- Infielder Nick Franklin cleared waivers and was outrighted to the Angels’ Triple-A affiliate, the team announced on Twitter. Franklin was designated for assignment two days ago, and it was his third DFA of 2017 — he was designated by the Rays in April and then claimed by the Brewers, then designated by the Brewers and traded to the Angels in late June. After posting above-average production in a part-time role with Tampa Bay last season, Franklin has been unable to get things going this year, with a combined .179/.269/.283 slash line over 119 PA with the Angels and Brewers.
Angels Rumors
Diamondbacks Acquire David Hernandez
The D-backs and Angels have struck a trade that sends righty David Hernandez from Anaheim back to the familiar environs of Arizona. Young right-hander Luis Madero is going to the Angels in the deal.
After struggling to find a job this spring, Hernandez has quietly turned in an excellent 2.23 ERA with 9.2 K/9, 2.0 BB/9 and a 47.3 percent ground-ball rate through 36 1/3 innings of work. He’s a free agent at season’s end and is earning an $850K base salary in 2017, so he’s owed an affordable $293K the rest of the way.
Hernandez will deepen the Arizona pen as the club looks to solidify its hold on a Wild Card spot down the stretch. He has provided the team with plenty of good innings in the past, pitching to a 3.54 ERA over 233 2/3 innings from 2011 through 2015.
The 20-year-old Madero has struggled through 49 1/3 innings between Rookie ball and Class-A this season, limping to a 5.69 ERA while working as a starter. He has been hit especially hard since moving up a level. That said, the peripherals look much more promising for the young Venezuelan. He currently carries 8.3 K/9, 2.0 BB/9 and a 47.8 percent ground-ball rate on the year.
ESPN’s Buster Olney reported the trade on Twitter, with MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand tweeting the return.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Angels Nearing David Hernandez Trade
2:32pm: The D-backs could be a landing spot for Hernandez, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
2:27pm: The Angels are getting close to a trade involving Hernandez, reports Feinsand (on Twitter).
12:11pm: MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand tweets that Petit is also generating interest. The 32-year-old has tossed 60 2/3 innings with a 2.52 ERA, 9.5 K/9, 1.8 BB/9 and a 34.4 percent ground-ball rate this season in a multi-inning role.
11:37am: The Angels are marketing right-handed relievers Bud Norris and David Hernandez, reports ESPN’s Buster Olney (Twitter link). Industry expectation is that both will be traded before today’s 4pm ET non-waiver deadline, Olney adds.
Both Norris and Hernandez have had strong rebound seasons in 2017, though Norris’ numbers have taken a hit in the past week due to a pair of grand slams allowed. That said, he’s worked 41 2/3 innings with a career-high 11.2 K/9 rate against 4.5 BB/9 and a 49 percent ground-ball rate (also a career-best). The resulting 3.89 ERA is a near-mirror image of Norris’ 3.87 FIP and is also largely reported by a 3.59 xFIP and 3.55 SIERA. Norris is a free agent at season’s end, and he’s making $1.75MM this year, with about $602K of that sum still owed to him.
Hernandez, meanwhile, has somewhat quietly turned in an excellent 2.23 ERA with 9.2 K/9, 2.0 BB/9 and a 47.3 percent ground-ball rate through 36 1/3 innings of work. Like Norris, he has enough big league service time to qualify as a free agent following the season, making him a pure rental piece as well. Terms of his minor league deal with the Angels weren’t reported at the time he signed, but I’ve been told he’s earning an $850K base salary — so there’d be about $293K of that sum remaining.
It’s not clear whether the Halos are shopping any of their other short-term assets, though righty Yusmeiro Petit is having a fine year in the bullpen, while third baseman Yunel Escobar has produced at about a league-average pace at the plate. Outfielder Cameron Maybin may well have been a trade commodity, but his knee injury will keep him out into August. It’s still possible that he could clear trade waivers next month or be moved to a team that places a claim, however.
Midday Market Chatter: Nats, Dodgers, Lynn, Panik
The Nationals have been linked to a variety of relievers even after adding two veterans earlier this month, and Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post tweets that the pursuit continues in earnest today. While it seems a variety of hurlers could be of interest, adding a pitcher capable of taking on closing duties remains a “priority,” per the report. Washington has been connected to Brandon Kintzler of the Twins today, along with a long list of other pitchers.
Here’s some more midday chatter as the non-waiver deadline looms:
- Some Dodgers front office folks would like to see the club come away with a “wipeout left-handed reliever” today, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney tweets. That has been noted as a strong priority over recent weeks, of course, though the club has also been said to be eyeing top-tier starting pitching as well. At this point, it would seem, Zach Britton of the Orioles is the likeliest target among lefty pen pieces, though it’s still unclear whether he’ll end up being moved.
- There’s industry chatter linking the Indians to Cardinals righty Lance Lynn, Olney tweets — a connection that was made a few days ago as well. And Cleveland also has some interest in discussing some of the excess young outfielders on the St. Louis roster, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch adds on Twitter. The Cards are said to be willing to listen on some such position players — in particular, Tommy Pham and Randal Grichuk. It’s not immediately clear, though, whether the sides are engaged in earnest today.
- The Angels have been rumored to be looking at second basemen of late, and recently spoke with the Giants about Joe Panik, per Olney (via Twitter). But those talks evidently did not materialize into anything the sides found worthy of further pursuit, and there’s no indication that Panik is in play today.
- Both the Cubs and Red Sox appear to have made their moves at this point, per reports from Olney (via Twitter) and Sean McAdam of the Boston Sports Journal (Twitter link). Chicago is, however, still keeping an eye out for controllable pitching depth, while Boston will also “monitor [the] market” up until the deadline.
Angels Open To Moving Relievers
- Calls have come in on the Angels’ resurgent relief trio of Bud Norris, David Hernandez and Yusmeiro Petit, and the Halos are willing to deal all of them, tweets Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. MLBTR’s Jeff Todd broke down their 2017 performances Friday in a piece focusing on available righty relievers.
Angels Designate Nick Franklin For Assignment
The Angels have designated infielder Nick Franklin for assignment and will go with Kaleb Cowart as their primary second baseman, Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times tweets. “The direction we’re moving is not going to give (Franklin) a lot of at-bats,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. The Angels have also announced that they’ve selected the contract of righty Troy Scribner.
The Rays parted ways with Franklin near the beginning of the season, and he headed to the Brewers on a waiver claim and then to the Angels in a minor deal after the Brewers designated him for assignment. Overall, he’s batted .179/.269/.283 in 119 plate appearances for the season, failing to make much of an impression despite a solid offensive performance with Tampa Bay last year.
The 25-year-old Cowart batted a strong .311/.383/.482 in 413 plate appearances in Triple-A Salt Lake this season and has hit well in very limited opportunities in the big leagues. The Angels are trying to find a solution at second base after parting ways with Danny Espinosa earlier this month.
Jeff Samardzija Unlikely To Waive No-Trade Clause
Jeff Samardzija’s name has come up frequently in recent trade rumors, but the 32-year-old right-hander’s five-year, $90MM contract allows him to block trades to all but eight teams. Moreover, Samardzija tells Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News that if approached by the Giants about a trade to one of the teams over which he has veto power, he wouldn’t be interested in waiving the clause.
“I love being here,” said Samardzija shortly after praising the Giants’ core players and suggesting that the team fully believes it can turn the tide next season. Samardzija smiled yesterday when telling Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle that he “[doesn’t] remember” the eight teams to which he can be traded without his approval (Twitter link), but Baggarly now reports the full list in a separate column.
According to Baggarly, Samardzija can be traded to the Red Sox, Cubs, Mets, Yankees, Angels, Dodgers, Athletics and Nationals without his consent. All other teams — including the Astros, who have been the team most frequently connected to Samardzija on the rumor circuit — require Samardzija’s consent, and it doesn’t sound like he’s interested in green-lighting any proposals.
Samardzija is owed $18MM annually and has struggled in the estimation of traditional metrics this season. He’s sporting a 5-11 record with a 4.85 ERA, but most other statistical means of evaluation are rather bullish on the righty. He’s averaging 9.7 K/9 against 1.1 BB/9, both of which would be the best marks of his career, and leading the Majors in K/BB ratio. His 43.3 percent ground-ball rate is only a tick below average, and he’s inducing more swings at pitches out of the strike zone than he ever has before. Samardzija’s fastball velocity has also held strong at an average of just over 94 mph, and he’s averaging nearly 6 2/3 innings per start. Metrics like FIP (3.49), xFIP (3.13) and SIERA (3.28 prior to today’s strong outing) all view him much more favorably than earned run average.
Samardzija has struggled with men on base, in part due to the fact that he’s one of many pitchers throughout the league that has seen his HR/9 rate and HR/FB ratio spike as balls are leaving the yard at a higher rate than ever before in MLB history. And while his durability and K/BB numbers are impressive, some teams will no doubt express some skepticism that Samardzija would be able to better keep the ball in the yard by vacating the spacious AT&T Park as his home stadium. The remaining money on his contract also figures to be a concern to come clubs, as he represents a fairly sizable commitment to those that are near the luxury tax threshold.
All of that sounds to be mostly a moot point anyhow. Among the teams to which Samardzija can be moved, the Red Sox don’t seem likely to pursue a starter, while the Mets and A’s aren’t contending. The Angels are a fringe contender at best and have luxury tax concerns, while the Nationals are said to be more focused on relievers and may shy away from the money remaining on his deal. It’s at least possible that one of the other teams listed shows some interest, but the Yankees are presently focused on Sonny Gray, while the Cubs have already added Jose Quintana and the Dodgers have been most heavily linked to Yu Darvish (to say nothing of the longstanding Dodgers/Giants division rivalry).
Angels Place Alex Meyer On 10-Day DL
The Angels have placed righty Alex Meyer on the 10-day DL, per a club announcement. He’s said to be dealing with inflammation in his pitching shoulder.
Thus far in 2017, the Halos have been anything but blessed when it comes to pitching health. Meyer, 27, joins a long list of starters on the DL. Hopefully he will be able to return somewhat more rapidly than have many of the others, though it’s of greater concern given that Meyer has experienced issues with this particular joint in the past.
It’s particularly tough news given that Meyer has finally shown some signs of turning a corner since arriving last year via trade. In his 13 starts thus far in 2017, he’s carrying a 3.74 ERA with 10.0 K/9 against 5.6 BB/9 to go with a 46.5% groundball rate.
Clearly, the volume of free passes is cause for concern. But it’s clearly the best extended stretch of the towering hurler’s career; he has not only maintained an average heater of over 96 mph but is generating a 10.7% swinging-strike rate on the year. And Meyer’s most recent start, in which he allowed just one hit in seven scoreless innings against the Nationals, was perhaps the best of his MLB career.
It’s not clear at this point what kind of path Meyer faces to return to the majors. And it’s not altogether clear whether the injury will alter the team’s deadline plans. On the one hand, it highlights yet more the team’s glaring need in the rotation; on the other, the loss of one of the team’s better remaining rotation options perhaps speaks to the inadvisability of win-now moves with the club still stuck hovering around .500.
Angels Release Danny Espinosa
The Angels have announced that infielder Danny Espinosa has been released. He’ll hit the open market for the first time with the Halos set to pay the remainder of his $5.425MM salary.
Clearly, no other organizations were so motivated to add Espinosa that they struck a deal to get him while he was in limbo after being designated for assignment. And that’s not surprising, given the anemic .162/.237/.276 batting line he carries through 254 plate appearances on the year.
But Espinosa could still hold appeal. He has historically rated as a quality baserunner and up-the-middle defender. And while he’ll never hit for much average or reach base at a healthy clip, the bat has shown much more life in the recent past. The switch-hitter drove 24 home runs with a .169 isolated slugging mark last year, after all.
Cameron Maybin Diagnosed With MCL Sprain
July 19, 6:20pm: Maybin has gone on the DL, the team announced. The Halos selected the contract of Shane Robinson to take his place.
12:15am: The Angels announced that an MRI revealed a Grade 1 MCL sprain in Maybin’s right knee. The Angels added that the “generic timetable for this injury is two to four weeks.” Even if Maybin is able to make it back on the shorter end of that timetable, he appears likely to be sidelined beyond the July 31 non-waiver deadline, which is a rough blow for the Halos whether they aim to contend or sell off veteran pieces.
July 18, 10:04pm: Angels left fielder Cameron Maybin suffered a knee injury when trying to steal second base in tonight’s game and had to be helped off the field, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets (video link via MLB.com). Maybin pulled up on an attempted steal of second base and slid awkwardly into the bag before immediately calling for the trainer to come out to second base.
[Related: Los Angeles Angels depth chart]
There’s no word on the extent of the injury just yet, though the move comes with plenty of implications for the Halos, who are reportedly deciding on how to proceed with the non-waiver trade deadline approaching. A hot streak out of the Angels could compel the team to attempt to add a few modest pieces, especially now that they have a healthy Mike Trout back in the lineup. Conversely, a week of struggles could lead to a sell-off of some shorter-term assets.
Even though he’s slumped recently, a healthy Maybin is an important piece of the Angels’ lineup. The 30-year-old is hitting a respectable .238/.342/.368 with six homers, 25 stolen bases and strong defense between left field and center field. His absence won’t do many favors for the Angels’ chances in a pivotal week for the franchise as it weighs deadline strategies.
Similarly, if the Halos ultimately sell off some short-term pieces, Maybin would’ve been a natural trade candidate, as he’s set to hit free agency at season’s end. The Angels have other rental options that they could market — Bud Norris, Yusmeiro Petit, David Hernandez, Yunel Escobar — though any notable injury to Maybin could cost them the opportunity to deal a player that could be viewed as a nice bench option, if not a bit more, by contending clubs.
