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Angels Acquire Max Stassi

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The Angels have agreed to a swap with the Astros to acquire backstop Max Stassi, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter). Stassi, 28, was pushed out of the picture in Houston when the club acquired backstop Martin Maldonado.

Outfielders Rainier Rivas and Raider Uceta are going to Houston in return, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter).

With Maldonado rejoining the fray in Houston, the 28-year-old Stassi was evidently made expendable. He’d already been struggling to justify his spot on the active roster, with an abysmal .446 OPS in 98 plate appearances for this year’s Astros. That said, Stassi has made his living not as a formidable offensive player, but for his value behind the plate. Per Statcast, he’s posted top-of-the-line framing numbers behind the plate, one of the most sought-after skills in a catcher. DRS credits him as saving 9 runs last season and 2 runs this year. For his career, he’s caught 24% of would-be base-stealers—not a great mark, but passable considering his framing skills.

In Anaheim, he’ll replace Dustin Garneau, who was designated for assignment earlier Wednesday. The Angels’ everyday catcher, Jonathan Lucroy, is slated to make his return from the injured list. Kevan Smith, who has enjoyed a solid offensive season by backup catcher standards, is also on the active roster, though he lags behind Stassi as a defensive catcher. Both Smith and Stassi are out of options, so it appears that the Halos will move forward with three catchers on the 25-man roster, at least for the time being.

In Rivas and Uceta, the Astros will in turn receive two teenage outfielders from the depths of the Los Angeles minor-league ranks. MLB Pipeline doesn’t view either as one of the Halos’ top 30 prospects, though at just 18 years old, these are far from finished products. Both Rivas and Uceta are playing in the Arizona League with the Angels’ rookie-ball affiliate. Uceta has posted a .278/.341/.373 batting line in 138 plate appearances at the level, while Rivas has batted .400/.512/.543 in 86 PA.

Angels Reinstate Jonathan Lucroy, Designate Dustin Garneau

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The Angels have reinstated catcher Jonathan Lucroy from the injured list and designated fellow backstop Dustin Garneau for assignment, the team announced.

Lucroy’s back after an awful July 7 collision at home plate with Astros outfielder Jake Marisnick sent him to the shelf. Lucroy suffered a concussion and a broken nose that day. He later had to undergo surgery on his nasal fracture. Before the injury, the 33-year-old former star hit an underwhelming .237/.307/.364 with seven home runs in 264 plate appearances. Lucroy’s once-pristine defense also continued to trend downward.

Garneau, whom the Angels already designated once this year before Wednesday, has performed respectably at the plate this season. The 31-year-old owns a .232/.346/.362 line with a pair of homers in 82 trips to the plate. If Garneau doesn’t end up with another team in the next week, he’ll be able to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency should he choose. For now, he’ll go into DFA limbo as the Angels opt for a Lucroy-Kevan Smith setup at catcher.

Angels Designate Adam McCreery For Assignment

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The Angels announced that they’ve designated left-hander Adam McCreery for assignment in order to open a roster spot for righty JC Ramirez, who has been activated from the 60-day injure list after missing more than a year due to Tommy John surgery.

McCreery, 26, didn’t pitch for the Angels at the MLB level after the Halos acquired him from the Dodgers in exchange for cash earlier this month. In fact, he made only two appearances with the Angels’ Triple-A club prior to today’s announcement, allowing a run on two hits and two walks with four strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. McCreery has a spotty track record in the upper minors thanks to control issues, but he’s also averaged nearly 12 strikeouts per nine innings pitched throughout his minor league career.

Ramirez, 31 next month, came out of nowhere to give the Angels 24 starts and 147 1/3 innings of 4.15 ERA ball after bouncing all over the league prior to landing in Anaheim. He’ll be utilized out of the bullpen in his return to the MLB roster, but he’s eligible for arbitration in the winter and will likely reemerge as a rotation candidate for the Angels in 2019.

 

Cardinals Claim Adalberto Mejia

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The Cardinals announced that they’ve claimed left-hander Adalberto Mejia off waivers from the Angels. Infielder Jedd Gyorko was moved from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL in a corresponding 40-man roster move. St. Louis also announced the previously reported demotion of Harrison Bader and promotion of fellow outfielder Lane Thomas.

Mejia, 26, was only with the Halos briefly. He appeared in four games there, allowing a run on four hits with a 6-to-1 K/BB ratio before being designated for assignment a second time this season. The former top 100 prospect had been with the Twins since Minnesota acquired him in the 2016 deal that sent Eduardo Nunez to San Francisco, but he was ultimately cut loose after significant struggles both with injuries and performance.

A former starter, Mejia shifted to a bullpen role on a full-time basis this season but has been tagged for 17 runs on 20 hits and 13 walks with 21 strikeouts in 19 2/3 innings of work. Mejia has a solid track record in Triple-A but can’t be sent there to continue sorting things out, as he’s out of minor league options. He’ll take a spot in the Cardinals’ bullpen for now, but depending on what moves St. Louis is able to make between now and tomorrow afternoon’s trade deadline, his stay with the Cards could prove even more abbreviated than his time with the Angels.

Brian Goodwin Garnering Interest

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Angels outfielder Brian Goodwin is drawing interest from teams seeking corner depth in the grass, Buster Olney of ESPN tweets. As a 55-52 team with a glimmer of a playoff chance, it’s unclear how open the Angels are to moving the 28-year-old.

He wouldn’t net a significant return in a trade, but Goodwin has been an effective buy-low pickup for the Angels. With left fielder Justin Upton battling a serious toe injury that ultimately kept him out until mid-June, the Angels claimed Goodwin off release waivers from the Royals immediately before the season began. At that point, Goodwin was coming off a run of playable offensive production divided between Washington and Kansas City. The lefty-swinging Goodwin posted a league-average wRC+ (100) from 2017-18, a 458-plate appearance span in which he slashed .246/.315/.456 with 19 home runs and 10 stolen bases.

The Angels likely would have been content with similar production this year from Goodwin, but they’ve instead received markedly better work. While it has been a hot-and-cold type of season for Goodwin – who has had two excellent months (April, July) and two subpar ones (May, June) – he has managed to put together a .287/.343/.480 line (117 wRC+) with 29 extra-base hits (18 doubles, nine homers, two triples) and three steals over 281 trips to the plate. A .360 batting average on balls in play has propped up Goodwin’s output, to be sure, and the gap between his weighted on-base average (.347) and expected wOBA (.319) also suggests good fortune has played a role in his success.

What Goodwin has done as an Angel may be smoke and mirrors to some extent, but no interested team would expect to be acquiring any kind of outfield savior. The fact that Goodwin’s a useful major league hitter, a fast runner and someone who can play all three outfield spots – albeit not especially well, according to advanced metrics – makes him an appealing piece. Plus, he’s earning close to the league minimum this season and still has another three years of arbitration eligibility remaining. The Angels may decide to keep Goodwin for those reasons, not to mention they could lose right fielder Kole Calhoun in the offseason if they decline his $14MM club option in favor of a $1MM buyout.

Angels Select Jose Rodriguez

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The Angels have selected the contract of righty Jose Rodriguez among a series of roster moves, the team reports.

Rodriguez, 23, had posted strikeout rates of 10 or better at both Double and Triple-A this season. He isn’t one of the team’s most well-regarded prospects, with FanGraphs profiling the righty as an “up-and-down” arm, though he seems a mere temporary fill-in for Noe Ramirez, who was placed on the 10-Day IL with a viral infection.

The back-end of the Angels’ pen, anchored by an ascendant Ty Buttrey and resurgent Hansel Robles, has been mostly effective this season, though there’s certainly room for improvement at the front end. The club sits just 4.5 games back in a top-heavy AL Wild Card race, so a systematic patching-up of any and all holes will be at the fore of the club’s deadline plans.

Angels Recall Nick Tropeano, Designate Adalberto Mejia

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The Angels announced that they have recalled righty Nick Tropeano from Triple-A to start tonight’s game. Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times first reported that decision on Twitter.

To create roster space, the club designated southpaw Adalberto Mejia for assignment. Mejia was recently claimed off waivers from the Twins.

The Halos will hope that Mejia clears waivers and can be stashed at Triple-A. He’d be a nice depth piece to have on hand, particularly for an organization that needs both rotation and bullpen options. Mejia had endured a brutal stretch in Minnesota to open the year but gave his new club four good outings (one earned run, 6:1 K/BB in 4 1/3 innings) to open his tenure.

As for Tropeano, this’ll be his latest attempt to reestablish himself in the majors. He was ambushed in two prior MLB starts this year. And things haven’t gone well at Triple-A, either. Through 49 1/3 frames, he’s carrying a 7.66 ERA on 64 base knocks with 10.4 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9.

Angels Looking For Starting Pitching

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The Angels have no hope of making a charge in the AL West and face a tough path to the Wild Card, but the club doesn’t appear to be ready to wave the white flag. To the contrary, the Halos are looking at a wide variety of potentially available starters, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter).

Though they have battled into a plausible contending position, the Angels’ starting pitching situation remains quite problematic. The unfathomable loss of Tyler Skaggs has left an enormous hole in the organization and on the roster. With Andrew Heaney heading to the IL and JC Ramirez turning in messy rehab results, the rotation is full of inexperienced, less-than-ideal options.

Given the long odds of even reaching the postseason, it’s hard to imagine the Halos chasing the top rental arms. But the club does have good cause to consider controllable hurlers that will not only contribute now but help to fill out the rotation in the near future. Last winter’s signings of Matt Harvey and Trevor Cahill have been complete duds — which is always a risk, but especially so when you’re focused on short-term free agents. Repeating that approach probably won’t have a ton of appeal. But the Angels will surely also remain reticent to make a big commitment to a better veteran starter in free agency.

Trade talks make sense, then, particularly now that the L.A. organization has a greater abundance of prospects to work with. Of course, the team will also need to protect those assets as much or more as its future payroll capacity. An anemic talent pipeline has been a big problem in recent campaigns. The team is already enjoying the fruits of a more productive farm and will surely want to exercise caution lest it compromise its future talent base.

It’ll be interesting to see just how aggressively the Angels approach the starting pitching market. The preferred targets of GM Billy Eppler aren’t really clear. Heyman mentions Noah Syndergaard and Trevor Bauer — two of the best hurlers that could be moved this summer — but seemingly only by way of example. The report suggests the Angels have been looking at any and all possible arms. With value a paramount consideration for a team in this particular situation, a broad market exploration makes good sense.

Jonathan Lucroy To Begin Rehab Assignment

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Angels Release Matt Harvey

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July 23: Harvey is now officially a free agent after clearing waivers, the Angels announced.

July 21: The Angels have requested unconditional release waivers on right-handed pitcher Matt Harvey, according to Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. The move comes after Harvey was designated for assignment on Friday.

Thus continues a frustrating season for Harvey, who earned an $11MM contract from the Halos, representing an opportunity to re-establish himself as a viable rotation option after injuries derailed his career. Unfortunately, though, the contract has been a disaster for the playoff-hopeful Angels, who have by all measures received negative value from their one-year investment: Harvey’s ERA has ballooned to 7.09, the worst of his career. Other indicators paint a similar picture: with a 6.36 FIP and a .390 xwOBA, the Angels had little reason to continue trotting Harvey out to the mound every fifth day.

Harvey has seen his fastball velocity take yet another step back this season, continuing a trend that began after his peak in 2013. In 2019, Harvey’s fastball has averaged 93.68 mph per Brooks Baseball, a far cry from the 96.96 mark he posted in his All-Star season. While the former number still comes in slightly above average, the declining velocity mirrors an overall trend in Harvey’s performance, with his strikeout rate declining to a career-worst 14.7%. That, coupled with a walk rate that is likewise trending in the wrong direction, has led to an abysmal 1.34 K:BB ratio.

With his Angels tenure now in the rear-view, it will be intriguing to monitor Harvey’s status in free agency. Given the prodigious success that he enjoyed early in his career, it seems likely that several teams will have interest in taking a flyer on the veteran, especially at a much more affordable price; in light of his recent performance, Harvey may only garner a minor-league deal. Perhaps teams would be interested in converting Harvey to a bullpen role in hopes that his stuff would play up, though it’s unclear if Harvey himself would be open to such a change. The Mets experimented with Harvey as a reliever prior to his departure in 2018, though he only made four appearances, making it hard to draw any conclusions about his viability out of the bullpen.

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