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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Angels Select Wade Meckler, Donovan Walton
The Angels announced that they have selected the contracts of outfielder Wade Meckler and infielder Donovan Walton. They will take the places of outfielder Josh Lowe and infielder Yoán Moncada. Lowe has been optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake while Moncada has been placed on the 10-day injured list with right knee inflammation. The Halos came into the day with one open 40-man spot after outrighting Alek Manoah earlier this week. They opened another by transferring left-hander Yusei Kikuchi to the 60-day IL.
Meckler, 26, spent his entire career with the Giants until recently. The Angels claimed him off waivers in January but then outrighted him a few weeks later. He started this year with Triple-A Salt Lake but struggled in five games, so the Halos sent him down to Double-A Rocket City. He has been mashing for the Trash Pandas, with a .343/.449/.525 line. That is partly due to a .395 batting average on balls in play but his matching walk and strikeout rates of 16% are both very strong figures.
Prior to joining the Angels, Meckler got a very brief major league debut with the Giants in 2023. He hit just .232/.328/.250 in 64 plate appearances. As a prospect, his profile indicated he had a solid floor thanks to his speed and defense. His offense was and is more questionable. He has generally had a good contact approach without a ton of power. He has 1,393 minor league plate appearances in his career with a strong 14.2% walk rate and 16.6% strikeout rate but only 21 home runs in that time.
With Meckler putting up good numbers at the plate lately, the Angels will see if he can translate any of that to the big leagues. At worst, he should be able to run the ball down and steal a few bases, though whether he can produce from the batter’s box will be more of a question. If it doesn’t work out, he does still have an option and can be easily sent back down to the minors.
The Halos have had a primary outfield of Mike Trout, Jo Adell and Lowe this year, with guys like Jorge Soler, Adam Frazier and Jose Siri also chipping in. Trout and Adell should still be in there regularly but the other guys in that cluster could perhaps be competing to take some of the playing time that has opened up with Lowe no longer on the roster.
Walton, 32 next week, has been a part-time major leaguer for quite a while but in fits and starts. He debuted in 2019 and this will technically be his seventh big league season but he has appeared in only 72 games. In his 214 plate appearances, he has a .172/.223/.298 batting line. Though he hasn’t done much with the bat, he has at least provided defensive versatility, with experience at the three infield spots to the left of first base as well as left field.
His offense has been far better in the minors. In 1,647 Triple-A plate appearances in his career, he has a strong .281/.372 /.439 line. That includes a .282/.429/.481 line this year, after signing a minor league deal with the Halos in the offseason. Even in the hitter-friendly context of the Pacific Coast League, that line translates to a 128 wRC+.
Walton gives the Angels another lefty bat for their infield. Righties Vaughn Grissom and Oswald Peraza are currently getting a decent amount of time at second and third base, so Walton could perhaps complement those two, along with lefty Adam Frazier.
Moncada has been scuffling while battling a knee injury this year, putting up a .189/.308/.297 line. A trip to the IL could allow him to reset but it’s also possible he’s facing a longer absence. Surgery on that knee is a possibility, per Francys Romero of BeisbolFR. Time will tell how much time he needs to miss. For now, his absence opens up third base time for the aforementioned cluster of infielders.
As for Lowe, this move isn’t surprising with his current numbers, but it’s quite notable in the larger context. Back in 2023, he hit 20 home runs for the Rays and stole 32 bases. He hit .292/.335/.500 for a wRC+ of 130. FanGraphs credited him with 3.4 wins above replacement that year.
Unfortunately, he’s been on a downward trajectory since then. In 2024, his line dropped to .241/.302/.391, leading to a 98 wRC+. Another drop came in 2025, as he put up a .220/.283/.366 line and 79 wRC+. The Angels took a shot on a bounceback, acquiring Lowe in a three-team trade that sent pitchers Brock Burke and Chris Clark out of town. That move hasn’t panned out for the Halos at all, with Lowe having hit .184/.226/.320 this year. A .220 BABIP isn’t helping but his 4.5% walk rate and 29.1% strikeout rate are both awful figures.
The Angels will try to get him back on track in Salt Lake. Once he spends 20 days in the minor, this will be his final option season and he will be out of options in 2027. Either way, he’s trending towards a non-tender. He has already qualified for arbitration and is making $2.6MM this year.
Kikuchi landed on the 15-day IL in early May with shoulder inflammation. Shortly thereafter, the Halos announced that he would be shut down for three to four weeks before ramping back up again. His 60-day count is retroactive to that initial IL placement, so he’ll technically be eligible for reinstatement in early July. Whether he can get healthy by then remains to be seen.
Prior to the official announcement, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register relayed that Meckler and Walton were in the lineup with Lowe and Moncada not on the lineup card. Moncada then told Jack Janes of The Sporting Tribune that he was going on the injured list.
Angels Notes: Closer, Moncada, Grissom
The Angels continue to operate without a defined closer, manager Kurt Suzuki tells Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. That comes after Kirby Yates blew a save by surrendering a ninth-inning homer to Jeff McNeil on Wednesday. The A’s would go to win that game by plating the free runner against Chase Silseth in the top of the 10th.
Yates was going for his first save of the season. The 39-year-old missed the first six weeks to right knee inflammation. He’d worked scoreless appearances in three of four outings before the ill-timed longball yesterday.
The Halos have been the worst team in the league, so it’s not a surprise that they have the fewest saves in MLB. That said, it’s remarkable that four of their five saves all year were by the since released Jordan Romano within the first two weeks of the season. They have one save in the last six weeks, which went to Ryan Zeferjahn against the White Sox on May 5.
Aside from Yates, Silseth technically has their only other blown save this month. That came in the sixth inning, so it was more accurately a missed opportunity for a hold. The Halos didn’t have a save opportunity tonight, but they went right back to Yates in a situation typically reserved for a team’s closer — to pitch the top of the ninth in a tied game. The righty worked around a Vaughn Grissom error to toss a scoreless inning.
Grissom got the nod at the hot corner for the third consecutive game. The last two have come against right-handed starters Aaron Civale and Luis Severino. That’s not a coincidence, as Suzuki confirmed to Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register that they’re reducing playing time for scuffling third baseman Yoán Moncada.
Re-signed to a $4MM deal over the offseason, Moncada has hit .189/.308/.297 across 130 plate appearances. Although he has avoided the injured list, the 30-year-old confirmed he’s still dealing with discomfort in his right knee related to the injury that cost him five weeks last summer. The switch-hitter said the knee bothers him when he bats from the right side. The Halos have accordingly limited his exposure to left-handed pitching for a second straight year.
Moncada had been productive from the left side of the dish last season, posting an .815 OPS against righties. That’s down to a .225/.330/.360 line with 34 strikeouts in 104 plate appearances this year — more or less leading to an unofficial benching.
“That’s the route that we’re going to go,” Suzuki told Fletcher. “I talked to him and he knows what he has to do. … Right now, this is where we’re at. I’m not saying it’s going to be like this the rest of the year. It might change. It might not.”
The Angels took a flier on the right-handed hitting Grissom in an offseason deal with Boston. A minor sprain of his left wrist sidelined him for a couple weeks to begin the season. Grissom came out on fire when he was activated, hitting .342 with a homer and four doubles in 13 games through the end of April. His bat has gone ice cold since the calendar flipped, and he’s now hitting .226/.308/.355 over 108 plate appearances. The Halos have used an Oswald Peraza/Adam Frazier platoon at second base but could get Peraza more work at the hot corner if Grissom doesn’t pick back up.
Angels Outright Alek Manoah
The Angels announced that right-hander Alek Manoah has been outrighted to Triple-A Salt Lake. There wasn’t any announcement about him being designated for assignment but it appears the Halos quietly put him on waivers and he cleared. The club’s 40-man roster count drops to 39.
Manoah has the right to elect free agency but isn’t likely to do so. A player with at least three years of big league service has the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of the open market but needs five years of service to exercise that right while keeping his salary commitments in place. Manoah’s service count is over four years but less than five. The Angels signed him to a deal worth $1.95MM this offseason. With roughly $1.35MM left to be paid out, it’s fair to expect Manoah will accept his assignment and won’t be walking away from that money.
For the Angels, signing Manoah was a bet on a bounceback. He was a borderline ace earlier in his career. With the Blue Jays in 2022, he posted a 2.24 ERA over 31 starts and finished third in Cy Young voting. But he hasn’t been anywhere close to that level since. He posted a 5.87 ERA in 2023. Shoulder and elbow issues held him back after that and he ultimately required Tommy John surgery. He made five big league starts in 2024 and none in 2025.
He was put on waivers late last year and was claimed by Atlanta, but that club non-tendered him. That sent him to free agency and allowed the Angels to scoop him up, but that hasn’t panned out thus far. He started the season on the IL due to a middle finger contusion. He came off the IL earlier this month and has made three relief appearances. The first two were scoreless but he was torched by the Dodgers in the third, allowing eight earned runs in an inning and a third. He was optioned to the minors a few days ago and is now off the 40-man.
It’s unclear if the Angels want to keep Manoah stretched out or use him out of the bullpen. He made just one rehab appearance before coming off the IL, tossing 4 1/3 innings. Once activated, he started with a single-inning appearance, then tossed five frames in the second outing. That was followed by the aforementioned drubbing from the Dodgers in an inning and a third.
With Yusei Kikuchi on the IL, the rotation currently consists of José Soriano, Reid Detmers, Jack Kochanowicz, Walbert Ureña and Grayson Rodriguez. They have George Klassen, Caden Dana and Sam Aldegheri on the 40-man but currently on optional assignment. If Manoah is used as a starter in Triple-A, he can try to pitch his way into that group.
Photo courtesy of Dan Hamilton, Imagn Images
Gio Urshela Announces Retirement
Infielder Gio Urshela has announced his retirement as a player in a post on his Instagram page. In the post, he thanks the people who contributed to his career, including his family, friends, fans, baseball organizations, coaches, the people of Colombia and more.
Urshela, now 34, was signed by Cleveland back in 2008. An international amateur out of Colombia, he secured a signing bonus of $300K. He quickly developed a reputation as a plus defender at third base while also dabbling at the other infield positions. His bat was a bit more questionable. He didn’t strike out much in the minors but also didn’t draw many walks and it wasn’t clear how much thump he could produce with his contact approach.
He cracked the majors in 2015. His initial big league opportunities matched his profile. He could pick the ball at third and didn’t strike out a lot but also didn’t produce offensively. He was eventually designated for assignment in 2018 and flipped to the Blue Jays in a cash deal. The Jays put him on waivers later that year and the 29 other clubs all declined a chance to claim him. At that time, he had 499 major league plate appearances and a .225/.274/.315 line.
The Jays traded Urshela to the Yankees for cash late in 2018. He began the following season as non-roster depth for Miguel Andujar, who had just finished a solid rookie campaign, finishing second in American League Rookie of the Year voting behind Shohei Ohtani. Early in the 2019 campaign, Andujar suffered a torn labrum in his right shoulder, an injury that would eventually require season-ending surgery. Though that was unfortunate for Andujar, it turned out to be the opportunity for Urshela to break out.
Urshela took over the third base job in the Bronx that year with a big step forward offensively. He hit 21 home runs and slashed .314/.355/.534 for a 132 wRC+. FanGraphs credited him with 3.1 wins above replacement. He may have hit his personal zenith that year with some help from external forces. His .349 batting average on balls in play was well above average. That was also the juiced-ball year, with home run records set all around the league.
Regardless, Urshela still proved to be a viable major league hitter in subsequent seasons. Over the shortened 2020 season and the 2021 campaign, he hit 20 homers in 159 games and slashed .275/.320/.438 for a 108 wRC+. He was credited with 2.4 fWAR for that span.
Going into 2022, Urshela was part of a big trade. He and catcher Gary Sánchez were flipped to the Twins for third baseman Josh Donaldson, infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa and catcher Ben Rortvedt. Urshela had a solid campaign in Minnesota, hitting 13 home runs and putting up a .285/.338/.429 line, translating to a 118 wRC+. FanGraphs put another 2.6 WAR on his ledger that year.
Ahead of the 2023 season, Urshela was traded to the Angels for pitching prospect Alejandro Hidalgo. That was unfortunately just before things started to turn sour for Urshela. He hit a respectable .299/.329/.374 for the Halos but went on the injured list in June due to a pelvic fracture. He didn’t require surgery but he missed the second half of that season and was never really able to get back on track after that.
He became a free agent and signed a $1.5MM deal with the Tigers going into 2024. He got into 92 games for Detroit but hit .243/.286/.333 for a wRC+ of 74. He was designated for assignment and released that August. He latched on with Atlanta and finished on a slightly higher note, slashing .265/.287/.424 in 36 games.
That strong finish was enough to get him a $2.15MM deal with the Athletics for 2025. He hit .238/.287/.326 in 59 games for the A’s before getting designated for assignment and released in August. He returned to the Twins on a minor league deal this past offseason. He hit .192/.250/.231 in spring training and was released at the end of camp.
Urshela finishes his career having played in 851 games with 3,028 plate appearances. He only walked in 5.9% of those but also limited his strikeouts to an 18.3% pace. He collected 759 hits, including 147 doubles, nine triples and 73 home runs. He scored 312 times, drove in 352 runs and stole seven bases. His career slash line finishes at .270/.314/.407. That leads to a subpar 97 wRC+ but is dragged down by his slow start and soft finish. From 2019 to 2022, he hit .290/.336/.463 for a 118 wRC+. Both FanGraphs and Baseball Reference credit him with about eight wins above replacement, mostly from that four-year peak. Baseball Reference pegs his career earnings over $25MM.
We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Urshela on a fine career and wish him the best for his post-playing days.
Photos courtesy of David Butler II, Jesse Johnson, Nick Wosika, Imagn Images
AL West Notes: D’Arnaud, Smith, Clarke
Plantar fasciitis in his right foot sent Travis d’Arnaud to the Angels‘ 10-day injured list on May 7, and it will be some time yet before the catcher is back on the field. D’Arnaud is currently using a scooter to get around, and he told MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger that it will be at least two weeks before he can put any weight on his right foot. Between this recovery time, a ramp-up of baseball activities and a minor league rehab assignment, a mid-June return looks like the absolute best-case scenario for d’Arnaud’s return.
After signing a two-year, $12MM deal with Los Angeles in November 2024, d’Arnaud struggled to a .197/.255/.343 slash line over 231 plate appearances in the first year of the contract. He had a modest .614 OPS over his first 40 PA this season, so between the lack of production and now this extended IL stint, d’Arnaud’s time in Anaheim is looking like a bust for all sides. D’Arnaud’s absence is just one of many issues plaguing the woeful Angels, whose 16-30 record is the worst in the majors.
More from the AL West…
- Josh Smith will spent 7-10 days in hospital being treated for viral meningitis, the Rangers announced in a press release on Friday. As per the release, “the club will determine an appropriate return to play program for Smith once he is able to resume physical activity.” Smith has been on the 10-day injured list since May 4 due to a right glute strain, since he has since been set back by wrist soreness and now this illness. These health concerns add to what has already been a tough year on the field for Smith, as he was hitting only .217/.324/.239 in his first 108 plate appearances.
- Denzel Clarke began a minor league rehab assignment yesterday, with MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos writing that Clarke will play two games at A-level Stockton before likely heading onto the Athletics‘ Triple-A affiliate. Clarke hasn’t played since April 20 due to a bone bruise in his right foot, so it’ll be a full month on the shelf for the outfielders even though he seems to be making good progress. Already one of baseball’s top defensive center fielders in just his second MLB campaign, Clarke’s bat is a long ways behind his glove, as he has hit just .214/.262/.323 over 219 career PA with the Athletics.
Angels Reinstate Grayson Rodriguez From 10-Day Injured List
MAY 17: The Angels officially activated Rodriguez, and optioned right-hander Alek Manoah to Triple-A in the corresponding move.
MAY 16: The Angels announced Grayson Rodriguez as their scheduled starter for Sunday’s game with the Dodgers, meaning that Anaheim will officially activate the right-hander from the 15-day injured list tomorrow. A bout of shoulder inflammation and “dead arm” soreness during Spring Training resulted in Rodriguez opening the season on the IL, and delaying both his 2026 debut and his Angels debut.
Beyond those milestones, tomorrow will also mark Rodriguez’s first appearance in a Major League game since July 31, 2024. Rodriguez had a 3.86 ERA, 26.5% strikeout rate, and 7.3% walk rate over 116 2/3 innings for the Orioles that season (his second MLB campaign) before discomfort in his right lat/teres area brought his year to an early end. He then didn’t pitch a single inning in the majors or minors in 2025 due to a lat strain and multiple instances of elbow soreness, with the final result being an elbow debridement surgery last August.
Injuries notwithstanding, it was still surprising when the Orioles traded Rodriguez to the Angels last November in a one-for-one swap for Taylor Ward. While Ward has been a valuable bat for Baltimore, he is a free agent this winter, whereas Rodriguez is a former top prospect who is controlled through 2029. There’s plenty of upside for the Halos if Rodriguez can get healthy, though it obviously isn’t a great sign that his tenure in Orange County immediately began with an IL stint.
Yusei Kikuchi is still sidelined at least through May due to shoulder inflammation, but with Rodriguez now approaching his return, the Angels’ rotation is a step closer to its first-choice state. Jose Soriano is enjoying a fantastic season, and Rodriguez will join Reid Detmers, Walbert Urena, and Jack Kochanowicz as the rest of the starting five.
The outlook isn’t quite as good for another Angels pitcher attempting to return after a long layoff. According to MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger, Ben Joyce‘s rehab assignment has been slowed due to some discomfort in his surgically-repaired right shoulder. An MRI came back clean, however, so it doesn’t appear as if Joyce is dealing with anything but normal soreness.
“We got a little flare-up….It’s just part of the process after a shoulder surgery,” Joyce said. “Just kind of has ups and downs. But we were pretty positive about the results. Nothing structurally wrong, it’s just working through a little soreness right now.”
It was almost exactly a year ago that Joyce underwent the shoulder procedure that ended his 2025 campaign after five appearances. Joyce began this season on the 15-day IL but will probably be moved to the 60-day IL the next time Los Angeles needs a 40-man roster spot, as he is already approaching 60 days on the sidelines.
Angels Select Jose Siri, Transfer Ben Joyce To 60-Day IL
The Angels are selecting the contract of outfielder Jose Siri, per a team announcement. Reliever Ben Joyce is being transferred to the 60-day injured list to clear space on the 40-man roster. Outfielder Bryce Teodosio has been optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake in a corresponding active roster move.
Siri joined the Halos on a minor league pact in February. He was invited to big league Spring Training but ended up starting the year at Triple-A. That was hardly surprising, as Siri missed most of 2025 with a left tibia fracture and only played in 16 games for the Mets. New York designated Siri for assignment in September, and he later elected minor league free agency rather than accept an outright assignment.
Now back in the Majors, Siri will take the role of Teodosio as a backup outfielder. Jo Adell has a hold on the right field job, and obviously Mike Trout isn’t going anywhere in center. Josh Lowe is struggling badly as the everyday option in left. Through his first 117 plate appearances, Lowe is batting a measly .167/.216/.287 with a 37 wRC+. It’s possible he and Siri could split time, though the Angels won’t give up on Lowe entirely. They only just acquired him in a three-team trade in January, and Lowe was an average hitter as recently as 2024.
In contrast, Siri’s recent track record is more suspect. He was a 106 wRC+ bat in 2023 with the Rays and hit 25 homers that year. However, he also struck out in 35.7% of his plate appearances and got on base at a .267 clip that was far below average. Siri needed to maintain that power and get on base more to remain valuable, but the exact opposite happened in 2024. Siri batted just .187/.255/.366 in 448 plate appearances that year, amounting to just a 78 wRC+.
More likely, Siri is on the active roster for his defense. Statcast has him at 39 Outs Above Average since debuting in 2021, including 16 OAA in center field in 2024. In addition to his plus range, Siri showed 97th percentile arm strength and 99th percentile sprint speed that year. It remains to be seen how he’ll hold up after missing so much time last year, but at the very least, Siri is a capable defender at all three outfield spots. He could see time as a late-inning replacement for Lowe and especially Adell.
Siri’s defense and ceiling as an average hitter give him an edge over Teodosio, who now goes to Triple-A. Teodosio debuted for the Angels in 2024 and has taken 213 plate appearances since then, mostly in 2025. Unfortunately, he’s offered just about nothing at the plate, batting .198/.242/.279 with a single home run and a 43 wRC+. Like Siri, Teodosio is no slouch on defense, with 13 OAA in just under 600 innings of outfield work. However, Teodosio strikes out over 30% of the time and, unlike Siri, doesn’t have the power to even approach respectable hitting. He’ll bide his time as a depth option at Triple-A until an injury crops up.
As for Joyce, his transfer to the 60-day IL is unsurprising. Joyce has been slowed in his rehab assignment by minor shoulder discomfort, although a recent MRI came back clean. The team is hopeful it’s just normal soreness and that Joyce can return soon after May 26th, when he’s first eligible to come off the IL. The Angels, who have a 5.17 bullpen ERA, could use Joyce back sooner rather than later.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
AL Injury Notes: O’Hoppe, Raleigh, Madden
Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe left last night’s game against the Dodgers with left wrist irritation, according to a team announcement. O’Hoppe sustained the injury in the top of the fourth inning on a pitch in the dirt from starter Jack Kochanowicz. The pitch ricocheted off O’Hoppe’s left wrist, and he was visited by trainers after the play. O’Hoppe remained in the game through the fifth inning before being replaced by Sebastián Rivero behind the plate.
O’Hoppe just returned tonight from a nearly three week absence due to a left wrist fracture. According to manager Kurt Suzuki (via Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com), O’Hoppe was removed from the game as a precaution and did not require post-game X-rays. That bodes well for his wrist health, though it wouldn’t be unreasonable for the Angels to hold O’Hoppe out of the lineup tomorrow anyway. The 26-year-old is LA’s clear top choice behind the plate, with Travis d’Arnaud (currently on the injured list) as his usual backup. Meanwhile, Rivero has a 15 wRC+ in 134 scattered plate appearances from 2021-26, so he would be unplayable as a starter if O’Hoppe went on the IL again.
For his part, O’Hoppe says his left wrist is “just uncomfortable” (link via Michael Huntley of the Orange County Register). “It’s uncomfortable walking around. It’s uncomfortable doing anything but we’ll treat it and keep going,” O’Hoppe said after the game. That may give cause for optimism among Angels fans, though the club will continue to monitor the situation in the coming days.
A couple other injury notes from the Junior Circuit:
- Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh is being shut down for a week, according to Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. He will be reevaluated at that point. Divish adds that Raleigh’s most recent MRI came back better than his previous one. Raleigh went on the 10-day injured list on May 14th with a right oblique strain, which he admitted he’d been playing through for two weeks. On its own, the oblique strain puts Raleigh out for more than the minimum stint, and that’s even more certain now that he’s been shut down. Raleigh was out to an uncharacteristically poor start at the plate, with a line of 161/.243/.317 (63 wRC+) through his first 181 plate appearances. That’s a far cry from his 60-home run, 161 wRC+ performance last year, though the oblique injury explains at least some of the downturn. With a longer-than-minimum absence in store for Raleigh, Mitch Garver and Jhonny Pereda will continue to split time behind the plate for Seattle.
- Tigers right-hander Ty Madden was struck by a comebacker in the second inning of yesterday’s 3-2 victory against the Blue Jays. Yohendrick Piñango lined a 2-2 pitch off Madden’s forearm, which Madden fielded but did not attempt to throw to first. Madden, who was intended to serve as a bulk reliever, left the game without attempting a warm-up pitch. The 26-year-old has effectively been covering the rotation spot of Casey Mize, who is currently on the injured list with an adductor strain but is expected to be activated for Sunday’s start, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. Madden missed all of last year with a right shoulder strain and was making just his third appearance in the Majors since returning from that injury. Per Jason Beck of MLB.com, initial tests on Madden revealed no fracture, but he’ll undergo further evaluation regardless. If he needs to miss time, it could be a simple swap of Madden going on the IL and Mize being activated. [UPDATE: the Tigers activated Mize from the IL and optioned Brenan Hanifee to Triple-A in the corresponding move, so Madden remains on the active roster for now.]
Photo courtesy of William Liang, Imagn Images
Angels, Austin Wynns Agree To Minor League Deal
The Angels and free agent catcher Austin Wynns are in agreement on a minor league deal, MLBTR has learned. The Klutch Sports client opened the season with the division-rival A’s but was designated for assignment a week ago. The A’s asked to assign him to Triple-A Las Vegas, but as a player with five-plus years of service, Wynns had the right to refuse, which he did. The A’s then placed him on release waivers, and he subsequently became a free agent.
Wynns spent nearly one calendar year with the A’s after they acquired him in a cash swap with the Reds last June. He’d taken 63 plate appearances with Cincinnati and turned in a mammoth .390/.429/.661 slash (three homers, seven doubles), but that sort of production was never going to be sustainable; Wynns had a modest track record prior to that outburst, and while the short uptick in power was impressive, his overall batting line was also buoyed by a sky-high .513 average on balls in play.
Now 35 years old, Wynns wound up taking 110 plate appearances with the A’s and slashing .167/.204/.304 in that time. The well-traveled backstop’s career marks are somewhere between the extremes of those Cincinnati highs and West Sacramento lows. He’s suited up for the Reds, A’s, Orioles, Giants, Dodgers and Rockies, compiling a lifetime .231/.276/.347 slash line in 826 big league plate appearances (293 games).
Wynns doesn’t draw premium framing grades, but Statcast thinks he’s solid when it comes to blocking balls in the dirt. More impressively, Wynns has shut down 30.2% of attempted base thieves in the majors — right in line with his career 31% mark in the minors. He’s quite strong when it comes to controlling the run game, and clubs clearly value his experience, defensive acumen and work with pitchers, as evidenced by his five-plus years of service despite sub-par work in the batter’s box.
Because Wynns has five-plus years of service, he was able to elect free agency and still retain the remainder of this year’s $1.1MM salary. The A’s are on the hook for the vast majority of that sum. The Angels will owe Wynns only the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the big league roster. That would be subtracted from what the A’s have left to pay out.
The Angels’ catching depth has taken a major hit in recent weeks. Logan O’Hoppe suffered a broken wrist in late April. That injury pushed Travis d’Arnaud into the starter’s role, but he went on the injured list last week due to plantar fasciitis.
That pair of injuries left the Halos with Sebastián Rivero and rookie Omar Martínez as the catching tandem at present. Both signed minor league deals over the winter. Rivero entered the season with only 162 days of big league service. He’s a .169/.220/.202 hitter in 134 big league plate appearances and a .248/.296/.369 hitter in 785 Triple-A plate appearances spread across six seasons.
Martinez, 25, had never played in the majors before being called up earlier this week. He’s 1-for-3 in his fledgling MLB career. The Venezuelan-born backstop posted decent numbers in the lower minors with the Yankees but slashed .208/.297/.358 with a 34.4% strikeout rate in 259 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A dating back to last season. Given that tandem’s minimal track record, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if Wynns found himself catching games at Angel Stadium in the near future.