There is some uncertainty within the trade market for starting pitching, as contenders could wait until closer to the July 31st deadline to make a move for an arm just in case new trade candidates become available, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes. Some executives and scouts who spoke to Sherman at the Futures Game cited such names as the Cardinals’ Carlos Martinez, and the Angels’ Tyler Skaggs and Andrew Heaney as potential hurlers that could join the market in the next week or two. We’ve already heard of the Yankees’ potential interest in Skaggs and Heaney, and Martinez’s ability and years of control (potentially through 2023 via club options on his five-year, $51MM contract) would make him the most sought-after pitcher available if the Cards did indeed shop him. Dealing a long-term piece like Martinez, however, would be an awfully bold move for a St. Louis club that would seem to still have designs on competing in 2019, and may not have yet thrown in the towel on getting back into this year’s playoff race. The Cardinals are certainly a team to closely monitor to see if a turn-around is possible under their new manager, or, if they are deadline sellers, just how big a selloff could be in the offing.
Angels Rumors
Morosi: Angels, Yankees Could Be Trade Partners
The Angels, one game over .500 and 10 out of a playoff spot, could elect to sell at the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. If that happens, they may have logical trade partners in the Yankees, Jon Morosi of MLB.com observes. The Yankees have been scouting the Angels, per Morosi, who writes that New York “would have interest” in left-handers Tyler Skaggs and Andrew Heaney if were they to become available. Further, there are likely Yankees prospects who would pique the Angels’ interest, given that Halos general manager Billy Eppler had a prominent role in the Bombers’ front office not long ago.
Angels To Sign Junichi Tazawa
The Angels have agreed to a minor-league deal with reliever Junichi Tazawa, according to Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). He’s set to work out at extended spring camp rather than immediately joining an affiliate.
Perhaps the Halos have some ideas for getting Tazawa back on track. He was once quite a useful reliever, though it has been a while since that could be said.
The 32-year-old limped through a stint with the Marlins, compiling 75 1/3 innings of 6.57 ERA ball before he was cut loose earlier this year. He ended up joining the Tigers on a minors pact but only made seven appearances at Triple-A before he was again released.
Angels Place Albert Pujols On 10-Day DL
The Angels announced today that first baseman/DH Albert Pujols will head to the 10-day disabled list with left knee inflammation. Outfielder Michael Hermosillo was sent out on optional assignment, with infielder Jose Fernandez and outfielder Jabari Blash coming up to the MLB roster.
Odds are that Pujols is just getting a little extra rest. Unless and until there’s any indication to the contrary, it seems fair to assume that the team is simply taking advantage of having an away series against a National League opponent followed by the All-Star break.
Certainly, there were no evident ill effects last night, when Pujols drove two balls out of the yard. He has been more useful with the bat this year than last, with a .251/.291/.432 slash line in 368 plate appearances, but the once-great hitter is still not showing signs of delivering anything approaching production commensurate with his massive contract.
Garrett Richards To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
Angels right-hander Garrett Richards has opted to undergo Tommy John surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, tweets J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group. The news comes on the heels of a recent announcement from the Angels in which they revealed that an MRI had identified some damage to Richards’ right UCL. He was presented with both surgical and non-surgical treatment plans and had been weighing the decision over the past 24 hours.
Richards’ UCL tear comes at the worst possible time for the right-hander (not that there’s ever a “good” one), as he’d been slated to hit free agency at season’s end. The 30-year-old had previously rehabbed some UCL damage without surgery back in 2016, opting instead for stem-cell and platelet-rich plasma treatment (much in the same vein as Ervin Santana and Masahiro Tanaka, each of whom has avoided going under the knife entirely, to date). While that appeared to stave off a significant enough UCL tear to require surgical repair, though, Richards missed nearly all of the 2017 season with a biceps issue.
The 2018 season had been a largely healthy one for Richards, at least in terms of his right arm. He missed about three weeks due to a hamstring strain but had otherwise pitched well. However, in his just his second start back from that hamstring issue, he departed after three innings due to ever-ominous “forearm irritation” — a symptom that has increasingly proven to be a precursor to ligament damage.
Richards, now, will miss the remainder of the 2018 season and most, if not all of the 2019 season as well. He’ll still garner interest on the free-agent market, of course, but what at one point might’ve been an annual salary of $12MM+ on a multi-year deal may now drop to something along the lines of the two-year deals signed by Drew Smyly ($10MM), Michael Pineda ($10MM) and Nathan Eovaldi ($4MM) while each of those respective hurlers recovers from his own Tommy John procedure.
Alternatively, Richards could simply follow the route that both Greg Holland and Trevor Rosenthal have taken — opting not to sign a deal at all in the coming offseason and then auditioning for teams to demonstrate his health the following offseason. Either way, it’s quite possible that Richards has tossed his final game as a member of the Angels.
Devastating as the news must be to Richards, Hoornstra notes that the right-hander is approaching his latest injury with about as positive an outlook as possible (Twitter link).
“I’ll be back,” Richards said.“I’ll be ready. Everything will be fine. I’ll get through this. I’m going to be positive about this. I’m not going to dwell on the negative stuff. This is what was presented to me, and this is what I’ve got to deal with. Just try and tackle it.”
For the Angels, the move comes as a crushing blow. With just three weeks remaining until the non-waiver deadline, the loss of Richards will only further the seemingly inevitable reality that the team will need to look beyond the 2018 season and sell off short-term assets on the trade market this year. However, Richards was the top short-term asset the Angels had to market to other clubs, and he’ll now be taken off the market entirely, thus depriving the the team of the possibility of recouping any kind of prospect return for the loss of one of their longtime top starters.
Beyond all of that, the Angels will continue to face scrutiny for the rampant injury troubles that have permeated their rotation in recent seasons. In the last three years alone, the Angels have had Richards, Andrew Heaney, Tyler Skaggs, Nick Tropeano, J.C. Ramirez, Keynan Middleton, Blake Wood and John Lamb undergo Tommy John surgery, and that already plentiful list doesn’t include the current UCL tear through which Shohei Ohtani is playing (while serving only as a designated hitter). Meanwhile, others such as Alex Meyer, Nate Smith and Matt Shoemaker have gone under the knife for myriad other reasons.
Certainly not all of those injuries can be pinned on the Angels. Meyer’s shoulder troubles, for example, date back to his days with the Twins, while Lamb has had injuries of his own and was only briefly in the organization before requiring surgery. Ohtani was known to have some UCL damage at the time he was signed, though reports following the Angels’ recent announcement suggested this to be a new tear. Regardless, the barrage of pitching injuries the Angels have faced in recent years is undoubtedly something that’ll prompt a deep dive from the front office as it seeks to determine if there’s more than sheer coincidence and misfortune at play.
Garrett Richards’ MRI Reveals UCL Damage In Right Elbow
The Angels announced tonight that an MRI performed on right-hander Garrett Richards has revealed damage to the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. Unlike the case of Shohei Ohtani, the Angels added that Richards has already been presented with “both conservative care and surgical options to treat the injury.” Richards, it seems, is mulling those options. The Angels added that they’ll provide an update on his treatment plan “when appropriate.”
Richards, 30, exited last night’s start after three innings due to what was initially termed forearm irritation, though forearm issues are often a precursor to ligament damage in the elbow. He’s been in a similar spot in the past, having been diagnosed with a partial tear of the UCL in his right elbow back in 2016. At the time, however, he opted for stem-cell and platelet-rich plasma injections in addition to a long period of rest and rehab as a means of avoiding Tommy John surgery.
That proved effective in sparing him from Tommy John, but the rest and rehab program cost him most of the 2016 season. In 2017, he was sidelined by a biceps injury for most of the year and limited to 27 2/3 innings.
The extent of the damage to Richards’ elbow ligament wasn’t specified by the Angels’ announcement, but it’s of note that the club announced that Ohtani had a Grade 2 UCL strain, and GM Billy Eppler has persistently said that surgery has not been recommended by medical professionals. That the Angels immediately announced surgery to be an option for Richards, then, doesn’t paint an optimistic picture moving forward.
Regardless of whether he opts for surgery, this type of injury calls into question his availability for the remainder of the season at a time when the Angels can ill afford to lose one of their best arms. The Halos are 14 games out of first place in the AL West and 10 games behind the Mariners for a Wild Card spot after topping the M’s last night (despite Richards’ abbreviated start and injury). The loss of Richards makes it all the more improbable that the Halos will be able to surmount that deficit.
Furthermore, with Richards’ status as an impending free agent, he’d have been a logical and highly attractive trade chip had the Angels eventually decided to sell off pieces. The Halos won’t be fielding offers on Mike Trout anytime soon, so Richards would’ve been arguably their most appealing commodity to shop around to other teams. He’s pitched to a 3.66 ERA with 10.3 K/9, 4.0 BB/9, 1.3 HR/9 and a 49.3 percent ground-ball rate so far in 2018. That’s a moot point at this juncture, however, as the injury all but eliminates the possibility of him factoring into the trade market.
And from a personal standpoint, the injury to Richards is devastating for his future earning potential. While his lengthy injury history would’ve no doubt given teams pause on the open market even if he’d pitched a healthy season in 2018, a UCL injury at this stage of his career will torpedo perhaps his best chance at a sizable multi-year deal. It’s true that some pitchers — Drew Smyly (Cubs) and Michael Pineda (Twins), for instance — have landed multi-year deals while recovering from Tommy John surgery, but those $10MM guarantees, which could be a best-case scenario, pale in comparison to what a healthier Richards would have earned in free agency.
Beyond all of that, the Angels will continue to face scrutiny for the rampant injury troubles that have permeated their rotation in recent seasons. In the last three years alone, the Angels have had Andrew Heaney, Tyler Skaggs, Nick Tropeano, J.C. Ramirez, Keynan Middleton, Blake Wood and John Lamb undergo Tommy John surgery, while others such as Alex Meyer, Nate Smith and Matt Shoemaker have gone under the knife for various other reasons.
Certainly not all of those injuries can be pinned on the Angels. Meyer’s shoulder troubles, for example, date back to his days with the Twins, while Lamb has had injuries of his own and was only briefly in the organization before requiring surgery. But the barrage of pitching injuries the Angels have faced in recent years if undoubtedly something that’ll prompt a deep dive from the front office as it seeks to determine if there’s something more than sheer coincidence and misfortune at play.
Garrett Richards To Undergo MRI For Forearm Injury
The Angels announced tonight that right-hander Garrett Richards exited tonight’s start due to irritation in his right forearm. He’ll undergo an MRI tomorrow to further evaluate the injury.
It’s the latest in a seemingly ceaseless line of injuries to an Angels pitching staff that has struggled to stay healthy over the past several seasons. Richards himself only recently returned from a hamstring injury and was making just his second start since being reinstated from the disabled list.
Any serious injury to Richards would be impactful to the Angels on multiple levels. First and foremost, he’s among the team’s most talented options in the rotation and is in the midst of a solid season, having pitched to a 3.68 ERA with 10.3 K/9, 3.9 BB/9, 1.3 HR/9 and a 49.3 percent ground-ball rate through 76 1/3 innings.
Beyond that, the Angels are buried 14.5 games back in the American League West and are a similarly daunting 11 games back from an American League Wild Card spot (though they’re poised to move up a game in those standings with a late lead over Seattle at present). If the team can’t put together a significant winning streak in the coming weeks, GM Billy Eppler and his lieutenants may very well be forced to sell off some short-term assets and begin looking toward 2019. Richards would be among the team’s best trade chips with the deadline looming, but this latest injury calls even that possibility into question.
Could Garrett Richards Become Trade Chip?
- Teams looking for rotation help on the trade market will have a close eye on the upcoming Mariners/Angels series, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post. If Halos already trail the Astros by 14 games in the AL West and trail Seattle by 11 games in the AL Wild Card race. If the Mariners can widen that gap further, the Angels may have little choice but to turn an eye toward 2019, which would likely result in Garrett Richards being made available in trades. Sherman notes that Angels GM Billy Eppler told him just last week that his focus remained on reaching the postseason, but Sherman also writes that “those who know Eppler believe he will be pragmatic” if things don’t change quickly. The Yankees, Brewers, Braves, Cubs, Phillies and Mariners are among the teams looking for rotation upgrades, per Sherman.
Poll: Worst Use Of A Roster Spot
In today’s game of baseball, the 25th spot on each team’s active roster is arguably more valuable than it’s ever been. Managers are turning to their bullpens sooner than ever before, platoon situations have become commonplace, and defensive replacements and pinch runners remain a vital part of strategy late in close games. Most teams manipulate their rosters with painstaking attention to detail in order to maximize the balance of value and efficiency that each spot on the active roster yields.
That’s why dead weight on a roster can be damaging to a team in many ways. In essence, three major league clubs have committed to operating with 24 active roster spots so far during the 2018 season. Those teams are the Tigers, Red Sox and Angels, and their commitment to players who aren’t providing value (and aren’t likely to provide any this season) have not only cost them wins, but also but a strain on their teammates. Let’s explore these situations in depth…
Victor Reyes, Tigers- The number one overall pick in this past offseason’s Rule 5 Draft, Reyes must remain on Detroit’s active roster for the entire 2018 season or be offered back to the Diamondbacks. Prior to the season, he’d never played about Double-A, and ranked as the Tigers’ #25 overall prospect according to Baseball America. The biggest knocks on his game have always been his lack of power and his tendency to swing at bad pitches, which are fair concerns but fairly easy to stomach considering his speed, corner outfield defense and great contact skills.
That said, it’s painfully clear to everyone in baseball that Reyes doesn’t belong in the majors even a little bit, at least not right now. On the year, he’s hit just .241 with a nightmarish .547 OPS. Sure, it’s commonplace for Rule 5 draftees to struggle in the majors. But the difference here is that the Tigers are barely even giving Reyes a chance to work his issues out. While the young outfielder has appeared in 47 games, 16 of those have solely been as a pinch runner. In fact, Reyes has only been given 68 plate appearances, and he’s simultaneously been an offensive black hole and a defensive liability, according to Fangraphs. Those factors have led to a -0.5 fWAR figure that’s shockingly poor for someone with so little playing time. Speaking of playing time, it’s tough to expect him to develop properly if he’s getting such inconsistent opportunities, and with the way the Tigers are utilizing him it seems almost as though they’re willing to punt this year of his development entirely and wait to option him to the minors next year when the Rule 5 restrictions no longer apply.
The trade-off is that they’ll be able to add an upside contact player to their farm system if they can simply roster him at all times during a year when they’re not trying to win anyway. But even amidst a clear rebuilding phase, that roster spot could be used to give playing time to other young players who can actually be used; some of the talent they have at Triple-A at least deserve a look. Keeping an extra arm in the bullpen could also help prevent injury or exhaustion for a relief corps that’s been forced to shoulder a workload within the top 50th percentile in MLB. Sure, the whole point is that they get to keep Reyes if they hold onto him all year, but there’s a chance he’ll never develop into a useful player anyway. Is it worth the trouble if he hasn’t shown much promise yet?
Blake Swihart, Red Sox- We’ve discussed Swihart at length here on MLBTR, and while the roster around him has changed a bit, the situation has largely remained the same: Swihart’s presence on the roster is negatively impacting Boston’s contention for the AL East crown. The former top prospect’s star has dimmed dramatically since his MLB debut in 2015, and he’s only managed to scrape together enough offensive output to post a .185/.250/.210 batting line. Much like Reyes, Swihart has hardly been given any real playing time; he’s amassed just 88 plate appearances and 110 defensive innings.
Even with top backstop Christian Vazquez’ recent placement on the DL due to a fractured pinky, there’s no indication that Swihart’s benchwarming role with change any time soon. Although he came up through the Sox’ system as a catcher, he’s only appeared behind the plate a grand total of fifteen times in the past two seasons. This puts his team in quite a complicated predicament right now. On the surface, one might think the injury to Vazquez would force them to play Swihart more often. That would finally give the former top prospect one last chance to break through and prove he can stick behind the plate in the majors. However, there’s been no indication to this point that Swihart will actually receive that opportunity. The problem is that if Boston decides to acquire another catcher, they’re openly admitting to other teams that they don’t think Swihart deserves any opportunity to catch in the majors, even as a backup. That wouldn’t be a huge issue in a vacuum, but the Red Sox have been trying to trade Swihart in order to reap some value out of him, and giving up assets to acquire a backup catcher could theoretically expose their selling points on Swihart as pure bluff.
Regardless all the speculation and theory in the above paragraphs, it’s remarkably clear that Swihart is in the majors for one reason and one reason only: he’s out of minor-league options, and the Red Sox aren’t likely to sneak him through waivers with so many teams in full teardown mode. So they must either think that Swihart still retains some sort of high-ceiling potential, or that some other team will trade them something of value based on his top prospect pedigree. That might seem like a reasonable way to operate a ballclub at first glance; it’s certainly important to wring value from any place in which it can be found, after all. But problem in this situation is that the Sox are locked in a tight AL East race with the Yankees, and with each passing day he’s putting a drain on their ability to compete. To date, Swihart has been worth half a win below replacement level, and that’s in the meager playing time detailed above. If the club cuts bait later in the season, the choice to retain him for this long could be looked at as a glaring roster management error on the part of the part of Dave Dombrowski and the front office.
Albert Pujols, Angels- It’s no secret that Pujols’ contract is currently one of the worst in baseball, and perhaps among the worst contracts given out in baseball history. To date, he’s been paid about $130MM to provide about 6.4 fWAR to the Angels. That includes a -1.9 fWAR mark in 2017, and (like the other two players in this poll) half a win below replacement so far in 2018. By more traditional statistics, Pujols is hitting just .243/.281/.393 on the season, with a 4.5% walk rate that would be a career low. He’s played 400 rough innings at first base, is rated poorly on the basepaths, and continues to be one of the more shift-prone players in all of baseball.
The difference between Pujols and the other players on this list is that there’s virtually no hope that the former MVP can ever provide value to his team again. He’s 38 years old and has exhibited a steady decline in each of the past four seasons. In his prime, Pujols was not only a power god, but also enjoyed ten consecutive seasons with a walk total that exceeded his strikeouts. And while he still avoids strikeouts at an impressive rate for the current MLB climate, the walks have practically disappeared in recent seasons.
It’s clear that Pujols is only holding onto his roster spot by virtue of his past performance (and the respect he deserves for it), and the amount of money he’s being paid. But is that a wise way for a franchise to operate? The Angels entered the season as a hopeful contender, and while they’re surely disappointed to be sitting at a mere 45-45, they’ve still got at least an outside shot of a Wild Card berth. Holding onto Pujols isn’t going to help them make up the 11.5 games they’d need to over the season’s final two and a half months. There are plenty of better ways the Angels could use his spot on the roster, and even the average first baseman at Triple-A would be a better bet to improve the team.
Each of these players has cost his club half a win across half a season. There’s certainly nothing bad to be said about any of them as people, but for baseball purposes in a vacuum, which one is the worst use of a valuable roster spot on the whole? (Poll link for app users)
Angels Place Tyler Skaggs, Chris Young On 10-Day DL
The Angels have placed lefty Tyler Skaggs and outfielder Chris Young on the 10-day disabled list, per a club announcement. That pair will be replaced by righty Deck McGuire and outfielder Jabari Blash.
In more promising news, right-hander Garrett Richards has been reinstated from his own stint on the DL. He’ll take the active roster spot of utilityman Kaleb Cowart, who was optioned back to Triple-A.
Skaggs has been diagnosed with a strain in his right thigh adductor, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets. His placement is backdated to July 1st. It is not clear at this point what kind of absence the Halos expect for Skaggs, but anything more than a brief respite would represent quite a disappointing turn of events.
It has to this point been a breakthrough campaign for Skaggs, who’s preparing to celebrate his 27th birthday later this month. In 92 innings, he owns a 2.64 ERA with 9.8 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9. Unfortunately, health remains a major limiting factor for the talented hurler.
As for Young, he hasn’t been productive at all since joining the Angels on a one-year deal. But he has outperformed Kole Calhoun, who’ll now presumably be spelled against lefties by Blash.
Things had finally seemed to be clicking for the Angels earlier this year. But an ongoing run of injuries has contributed to a slide back to the .500 mark — good only for fourth place in a competitive AL West division.
