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Angels Select Johnny Cueto

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August 21: The Angels have now made it official, selecting Cueto to the roster. Righty Hans Crouse was optioned in a corresponding move. The club also announced that José Cisnero, who was designated for assignment on the weekend, has been released.

August 20: The Angels are set to select the contract of right-hander Johnny Cueto from Triple-A Salt Lake, reports Hector Gomez of Z101 Deportes in the Dominican Republic. The Halos don’t have a starter announced for tomorrow’s game, so it seems the plan will be for the veteran Cueto to come up and take the ball. He’s not on the 40-man roster, but the Angels have a vacancy there after releasing veteran infielder Luis Guillorme over the weekend.

Cueto, 38, has pitched in Triple-A with the Rangers and Angels this season, finding a good bit more success with the latter than with the former. He’s made four starts in Salt Lake and held opponents to eight earned runs on 27 hits and five walks with 15 strikeouts through 23 1/3 frames. That comes out to a 3.09 ERA and sharp 5% walk rate — albeit against a sub-par 14.9% strikeout rate. When including his minor league work with Texas this season, Cueto has a 4.76 ERA in 64 1/3 innings. He’ll be on six days rest for tomorrow’s game, with his most recent outing having come on Aug. 14.

Assuming Cueto indeed gets the nod for the Angels, this will be the 17th consecutive season in which the two-time All-Star and 2015 World Series champion has pitched in the majors. He spent the 2023 campaign with the Marlins but struggled to a 6.02 ERA through 10 starts in a season that was wrecked by a biceps injury. As recently as 2022, the right-hander pitched 158 1/3 innings of 3.35 ERA ball with the White Sox, showing similar K-BB rates (15.7% and 5.1%) to the ones he’s logged in Triple-A this year.

Overall, Cueto has piled up 2245 big league innings and recorded a tidy 3.50 ERA along the way. He’s won 144 games against 111 losses, punched out 1851 big league opponents and appeared in a total of 368 major league games. Cueto is currently tied with Floyd Bannister and Doc White for 196th in games started at the MLB level, and he’ll jump into a tie with Ron Darling, Scott Erickson and Vern Law for 193rd if and when he takes the ball tomorrow.

The Angels recently placed Jose Soriano on the injured list due to arm fatigue and lost Patrick Sandoval to UCL surgery earlier this season. They’ve been using journeyman Carson Fulmer and rookie Jack Kochanowicz in the rotation alongside Tyler Anderson and Griffin Canning recently. Cueto will give them a veteran option to join that group, though it’s possible the Angels will want to take a look at homegrown arms like Reid Detmers or Sam Bachman down the stretch. Both have had their struggles since being optioned to Triple-A, but both pitchers also pitched excellently in their most recent outings.

Angels Designate Jose Cisnero For Assignment

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The Angels announced this afternoon that they’ve designated right-hander Jose Cisnero for assignment. The move opens up an active roster spot for right-hander Victor Mederos, who was recalled to the majors in a corresponding move. The club also announced that infielder Luis Guillorme, who was designated for assignment earlier this week, has been released.

Cisnero, 35, made his big league debut back in 2013 with the Astros and struggled over parts of two seasons in Houston, with a 4.66 ERA in 48 1/3 innings of work. That would be the journeyman’s only big league action for several years, as the right-hander bounced around various minor league affiliates and independent leagues from 2015 to 2018 before landing with the Tigers in 2019. The then-30-year-old righty impressed in 40 innings of work at the Triple-A level with a 2.70 ERA and a 27.7% strikeout rate, earning him another crack at the big leagues.

The right-hander ultimately spent the next five seasons pitching for the Tigers as a solid, reliable middle relief option. He posted a 3.89 ERA (114 ERA+) with a 4.09 FIP overall, and was particularly impressive from 2020-22 when he pitched to a 2.94 ERA with a 3.65 FIP in 116 1/3 innings of work. Unfortunately, the wheels started to come off for Cisnero last year when he posted a 5.31 ERA with a 4.60 FIP in 63 appearances for the Tigers. Those struggles came in spite of strong strikeout (26.2%) and walk (9.4%) rates that solidly outperformed not only his career numbers, but the numbers he had posted while pitching so effectively for the club in previous years. With strong peripherals, including a 3.73 SIERA and a 4.20 xFIP, suggesting better days ahead, the Angels took a one-year flier on Cisnero’s services this past offseason.

Unfortunately, that experiment did not pay off. Cisnero’s 2024 campaign has been nothing short of brutal as he’s been lit up to a 6.89 ERA with a 6.24 FIP thanks primarily to the fact that he’s allowed four home runs in just 15 2/3 innings of work. The right-hander was sidelined for three months by a bout of shoulder inflammation and made his return to the mound just yesterday, but surrendered two runs (one earned) in 1 2/3 innings of work that saw him allow a hit, a walk, and hit a batter while striking out just one of the eight opponents he faced. That was evidently enough for the Angels to decide to pull the plug on the right-hander, who will now be available for any club in the league to claim off waivers if they so choose.

Taking Cisnero’s place on the Halos’ active roster is Mederos, who has not yet pitched in the majors this year. The right-hander struggled in a brief cup of coffee in the majors last year with a 9.00 ERA in three appearances and hasn’t fared much better in 21 starts split between the High-A and Double-A levels this year, with a 6.56 ERA and a 16.7% strikeout rate in 94 2/3 innings of work. As for Guillorme, the veteran of seven MLB seasons posted a .231/.302/.298 slash line in 50 games for the Angels this year after being acquired from the Braves in an early-season trade. He’ll turn to the free agent market in search of greener pastures, and it’s not hard to imagine a team in need of infield depth having interest in the 29-year-old’s services given his strong defensive reputation and left-handed bat.

Angels Place José Soriano On 15-Day IL, Reinstate José Cisnero

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The Angels have reinstated right-hander José Cisnero from the 60-day injured list, the team announced. He will take fellow right-hander José Soriano’s place on the active roster, while Soriano heads to the 15-day IL with right arm fatigue. To make room for Cisnero on the 40-man roster, the Angels transferred Luis Rengifo to the 60-day IL. Rengifo underwent season-ending wrist surgery earlier this month.

Cisnero, 35, signed a one-year, $1.75MM deal with Los Angeles over the offseason. Unfortunately, his tenure with the Angels got off to a rough start, as he gave up three earned runs in 2/3 of an inning on Opening Day. He went on to put up a 7.07 ERA across 14 appearances over the first month of the season. Then, he landed on the IL with inflammation in his throwing shoulder at the end of April and has been out ever since. However, despite his poor start, the veteran has a track record as a reliable middle reliever. From 2019-23, he made 222 appearances for the Tigers with a 3.84 ERA and a 4.16 SIERA. Thus, the Angels will hope he can provide some stability for the bullpen upon his return. While L.A. ranks fifth in MLB with a 2.69 bullpen ERA since the trade deadline, the underlying metrics (4.40 SIERA, 4.57 xFIP) suggest that is highly unlikely to last. Angels relievers have a 4.13 ERA and 4.25 SIERA on the season, and that’s including the innings Carlos Estévez and Luis García pitched before they were dealt.

Regrettably for the Angels, Cisnero’s return comes just as another arm hits the IL. Soriano, 25, has been a breakout player for L.A. this year. Since joining the rotation on April 10, he has a 3.36 ERA, 3.98 SIERA, and 2.1 FanGraphs WAR over 20 starts. In that time, he leads Angels starters in all three metrics. However, he lasted just 3 1/3 innings in his last outing on Friday. Manager Ron Washington told reporters (including Dan Arritt of the Orange County Register) after the game that he could tell Soriano was tired and lifted him so that “he didn’t hurt himself.”

Thankfully for the Angels, “arm fatigue” does not sound like a particularly serious problem. Indeed, Soriano explained that he’s “not worried about it being a major injury” and said he’s “going to work to come back as soon as [he] can” (per Arritt). That being said, Soriano has already thrown 113 innings this season, far more than he’s ever thrown before in any other year of his professional career. Considering the Angels have no delusions about competing for a postseason spot this year, they would be smart to exercise the utmost caution with Soriano. Nevertheless, Washington made it clear that he expects to have the promising young hurler back in his rotation before the end of the year (per Arritt).

With Soriano making his last start yesterday, the Angels will need to choose a replacement in time for Wednesday’s series finale against the Royals. The most logical choice would seem to be Reid Detmers, who twirled a gem on Friday at Triple-A, giving up one run in eight innings while striking out 11. Detmers, 25, has been pitching at Triple-A since he was optioned in June. His overall results at Salt Lake have been disappointing (6.37 ERA in 12 GS), but he’s already on the 40-man roster and has several years of MLB experience under his belt. Other options on the 40-man roster include Sam Bachman, Davis Daniel, and Kenny Rosenberg. Daniel and Rosenberg were optioned earlier this week, but they could be recalled early if they are replacing the injured Greene.

Beyond the 40-man roster, veteran Johnny Cueto is the most intriguing option. The 38-year-old signed a minor league pact with the Angels in July, and he has a 3.09 ERA in four starts with the Salt Lake Bees. However, he had a 5.71 ERA and 4.91 FIP over nine starts at Triple-A in the Rangers organization earlier this year. Meanwhile, he had 6.02 ERA and 4.93 SIERA in the majors for the Marlins last season. In other words, there’s a reason the two-time All-Star and 2014 Cy Young runner-up has been unable to get back to the majors in 2024.

Angels Outright Willie Calhoun

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Today: The Angels have sent Calhoun outright to Triple-A Salt Lake, the team announced. Calhoun has the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, but it is unclear whether or not he plans to do so.

August 15: The Angels are going to designate first baseman/outfielder Willie Calhoun for assignment, according to Alden González of ESPN on X. Infielder/outfielder Jack López is being called up, per Jorge Castillo of ESPN on X.

Calhoun, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Angels in the offseason and was selected to the big league roster on the first day of May. Since then, he has stepped to the plate 254 times in 68 games. His 9.1% walk rate in that time is solid and he’s done a great job of avoiding strikeouts, just a 12.2% rate, but hasn’t done much damage. He has five home runs and his .245/.315/.380 batting line translates to a 94 wRC+. His .263 batting average on balls in play is below league average, but he’s one of the slowest runners in the league and he has subpar metrics in terms of exit velocity, barrel rate and hard hit rate.

That has generally been the recipe with Calhoun. Although he was once one of the top prospects in the league and had a 21-home run season in 2019, that was the juiced-ball season and he’s been far less impactful since then. He has 857 plate appearances from 2020 to the present with an 8.4% walk rate and 12.8% strikeout rate but just 18 home runs, a .231/.299/.360 batting line and 82 wRC+.

Calhoun isn’t a burner on the basepaths, as mentioned, and isn’t considered a strong defender. It was once thought that he could make up for those shortcomings with his hit tool but he hasn’t provided enough thump for that to be the case thus far. He exhausted his final option in 2022, which has led to him bouncing around the league in recent years, spending time with the Rangers, Giants, Yankees and Angels. With the trade deadline now passed, the Halos will have no choice but to put Calhoun on waivers in the coming days.

López, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Halos in the offseason. He has played 104 Triple-A games this year, hitting 12 home runs and slashing .274/.333/.421 for a wRC+ of 86 in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.

There’s not much in his track record to suggest he’ll provide much more than that. He first reached Triple-A in 2017 and has played 687 minor league games from that year to the present. In that time, he has a .256/.306/.386 batting line and 77 wRC+. His major league experience consists of seven games with the 2021 Red Sox and he hit .154/.214/.308 in those.

However, he has regularly provided double-digit steals during his minor league career, including 15 so far this year. He’s also capable of playing all three outfield positions and the three infield spots to the left of first base. Calhoun has been the club’s designated hitter for much of the year but now they can rotate various players through that spot. With López giving them extra depth all over the diamond, they will have some cover for whoever is the DH on a given day.

Angels Select Niko Kavadas, Designate Luis Guillorme

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4:05pm: The Angels have now made all of these moves official. Lopez and Kavadas have been selected, with Guillorme and Calhoun designated for assignment.

12:59pm: The Angels are calling up first baseman/designated hitter Niko Kavadas to make his major league debut, as first reported by Chuck Freeby. In order to make space for Kavadas on the roster, the Angels will designate infielder Luis Guillorme for assignment, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register adds. The Halos are also reportedly set to select the contract of infielder Jack Lopez and designate Willie Calhoun for assignment. All of those moves will be announced later today.

Kavadas, 25, was acquired from the Red Sox alongside three other minor leaguers in the trade sending reliever Luis Garcia to Boston prior to the deadline. He’s posted a combined .264/.400/.521 slash between the two organizations’ Triple-A affiliates this year, though it’s worth noting he’s struggled mightily with the Angels’ top affiliate in Salt Lake, batting just .159/.229/.341 in 48 plate appearances.

An 11th-round pick by the Red Sox in 2021, Kavadas has clear plus power. He hit 26 homers in 515 plate appearances across three levels in 2022, belted 22 homers in just 480 plate appearances last year, and already has 19 long balls in 383 plate appearances this season.

That big-time power comes with a familiar red flag, however, in the form of strikeouts. Fans have seen plenty of three-true-outcomes sluggers over the years, and Kavadas embodies that approach to its fullest extent. A whopping 57% of his professional plate appearances have ended in either a homer, walk or strikeout. This season, he’s punched out in 33.9% of his plate appearances — and that’s actually an improvement over last year’s 35.8% mark. He’s also drawn a walk in a gaudy 16.2% of his trips to the plate.

The 6’1″, 235-pound Kavadas is a well below-average runner, and scouting reports peg his glovework at first base to be below-average as well. His huge power is his carrying tool, and whether he’s able to make enough contact to get to that power with regularity will determine the type of future he has. Players who whiff this much in the upper minors don’t tend to make enough contact to succeed in the big leagues, although Baseball America wrote in 2023 that Kavadas is an “intelligent hitter” with at least a chance to close some of the holes in his swing as he gains more experience.

Nolan Schanuel, the Angels’ 2023 first-rounder, skyrocketed to the majors less than two months after being drafted and has settled in as the primary first baseman. The 22-year-old Schanuel is in many ways the opposite of Kavadas: a first-base prospect with elite bat-to-ball skills but more a more suspect power profile.

After a slow start to the season, Schanuel is hitting .269/.382/.409 with nearly as many walks (14.6%) as strikeouts (15.2%) through his past 250 trips to the plate. He’s slumped lately, but the Angels presumably want to keep getting him exposure to big league pitching. That the promotion of Kavadas coincides with the DFA of Calhoun — who’s seen 60 games at designated hitter this year — suggests that Kavadas and his simultaneously thunderous and porous left-handed bat could get the bulk of the Angels’ DH reps down the stretch.

As for the 29-year-old Guillorme, he’s split the season between the Braves and Angels, batting a combined .218/.285/.290 in 138 plate appearances. He’s never been a big threat at the plate, but the versatile Guillorme offers strong infield defense across second base, shortstop and third base. He’s a career .254/.336/.327 hitter in 961 plate appearances — the vast majority of which came with the Mets from 2018-23.

With the trade deadline behind us, Guillorme will be placed on outright waivers or released. He’s earning just a $1.1MM base salary this season and has about $266K of that yet to be paid out. He’s versatile, experienced and affordable enough that another club might consider placing a claim. Guillorme has more than five years of service, meaning he can reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency and retain his entire salary. As such, if he clears waivers he’ll surely become a free agent and look to latch on with a new club — likely on a minor league deal. The new team would only owe him the prorated minimum for any time spent on the MLB roster/injured list.

Angels Release Amir Garrett, Adam Kolarek

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The Angels have released a pair of lefties that were each in the system in a non-roster capacity. Amir Garrett and Adam Kolarek have both been let go, per each player’s transactions tracker at MLB.com.

Garrett, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Giants this winter. That club decided he wasn’t going to make the Opening Day roster and released him, which freed him up to sign a minor league deal with the Angels. He was selected to the big league roster at the end of April and was in the majors for about two weeks. He tossed 5 1/3 innings in that time, racking up an impressive 11 strikeouts but also giving out five walks, leading to a 5.06 earned run average.

He was designated for assignment in the middle of May but returned to the Halos on a new minor league deal. He has tossed 33 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level this year with a 5.08 ERA, 28.5% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate. He’s been in good form lately, with a 1.59 ERA over his eight most recent appearances. In 11 1/3 innings in that stretch, he has 20 strikeouts and just four walks, all of that taking place in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.

Despite that strong run in recent weeks, the lefty has little utility for the Angels at this point. They are out of contention and will likely be using what’s left of the season to evaluate guys who could help in the future. That includes plenty of internal arms and they also claimed a couple of arms yesterday in Nick Robertson and Brock Burke, who are both optionable and controllable. Garrett, on the other hand, is a veteran with over six years of service time.

Perhaps those waiver claims nudged Garrett out, giving him a chance to a find a new club in the coming weeks. He has some success on his track record, mostly combining lots of strikeouts with lots of walks. In 330 2/3 big league innings to this point in his career, he has a 4.95 ERA, 26.7% strikeout rate and 13.3% walk rate.

With the trade deadline now in the past, teams are fairly limited in terms of their avenues for adding talent. Garrett can be wild but he has been an effective setup guy in the past, racking up over 20 holds with the Reds in both 2018 and 2019. His numbers this year are decent and could lead to him getting a shot somewhere else in the coming weeks. If he signs before the end of August, he’ll be postseason eligible with a new club.

Kolarek, 35, is also a veteran with a notable track record, but he’s had less success this year. The Angels signed him in the offseason to a deal worth $900K and then ran him through waivers. Since Kolarek has more than three years of service time but less than five, he could have returned to free agency but would have left that money on the table by doing so.

He accepted his assignment and has tossed 31 innings at the Triple-A level this year but with a 6.97 ERA. There’s surely some bad luck in there, as his .415 batting average on balls in play and 58.5% strand rate are both on the unfortunate side, but his rate stats aren’t amazing either. His 22% strikeout rate and 48.9% ground ball rate are close to average but his 12% walk rate is a few ticks worse than par.

His major league track record consists of 149 1/3 innings with a 3.62 ERA. His 15.9% strikeout rate in that time is low but he has only walked 6.8% of batters faced and has gotten grounders at a huge 63.9% clip. His Triple-A numbers this year haven’t taken the same shape but some club could perhaps take a shot on him, especially since the Angels are on the hook for what’s left of that salary. Any other club would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, which would be subtracted from what the Halos pay.

Angels, Corey Knebel Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Angels are signing reliever Corey Knebel to a minor league contract, as first reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. He’ll report to Triple-A Salt Lake. Knebel was granted his release from a non-roster deal with the White Sox earlier this month.

Now 32, Knebel is trying to get back to the majors for the first time since 2022. He has generally been a productive pitcher when healthy — highlighted by an All-Star season as Milwaukee’s closer back in ’17 — but has had various arm issues. He underwent a Tommy John procedure in 2019 and subsequently missed time with lat and shoulder concerns. Knebel didn’t pitch last season as he rehabbed a capsule strain that he suffered with the Phillies two years ago.

Most of his time with Chicago was also spent on the minor league IL. Knebel made six rehab appearances split between the complex and High-A. He only pitched six times for Triple-A Charlotte, though he impressed with 5 1/3 scoreless frames while striking out eight. While it wasn’t enough to convince the Sox to give him a look, that production evidently intrigued the Los Angeles front office.

It’s a fairly inconsequential move for the Halos, who aren’t anywhere near the playoff mix. Knebel will return to free agency this offseason regardless of whether he makes the MLB team. The final six weeks could serve as an audition as he tries to secure a big league opportunity going into 2025.

Angels Claim Nick Robertson, Brock Burke

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The Angels announced that they have claimed right-hander Nick Robertson off waivers from the Cardinals and left-hander Brock Burke off waivers from the Rangers. Both pitchers had been designated for assignment in recent days. The Halos had two vacancies on their 40-man roster and don’t need to make a corresponding move.

Each pitcher has shown some promise in past seasons but was struggling of late. They both got nudged off their respective roster spots but it makes sense for the Angels to take fliers on them. The Halos are out of contention and can use the remainder of the season to audition players for future roles, and had the open roster spots anyway.

Robertson, 26, pitched for the Dodgers and Red Sox in 2023. He tossed 22 1/3 innings in the majors with an unimpressive 6.04 earned run average but better underlying numbers. He struck out 24.5% of batters faced, gave out walks at an 8.5% clip and got grounders on 47.1% of balls in play. His .397 batting average on balls in play and 57.5% strand rate were both on the unlucky side, which is why he had a 3.88 FIP and 3.76 SIERA. He also had a strong 2.54 ERA in Triple-A last year with a huge 37.5% strikeout rate.

The Cards acquired him as one of the two pieces they got back from Boston in the Tyler O’Neill trade. He missed about a month of this season due to right elbow inflammation and has also been on optional assignment, only throwing 12 1/3 innings for the Cards. In that time, he had a 4.38 ERA, 26.9% strikeout rate and 3.8% walk rate. Oddly, he performed far worse in his 21 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level. He had a 7.48 ERA there, along with a 20.6% strikeout rate and 15.7% walk rate.

It’s not been an outstanding season so St. Louis decided to move on, but the Angels can see if he can find his way in a new environment. Robertson can be optioned for the rest of this year and will still have one option after that. He also currently has less than a year of service time, meaning he still has a ways to go before qualifying for arbitration or free agency.

Burke, 28, had a tremendous 2022 season. He tossed 82 1/3 innings for the Rangers that year with a 1.97 ERA, 27.4% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate. But his numbers backed up a bit last year, as he logged 59 2/3 frames with a 4.37 ERA and diminished 20.8% strikeout rate, though he did lower the walks to a rate of 3.6%.

This year, things have been even worse, which was partially self-induced on Burke’s part. He punched a wall in frustration after a poor outing and suffered a fracture in his right hand. Though it wasn’t his throwing hand, it still kept him on the IL for two months. Around that IL placement, he posted a 9.22 ERA in 13 2/3 innings and also spent about a month on optional assignment.

The results have obviously been trending in a bad direction and the wall-punching reflects poorly on him, but he can still be optioned for the rest of this year if the Angels so choose. He’ll be out of options next year but can be retained via arbitration through 2026.

Angels Release Zach Plesac

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The Angels are releasing right-hander Zach Plesac, reports Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (X link). The veteran starter had been on optional assignment with Triple-A Salt Lake. The move drops the Halos’ 40-man roster count to 38. Los Angeles could also move Mike Trout and Luis Rengifo to the 60-day IL at any point since both players are done for the season.

Plesac signed a $1MM free agent deal with Los Angeles over the winter. They ran him through waivers early in the season before reselecting his contract in mid-June. Plesac only started three games at the major league level, surrendering 11 runs in 12 innings. He’d otherwise been pitching in Salt Lake, where he owns a 5.69 ERA across 18 appearances. Plesac showed good control in the minors but only fanned 15% of opposing hitters. He last pitched for the Bees on August 3, though the team did not place him on the injured list at any point.

Assuming he’s healthy, Plesac could look for a minor league opportunity elsewhere. He’ll likely clear release waivers and become a free agent. Plesac hasn’t gotten much of an MLB look in either of the past two years, combining for eight starts between the Guardians and Halos since the beginning of the ’23 campaign. He’s still attacking the strike zone in the minors and was a serviceable back-end starter for Cleveland from 2021-22. Plesac’s dominant showing in 2020 looks like a quirk of the shortened season and in-division schedule, but his 4.49 ERA across 50 outings over the next two years is viable #5 starter production.

Cubs Pursued Logan O’Hoppe At Trade Deadline

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The Cubs need help behind the dish. That statement will not come as a surprise to anyone who has watched baseball on the North Side of Chicago this season. Cubs catchers are batting .199/.246/.305 with a 54 wRC+ in 2024. Those are grim numbers, even considering the lower offensive standards at the position. To add insult to injury, Cubs catchers don’t grade out well on defense either, with -4 Defensive Runs Saved (21st in MLB) and a -6 Fielding Run Value (23rd). Overall, Miguel Amaya, Christian Bethancourt, Tomás Nido, and Yan Gomes have combined for -0.9 FanGraphs WAR, last in the National League and 29th in MLB. Only the White Sox have gotten less production from behind the plate.

With all that in mind, it makes sense that the team made a serious effort to add a new backstop before the July 30 trade deadline. According to Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer “aggressively pursued” catching this summer. Logan O’Hoppe of the Angels was one player he had his eye on. However, Sharma notes that the Angels “repeatedly and firmly rebuffed” Hoyer’s attempts to trade for their 24-year-old catcher. 

This lines up with everything we already knew about Chicago’s plan ahead of the deadline. The Cubs were linked to Danny Jansen, arguably the best catcher on the trade block, in mid-July. However, Hoyer later stated that he wasn’t going to make moves that would only improve the roster in 2024, but rather those that would help the team “for 2025 and beyond.” Jansen is set to reach free agency this winter, as is Carson Kelly, the only other notable catcher traded at this year’s deadline. In other words, neither matched up with what the Cubs were seeking. O’Hoppe, on the other hand, will not be eligible for arbitration until the 2026 season, and he will not reach free agency until the offseason after the 2028 campaign. Much like Isaac Paredes, O’Hoppe could have helped the Cubs compete in 2024 and for several years to come.

Yet, for the same reasons, it’s not hard to understand why the Angels had no interest in giving him up. O’Hoppe broke out at the plate during an injury-shortened 2023 campaign. In 51 games, he hit 14 home runs and put up a 113 wRC+. His .264 isolated power ranked second among primary catchers (min. 150 PA), while his .500 slugging percentage ranked fourth. The young catcher has continued to hit in 2024, slashing .260/.320/.435 with a 111 wRC+ across 101 games. He has also taken a big step forward on defense. His defensive metrics remain below average in just about every category, including pitch framing, blocking, and pop time, but he is not nearly as much of a liability as he was last season. In 2023, he produced -9 DRS and a -7 FRV in just 49 games at catcher. This year, in almost twice as many appearances, he has a much more palatable -3 DRS and -3 FRV. All told, O’Hoppe has produced 1.8 fWAR, which ranks 10th among primary catchers. Still just 24 and playing in his first full MLB season, he has plenty of time to continue to improve.

Los Angeles was quiet at the trade deadline, and reports suggested GM Perry Minasian was unlikely to trade any players who were not on expiring contracts. That turned out to be true, as relievers Carlos Estévez and Luis García were the only players the team ended up selling. One could argue the Angels should have been aggressive in shopping players with multiple years of team control, such as Tyler Anderson, Taylor Ward, and Griffin Canning. However, they had very little incentive to trade O’Hoppe, especially if they are hoping to contend again in the near future.

Thus, the Cubs struck out on O’Hoppe and ultimately decided to stick with what they had: Amaya, Bethancourt, and, once he returns from the IL, Nido. That means Amaya is the primary catcher, although Sharma notes that the team sees him as a backup for 2025 and beyond. Meanwhile, Bethancourt has been hot since he joined the team as a replacement for the injured Nido in late July. Once Nido is ready to return, Chicago will need to make a decision if he or Bethancourt will be the second-string catcher for the rest of the 2024 campaign. As for next year, Hoyer must address the catching position over the offseason. Free agent options will include Jansen, Kelly, Elias Díaz, and Jacob Stallings (if his mutual option with the Rockies is not exercised). The best internal option for the Cubs is top catching prospect Moises Ballesteros, but he is only 20 years old, and Sharma points out that the team isn’t sold on his defense. Finally, Hoyer will surely remain active in trade talks, but it’s hard to say if any big-name backstops will be on the block this winter.

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