205 million salary
Where is the Nationals’ integrity for not paying for what they got out of him?
Again, not an apology for being bad or injured, an apology for saying that the game is not that important to him.
Top100
“an apology for saying that the game is not that important to him.”
Do you also need your bus driver to tell you how important busses are to them?
He said that his family and faith were more important to him than baseball.
I think religion is dumb, but if he thought baseball was more important than family, that would be worrying
@juan. You can balance religion and family, and still do your job. Example Phillip rivers has 10 kids very religious played with a torn acl he had in the game before. Rendon played with a injury that took 9 doctors to say it was season ending. Dude doesn’t care and it shows. That’s also fine but hang it up this rendon dark cloud is solely on him. he can quietly retire and it will all go away instead he wants to drag it out. Probably over money and that’s all he cares about.
Rh
“You can balance religion and family, and still do your job”
And it seems that Rendon did. I see no reason to think otherwise.
“Rendon played with a injury that took 9 doctors to say it was season ending”
What’s your experience in the medical field?
I have some. It’s not at all strange for it to take multiple examinations to find something like a fracture.
Do you also need your bus driver to tell you how important busses are to them?
====================
They use to teach that in college. It took a while before I realized it was all BS. I do what I do because I like getting paid. My employer paid me because they needed someone to do the job.
Driving a bus and being a MLB star are compensated quite differently. Ball players should be smart enough to suck it up and say that the fans pay millions of dollars to watch me play a kids schoolyard game so I am honored to go out give 100 percent and bust my butt for them every single day.
T100
“Driving a bus and being a MLB star are compensated quite differently.”
Who cares?
“Ball players should be smart enough to suck it up and say that the fans pay millions of dollars to watch me play a kids schoolyard game so I am honored to go out give 100 percent and bust my butt for them every single day.”
Nah. They are doing a job. A job most people would like to have (until people realize how much work and how stressful it is), sure. But a job.
Are you saying then that you are entitled to him being healthy and “delivering on” a contract that you were not a part of?
And then entitled to him apologizing to you because he was unable to “deliver on” a contract that — again — you were not a part of?
KFC can be greasy but it’s still good
Why? Because it’s the wrong thing to do. The Angels have never been known for sound decisions.
Exactly. He should be DHing by now. Angels are DUMB.
The guy and I love him. Can’t stay healthy as a DH. Why put him in the field. If he plays 40 games in CF he will miss half a season. Then what. Ward gone Trout gone. 🎵perry jr coming down the track🎵right into a huge train wreck of a season that is coming our way. Choo choo!!!!!!
I don’ think him playing CF “exposes” him to injury any more than RF/LF….but as he ages and gets banged up more often, it might be less risky to keep him as a corner OF where he can be effective even if not at 100%.
He really doesn’t like DH’ing….never has. So, if it helps keep him stay engaged, I think we should play him in the fields as much as we can.
Willie Mays, hopefully Hayes and not the Met kind
Why on earth would they even consider this when the guy struggles to stay healthy even as a DH? He has a degenerative back condition. They should be focusing on getting every ounce of whatever production he has left at the plate.
Oh wait, it’s the Angels, that’s why they are considering it.
They should just pencil in Rendon to play CF and if he refuses, try to take away his salary.
hc
No. They should not do that
Why do so so many “fans” hate baseball players?
JuanUribe…. another ridiculous comment. “Why do so many fans hate baseball players”? Baseball fans don’t “hate” baseball players. In fact fans are fans of the game because of baseball players.
Oh
Why do they want to take players’ salaries away?
How does my comment infer that I want to take “Players” salaries away? Another foolish statement. I never said or implied that I want to take players salaries from them. A person/player deserves to be paid for their work. It’s really that simple. Do not suggest that I don’t believe that a ball player shouldn’t get a pay check. I will make it simple. If you hire a Gardner to mow, edge and weed your yard and agree to pay him 150/mo for the year, and in the first 2 months he hurts his hand and can no longer pull the weeds or push the mower, and your yard begins to look like a disaster is he performing at a level that you expected? Before you hired him your neighbor told you that he was the best Gardner he’d seen. You’ve hired him, he can’t do his job any longer, and now he’s expecting you to pay the remaining 10 months. You’re going to tell me that the Gardner deserves and earned those 10 months of pay. If you do, the extent of entitlement in your head defies logic.
Oh
A gardner and a professional baseball players are different
“How does my comment infer that I want to take “Players” salaries away? Another foolish statement.”
Right. Your statement is foolish. I didn’t say YOU want to take players salaries away. I said fans who hate baseball players do.
Anyway, you seem very angry and argumentative. Not really what I wish to engage with.
If ya signed a contract with the Gardner and you didn’t put in a buyout or a in case of injury clause then yes that Gardner is entitled to what was agreed upon. When you rent a house and sign a year lease but 6 months in the house has problems and ya want to move you still have to pay up the remaining of the lease or negotiate a buyout before the landlord will release ya from it.
King, go back and read my prior comment.
You literally cannot take his salary away. It’s a contract.
And what happens if he gets a sudden soft tissue injury? Can’t really scan properly for those. Oops my obliques hurt. Wait, it’s back spasms and pulled follicles.
The point is, they are stuck.
RyanD44-
Trout does not have a history of fatigue or injury that comes due to playing specifically CF. It seems to me that CF is probably the safest position to safest position as far as injuries go, less abrupt directional changes in direction. No metal rails, tarps and so on. Mostly well-padded walls. No collisions with runners or stumbling over bases or in dugouts. I have not seen direct stats about what any differences are in regard to positional injuries, but what I have seen gives me a strong indication that CF is probably the safest place to put Trout. He has much more value to the team in CF. If anyone have ANY kind of proof that playing CF will increase his chance of injury. I would love to hear about it.
Ketel Marte was moved back to second base in Arizona because of the “wear and tear” of playing center field. You can search on the internet if you want the details.
Lets Go DBacks – I think with Marte it was more of a fatigue thing. Trout has not had that problem so far.
You really think CF is a less injury-prone position than 1B where there are almost no serious physical demands and even guys built like Cecil and Prince Fielder, Ryan Howard, etc. can have healthy careers at (regardless of how good/ bad they are defensively)? Where numerous players moved to later in career to injury issues (a la Mickey Mantle and Bryce Harper)? Where huge, body-builder-build guys can be both healthy and sometimes even great defenders at (a la Frank Thomas, Mark McGwire, Andres Galarraga, Albert Pujols).
CF is less injury-prone than 1B?
Dag Gummit- You may be right in general about 1B, learning to play a new position can greatly increase your chances of injury. The type of injuries Trout has been prone to are not caused by playing CF. He mostly gets hurt running the bases and batting. If playing CF helps keep him more Agil and flexible, limber this might help the cause. People are different and Trout has not shown an increase in injury when playing CF. When he plays DH do you see that cutting down on injuries?
Face palm! DH most and some RF.
Replace RF with LF and you have your answer.
Trout doesn’t have the arm for RF, takes awful routes there, was quite poor in limited time in an unfamiliar position. He’s been destined for LF for years, but no one has the guts to stare down his ego and put him there. (When he’s not DHing that is.)
If I recall, when he played LF in deference to Bourjos many years ago, he seemed to do alright.
Agree 100 percent. Trout belongs in LF.
LAA Anger Translation: We have no other options so our old CF might be our new CF
That’s the answer!
Good. Trout is a CFer not a RFer. Keep him where he belongs.
@oldyork. Especially this year. The free agency market is thin. They don’t have enough prospects unless they want to set everything back 5 years. The only thing i see is bleday, and weimer. Trout playing center this year makes more sense and they can find a left fielder. His defensive value would cover most of the contract this year, and you put him as the permanent dh next.
Rexhudler86 I think Adell should stay in RF and I have seen no proof that playing CF means more injuries. Antidotally or Statistically. It may be the safest position. How much time has Trout missed due to injuries related to playing CF.
@tim Stewart. Agree it doesn’t matter. His value is at center for the moment and he’s getting paid as one. Might as well roll the dice. At this point if anyone gets hurt we will be trotting out someone hitting below 200 yet again. They might as well get another pitcher, because the market isnt as bad for someone in the middle of market probably could snag someone on a one year deal
@rex
Bleday is a bad CF.
@stymeedone. I do agree. There’s really nothing out there besides trades or maybe waiver wire pickups. I checked the market for corner outfielders, and its the same. They are backed into a corner and trout in center is probably the only option. Im guessing Bader is out of the price range.
Trout’s knees acted up just reading this article
Insane that there’s still FIVE years left on that deal. Oof.
@Trillion Yeah esp when you consider 29 other teams would like to have him for those 5 years.
Not for $185+ mil. Trout is a shell of himself. 2019 was a while ago….
@jerry. What about 2022? Sorry for the inconvenience I follow the angels
’22 was a while ago too. Point being Trout is an average DH at this point if they wanna keep him in the lineup. Not gunna last the season on the field….
@jerry. He might not last at DH. He provides value at center. Who’s playing center I’ll wait.
Be asking the same question when he’s on the IL….
@jerry. Still going to win 72 games if he’s the DH. So that’s the point it doesn’t matter. He has more value at cf. Bader is probably going to be a overpay, and it looks like they aren’t spending. Do you go with a offensive blackhole in teodosio at center or just get a left fielder, and ride it out until trout breaks same difference and its another punted year.
He has had one good year since 2019 and that was three years ago. He’s 34 with chronic injuries and is getting paid $185M until he’s 39. No, 29 teams do not want that contract.
Getting Trout is not a baseball decision. Owners know what sells seats. GM’s may vehimontly oppose, though.
Trout’s career kinda derailed when he was forced to play the field every single day and never got a DH day. Meanwhile, their regular DH was in the clubhouse betting soccer.
He needs to be the full time DH for that team if they want him to even play out the next 2 of the remaining 5 years on that contract. Putting him in the outfield, even more so center field, seems foolish and shortsighted.
Dude’s body is going to crumble to bits running back for a deep fly ball
This is part of why the Angels stink so badly, that they’d willingly put an inadequate fielder in CF, and also fail to recognize that Trout should be strictly a DH. Anyways, it doesn’t matter, they’re ruined as a franchise until Trout’s contract is over.
@luke. You fail to realize that trout didn’t want to move from center last year was the only year he budged. I agree it doesn’t matter he could get injured going to the dugout. I say this year you say screw it. He does give you value in center if he gets hurt at DH its the samething
Have to hope Rada can stick with the team out of spring and take CF.
Trout in LF. Adell in RF. One more year of Soler and Rendon.
Said the same about Pujols contract
Couldn’t stay healthy as a DH so let’s put him back in CF?
Angels could sign Harrison Bader or J.J. Bleday, or even Bellinger to play CF and try to keep Trout’s bat in the lineup as a RF/DH option. Apparently they never do learn
What would it take for the Angels to get Javier Baez and partial salary relief over the last two years of his contract from the Tigers?
Far from a great solution, but at least Baez could play a decent CF and cover the backup IF innings that Rengifo is thankfully no longer around to play.
Baez is, right now, a little better than Kyren Paris.
But, he’s not THAT much better.
And Kyren can play a mean CF to boot.
Even with salary relief, Kyren is probably the better option for the role you describe..
@agentx. Yeah i don’t see that happening. It would have to be soler going back. My only hope is the Phillies would take him from castellanos, saves them 6 million. It would free up the DH if he could play 1st and 3rd, lf, but either way its still screwed. Im convinced its a tank year might as well just eat soler and rendon salary this year hope you can trade the one year contracts or fliers.
Yeah, Soler for Castellanos could work… though the latter’s probably just a DH at this point.
Before the Ward-Rodriiguez trade, some commenters suggested the Angeles and Phillies might build a deal around Ward, Soler, Castellanos, and Bohm, but that ship has sailed (and LAA is better off with Rodriguez).
@agentx. Yeah I just checked the free agents, and looking for cheap options. This year is going to be rough, makes me wonder what the angels could’ve got if they traded ward now. Not really any kind of outfield thats not name bellinger or tucker. I guess bleday it is with weimer.
shame the angels wasted all of trout’s prime years .. now they’re left with a broken down mess .. should’ve joined Harper in philly when he had the chance
@alstott40. Does the city of brotherly love offer injury immunity. He doesn’t care about living in Philly. He visits in the offseason.
I’m pretty sure they can find some more garbage to place in her field
I’m pretty sure they can find some more garbage to put on centerfield
How does Perry Minasian still have a job? Five full seasons as GM and zero playoff appearances. In those five years, in division, the team has finished 4th, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 5th. The most games they won on his watch was 77 in 2021 (his first season). And it’s not like he’s spent the five years building an amazing farm system. They rank near the bottom right now in most rankings.
Arte Moreno. And he’s on his final year. Everyone expects a new GM for 2027.
I get that Arte Moreno causes a lot of problems. But do you think Arte Moreno blames Arte Moreno for the Angels woes? I would bet not. And that’s why I don’t understand why Minasian stays employed.
@mustard
I like to refer to how Dipoto was looked on as a bad GM when he was with the Angels and yet look what he’s done with Seattle..
Also, of course people like Arte won’t blame themselves. He only cares about two things “the bottom line – aka fiscal stability, making money” and “putting an entertaining team on the field to fill seats.” Both of those things happen yearly.
I never looked at a Dipoto as a bad GM.
Ironically, many claim Arte interferes with Minasian, but it was Minasian who called Maddon in the dugout during games and told him how to manage.
Minasian is no wallflower.
@halo11fan. I think it’s mostly because every gm, does the same playbook. It has to be arte. Dipoto completely changed his strategy in Seattle. The last time they got legitimate pitching was colon,Escobar,and Wilson. That was when he first bought the team
I think Moreno is a terrible owner, I just don’t put all this on Moreno. It’s Bonnie and Clyde.
@halo11fan. Different Bonnie’s but the same Clyde. I know you dont like minisian. He’s still better than reagins, and eppler. Clyde does the hiring so it’s not going change.
I don’t know if he’s better than Eppler, but he’s just as bad as Reagin’s. Eppler never had draft picks.
@halo11fan. Eppler had marsh,adell, walsh,ward,bradish. Perry so far has joyce,neto. Can’t really count 2024/25 maybe after this season. He has potential to top eppler’s drafts.
Eppler never had the high draft picks that Minasian had…and he still drafted better. That was the point I was trying to make.
@halo11fan. This year should be the deciding factor. but my point still stands. Arte will hire another scapegoat gm that sucks. Like what’s been discussed before they need to hire some f-n scouts. At the end of day it’s not going to matter because that won’t happen.
We are optimists in different ways. I’m optimistic that neither Minasian or Moreno will be here this time next year, and then we can finally watch.a well run team.
How is it that the Angles Minor League system ranks at the bottom, yet the Angels system had 5 players taken in the Minor League portion of the Rule 5 draft, which is more than any other team I. All of MLB?
They can’t even properly assess there own talent in their system, and are protecting the wrong players?
Contrary to the narrative, the Angels have some very promising arms in the minors, so its no surprise that there were some pitchers who were getting blocked.
The position players are where they are weak. There’s a couple of decent guys like Raudi Rodriguez and Nelson Rada, but its otherwise thin.
@mustard tiger. To be fair most of his 1st rounders skipped the minors so they weren’t ranked as a player or in the team rankings. His later picks sucked. Dipoto sucked so did every gm since arte bought the team and canned eddie bane, im one of those conspiracy theorists that believes it’s arte pulling the strings what are the chances every gm has the same strategy is he hiring clones or are they doing what’s instructed.
Ese gerente lo q es es un idiota porque todo el mundo sabe q el lo que debe ser es DH para q se mantenga con más posibilidades de estar sano.
Trout is the best outfielder/hitter the Angels currently have. If Trout feels healthy and can rotate through the outfield, it would definitely make the Angels deeper and allow the Angels to sign a guy like Bregman to play 3rd base, and be a middle of the order bat. Trout’s previous injuries weren’t while he was playing in the outfield.
Maybe the Angels could still have enough money to sign a top to middle rotation pitcher also. That along with some luck and health could be enough to get the Angels above .500 and possibly into the playoffs next year.
No one fears the Angels hitters or pitchers. I went to a game at the stadium this past August and it looked like a minor league lineup.
Get a new owner who actually cares about winning on a regular basis.
Trout was great in his prime, but that’s gone. Too many injuries.
Sign Harrison Bader to a one year deal with a club option and play him in CF and move Trout to LF.
Sign Arraez to a similar deal so the team has an idea how to make contact and not strikeout.
Sign Bassitt on a similar deal so the pitchers know how to pound the strike zone.
Mets are giving away infielders and Senga. Get a 2B or 3B for a farm players. Luis Acuna has speed and Vientos some pop.
Sign Arraez to a similar deal so the team has an idea how to make contact and not strikeout.
Mets are giving away infielders and Senga. Get a 2B or 3B for a farm players. Luis Acuna has speed and Vientos some pop.
====================
You have a 1B and a 2B, and Soler can’t play the field, so he has to DH. Where does Arraez play?
And the LAA might be the 2nd worst team in BB. Why would they trade away what little they have on the farm?
@joebrady. He’s also forgetting the fact that his wish list would put them over the first tax, something arte wont do. Also Bader and Arreaz aren’t signing one year deals. Back to the angels looking like a minor league team last year. It’s been longer than that even if that’s true.I remember matt Duffy hitting clean up
Why can’t Trout play left field? Adell should be playing right. Soler should be the DH. Ward is gone. Seems like a no brainer to put Trout in left. He does bot possess a strong arm, so wouldn’t left make more sense?
I saw “Angels Open-” got all excited and then there was like wait. This is the Angels I’m thinking about.
The best defensive alignment has Trout in left, Adell in right, and Soler at DH.
An awful lot of balls over second base are going to be at least triples.
Do they receive more insurance money if he gets hurt playing CF?
He’s older and has had horrible back injuries. You really want to subject him to that workload?
Also, I thought for a moment, it said open to trading him.
It would be great if trout gets 500 at bats again in 2026.d h worked in 2025.
Is Anthony going to play third. Base. Will Grissom blossom. Really, if you follow the angel org, you will see that they are a 4.3 team, trout or no trout, ohtani or no ohtani.. lots of excuses. The main thing the angels are improving on is pitching. I could see Jack k, Sam a, Caden d, klassen, etc
Young pitching coming through the system will alter the teams funky direction.
Note: when you have a lot of money like farte, you should pay for advisors who know the system for running a successful franchise. At least farte hired a new mgr, and hitting and pitching coach. I haven’t been to a game in Anaheim for the last four seasons. It’s just a feeling not to go.
Note to arte: rule of thumb
1. 25% will not like you
2. 50% will like you
3. Win the other 25% percent over
Note: you will be in contention in 2026, go ahead and get an ace at the trading deadline. This could be your year arte. Remember the 02 angels.
A soon to be 35 year old Center Fielder. Makes perfect sense.
They can easily just sign Bader to a three year deal and call it a day.
Sign Bregman or Suarez while they’re at it, too.
This team needs to start acting like the big market team they are. They made a nice deal for Grayson, and Manoah may end good, too, but they need some legit signings, and trade Soler maybe to reopen DH for Mike.
I don’t know what adding another old 3B does for you. I get that big-market teams can buy their way to a better record, and usually should.
But at what point do you just give it up and rebuild? There is a Rox fan in here that always said they were happy with the status quo and never wanted to rebuild. The Angels are headed in that direction.
And as an ancillary benefit, they are 600,000 off their best attendance days.
Because rebuilding doesn’t always work. Relying on prospects to work out isn’t an endeavor that every team should do. Especially the bigger market team who in theory should have more capital to invest into their teams.
Get some buzzworthy free agents in here and win some games and you can reverse that attendance course.
But their recent history of free agent signings is the worst in baseball. Pujols, Hamilton, Matthews Jr., and Rendon were all big busts. I think Arte is reluctant to go that route again.
They’ve been unlucky, yes absolutely, but that doesn’t mean they have shut themselves off from it. Look at the players they thought they were getting. No one faulted them. As the saying goes, that’s baseball, Susan.
Trout back in center, Pomeranz & Romano in the ‘pen, 2022 is looking good for Anaheim
Talk about a wasted career. One of the best players I’ve ever seen putting up some of the best stat lines I’ve ever seen and it has about as much relevance as a Savannah Bananas game.
The best chapters of his career are already long gone. Not saying he doesn’t have anything left but we just missed the last chance to see the best of Mike Trout due to workplace incompetency.
Just another example of how one baseball player, no matter how great he is, cannot singlehandedly get his team to the World Series or even the playoffs. I see comments on here all the time where people say some great player isn’t a winner. It’s not the player’s fault if he’s stuck on a bad team.
Had 500 PA for the first time since 2019. Leave him be.
I just looked up how much money they still owe this guy. They are trying to get anything out of him they can possibly get. They’ll try what they can and see what works and hope he stays on the field.
This is the year Trout waives his no-trade clause to play for the Dodgers.
At this point one would think Trout would want to play for a playoff contender…
Can we just get a healthy Mike Trout for one more season in his career?
Just trade him to the Phillies. The man deserves to play in October.
Casty, Marsh, Nori, and a couple more prospects whatever needed for the Angels to kick in some more cash.
Red Sox would trade for trout.
Lost season to injury status: Buffering
Maybe the Angels are looking for a two-for-one special to buy out Rendon and Trout at the same time.
@bbgods trout is worth 700 million because of 87.5 his WAR. Didn’t bother to check rendon’s because im sure its doesn’t match his contract with the angels. Don’t know why you muted me, but i guessing its a old troll I’ve encountered because I dont recognize the name.
Look, you got a CF coming with Elijah Dunham.
Mike Trout should have been moved off center field permanently years ago.
Trout should be playing 1B or DH.
Trout’s many injuries can be blamed on mismanagment of Trout by the POB/GM and Managers. The Angels have wasted many of Trout’s most productive years by having him play CF and get injured constantly.
Keep banging your heads against the wall Angels Ownership, Front Office and Field Management.
It is painful to see this trainwreck that has made the Angels so uncompetitive for so many years.
This just in: Once again the Angels are incapable of constructing a competitive major league roster.
Only 5 years and 212 million dollars to go
Is having a “franchise” player really worth it? Plus you have to add in all the salaries of the players who fill in for them after they get hurt .
Might be time to try and rid theirselves of that contract or as much as they can recover.
They have no one else to pay. He’s not hand cuffing the Angels, they are simply doing it yo themselves. Dodgers have a billion dollars in deferrals. Just gotta be a better baseball team. How many consecutive losing seasons have we had now?
@RonTingley – Correct. Only Trout and Kikuchi beyond next year. Lots of ways to be creative and sign meaningful FA’s right now, this year.
(Of course, extending Neto should be a priority, too)
How many seasons has Trout missed major time? Were lucky to have him even swing the bat. DH for life.
He’s going on a 5 year retirement tour. They won’t/can’t trade him and they won’t be competitive for any of those years.
It’s like you can read the future
Hopefully, when Arte finally is out of the picture, new ownership (who might actually know and respect baseball history) will put a bronze statue of Mr. Trout out in front of the “Big A”.
Phillies acquire:
– Mike Trout RF (5/$180M)
– Reid Detmers (1/$3M)
Angels acquire:
– Nick Castellanos RF (1/$20M)
– Taijuan Walker RHP (1/$18M)
– Johan Rojas CF
– Otto Kemp 3B
– Gabriel Rincones Jr. RF (#9)
Phillies could offer Painter/Miller/Crawford/Wood/Escobar and it wouldn’t matter unless Trout says he wants to be traded.
Injuries can and do happen playing any position in baseball even DH. You can get hit by the ball as a batter and the ball will damage something. The only spots that are more injury prone IMO are catcher, SS, and pitcher. He’s still the most athletic outfielder they got, Trout belongs in center until defensively he’s a negative. Look you can run into a wall at any outfield position.
This is what people are not seeing.
Trout’s injuries all occur on offense, primarily the basepaths. So unless he’s not going to run the bases anymore, he can still get hurt.
His injuries have all been freakish, non contact injuries, all to different body parts. Thumb, thumb, calf, back, hammate bone, meniscus, bone bruise – none of which have anything to do with conditioning or being in shape.
Spending time in the outfield will likely have zero impact on whether or not he gets injured again.
I know it won’t happen but it would be great to see Trout in Philadelphia. And maybe 15 pounds lighter. But none of that will happen and he’ll be in for another season that looks like the past few years with the Angels. Watching Trout in an Angels lineup is like seeing an old lion at the zoo in the dead of winter; which nobody actually sees but realizes a zoo must be open in the winter and the lion has to be there.
“Do we have to go get a center fielder? Not necessarily,” Minasian said.
Translation: Moreno told Minasian he can’t spend any money to fill the need in center field.
The angels are doing everything to ruin trout’s career by exposing his to more injuries