Why Can’t The Angels Accept Reality?
We're nearly one third of the way through the 2026 regular season. The Angels have won exactly one third of their games. Despite getting out to a decent start -- the Halos were 11-10 after a win on April 17 -- they're now sitting on a 17-34 record. A resurgent performance from Mike Trout and a breakout from Jose Soriano fueled that early success, but those two alone can't carry the rest of the roster. The Angels have won only six of their past 30 games and just one of their past 10.
The end result doesn't come as a major surprise, although it's nevertheless jarring when any team rattles off a stretch with only six wins in 30 games. Still, the Angels didn't enter the season expected to be contenders. MLBTR readers overwhelmingly voted that their offseason was worthy of a D or F grade. FanGraphs projected what now looks like a charitable 72 wins. PECOTA had them down at 66 wins, which now also looks like it could finish on the high end. My colleague Anthony Franco opened his review of the Halos' offseason by writing that the Angels "did little to improve a 90-loss roster and again enter the season as one of the American League’s worst teams on paper."
It's a familiar refrain. The Angels will extend their playoff drought to 12 years when the current season concludes. They haven't had a winning record since 2015. Owner Arte Moreno has cycled through seven managers since their last winning season. Current skipper Kurt Suzuki is in a virtually unprecedented situation: a rookie manager on a one-year deal. There's a chance that 2027 will bring an eighth manager in 12 years.
To hear Suzuki tell it, the Angels are right on the cusp of turning things around. Sam Blum of The Athletic asked him last week whether he felt this was a cold stretch or reflective of where the Angels are as an organization. Suzuki replied: "I truly do believe that we've hit a cold stretch. Even that being said, there are a lot of games where we're in it. We're one swing away, maybe one pitch away, one out away."
Granted, there's not much Suzuki can say in that situation. It's a perfectly fair question to be asked, but a rookie manager on a one-year contract isn't going to throw the entire organization under the bus. He probably does believe, to an extent, that the players on hand have underperformed, gotten unlucky and that the record could be better. There may even be some truth behind that. The Angels certainly aren't a good team, but a team with Trout, Soriano and Zach Neto probably isn't quite bad enough to be a 54-win team (the Angels' current pace).
That said, the Angels are an unequivocally bad team. The organization has been stuck in neutral for more than a decade. Let's take a look at the current state of the roster, what could be done, and why the Halos are spinning their wheels in perpetuity.
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Giants Select Victor Bericoto
7:12pm: Lee indeed lands on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 19, with a mid-back strain. Will Brennan has drawn the past couple starts in right field and could get the bulk of the playing time while Lee is unavailable.
11:43am: The Giants will select the contract of outfielder Victor Bericoto from Triple-A Sacramento today, as first reported by journalist Manolo Hernández Douen. San Francisco already has an open 40-man spot. Corresponding moves aren’t yet clear, but Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle suggests that Jung Hoo Lee could need to miss a few more games or perhaps even head to the injured list. He’s been day-to-day with a back issue recently.
It’s the first call to the majors for the 24-year-old Bericoto. He’s generally not considered to be among the organization’s top 30 prospects, but he’s enjoying a nice start to his season with the River Cats. In 186 plate appearances, the righty-swinging outfielder has slashed .299/.355/.449 with six homers. He’s walked at a slightly below-average 8.1% clip, but his current 18.8% strikeout rate would be a career-low mark over a full season.
Bericoto has played all three outfield spots and first base in his professional career. He’s spent the bulk of his time in right field and at first base, however, and hasn’t appeared in center field since 2024, when he logged only six games there. In January 2025, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen wrote that Bericoto has plus power but contact skills that were “toward the very bottom of the acceptable range.” He’s made some modest gains in that regard. His 73.5% overall contact rate is still below the major league average (76.8%), but he’s connected on 85.5% of the swings he takes on pitches within the zone, which is right in line with MLB average.
Blue Jays Re-Sign Eloy Jimenez To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays and designated hitter Eloy Jimenez have reached an agreement on a new minor league contract, per Mitch Bannon and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. He was with Toronto earlier this season but elected free agency in early May after being designated for assignment and clearing waivers.
It appears no other club was willing to plug Jimenez right onto its big league roster, so he’ll head back to the Jays and hope for another opportunity. Jimenez, 29, appeared in a dozen games with the Jays prior to his DFA and hit .290 with a .343 on-base percentage in 35 trips to the plate. That .290 average is obviously strong but lacked any teeth; Jimenez didn’t have an extra-base hit (and thus also slugged .290), and he continued to show a ground-ball approach at the plate, undercutting the plus power he once showed.
Early in his career, Jimenez was a top prospect who looked like a potential star. He blasted 31 homers in only 504 plate appearances as a rookie, and while that came in the juiced-ball 2019 season, it still appeared to set the stage for a run as a middle-of-the-order bat on Chicago’s south side.
Instead, injuries regularly hobbled Jimenez over the course of his White Sox tenure. He’s never reached 500 plate appearances in a season since that 2019 debut, nor has he put together even a 20-homer campaign (let alone another 30-homer season). He was still plenty productive when healthy in 2020-22, hitting a combined .281/.334/.499, but his bat has tanked since.
Dating back to 2023, Jimenez has taken 873 major league plate appearances and posted a below-average .259/.307/.393 line. If he were able to provide value with his glove and/or on the basepaths, that could still be a passable line, but Jimenez is a poor defensive outfielder whose sprint speed sat in the 21st percentile of big leaguers earlier this season, per Statcast. Defensive Runs Saved has dinged him for -14 runs in his career, and Statcast has graded him at -19 Outs Above Average. He’s played all of 117 innings in the outfield since Opening Day 2023 — and none since 2024.
Jimenez is still only 29, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he reinvents himself and enjoys a nice second act in his career. He’s taken 258 minor league plate appearances across the past two seasons, however, and slugged well under .400 in that span. He’s got a ways to go, but the Blue Jays aren’t risking anything by seeing if they can get him back on track with a non-roster deal that’ll send him to Triple-A Buffalo.
Rangers, Joe Ross Agree To Minor League Deal
The Rangers have signed veteran righty Joe Ross to a minor league contract, Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News reports. Ross was recently released by the D-backs. He’d been pitching with their Triple-A club in Reno.
Ross made Arizona’s Opening Day roster this season after signing a minor league deal in free agency, but the Snakes designated him for assignment after 3 2/3 innings. He elected free agency and returned on a minor league deal.
Ross, who turned 33 yesterday, enjoyed decent results in a hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League setting. He threw 21 innings for the D-backs’ Triple-A club, most of them in long relief, and logged a 4.29 ERA. His 14% strikeout rate is way below average, but Ross’ 5.8% walk rate was excellent and his 47.8% grounder rate was strong. He also induced plenty of weak contact, evidenced by an 87.7 mph average exit velocity and 38% hard-hit rate.
This year’s brief run in the majors with Arizona brought Ross up to nine partial seasons in the majors. He’s one day shy of eight years of service time. Ross showed glimpses of breaking out as a quality big league starter early in his career, but much like his older brother (Tyson Ross) was routinely set back by injuries. He’s had a pair of Tommy John surgeries in his career in addition to a procedure to remove bone spurs from his elbow. Ross has also had multiple IL stints due to lower back injuries and shoulder troubles.
Ross had a nice season with the ’24 Brewers, tossing 74 innings with a 3.77 ERA and rate stats that were only slightly worse than league average. He was hit hard in a partial season with the ’25 Phillies though, yielding a 5.12 ERA with a career-low 17.1% strikeout rate. Overall, the 6’4″ righty has a 4.37 ERA, 20.6% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 43% ground-ball rate in 572 major league frames.
The Rangers haven’t specified what type of role Ross will fill. He’ll head to Triple-A Round Rock and presumably continue to operate at least as a long reliever — if not a member of the rotation. The Rangers’ big league staff includes Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, MacKenzie Gore, Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker. The depth options behind that quintet aren’t great, and the latter three have all had varying levels of struggles. Rocker’s hold on a rotation spot appeared to be fading, but he just rattled off 7 2/3 shutout innings behind an opener in his most recent appearance. That brings him to 12 2/3 straight scoreless frames, dropping his ERA from north of 5.00 all the way to 3.60 (albeit with subpar rate stats that suggest some regression).
Veteran righty Cal Quantrill has pitched well in a long relief role, so it’s unlikely Ross will quickly jump to the majors in a swingman capacity. That said, if Texas incurs an injury in the rotation, that could nudge Quantrill into a starting role and create a space for Ross. Ross himself could be a rotation option at some point, too. He’s not fully stretched out right now but has made multiple three-inning relief appearances this season — most recently in early May.
Cubs Promote Pedro Ramirez, Place Matt Shaw On Injured List
The Cubs have called up top prospect Pedro Ramirez for his major league debut, per Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic. Fellow infielder Matt Shaw heads to the 10-day injured list (retroactive to May 20) due to tightness in his back. ESPN’s Jesse Rogers first noted that Ramirez was in the clubhouse at Wrigley Field this morning.
Ramirez, 22, is one of the top prospects in Chicago’s system. He’s elevated his status with a brilliant start to his season in Des Moines, home of the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate. The Venezuelan-born infielder has taken 196 turns at the plate and delivered a robust .312/.395/.547 batting line. By measure of wRC+, that’s 36% better than league average.
Ramirez has swatted nine homers and added 11 doubles and a triple. He’s 19-for-21 in stolen base attempts and has walked at a hearty 10.7% clip against a 16.3% strikeout rate that’s considerably lower than the 22.1% major league average. He’s drawn praise for above-average raw power in the past, but it hadn’t fully manifested until this season. His nine long balls are already a career-high.
A switch-hitter with above-average tools across the board, Ramirez can also play either second or third base. He won a minor league Gold Glove for his work at the latter position in 2025. This year’s terrific start has catapulted Ramirez onto several top-100 prospect rankings. He’s currently 80th at FanGraphs and 85th at both Baseball America and MLB.com.
Though Ramirez is clearly an exciting prospect, it’s fair to question how he fits into the long-term picture. Chicago has Alex Bregman, Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner all signed long-term. Michael Busch is locked in at first base and controlled through 2029. Pete Crow-Armstrong is entrenched in center field. Moises Ballesteros doesn’t even have a full year of service yet. He’s a long-term option behind the plate and/or at designated hitter.
Perhaps there’s a scenario where both Ramirez and Shaw slide into the corner outfield vacancies that’ll be created this winter when Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki become free agents. Either could settle in as a multi-position, semi-regular as well. It’s a crowded mix of talented players. Obviously, that falls into the “good problem to have” bucket, and there’s no need to answer any such questions in the immediate future, with both Ramirez and Shaw being optionable. It’s still a scenario that’ll loom in the background, and it’s easy to imagine Ramirez and/or Shaw commanding interest at the trade deadline, as other clubs take note of the Cubs’ stock of young big league-ready players.
As for Shaw, he’s cooled considerably after a hot start. His .242/.291/.400 is a near mirror image of last year’s .226/.295/.394 batting line as a rookie. Both are a couple percentage points shy of league average. Shaw has spent the season acclimating to the outfield, as the Bregman signing filled the infield and left him only sparse playing time on the dirt. He’s continued to show good contact skills but employ a swing- and chase-heavy approach that’s undercut his on-base percentage.
It’s not clear how long Shaw will be sidelined, but the backdated nature of his IL stint means he could be back as soon as next weekend. In the meantime, Ramirez can fill in around the infield as needed. The Cubs recently gave him his fifth career game in left field as well, so they could at least consider using him in the corners.
Padres Shopping For Bullpen Help
The Padres have the one of the best bullpens in baseball, but president of baseball operations A.J. Preller is seemingly never content with his roster and always in the process of searching for upgrades. To that end, Dennis Lin of the The Athletic reports that Preller is already poking around for bullpen help, hoping to strike up an early deal with a team open to parting with some relief pitching.
It might sound counterintuitive, given that San Diego’s relief corps includes Mason Miller, Jason Adam, Jeremiah Estrada, Adrian Morejon and Bradgley Rodriguez (1.66 ERA in 21 2/3 innings). San Diego relievers rank seventh in the majors with a 3.32 ERA, second with a 25.5% strikeout rate, first with a 50.8% ground-ball rate, third with a 3.23 FIP and third with a 3.27 SIERA. However you measure it, manager Craig Stammen (a former reliever himself) has the nucleus of an elite relief unit in place.
The Padres have also gotten good work from lower-leverage arms like Ron Marinaccio, Yuki Matsui and Wandy Peralta. The main reason they’re not pacing the majors in most bullpen categories is shaky work from players who were promoted for brief looks. Alek Jacob, Kyle Hart and David Morgan have posted ERAs north of 5.00 in a combined 33 innings. Out-of-options knuckleballer Matt Waldron made three relief appearances (two behind an opener) and was tagged for seven runs in 9 2/3 “relief” innings before landing on the injured list.
The core of San Diego’s bullpen is as strong and deep as any you’ll find in the game, but injuries are an inevitability, and the team is presumably wary of overworking its top arms. Padres relievers rank seventh in the majors with 200 1/3 innings pitched.
The Padres are one of just three teams with five true relievers who’ve already topped 20 innings this season. They lean heavily on their go-to contingent of ‘pen arms, and their starters don’t work deep into games. Michael King and Randy Vásquez are both averaging about 5 2/3 frames per start — King a bit more, Vásquez a bit less. None of their other starters are averaging even five frames per appearance (save for Lucas Giolito, who’s only pitched one game since signing and went exactly five frames in that debut showing).
Few teams are likely open to sell-side trades at this point, but it’s nevertheless of note that Preller & Co. are actively seeking arms. They’re rare, but there have been a handful of early-season trades of note over the past couple seasons, as the Padres know first-hand. They picked up Luis Arraez in an early-May swap with Miami back in 2024. Last year, we saw the Brewers acquire Quinn Priester from the Red Sox in April and the Giants acquire Rafael Devers from the Red Sox in June. Earlier this month, San Francisco traded Patrick Bailey to Cleveland.
There’s no shortage of teams looking at extreme longshot playoff odds by now. Many were expected to be in this position, but the Giants, Astros, Royals, Tigers, Orioles and Mets all entered the season hopeful of contending. All are at least seven games under .500. The Angels and Rockies have baseball’s two worst records. Not everyone from that group will wave an early white flag. Most won’t, in fact. The Tigers aren’t going to sell early in their final guaranteed year with Tarik Skubal. The Mets have been playing better ball of late and are trending in the right direction. The Orioles aren’t likely to sell off any notable pieces this early, either.
One element to consider when looking at any Padres trade scenarios is the looming ownership change. The Seidler family has a deal to sell the franchise to billionaire Jose E. Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones. Lin reports that the incoming ownership duo is willing to spend to bring a title to San Diego, though the extent to which that’s true isn’t clear. Still, the Padres operated on a tight budget late in the offseason, so any inkling of a possible budget increase is welcome news for their fans.
Lin lists Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman as an arm that has long been on the Padres’ radar, but there’s no indication the Red Sox are looking to sell any pieces yet despite a poor 22-27 start to their season. Lin also speculates on possible interest in a Josh Hader reunion. With a $19MM annual salary on a Houston club that’s 11 games under .500, Hader makes a sensible target. That’s doubly true given the Padres’ thin farm system. If Hader hits the market and new ownership is indeed willing to boost the payroll, the Friars could offer to take on the majority or entirety of the Hader contract in order to reduce the prospect cost. Hader hasn’t pitched this season due to biceps tendinitis and ended last year on the shelf with a shoulder injury. There’s nothing to suggest the two parties have actually discussed parameters of a trade, but on paper, the match makes sense.
Other relief names who could hit the market at some point in the next couple months include Antonio Senzatela, Steven Okert, Bryan Abreu, Brooks Raley, Matt Strahm, Anthony Bender, Taylor Rogers and Andrew Kittredge, to name just a few. The market will begin to take clearer shape in the weeks ahead, but if any club decides to signal an earlier-than-usual willingness to part with some veteran talent, it sounds as though the Padres will be willing to engage in discussions to strengthen an already potent collection of relievers.
Braves Claim Maverick Handley
The Braves on Thursday claimed catcher Maverick Handley off waivers from the Orioles, per a team announcement. Righty Hurston Waldrep moves from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL in a corresponding move. Handley was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett.
Handley, 28, was the Orioles’ sixth-round pick in 2019. He’s spent his entire career in the organization. Over the past year, he’s been on and off Baltimore’s 40-man roster and up and down between Baltimore and the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate in Norfolk. Handley has only 48 big league plate appearances and has gone just 3-for-42 in that time. It’s not a good big league track record, clearly, but Handley logged a .258/.373/.367 slash in Triple-A last year. He’s regularly posted lofty walk rates in the minors, and he’s regarded as a quality defender.
Handley isn’t going to jump right onto the big league roster, but he gives an injury-decimated Atlanta catching corps some depth. The Braves recently put star backstop Drake Baldwin on the injured list due to an oblique strain. He’s likely looking at a weekslong absence. Veteran complement Sean Murphy isn’t an option at the moment. After spending the early portion of the season rehabbing from hip surgery, he suffered a broken middle finger and is sidelined for another two months or so.
That’s left the Braves with a light-hitting catching tandem of Sandy León and Chadwick Tromp. Both are decent defenders who can’t be expected to hit in the majors. That’s true of Handley as well, to an extent, though he at least has quality on-base numbers in the minors thanks to his penchant for drawing walks. León and Tromp both regularly post on-base percentages in the .250 range.
Waldrep’s move to the 60-day IL is purely procedural. It does nothing to impact his timetable to return. The talented young righty underwent spring surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow. Since his IL placement was retroactive to three days prior to Opening Day — the maximum allowed — he’s already effectively spent 60 days on the IL. Moving from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL doesn’t reset the required minimum, but it does open a 40-man spot. Waldrep isn’t on a minor league rehab assignment yet anyhow, so he’s not especially close to returning, but this won’t change anything when he’s finally ready to be activated.
Astros Outright Cody Bolton
Astros right-hander Cody Bolton went unclaimed on waivers following this week’s DFA and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Sugar Land, the team announced this afternoon. It’s the first outright of his career and he has fewer than three years of MLB service, so he won’t have the option to reject in favor of free agency. Bolton will remain with the organization as non-roster depth in the upper minors.
Bolton, 28 next month, has pitched 20 innings out of the Houston ‘pen this season and been tagged for a dozen runs (5.40 ERA) on 21 hits and 14 walks. Three of those hits have been home runs. He’s fanned 22 of the 95 batters he’s faced (23.2%) despite a paltry 6.6% swinging-strike rate and 22.8% opponents’ chase rate. (League-average in both regards would be 10.8% and 32.5%, respectively.)
Bolton entered the season with only 42 major league frames under his belt. He’s now pitched for four clubs, having previously suited up for the Pirates, Guardians and Mariners as well. Bolton has a deep arsenal, headlined by a fastball that sits 95.1 mph. He also works in a cutter and changeup both averaging about 90 mph, a 94.5 mph sinker, a low-80s slider and, as of this season, an upper-70s curveball.
Although his work in the big leagues has produced an ERA north of 5.00, Bolton has pitched in parts of five Triple-A seasons and worked to a combined 3.32 ERA with a 24.8% strikeout rate and an 11% walk rate. Houston’s bullpen has been among the worst in the sport this season, so Bolton could find himself with another opportunity later this year if he can go on a nice run in Sugar Land.
Braves Select Carlos Carrasco
Carlos Carrasco is back with the Braves — again. Atlanta announced this morning that the veteran right-hander’s contract was selected from Triple-A Gwinnett. Carrasco takes the open spot on the 40-man roster that was vacated by yesterday’s DFA of outfielder Jose Azocar. Righty Victor Mederos was optioned to Gwinnett to clear an active roster spot.
It’s already the third stint of the season for Carrasco and his fourth since last August. He and the Braves are comfortable with a setup that sees the 39-year-old veteran operate as effectively the 41st man on Atlanta’s 40-man roster. They’ve designated Carrasco for assignment twice this season (thrice since last August). Each time, he’s cleared waivers, elected free agency and almost immediately re-signed on a new minor league deal. That sequence seems likely to play out here as well.
Carrasco has pitched well in the Braves organization this season. He’s tossed 2 1/3 shutout frames in the majors and worked to a flat 3.00 ERA in six starts (30 innings) in Gwinnett. Carrasco’s 90.4 mph average sinker and 91.1 mph average four-seamer with the Stripers are both the second-lowest marks of his career, but he’s still sporting a respectable 21% strikeout rate with excellent walk and ground-ball rates of 5.6% and 51.1%, respectively.
The Braves don’t necessarily need extra length today. The bullpen is fresh. Chris Sale tossed seven dominant innings in yesterday’s 9-1 rout of the Marlins and was relieved by Mederos, who tossed two scoreless frames to close out the game. Mederos probably wasn’t going to be available today anyhow, so it’s not a surprise to see him optioned out. The rest of Atlanta’s relief corps is on at least one day’s rest — and several have rested for two or more consecutive days now.
Carrasco will be available in long relief for however long Atlanta keeps him in the majors. A third DFA is probably on the horizon at some point, since he can’t be optioned. The Braves have Spencer Strider, Bryce Elder, Grant Holmes and Martín Pérez lined up for their next four starts. It’s plausible that at some point Carrasco fails to make it through waivers because a rotation-needy team picks him up based on his solid work in Triple-A, but as long as he keeps clearing waivers, it seems this Jesse Chavez-esque cycle will be the norm for him with the Braves in 2026.
Pirates Getting Jared Triolo Work In Right Field
Pirates utilityman Jared Triolo is on the roster largely because of his defensive versatility and aptitude around the infield. He’s seen time at all four infield spots over the years and is generally regarded as a quality defender. The Bucs have recently began to expand that defensive portfolio even further. Triolo has logged time in right field in each of his past three games — two of them starts. He was out of the lineup tonight against the Cardinals.
Triolo had never started a major league game in the outfield prior to this past weekend. He made seven starts in center at the Double-A level in 2022 and logged six innings in right field (two in the majors, four in Triple-A) from 2024-25. That represented the entirety of his professional in-game experience in the outfield until Monday’s start on the grass, though Triolo says he’s been working with coaches Tony Beasley and Tarrik Brock on the side (link via Danny Demilio of Pittsburgh Baseball Now).
It’s always of some note when a player can expand his defensive versatility, and there’s reason to think Triolo can provide solid glovework in the outfield. Statcast places him in the 84th percentile of big leaguers in terms of sprint speed, so he certainly has the ability to cover ground. His average velocity on his throws across the diamond from the hot corner is below average but not egregiously so.
For the Bucs, if Triolo proves capable of playing the outfield on even an occasional basis, there’d be plenty of roster advantages. Many clubs use the DH spot to rotate players and maximize matchups, but Pittsburgh signed Marcell Ozuna to DH on an everyday basis, so it’s all the more important that their bench players have multiple positions in their skill set. Ozuna has struggled badly this year, but even if the Pirates move on and go with a more rotational approach, Triolo playing a decent corner would give them more flexibility with regard to how they round out their bench and even who they could target as the trade deadline approaches.
In the more immediate sense, Triolo’s outfield experiment gives skipper Don Kelly additional options to consider when navigating what’s expected to be a roughly monthlong absence for slugger Ryan O’Hearn, who’s spent the bulk of his time in right field this year. Prospect Jhostynxon Garcia is likely to get plenty of chances out there in O’Hearn’s absence, but Triolo makes a nice righty-swinging complement to Jake Mangum among the team’s reserve options; he hit .275/.339/.459 in 122 plate appearances against lefties last season.
It’d behoove Triolo to increase his overall productivity at the plate, however. He’s received sparse playing time in 2026 and slashed just .259/.310/.296 in 59 plate appearances. In parts of four seasons with the Pirates, he’s stepped into the batter’s box 1090 times and delivered a tepid .238/.320/.344 line (86 wRC+). But if there’s not much more in the tank, adding outfield to his skill set also benefits him as he approaches arbitration this winter and potentially exhausts his remaining option years. Triolo hasn’t been sent down in 2026 but has just one minor league option year remaining. If he’s sent down for 20 days at any point this season, he’ll need to stick on the roster in subsequent seasons or else be designated for assignment.