By Connor Byrne | at
The Angels announced that they have selected left-hander Dillon Peters and optioned righty Jaime Barria. The club outrighted Peters last winter.
The 28-year-old Peters appeared in the majors during the previous four seasons with the Marlins and Angels. Peters has recorded a 5.83 ERA/5.22 SIERA with a 16.7 percent strikeout rate and a 9.9 percent walk rate over 132 2/3 big league frames. He has also had trouble at the Triple-A level, where he has logged a 6.15 ERA in 169 2/3 innings.
By Connor Byrne | at
In devastating news for the Angels, superstar center fielder Mike Trout will miss six to eight weeks as a result of the right calf strain he suffered Monday, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reports. The Angels have placed Trout on the 10-day injured list and recalled lefty Jose Quijada to take his spot on the roster for the time being.
It couldn’t get much worse than this for the Angels, who again haven’t been able to capitalize on Trout’s excellence this year. Already mired in a six-year playoff drought, the Angels are off to a subpar 18-22 start despite Trout’s best efforts. The 29-year-old future Hall of Famer has slashed .333./.466/.624 with eight home runs over 146 plate appearances, and he leads all qualified position players in wRC+ (199) and fWAR (2.5).
Unfortunately, this will go down as another injury-shortened year for Trout, who after averaging 158 games per season from 2013-16 averaged just 129 games from 2017-19. Trout also missed seven games in the shortened 2020 season, which amounts to roughly 12 percent of the season.
As a result of this news, baseball fans won’t have the privilege of watching Trout again until July or later, and his absence will obviously weaken the Angels’ lineup to a significant extent. There’s simply no realistic way to suitably replace Trout, the game’s preeminent player for several years. The Halos have used Scott Schebler and Juan Lagares in center when Trout hasn’t played this year, but they pale in comparison to the eight-time All-Star and three-time MVP.
The Angels do a pair of touted outfield prospects in Jo Adell and Brandon Marsh, either of whom could come up with Trout unavailable, though that’s unlikely to happen in the immediate future, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets. Adell has fanned 21 times in 57 Triple-A plate appearances (36.8 percent), while Marsh has still only logged six total games in Triple-A to this point in his career. While he’s 6-for-22 with a trio of extra-base hits in that time, Marsh has punched out nine times in 29 plate appearances (31 percent), and it seems the Angels feel he could yet benefit from additional development time.
By Connor Byrne | at
The Angels announced that right-handed reliever Noe Ramirez has cleared waivers and elected free agency. The Halos also outrighted outfielder Jon Jay, who will go to Triple-A Salt Lake, J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group tweets.
The Angels designated Ramirez for assignment on Sunday, less than a week after selecting his contract on May 11. The 31-year-old, also a former Red Sox, has appeared in the majors with the Angels in each season since 2017. The Angels traded him to the Reds last winter in a deal revolving around fellow reliever Raisel Iglesias, but Cincinnati quickly cut ties with Ramirez, who then re-signed with the Halos. He has recorded a 4.20 ERA/3.74 SIERA with a 25.4 percent strikeout rate against an 8.8 percent walk rate in 214 1/3 major league innings, including 3 1/3 frames this season.
The Angels have designated Jay for assignment twice since April. The 36-year-old has only totaled 14 plate appearances with the club this season, though he may be more likely to receive an extended chance with center fielder Mike Trout battling a calf strain that will keep him out until at least July.
By Connor Byrne | at
Angels center fielder Mike Trout left their game against the Indians on Monday with a right calf strain, the team announced. He exited after just one inning and was replaced by Juan Lagares.
This hopefully won’t lead to a stint on the injured list for Trout, who has been in typically great form to begin the season. The 29-year-old has batted .333./.466/.624 with eight home runs in 146 plate appearances.
There would be no way for the Angels to effectively replace Trout, a future Hall of Famer, for an extended span. Trout aside, the Angels have used Scott Schebler – whom they outrighted earlier this month – and Lagares at center this season. It goes without saying that those two pale in comparison to Trout.
By Anthony Franco | at
The Angels announced they’ve designated reliever Noé Ramirez for assignment. The move clears space on the active and 40-man rosters for Hunter Strickland, who has been activated after being acquired from the Rays yesterday.
Ramirez has pitched for Los Angeles over the past four seasons. He was a durable, generally productive reliever in the middle innings from 2018-20, working to a 4.13 ERA/4.20 FIP across 172 innings. The Angels traded Ramirez to the Reds over the winter as part of the Raisel Iglesias deal.
The 31-year-old had a very rough Spring Training with Cincinnati, leading the Reds to cut him loose before the start of the season. Ramirez promptly returned to the Angels’ organization on a minor league deal and was selected to the roster earlier this week. The veteran righty went on to make two appearances, allowing a pair of runs on five hits with a walk and no strikeouts through 3 1/3 innings.
Los Angeles will now have a week to trade or waive Ramirez. As a player with more than three years of MLB service, Ramirez has the right to refuse a minor league assignment in favor of free agency if he clears outright waivers, although doing so would mean forfeiting the remainder of his guaranteed salary for this season.
By Connor Byrne | at
The Rays have traded right-handed reliever Hunter Strickland to the Angels, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. Tampa Bay will receive cash considerations or a player to be named later in return, per an announcement from the Angels.
The 32-year-old Strickland joined the Rays on a minor league contract over the winter, and he wound up holding his own during his short stint with the club after it promoted him in early April. Strickland bounced back from a rough two years divided among the Mariners, Nationals and Mets to log a meager 1.69 ERA (with a less spectacular 3.76 SIERA) across 16 innings and post a 24.2 percent strikeout rate against a 9.1 percent walk rate as a Ray.
Strickland will now return to California, where he spent the first five years of his career in San Francisco. Over 226 frames as a Giant from 2014-18, Strickland recorded a 2.91 ERA/3.80 SIERA with a 22.6 percent strikeout rate and an 8.4 percent walk rate. Production along those lines (or the type of numbers he put up as a Ray) would be welcome for the Angels, whose bullpen has struggled mightily during their 16-21 start. Angels relievers own both the majors’ fourth-worst ERA (5.32) and K-BB percentage (10.7).
By Connor Byrne | at
The Angels have activated third baseman Anthony Rendon from the 10-day injured list and designated outfielder Jon Jay for assignment, the team announced.
The Angels are welcoming back Rendon from his second IL stint of the young season. He went on the shelf on April 12 with a left groin strain and landed back on it May 5 with a left knee contusion. When Rendon has been well to play, he has continued to offer high-end production, having slashed .276/.348/.466 (131 wRC+) with three home runs in 66 plate appearances. The Angels used Phil Gosselin and Jose Rojas at the hot corner during Rendon’s most recent trip to the IL.
Jay has yo-yoed on and off the Angels’ 40-man roster this year, as this is already the second time the club has designated him since the middle of April. The 36-year-old has gone 5-for-14 with all singles this season.
By Steve Adams | at
Following last week’s abrupt DFA, future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols has cleared release waivers and is now a free agent, tweets USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. He’s free to sign with any club.
It’s not a surprise to see Pujols go unclaimed, given that any team that claimed him would have also been on the hook for the remainder of the $30MM salary he’s owed this year in the final season of a 10-year, $240MM contract. Now that he’s a free agent, the Angels are on the hook for that salary regardless of where he ends up playing. A new team need only pay the prorated portion of the league minimum for any time spent in the big leagues, and that sum would be subtracted from what the Angels owe him.
The decision to part ways with Pujols was sudden and unexpected, even in spite of the aging slugger’s diminished performance. Following the move, Angels brass addressed reporters and explained that the split was agreed upon after the Angels approached Pujols about a reduction in playing time (link via The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya).
“The guy wanted to play, wants to be on the field,” manager Joe Maddon said of Pujols. “He does not want to be a bench player of any kind. This guy’s got a lot of pride, and that’s a big reason why he’s going to be a first-ballot, unanimous Hall of Famer. There’s no question about that.”
Of course, it’s hard to imagine Pujols being dropped into an everyday role with another club. Most National League teams wouldn’t want to play him at first base every day given his range and mobility (or lack thereof). And given the fact that he’s only produced a .198/.250/.372 slash in 2021 and a .240/.289/.405 line since 2016, he’s a tough sell as a regular designated hitter in the American League.
While Pujols’ bat has been anemic, there are some more positive indicators in his overall offensive profile. He’s been plagued by a tiny .176 average on balls in play in 2021, and while some of that is to be expected since he’s less likely than your average hitter to beat out any sort of hit on the ground, he’s also gone hitless on fly-balls that stay in the yard. The league average on non-homer fly-balls is .109.
Pujols’ average exit velocity (90.5 mph) is its best since 2016, as his rate of barreled balls, as measured by Statcast. He’s only walked three times in 92 plate appearances, which is an obvious concern for someone who should be a bat-first player at this point of his career, but his 14.1 percent strikeout rate is also much smaller than the league average. Based on the frequency and quality of Pujols’ contact, Statcast gives him an “expected” .265 average and a similarly heartening .511 “expected” slugging percentage. Those numbers can change in a hurry, given the small nature of the sample, but there’s reason to believe he might yet have some productive at-bats in him.
Then again, given his lack of defensive and baserunning value, Pujols would need to be considerably better than a league-average hitter to hold much appeal, even at a league-minimum rate. He hasn’t been that — or even been particularly close to it — since the conclusion of a 2016 season in which he batted .268/.323/.457 with 31 homers.
By Connor Byrne | at
The Angels announced several changes to their pitching staff Tuesday: They selected right-hander Noe Ramirez, outrighted righty Felix Pena, recalled righty Jaime Barria, optioned lefty Jose Suarez, and placed RHP Junior Guerra on the 10-day injured list with a right groin strain.
Ramirez appeared in the majors with the Angels from 2017-20, though they traded him last winter to the Reds in order to acquire fellow reliever Raisel Iglesias. The Reds later released Ramirez, who quickly rejoined the Angels on a minor league contract before the season began. The 31-year-old Ramirez was a useful part of the Angels’ bullpen during his prior stint with the team, as he recorded a 4.04 ERA with a 26.4 percent strikeout rate and an 8.4 percent walk rate across 180 1/3 innings.
Pena, 31, cleared waivers after a disastrous pair of outings to start his season. The Angels reinstated Pena from the IL on May 6 after he recovered from a hamstring injury, and he proceeded to allow seven earned runs on seven hits and four walks over 1 2/3 frames. Overall, since joining the Angels in 2018, the swingman has given the club 215 2/3 innings of 4.34 ERA ball with a 23.6 percent strikeout rate and a 7.7 percent walk rate.
By Connor Byrne | at
The Angels announced that infielder Franklin Barreto will undergo Tommy John surgery, Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com was among those to report. He’ll miss 10 to 12 months as a result.
This is another disappointing development in the career of Barreto, a 25-year-old who hasn’t lived up to the considerable hype he received as a prospect. Barreto was a key part of the package the Athletics received from the Blue Jays for superstar third baseman Josh Donaldson going into the 2015 season, but he was never able to establish himself in Oakland. While Barreto did appear in the majors with the A’s in each season from 2017-20, he hit just .180/.210/.360 over 219 plate appearances.
Barreto’s time in Oakland came to an end when it traded him to Los Angeles for infielder Tommy La Stella last summer. The Angels were surely hoping Barreto would benefit from a change of scenery, but that hasn’t been the case yet. He totaled 18 PA as an Angel last season and hit .118/.167/.118 before undergoing shoulder surgery, and elbow problems will prevent him from playing at all this year. Considering Barreto is out of minor league options, his Angels future looks rather iffy at this point.
MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com
Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information
hide arrows scroll to top
