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Angels Injury Notes: Rendon, Ward, Upton

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The Angels moved back over the .500 mark with today’s 6-5 walkoff victory over the Orioles, though it may have been a costly win as both Anthony Rendon (left hamstring tightness) and Taylor Ward (right index index finger) made early exits due to potential injuries.  The early word from the team training staff is that neither injury seems particularly serious, manager Joe Maddon told The Los Angeles Times’ Jack Harris and other reporters.  Rendon and Ward are both questionable for Monday’s game with the Red Sox, but any absence “should not be something elongated. That’s the original diagnosis I’ve been given,” Maddon said.

Rendon has already missed a little over three weeks due to two separate IL stints earlier this season, and also been bothered by a triceps strain.  It’s safe to assume these issues have been a factor in Rendon’s underwhelming .240/.329/.382 slash line, though the third baseman has been heating up over the last week.  Rendon’s hamstring problem forced him out of the game in the sixth inning, Maddon said, after Rendon attempted to field an infield single from Baltimore’s Austin Hays.

Ward suffered a jammed finger while diving back to a base, according to Maddon.  The Angels’ outfield injuries have results in quite a bit of playing time for Ward this season, who has embraced the opportunity by hitting a solid .247/.333/.437 (113 wRC+) with seven homers over 199 PA.  The 27-year-old was originally called up from Triple-A on May 5 as part of a series of roster moves that included Rendon’s second IL placement.

The team can hardly afford to be short any more position players, as Justin Upton’s sore back will keep him on the injured list beyond the 10-day minimum.  Upton was eligible to be activated today, though Maddon said before the game (to The Orange County Register’s Jeff Fletcher and other reporters) that Upton is “still not quite ready….So we’re just gonna have to make sure that he gets all the proper work in before he gets out there. We need to get him out there, do some defensive work running a little bit, etc.”  The Halos manager doesn’t think Upton’s absence will last through the week and into the All-Star break, as Maddon believes Upton could be ready to play “any day now.”

Angels Option Griffin Canning, Designate Scott Schebler

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The Angels announced they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Andrew Wantz. Somewhat surprisingly, starter Griffin Canning was optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake in a corresponding move. Outfielder Scott Schebler has been designated for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot.

Canning is headed to the minors for the first time since his contract was selected back in April 2019. He’s been a rotation mainstay over the past few seasons, starting 41 of his 43 MLB appearances. He offered league average production from 2019-20 but has struggled this season. Over 62 2/3 innings, Canning has worked to a 5.60 ERA/4.62 SIERA with slightly worse than average strikeout and walk rates (22.4% and 10.1%, respectively).

Of course, there’s no indication Canning’s absence is expected to be particularly lengthy. He got the ball in last night’s start against the Orioles. The Angels, who have a six-man rotation, have an off day after their next five games. With the All-Star Break the following week, the Angels could simply skip Canning’s spot in the rotation during their final turn before the Break. Los Angeles has another off day after five games coming out of the Break, so they needn’t turn to a sixth starter again until July 27.

Optioning Canning could allow the Angels to give him a brief mental reset while also keeping tabs on his innings total. This year, he’s already exceeded the 56 1/3 frames he worked during last year’s shortened campaign, and the righty’s 2019 season was cut short at 90 1/3 innings by elbow inflammation that persisted into 2020. The organization surely wants to be cautious not to overwork a player they expect to be a key starter over the next few seasons.

There doesn’t seem to be a huge benefit for the Angels from a service time perspective by optioning Canning. The 25-year-old won’t accrue major league service while he’s on optional assignment, of course, but he’s already long exceeded his second full year of service this season. Unless they’re planning on leaving him in Triple-A for the rest of this season and much of the first half of 2022- an extremely improbable outcome- Canning’s path to free agency after 2025 will be unaffected.

A lengthy optional assignment could jeopardize his ability to qualify for early arbitration as a Super Two player after this year. That’d likely require the Angels to keep him down for over a month, though, and he doesn’t have the gaudy counting stats (wins and strikeouts) that suggest he’d be particularly likely to break the bank in arbitration regardless. In all likelihood, the optional assignment was more motivated by a desire to open an additional roster spot and keep Canning’s innings in check than it was an extended effort to skirt his potential Super Two eligibility, especially with the 40-41 Angels still on the periphery of the playoff race.

Wantz will take Canning’s place on the pitching staff for now. A seventh-round pick in 2018 out of UNC-Greensboro, he’s earned his first big league opportunity with a strong season at Salt Lake. Through 25 2/3 innings in an offense-friendly environment, Wantz has worked to a 2.10 ERA with better than average strikeout and walk numbers (25.0% and 6.0%, respectively). The 25-year-old has never appeared on an Angels farm system ranking at FanGraphs or Baseball America. He’s clearly elevated his stock in 2021, though, and would’ve been eligible for the Rule 5 draft this winter if not added to the 40-man roster before then.

It’s the second time this season the Angels have designated Schebler, who cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment last time around. The 30-year-old hasn’t produced in limited big league time this year but he’s hit a solid .281/.355/.523 over 172 plate appearances with Salt Lake. The Angels will have a week to trade Schebler or again place him on waivers.

Angels Move Dylan Bundy To Bullpen

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The Angels are moving right-hander Dylan Bundy to the bullpen, manager Joe Maddon told reporters (including Sam Blum of the Athletic). Southpaw José Suarez will assume a permanent spot in the starting rotation.

It’s the continuation of what has proven to be a difficult year for Bundy. He seemed to have turned a corner upon being traded from the Orioles to Los Angeles entering 2020, spinning 65 2/3 innings of 3.29 ERA ball during his debut season with the Angels. Things have gone completely south in 2021, though. The 28-year-old has been tagged for a 6.58 ERA in 67 frames this season. Bundy actually got off to a good start with three consecutive quality starts to begin the campaign, but he’s managed just a 7.88 ERA in twelve appearances since, with opposing hitters teeing off for a .297/.360/.568 slash line in that time.

In fairness to Bundy, the underlying numbers suggest he’s pitched a bit better than his bottom line run prevention would suggest. His 21.5% strikeout rate is disappointing, a below-average mark that’s nearly six percentage points below his 27% clip from last season. But it’s not disastrously low, and Bundy’s 10.8% swinging strike rate is serviceable. He’s always been a quality strike-thrower, and that hasn’t gone away either. Bundy’s only walking 7.2% of opponents, right in line with his career pace and better than league-average. Those strikeout and walk numbers contribute to a more respectable 4.30 SIERA.

The biggest issue for Bundy this season, as it was during his time in Baltimore, has been the long ball. He’s allowed a staggering fifteen home runs (2.01 HR/9). Among pitchers with 50-plus innings, only Matt Shoemaker (2.14 HR/9) has coughed up homers at a higher rate. Unsurprisingly, a glance at Bundy’s Statcast page confirms he’s given up plenty of hard contact.

That all makes for an interesting decision for teams this winter. Bundy’s slated to hit free agency for the first time this offseason. Obviously, this isn’t the platform year he’d desired, but his arsenal hasn’t evaporated. His four-seam fastball and slider velocity are actually up a tick relative to last season, as are Bundy’s spin rates. (His spin has dropped over the past month, coinciding with the league’s foreign substance crackdown, but Bundy’s slump predated reports of imminent enforcement of the ban on sticky stuff). The results simply haven’t been there this season, but we’re only a year removed from Bundy finding plenty of success with this level of raw stuff.

The Angels already bumped José Quintana to the bullpen a couple weeks ago, so Bundy’s the second member of the season-opening rotation to move into relief. That mostly reflects Quintana’s and Bundy’s down years, but it’s also a testament to the strong work of their eventual replacements, Patrick Sandoval and Suarez.

Sandoval has a 3.44 ERA/4.00 FIP across seven starts this year. Suarez was knocked around as a starter back in 2019, but he’s earned his way back into the rotation with quality work as a multi-inning reliever this year. The 23-year-old has tossed 27 1/3 innings over nine relief appearances, pitching to a 1.98 ERA with solid strikeout and walk rates (23.9% and 8.3%, respectively).

Angels’ GM Perry Minasian Discusses Team’s Approach To Trade Deadline

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The Angels again find themselves in a difficult position with the trade deadline just more than a month away. At 38-40, Los Angeles sits ten games back of the division-leading Astros. They’re eight back in the AL Wild Card race, with four teams in between them and the Athletics, who currently hold the second Wild Card spot.

Barring a fantastic run in the coming weeks (at least three of which will come without superstar center fielder Mike Trout), the Angels don’t look like a team that’ll be seeking to acquire impending free agents for the stretch run. Even if they wind up out of the market for rentals, general manager Perry Minasian suggested the Angels could acquire players with years of control remaining beyond the 2021 season.

“There’s short-term and long-term [buys], depending on what you’re buying and how much control it has,” Minasian told Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times last weekend. “If you’re looking at shorter-term rentals, then obviously we need to be in a position where we feel like that add is going to really push us. If we’re looking at players with control that can not only help us throughout the rest of this season, going into next year, it’s something we’ll entertain. I’ve been with clubs that you might not necessarily think are buyers, per se, but then a certain player pops up and makes sense for the long-term for that club and they go and buy. So I don’t really categorize it as buyer or seller. I think we’re looking for ways to improve our team, both short-term and long-term.”

Unsurprisingly, Minasian didn’t tip his hand as to how a flexible approach to the deadline could manifest itself. Looking at the Angels financial outlook beyond this season, though, it seems the starting rotation is the area most open to some creative management. Each of Dylan Bundy, Alex Cobb, Andrew Heaney and (current reliever) José Quintana is slated to hit free agency at the end of the year.

If multiple members of that group wind up signing elsewhere, the Angels would have a void to fill over the winter as they retool for 2022. (There’s certainly no thought of rebuilding with Trout, Shohei Ohtani and Anthony Rendon in the fold). If the Angels don’t make much headway in the standings over the next few weeks, it’s possible Minasian and the rest of the front office trade away one or more of the impending free agents while exploring acquisitions of starting pitchers who are under team control in 2022 (and perhaps beyond).

Such an approach would allow the Angels to bolster the roster for future seasons without completely punting on this year, especially with Trout tracking towards a mid-late July return. That kind of balancing act can be tough to strike but isn’t unheard of; the out-of-contention Reds acquired Trevor Bauer just before the 2019 trade deadline with an eye towards 2020, to give one prominent example.

As Minasian was quick to point out, much can change for the Angels during the next month. The front office’s exact course at the deadline will no doubt be shaped by how the team performs in their next 25 games, many of which will come against teams in front of them in the AL postseason picture. The Angels have three more games against the Yankees this week, followed by sets against the Orioles, Red Sox, Mariners (twice), A’s (twice), Twins and Rockies before July 30.

Angels Transfer Mike Trout To 60-Day Injured List

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The Angels are planning to transfer superstar outfielder Mike Trout from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list, manager Joe Maddon told reporters (including Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times and Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register). The move will create 40-man roster space for the previously-reported selection of outfielder Scott Schebler.

There’s no cause for alarm, as Trout’s transfer is largely a procedural move. He’s ruled out for sixty days from the date of his original IL placement- May 18- not from here on out. He’ll be eligible to return on July 17.

Trout is progressing well from a right calf strain, Maddon said today. He’s begun taking swings in the batting cage, and the team expects he’ll embark on a minor league rehab assignment some time around the July 12-15 All-Star Break. When Trout first went down, the prognosis was he’d miss six-to-eight weeks, so it seems he’s on pace to return just after that projected timetable. Before the injury, the game’s top player was off to perhaps the best start of his career. Trout has a .333/.466/.624 line through 146 plate appearances this season.

Angels Select Scott Schebler

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The Angels are expected to select the contract of outfielder Scott Schebler before this evening’s game against the Yankees. Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com was among those to note that Schebler has joined the team in the Bronx. Infielder Kean Wong was optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake, but the Angels will need to make another transaction to clear space for Schebler on the 40-man roster.

Schebler, who signed a minor league deal with the Angels over the winter, briefly appeared on the big league club earlier in the season. He tallied just 27 plate appearances before being outrighted, but he’s done well at Salt Lake. The left-handed hitter has a .281/.355/.523 line with eight home runs across 172 plate appearances with the Bees. Triple-A West, like its predecessor the Pacific Coast League, has played extremely hitter-friendly. Nevertheless, Schebler’s offensive production has been nine percentage points better than the league’s average, by measure of weighted runs created.

Best known for his time with the Reds, Schebler has appeared in the majors in each of the past seven seasons. He was a regular for Cincinnati between 2017-18, popping 47 homers across those two seasons. Schebler’s never been one to draw many walks, though, and he’s better suited for the corner outfield than center. He wound up squeezed out of Cincinnati early in 2019 and has only tallied a cumulative 123 major league plate appearances over the past three years.

The Angels have been without Mike Trout and Dexter Fowler for extended stretches, and Justin Upton recently went on the 10-day injured list with back soreness over the weekend. That’s left Los Angeles rather thin in the outfield. General manager Perry Minasian told reporters (including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register) over the weekend that Trout hasn’t begun running or any sort of baseball activity. Trout, who’s been out since May 18, could be a candidate for a transfer to the 60-day IL, if the Angels don’t expect him to return to big league action before the July 12-15 All-Star Break.

Angels Place Justin Upton On 10-Day Injured List, Recall Kean Wong

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The Angels placed outfielder Justin Upton on the 10-day injured list today, per Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group (via Twitter). Upton’s been suffering from a sore back. To claim Upton’s roster spot, Kean Wong was recalled from Triple-A.

The Angels felt the sting of Upton’s absence today via some defensive miscues in the outfield as some players were forced to play out of position, notes Fletcher. Upton isn’t necessarily renowned as a defensive maven in left field, but he at least has plenty of experience playing the position. Taylor Ward was tasked with manning left field today, and in a classic Maddonian bit of maneuvering, starting pitcher Griffin Canning took on the defensive challenge late in Wednesday’s contest.

Beyond the defensive question, Upton’s bat will certainly be missed — he’s been on fire in June. Upton has a 199 wRC+ with a .338/.463/.531 slash line in 80 plate appearances this month. The hot streak has largely coincided with Upton taking over the leadoff spot in manager Joe Maddon’s lineup. Luis Rengifo has been given a few opportunities in that spot since Upton went down, while Shohei Ohtani took on the challenge in tonight’s game.

It doesn’t help that the Angels are already without outfielders Mike Trout and Dexter Fowler. In Trout’s case, there’s still no timetable for this return, per Fletcher. He has yet to resume any kind of baseball activities, suggesting the Angels will need to find a way to forge ahead without him for the time being.

Wong, 26, has hit .184/.205/.289 in 42 plate appearances with the Angels this season. He’s been significantly better in Triple-A, where he owns a .350/.388/.525 line in 85 trips to the plate.

Angels’ Jose Quintana Moved To Bullpen

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JUNE 22: Quintana will indeed work out of the bullpen, manager Joe Maddon tells reporters (including J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group).

JUNE 21: Left-hander Jose Quintana is back on the Angels’ active roster after being reinstated off the 10-day injured list.  Another roster moves seems to be coming for the team, as the Halos also announced that right-handers Jaime Barria and Chris Rodriguez were optioned to the minors (Barria to Triple-A and Rodriguez to Double-A) after yesterday’s game.

Quintana hit the IL on May 31 due to shoulder inflammation, continuing a tough beginning to his tenure in Anaheim.  Quintana had a 7.22 ERA over his first 33 2/3 innings of the season, though his SIERA is only 4.48 — a very low 58.6% strand rate and a whopping .400 BABIP have contributed to Quintana’s lack of bottom-line success.  On the plus side, the southpaw has a career-best 30.1% strikeout rate.

The Angels signed Quintana to a one-year, $8MM contract in free agency last winter with the expectation that the veteran would at least bring some durability and innings-eating ability to the pitching staff, yet Quintana’s return to the 26-man roster might not necessarily auger a return to the rotation.  The Halos are already working with a six-man staff, and Patrick Sandoval has pitched well as Quintana’s fill-in.  While youngster Griffin Canning has been inconsistent and Dylan Bundy has been rocked over his recent starts, it doesn’t seem like either would be displaced for Quintana, so the veteran lefty might find himself in the bullpen.

A long-relief or swingman role would allow the Angels to keep Quintana relatively stretched out for a return to the rotation if necessary, and a stint in the pen could help Quintana get on track.  Los Angeles can use all the bullpen help it can get, as the Halos relief corps ranks in the bottom third of the league in most pitching categories.

Angels Sign Brian Johnson

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Left-hander Brian Johnson, who had been pitching for the Milwaukee Milkmen of the independent American Association, has signed a minor league pact with the Angels, per an announcement from the Milkmen (Twitter link).

Johnson, now 30 years old, was the No. 31 overall draft pick by the Red Sox back in 2012 and rated as one of the organization’s top pitching prospects over the next six years. The lefty dealt with shoulder, hip and elbow injuries throughout his time with the Sox, however, which combined to limit his effectiveness. He was a serviceable option with the Red Sox from 2017-18 before struggling in 2019 and ultimately going unclaimed on waivers. Boston released him in 2020, after the left-hander pitched to a 4.74 ERA in parts of four seasons at the MLB level (171 innings).

Johnson made just two appearance for the Milkmen this season, during which time he hurled five shutout innings with seven hits, no walks and eight strikeouts. He’ll presumably head to the Angels’ Salt Lake affiliate in Triple-A — a level at which he’s pitched to a 3.21 ERA with a 20.2 percent strikeout rate and a 9.0 percent walk rate over the life of 278 innings.

The Angels have had far better health in the organization in 2021 than they have in recent years. Reliever Luke Bard is currently the only pitcher on the Major League injured list for the Halos, but many of their veteran arms have struggled. Jose Quintana (7.22) and Dylan Bundy (6.68) have career-worst ERA marks, while Griffin Canning (5.07), Andrew Heaney (4.45) and Alex Cobb (4.41) have more passable but still-underwhelming results. Cobb, in particular, has had some poor luck in terms of balls in play and stranding runners, though his 21.2 K-BB% and 60.6 percent grounder rate are both excellent.

Johnson adds yet another experienced left-handed arm to an Angels organization that is deep in southpaw options. In addition to Quintana and Heaney, the club currently has Patrick Sandoval, Tony Watson, Alex Claudio and Jose Suarez on the MLB roster. Dillon Peters and Jose Quijada are both on the 40-man roster but currently in Triple-A, while Thomas Pannone and Packy Naughton give the Halos another pair of non-roster options down in Salt Lake.

Latest On Mike Trout’s Calf Injury

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One month to the day after Mike Trout suffered a right calf strain, his injury rehab is “going good, I feel great,” the star outfielder said as part of an in-game interview during tonight’s Tigers/Angels game (hat tip to Brent Maguire).  Trout is looking to “hopefully start some baseball activity in the next few days and go from there,” though he stressed that he is waiting to get the green light from doctors before going ahead with any sort of running drills.

Trout’s injury carried a rough timeline of 6-8 weeks, so if Trout is indeed almost on the verge of starting baseball activities after a month, that is a good sign that he might be back on the low end of that estimated absence.

Obviously the sooner Trout is able to return the better for the Angels, who took a 33-35 record into tonight’s contest with Detroit.  A recent six-game winning streak gave the Halos a winning record for the first time since May 1, though three consecutive losses has brought them back under the .500 mark.  Nine games back of the division lead and seven games back of the second AL wild card spot, Anaheim needs to make up at least some of that ground by the time Trout returns to have any chance at the postseason.  If not, the Angels could be deadline sellers and staring at their seven consecutive season without any playoff baseball.

2021 was on pace to be perhaps Trout’s best season yet, considering that his 194 wRC+/OPS+ at the time of his injury represented a new career best.  (In baseball history, the list of players with full seasons better than 194 wRC+ is not a long one.)  Trout was hitting .333/.466/.624 with eight home runs over his first 146 plate appearances, and it’s fair to guess that the Angels would be a bigger factor in the AL West race if he had been healthy over the last month, though the Halos have been a respectable 15-13 since Trout hit the injured list.

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