Veteran infielder Adam Frazier is heading to the Angels, reports Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. It’s a minor league agreement with an invitation to MLB Spring Training. Frazier is represented by McKinnis Sports.
Frazier has been with five teams in his 10-year MLB career. He split last season between the Pirates and the Royals. After struggling with Pittsburgh, Frazier delivered near league-average offensive production while chipping in at four different spots in the field with Kansas City.
It’s been half a decade since Frazier pushed his wRC+ above 100, but he was once a reliable bat with positional versatility. He was drafted by Pittsburgh in 2013 and made it to the big leagues three years later. Frazier emerged as a regular in 2017, splitting time between second base and the outfield. He remained a fixture in the lineup for the next four seasons.
A career year in 2021 led to Frazier’s lone All-Star selection. It also led to his departure from Pittsburgh. The infielder hit .324 in the first half as the table setter for the Pirates. Frazier was then dealt to San Diego ahead of the trade deadline for Tucupita Marcano, Michell Miliano, and Jack Suwinski.
Frazier has bounced around since leaving Pittsburgh, including a repeat stint with the club. He was traded to Seattle following his half-season in San Diego. He signed with the Orioles after a year with the Mariners, and then inked a deal with the Royals after his time in Baltimore. Frazier found his way back to the Pirates this past offseason. Pittsburgh swapped him for Cam Devanney in a midseason deal with Kansas City.
The Angels have an uncertain situation at second base. Their approach this offseason has been to gather a large quantity of veterans. Frazier joins Chris Taylor, Nick Madrigal, Yolmer Sanchez, and Donovan Walton as non-roster invitees with big-league experience at the keystone. The current outlook at the position includes some combination of Christian Moore, Vaughn Grissom, and Oswald Peraza. As a left-handed bat, Frazier might have the inside track to a roster spot. Moore and Peraza are both right-handed.
Photo courtesy of Jay Biggerstaff, Imagn Images
I was sure Frazier was going to Seattle. 😁
I was pretty sure he had gone back to Boston
He will be the starting 2nd baseman by June
*MAY
He may be the starting second basemen by June?
I mean he isn’t bad or anything. Had a nice year last season just feels like the Angels have 8 of these guys
Exactly. The Angels are like my fantasy football team when I don’t have strong running backs so I load up my bench with as many RBs as I can ‘just in case’.
Angels should be working on acquiring less running backs and more baseball players.
Frazier has already robbed MLB of $30M, it may be best for him to slip quietly away b4 somebody starts demanding their money back. 🤣
Ehhh I understand you’re half joking but the dude has been worth 15 war over his career. He has had a heck of a career broadly speaking
I agree. I would call 15.4 WAR a good career, not great but much above average.
With all the Frazier Fanatics on this site I’m sure he’s just trying to get a rise out of them.
Another baseball dunce over here
He’s been fine. You don’t have to be an all star to be a useful mlb player
I’ll stick up for Adam here for once. He WAS an All-Star in 2021.
Frazier is proof Fangraphs’ WAR is better than Baseball Reference’s:
FWar: 0.7
BWar: 1.4, 1.1 of which comes from offense.
How? 91 OPS+, Not from the bat.
Caught stealing 6 of 14 attempts, Not from the basepaths.
That’s not how bWAR works, there is a positional adjustment baked into the offensive numbers, If you mouseover oWAR and dWAR it explains it.
Baserunning is also taking extra bases, not just SBs.
It seems that they both have him ~90 wRC+/OPS+ but differ on defensive value since FG uses Statcast
Angel:
So what use is that 1.1 OWar from Baseball Reference is it has nothing to do with WAR?
BWar: 1.7
OWar: 1.1
DWar: 0.7
I’ve always known they are not accumulative, but youre saying that offense didnt make up more than 70% of his BWar? Thats the way I take that number. If not, please give the reason for OWar if its completely unrelated to his overall run value.
Also: Of course base stealing isnt his entire baserunning value. (I never said it was). But with only a 57% success rate and a sprint speed in the 29th percentile, Im saying he’s not getting any value from his running. Headsy base running isnt going to offset those negatives. It is certainly a detriment to his offensive value.
No answer a day later. Cause you really dont understand it either. You just want to pretend to be smarter than others.
See ball. Hit ball
Solid signing the depth is growing but we sure do
Have like ten of these guys at AAA
Frazier vs Madrigal vs Grissom vs Moore for second base.
@halosheavenjj. I think moore is staying in the minors til the deadline. Moancada will get hurt so. Two of those three will be starting.
Peraza and Grissom are out of options.
Peraza will cover for Moncada.
@halosheavenjj. Wouldn’t surprise me if they could Sign peraza to a minor league deal. Grissom can cover SS in a pinch. Frazier might’ve a opt out if he doesn’t make the team.
I think vets get 3 pot out dates with minor league deals
@rontingley. Yeah they dont really disclose it, but since he’s a 10 year vet. Im sure he has something.
Grissom out of options, hard to see him being DFA’s after being traded for. Moore has options and needs to perform to make the opening day roster, I think.
If Grissom has a poor spring anf Nri makes the team he’s the one to go. They seem to prefer perazas defense
@rontingley. I agree with them probably wanting to keep peraza, because of his defense. He also hits .186, you can probably find someone else. Frazier and grissom aren’t the best defenders, but atleast they can hit .250 with ten homers.
Maybe because he’s only 25. That .186 average is hard not to notice. Although I got bashed for sticking up for Arraez bc he collected the most hits in the league and has a .317 carreer avg. Maybe even a terrible avg is meaningless as stat nerds for some reason want to constantly devalue
@Rontingley. I recounted peraza is probably the 4th on the bench. He can play SS on Sundays. Teodosio is probably on the outs, because they got meckler to the minors. I can see them trying to keep teodosio if not they got lugo,Paris, and rada maybe later on in the season
Most remember him as having hot first half in ’21 w/Pitt. Even at time it looked like an outlier, but the serious ask around was top shelf prospect to headline-once everyone hung up, Padres gave up some okay pieces. The stats were underwhelming rest of that season and ever since.
This is a ridiculous waste of a signing. C’mon Perry. Go sign Aaron Hicks now. Hey Johnny Cueto is available.
Trying to figure out what the Angels are doing…
Shouldn’t take long. It’s been on repeat for a decade
This is a team without a direction.
Down is a direction, yes, but they have no way out of it.
They don’t know either
This would be a playoff team if it was 2019.
Thought he was a better fit last year when he and Kevin Newman both signed 2.5 million contracts.
Kept looking at your id picture–is that the infamous Don Mossi?–if so, the ears gave it away
It is! He was probably 23 in that photo! Lol
We are building a AAA team to play in the majors.
A once coveted trade piece!
Frazier is a useful, versatile player
Adam is less than 100 days from ten years service time.
My money is on him.
Feels like they’re trying to build a team of 5’8” guys
Book the parade
This roster is so pathetic
Actually not a bad signing.
For his career he is 5% better than league average vs RHP. And he’s a plus defender.
Grissom can actually hit lefties, so there *might* be a platoon possibility that will allow Moore time to develop.
@johnnyangel. Yeah im guessing the bench is set. Platoon with lowe and siri. Platoon with Frazier/grissom/moancada. Peraza as the defensive replacement. TDA As the backup catcher.
3/4 of this roster is bench players or guys on rehab and members of the DFA club
@soccer_ref. I dont see it that way did they sing top players no. Siri, lowe, frazier, moancada are starters. The angels weren’t going to sign the top free agents. They did decent for what it was with trades and cheap pickups definitely not going to the WS or not getting out of last place. I dont see it being different from last year, but they can be around 76 wins with luck. 72-76 is possible
Frazier is a solid defender who will slap enough singles to be useful. Good guy to have around.
He doesn’t strikeout which is bette than alot of mlb players
Angels collecting a fine group of cast-offs
@Rsox. Frazier isn’t terrible. Guessing it’s Frazier and grissom at second. Maybe grissom slides to third for moancada certain days. Peraza is probably a defensive replacement and backup SS.
I’m guessing 5 players we break camp with on the 26 man roster will be DFA’ed by the all star break. Who wants odds???
@soccer_ref. Isnt that normal. Plus I’ll probably guess three and its from the blowpen
Blowpen LOVE IT That is pretty normal for MORONassian
It won’t matter by the time we get to the blowpen we will be down 6-0 in the fourth inning with 7 strikeouts
There is something so special about the Angels. I have developed a weird fascination over the years with their inability to put together a winning team. Even in those years where it looks like, for a while, there is positive movement, and maybe those youngsters are finally going to develop as a unit, they suddenly just lose momentum and nobody achieves at the projected level. And it just stands out so badly because across the city are the Dodgers, who seem to do everything right always. Good luck, Angels. (Go with Frazier at 2d. He’s a proven vet, and he has to have the most consistent bat of all the guys in that decidedly motley crew.)