- Angels righty Parker Bridwell, who came up through the Orioles’ system, spoke at length with Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun about the feeling of being designated for assignment earlier this season and his subsequent trade to the Halos. “It was the weirdest three days of my life,” Bridwell explained. “I felt like I was never going to have a job again when I got DFA’d. … I wanted to check my phone every five seconds, but I just put my phone away and let whatever was going to take place take place.” Bridwell’s interview with Encina is a fantastic read, especially for those who follow the trade and waiver circuit closely, as the right-hander provides a great deal of candid insight into the human element that we often take for granted when looking at seemingly minor transactions. Bridwell discusses the process of being traded, the feeling of facing friends in his former organization and the differences between the coaching staffs in Baltimore and Anaheim, and I strongly recommend reading it in full. As for the Angels, they’re undoubtedly thrilled with the decision to acquire Bridwell from Baltimore for cash. In 66 innings this season, he’s posted a 3.00 ERA with 5.7 K/9, 2.2 BB/9 and a 37.7 percent ground-ball rate.
Angels Rumors
Escobar Out Two To Three Weeks With Oblique Strain
- The Angels announced on Tuesday that third baseman Yunel Escobar is headed to the disabled list with a “mild grade 1 oblique strain.” Per the club’s announcement, a general timetable for recovery from such an injury is two to three weeks. While Escobar was hardly a definitive trade candidate, the free-agent-to-be seemingly stood a chance of being moved prior to the end of the month in the event that the Angels can’t right the ship and fall out of the American League Wild Card race. The 34-year-old is hitting .274/.333/.397 with seven homers through 381 plate appearances in his second season with the Angels. Now sidelined until mid-to-late August, Escobar’s chances of being dealt look decidedly slimmer, though he could still conceivably return and demonstrate his health for interested parties.
Matt Shoemaker Undergoes Season-Ending Forearm Surgery
Aug. 8: Shoemaker’s operation went as expected, and the team expects him to be ready the 2018 season, tweets Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register.
Aug. 6: Angels right-hander Matt Shoemaker will undergo surgery Tuesday to release the radial nerve in his right forearm, the team announced (via Twitter). The usual recovery timeline for such a procedure is an estimated 12-14 weeks, so Shoemaker will miss the rest of the 2017 season.
Shoemaker hit the disabled list in mid-June with a strained extensor muscle in his right forearm. While initially considered to be less serious than most forearm-related injuries, Shoemaker suffered a setback in his rehab process and was diagnosed with posterior interosseous nerve syndrome last month. The Angels announced on Friday that Shoemaker was considering surgery to correct the problem.
In 77 2/3 innings for the Angels this season, Shoemaker posted a 4.52 ERA, 2.46 K/BB rate and 8.0 K/9. He suffered increases in his walk rate (3.2 BB/9, up from his career 1.9 BB/9 prior to 2017) and hard-hit ball rate (36.2%, above his 31.5% career rate), though perhaps most importantly for the injury-ravaged Angels staff, Shoemaker was still able to serve as a capable innings-eater prior to his own DL stint. It was good seeing Shoemaker back on the mound at all, given that his 2016 season was prematurely ended after the righty suffered a skull fracture and a hematoma after being hit in the head by a Kyle Seager line drive on September 4.
Despite the pitching injuries and a general lack of offense beyond Mike Trout and Andrelton Simmons, the Halos have nevertheless stuck around in the AL wild card race. The team is sitting three games behind the Royals for the last wild card slot, albeit with a 55-57 record. It may still be a tall order for L.A. to leapfrog the pack within the crowded American League, though the Angels still get some late-season rotation reinforcements in the form of Andrew Heaney, Tyler Skaggs and potentially Garrett Richards.
Outrighted: Ramon Flores, Danny Ortiz
The following players have been outrighted to Triple-A after clearing waivers:
- Angels outfielder Ramon Flores is en route back to Salt Lake, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (via Twitter). He has been outrighted previously, during his time with the Brewers, and thus had the right to choose free agency. But he’s listed on the organization’s Triple-A roster, so it seems he has elected to remain in the organization. He’ll have the right to do so instead at the end of the year. Flores, who’s still just 25, appeared in only three games with the Halos this year and struggled in an extended run last season with Milwaukee. He is hitting a robust .311/405/.417, though, in 373 trips to the plate at Salt Lake this year.
- The Pirates announced that outfielder Danny Ortiz is returning to Indianapolis. He had earned his first MLB call-up after sporting a .259/.291/.450 slash over 342 Triple-A plate appearances to open the year. But Ortiz saw only limited action over nine games in the bigs and lost his roster spot when the Bucs acquired old friend Sean Rodriguez over the weekend.
Angels Designate Shane Robinson, Activate Cameron Maybin
The Angels have designated outfielder Shane Robinson for assignment, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets. He’ll make way for the activation of Cameron Maybin, who is back atop the Halos’ lineup tonight.
Robinson, 32, saw 14 games of action this year for Los Angeles, representing his eighth season in the majors. Overall, he carries a .227/.295/.298 batting line through 789 trips to the plate.
The veteran had spent most of the year at Triple-A, where he posted a productive .338/.397/.436 slash with his typically excellent plate discipline and a dozen steals. Assuming he ultimately clears outright waivers, Robinson could accept an assignment back to Salt Lake or take that record of recent performance onto the open market.
As for Maybin, he ultimately missed 16 games with a knee sprain. The 30-year-old has not continued the offensive output he showed last year with the Tigers, but has swiped 25 bags on the year while posting average or better metrics in center (while filling in for Mike Trout) and left field. Maybin will hit the open market for the first time at the conclusion of the season.
Angels Sign Branden Pinder
- The Angels have signed right-hander Branden Pinder, reports Baseball America’s Matt Eddy in his always-informative weekly Minor Transactions roundup (which includes dozens of moves). Pinder is a known commodity to Angels GM Billy Eppler, having spent his career to date in the Yankees organization, where Eppler was previously an assistant GM. Pinder had Tommy John surgery in 2016 but had worked back to throw 11 2/3 innings in the minors thus far in 2017. He showed promise in 27 2/3 frames with the 2015 Yankees (2.93 ERA, 8.1 K/9, 4.6 BB/9) and should have a better chance to work back to the Majors with the Halos than he’d have had in New York.
Yunel Escobar Suffers Right Intercostal Strain
- Yunel Escobar left today’s game due to a right intercostal strain, as per an Angels press announcement (Twitter link). The third baseman will undergo an MRI tomorrow to access the damage. Escobar has a .274/.333/.397 slash line and seven homers over 381 PA for the Halos this season, Escobar has already spent some time on the DL this season, missing around 2.5 weeks due to a hamstring strain in May, and he sat out of a couple of recent games due to a sore back.
Matt Shoemaker Considering Surgery
Angels righty Matt Shoemaker is now considering a surgical option as he “continues to experience progressive symptoms related to radial nerve compression,” the club announced today.
Obviously, a decision on the course of treatment has yet to be made. And it’s not entirely clear just what procedure — and what sort of outlook and timeline for a return — is under contemplation. Shoemaker had been building back toward the majors after a rest period, but was forced to halt a pen session today, according to Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times (via Twitter).
The 30-year-old righty last appeared for the Halos in the middle of June, and it seems increasingly likely that he may not make it back to the majors this year. He hadn’t exactly been at his best before that, with a 4.52 ERA over 77 2/3 innings on the year, but was at least giving Los Angeles much-needed innings as they deal with a barrage of pitching injuries.
Rather remarkably, the Angels have stayed in the AL Wild Card picture despite questionable work from the rotation, which has produced middle-of-the-pack results that outpace the peripherals. But the promise of late-season returns from Shoemaker and others — Tyler Skaggs, Andrew Heaney, and Garrett Richards — has held out hope of a real push for a postseason berth.
Shoemaker’s new status certainly doesn’t improve the picture, though there’s optimism still regarding the others. Both Skaggs and Heaney are due back soon. As for Richards, he was able to throw twenty pitches off of a mound today, Moura tweets, and says he has no doubt he’ll return this year as well.
Angels Designate Ramon Flores
The Angels have designated outfielder Ramon Flores for assignment, per a club announcement. He’ll be replaced on the roster by righty Daniel Wright.
Flores, 25, saw just three games during his brief run with the Halos. He has spent somewhat more time in the majors in each of the prior two years, though still has only 331 MLB plate appearances on the ledger. He’s hitting just .204/.281/.256 at the game’s highest level.
That said, Flores has hit quite well at Triple-A over the years, including this one. The left-handed hitter carries a .291/.383/.436 slash in over a thousand trips to the plate there, with only 22 home runs but an intriguing 153:135 K/BB ratio.
Angels Move Chavez To Bullpen
The Angels are moving right-hander Jesse Chavez from the rotation to the bullpen, reports Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter links). That in and of itself is somewhat noteworthy, but the timing of the move is more interesting. As Moura points out, Chavez is one start away from unlocking a significant boost in his contract’s incentives package and could earn as much as $1.7MM between now and season’s end. While the timing of the move probably won’t sit well with Chavez, he certainly hasn’t helped his own cause as of late. The 33-year-old has allowed 25 runs on 40 hits and 16 walks over his past 32 2/3 innings, making for a 6.89 ERA in his past seven starts. Right-hander Troy Scribner will step into the rotation in place of Chavez, according to Moura.
