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Angels, Carson Fulmer Agree To Minor League Deal

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Right-hander Carson Fulmer is headed back to the Angels organization. Fulmer, who’d been with the Pirates on a minor league deal, was released by Pittsburgh earlier this week and has quickly signed a minor league deal to return to the Halos, per the MiLB.com transaction log. The Icon Sports client spent the 2023-24 seasons pitching between Triple-A Salt Lake and Anaheim as well.

A former first-round pick and top prospect, Fulmer never found his footing with the White Sox (his original club) or in subsequent stints with the Tigers, Orioles and Reds. He had a decent two-year run with the Halos, however, tossing a combined 96 2/3 innings with a 4.00 ERA, a 20.8% strikeout rate and a 10.5% walk rate from 2023-24. The bulk of that work came just last season, when he pitched a career-high 86 2/3 innings for Ron Washington’s club (29 relief outings, eight starts).

So far in 2025, Fulmer has worked 42 2/3 innings for the Pirates’ Triple-A club in Indianapolis and recorded a 4.64 ERA. He opened the season as a member of Indy’s rotation but struggled badly, yielding 17 runs in 28 2/3 innings. Since moving back to the bullpen on May 7, he’s pitched 14 innings with a 3.21 ERA and 12-to-5 K/BB ratio. Fulmer has pitched two or more innings in six of his seven bullpen appearances.

The Angels have spent much of the year scooping up pitching depth of all varieties as they try to piece together a passable staff. It hasn’t worked so far. Angels starters rank 22nd in the majors with a 4.33 ERA but are 28th in FIP, 29th in strikeout rate, 29th in walk rate and 30th in SIERA. Their bullpen has been even less effective, logging a 28th-ranked 5.75 ERA and issuing walks at the third-highest clip of any team in MLB. Fulmer is the latest in a growing line of veteran arms signed in-season on minor league deals, joining Hector Neris, Hunter Strickland, Buck Farmer, Andrew Vasquez and Sammy Peralta in that regard.

Angels Place Yoán Moncada, Robert Stephenson On Injured List

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The Angels announced today that infielder Yoán Moncada has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to right knee inflammation. Right-hander Robert Stephenson landed on the 15-day IL due to right biceps inflammation, retroactive to May 31st. The Halos didn’t provide any information about how long either player is expected to be out of action. Outfielder Matthew Lugo and righty Sam Aldegheri were recalled to take the two vacated active roster spots.

Moncada, 30, signed with the Halos this offseason on a one-year deal which pays him $5MM. He has been excellent when he’s been on the field. He has stepped to the plate 113 times over 30 games. His 28.3% strikeout rate is high but he has six home runs and has drawn walks at a strong 11.5% clip. His .237/.336/.505 batting line translates to a 135 wRC+, indicating he’s been 35% better than league average at the plate overall.

But as has often been the case with Moncada, injuries have gotten in the way. He hasn’t played more than 104 games in a season since 2021 due to various ailments. He only got into 12 contests last year due to an adductor strain. He already missed almost a month this year due to a thumb sprain and now this knee issue has him on the shelf again.

It’s a bit of a double blow for the Halos, who are struggling to hang in the American League playoff race. They are 26-32, ahead of just three American League clubs and five games back of the final Wild Card spot. Losing Moncada will hurt their ability to stay in the race. Shortstop Zach Neto is the only position player on the team with a higher wins above replacement tally this year, in the eyes of FanGraphs. If they fall back in the race, Moncada would be one of their more interesting trade chips, though each injury compounds his injury-prone reputation and hurts his trade value.

With Moncada ailing in recent days, the Halos have had Luis Rengifo move from second to third with Scott Kingery taking over the keystone. That could perhaps be their regular alignment while Moncada is out, with Kevin Newman and Chris Taylor also on hand.

For Stephenson, it’s a frustrating setback. He signed a three-year, $33MM deal going into 2024 but required Tommy John surgery in April of last year, before he even got a chance to throw a pitch for the Angels. He recovered from that surgery and was reinstated from the IL a few days ago. But in his second appearance, which was on Friday, he departed after just three pitches with an apparent injury.

The Angels’ bullpen has a collective 6.04 earned run average, worse than every club in the majors except for the Athletics. Ideally, Stephenson’s return would have strengthened the group. In the second half of 2023, he was one of the best relievers on the planet. With the Rays, he threw 38 1/3 innings with a 2.35 ERA, 42.9% strikeout rate and 5.7% walk rate. That prompted the Angels to give him a hefty deal but he hasn’t been able to give them a return on that investment yet and that won’t change for a few more weeks at least.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

Dodgers Claim Chuckie Robinson, Move Tyler Glasnow To 60-Day IL

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The Dodgers have claimed catcher Chuckie Robinson off waivers from the Angels, as announced by both Los Angeles clubs.  Tyler Glasnow was moved from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day IL in order to open up room on the Dodgers’ roster.

It has now been a little over a month since Glasnow went to the 15-day IL due to right shoulder inflammation, and he was shut down for over two weeks before resuming his throwing in mid-May.  He threw his first bullpen session last weekend and by all reports emerged in good form, even if some more build-up was naturally required.

The shift to the 60-day IL now firmly rules Glasnow out of action until close to the end of June, so he’ll have plenty of time to gradually rebuild his arm strength.  Despite the injury-riddled nature of their pitching staff, the Dodgers surely aren’t going to rush Glasnow in any way, both out of common sense and as a nod to his lengthy injury history.

With a roster spot now open due to the Glasnow move, the Dodgers chose to add another backstop.  Robinson was designated for assignment by the Angels earlier this week, and he’ll now head over to the other L.A. team to join Hunter Feduccia and Chris Okey as Triple-A catchers with some degree of MLB experience.  Top prospect Dalton Rushing is now serving on the big league roster as Will Smith’s backup, and is focused just on catching despite some work in the minors as an outfielder and first baseman.  If Rushing’s workload is expanded to another position, the Dodgers may like the idea of having more traditional catchers on hand for depth purposes.

Robinson has 51 Major League games on his resume, consisting of 25 appearances with the 2022 Reds and then 26 more games with the White Sox last season.  The catcher has hit .132/.170/.194 over 136 plate appearances at the big league level.

Angels Release Tim Anderson

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The Angels announced that infielder Tim Anderson has been released. He had been designated for assignment two days ago. He’ll be a free agent once he clears release waivers, unless he has already.

This was the expected outcome when Anderson was designated for assignment earlier this week. He was unlikely to be claimed based on his performance this year and in other recent seasons. He has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency, so the Angels have skipped over that formality.

He’ll now be free to sign with any club, though he’ll surely be limited to minor league offers. Anderson just produced a tepid .205/.258/.241 line over 90 plate appearances with the Angels. That continued a yearslong slump for him. Dating back to the start of the 2023 season, he has stepped to the plate 855 times with a .232/.269/.270 line. That leads to a 49 wRC+, indicating he’s been 51% worse than league average at the plate.

Based on that performance, he’s unlikely to get a major league opportunity in the immediate future. There’s no harm in a minor league deal, however, and Anderson has previous major league success. From 2019 to 2022, he slashed .318/.347/.473 for a 123 wRC+ with the White Sox. He also stole 53 bases while playing solid shortstop defense.

But early in 2023, he landed on the injured list due to a left knee sprain and hasn’t been the same since. The White Sox declined a $14MM club option for 2024, going for the $1MM buyout instead. Anderson landed a $5MM deal with the Marlins going into last year but was released in July. He signed a minor league deal with the Halos for this year and cracked the Opening Day roster but wasn’t able to produce. His 32nd birthday is next month. He’ll now see what kind of opportunities await him on the open market.

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Hui, Imagn Images

Angels Re-Sign Shaun Anderson To Minor League Deal

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Right-hander Shaun Anderson cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the Angels, briefly elected free agency and quickly re-signed with the Halos on a new minor league pact, per the transaction logs at MiLB.com.

The 30-year-old Anderson pitched 10 innings for the Halos prior to his DFA and was tagged for seven runs on 14 hits and three walks with 10 strikeouts. He averaged a pedestrian 92.1 mph on his four-seamer but still notched a hearty 12.2% swinging-strike rate thanks in part to a changeup he’s incorporated into his mix at a career-high rate of usage (23.3%). Anderson entered the season with 152 MLB innings under his belt and had thrown just seven percent changeups in his career (11.5% in 2024). It’s a small sample of innings, but he was also using his changeup more frequently (albeit not to this extent) in Triple-A as well.

Anderson has seen action in parts of six major league seasons and suited up for eight different teams along the way. He’s been hit hard, yielding a 6.11 ERA with a 16.8% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate in 162 MLB frames overall, but teams have continued to give him looks based on a solid Triple-A track record and some appealing traits in his pitches. He’s shown good aptitude for generating spin on both his four-seamer and slider throughout his career, and the 6’6″ righty gets excellent extension on his pitches, which can help his lackluster velocity play up.

Anderson was working as a starter in Salt Lake prior to being called up by the Angels. He’d tossed 37 1/3 innings across seven starts and logged a 5.06 ERA, a 17.6% strikeout rate and a 7.6% walk rate in that time. He worked as a multi-inning reliever with the Angels and saw his pitch count climb as high as 51 in one of his appearances with the Angels, on May 11. He’ll now remain with the Halos and again serve as a versatile depth arm who could come to the majors and help in a variety of roles.

Angels Designate Tim Anderson For Assignment

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The Angels announced a series of roster moves today. They have selected the contract of infielder Scott Kingery and reinstated right-hander Robert Stephenson from the 60-day injured list. To make room for those two on the active roster, left-hander Jake Eder has been optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake and infielder Tim Anderson has been designated for assignment. To open another 40-man spot, catcher Chuckie Robinson has been designated for assignment.

Anderson, 32 next month, signed a minor league deal with the Angels in the offseason. A former All-Star and batting champion, Anderson’s production tailed off in 2023 and 2024, which is why he had to settle for a minor league pact. Injuries to infielders like Zach Neto, Anthony Rendon and Yoán Moncada opened a path for him to crack the roster but he hasn’t done much with the opportunity.

Across 31 games, Anderson stepped to the plate 90 times for the Halos. His 3.3% walk rate was very low but that’s always been his style. Unfortunately, his 32.2% strikeout rate was way above both his personal track record and the league average. He had only three extra-base hits, which were all doubles. It all added up to a .205/.258/.241 line and 42 wRC+.

As mentioned, Anderson was once an All-Star and batting champion. He slashed .318/.347/.473 for a 123 wRC+ from 2019 through 2022. But from the start of 2023 to the present, he has 855 plate appearances with a .232/.269/.270 line and 49 wRC+. With other players getting healthy and/or performing better than Anderson, he’s been squeezed off the roster. He will likely be placed on waivers in the coming days but probably won’t find much interest, given his ongoing struggles. If he is passed through waivers unclaimed, he’ll have the right to elect free agency.

His playing time will seemingly be going to Kingery, who was acquired from the Phillies in the offseason but then outrighted off the 40-man. He has been excelling at Triple-A Salt Lake this year, with a .373/.418/.578 line, though those numbers need to be taken with some grains from that lake. The Bees play in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League and Kingery also has a massive .433 batting average on balls in play that he won’t be able to sustain.

Still, it’s understandable to consider him a better bet than Anderson. Kingery’s major league track record isn’t strong but he had a solid .268/.316/.488 slash and 103 wRC+ for the Phillies’ Triple-A club last year. He also stole 25 bases while playing second base, shortstop and center field. Given how bad Anderson has been struggling, Kingery doesn’t need to be a star to be an upgrade.

The return of Stephenson is a notable moment for the Angels. They signed him to a three-year, $33MM deal going into 2024 but he still hasn’t made his team debut. Some elbow issues plagued him at the start of last year and he ultimately required Tommy John surgery at the end of April. He has been rehabbing from that procedure for just over a year now.

His track record is mixed, with a 4.64 earned run average in his career, but the Angels made a bet that he had broken out just prior to the signing. A former first-round pick and top prospect, he couldn’t stick in a rotation and eventually moved to a relief role. He occasionally showed flashes of promise there before putting together an elite run in 2023.

He started that year with the Pirates and had an uninspiring 5.14 ERA when he was traded to the Rays. With Tampa, he reeled off 38 1/3 innings with a 2.35 ERA, 42.9% strikeout rate and 5.7% walk rate. In short, he was one of the best relievers on the planet for a few months.

The Angels haven’t yet received any return on their investment but Stephenson’s return could be a massive boost, as their bullpen is one of the worst in the league. Their relievers have a collective 6.31 ERA, dead last in the majors, slightly behind Washington’s 6.22 mark. Even if Stephenson doesn’t fully return to his dominant form from the second half of 2023, he should be a nice upgrade to the group. Kenley Jansen will perhaps continue in the closer’s role but Stephenson should be in line for meaningful innings one way or another.

Robinson, 30, was acquired from the White Sox in the offseason. He has been serving as Triple-A depth so far this season, hitting .272/.315/.388 for the Bees. He’ll head into DFA limbo alongside Anderson. He still has options and could perhaps appeal to a club in need of catching depth. He generally hasn’t hit much but has a decent defensive reputation. The Angels are now down to just two catchers on their 40-man roster in Logan O’Hoppe and Travis d’Arnaud.

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Hui, Imagn Images

Angels, Oscar Colas Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Angels and outfielder Oscar Colas are in agreement on a minor league contract, as first reported by Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com. He’s expected to head to the Halos’ Double-A affiliate once he passes his physical, per the report.

Colas is the latest in a line of former top prospects to try to rebuild their careers with the Halos. The Angels have regularly given looks to once-vaunted talents who didn’t reach their potential through several auditions with their original organizations. Recent examples include Carter Kieboom, Willie Calhoun, Keston Hiura, Miguel Sano and Carson Fulmer, just to name a few.

The 26-year-old Colas was a notable international pickup by the White Sox during the 2021-22 signing period. He’d posted intriguing power numbers both in the Cuban National Series and in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Initial thought that he could be a two-way player based on some dabbling on the mound in Japan proved vastly overstated, but throughout Colas’ early run in the ChiSox organization, he was still lauded as a top-100 prospect in the sport.

During the 2022 season, his first after signing with the Sox, Colas ripped through minor league pitching, slashing .314/.371/.524 with 23 homers across three levels. Strong as those rate stats were, his production came with some red flags. Colas spent the bulk of the season playing against younger and less experienced competition, and he rarely walked. His strikeout rates also climbed rapidly as he moved from High-A to Double-A to Triple-A.

Colas made his big league debut the following year, in 2023, and looked overmatched against MLB opposition. He tallied 263 plate appearances over the life of 75 games and turned in an anemic .216/.257/.314 batting line with a hefty 27.6% strikeout rate against a tiny 4.6% walk rate. His overly aggressive approach was clearly exploited; Colas had the 13th-highest chase rate on pitches off the plate among the 328 batters who tallied at least 250 plate appearances in 2023. His contact rate ranked 289th among that same set of 328 hitters.

Colas still managed to hit Triple-A pitching well that season, but even his production in the upper minors dipped the following season. He .246/.332/.400 at the Triple-A level in 2024. Even as the White Sox fielded a historically bad team that season, he received only 38 major league plate appearances and hit just .273/.368/.273 in that time. He split 2025 between the White Sox’ Double-A and Triple-A squads, batting a combined .163/.245/.255 in 110 turns at the plate before being released.

At this point, Colas is a pure project, but there’s little harm for an Angels team with a paper-thin farm system speculating on a once-notable outfield prospect. Only two of the Angels’ top 20 prospects at MLB.com are outfielders. Nelson Rada is currently hitting well in Double-A but is only 19 years old. Matthew Lugo is on the big league roster but showing a similarly untenable approach to that of the recently optioned Kyren Paris — chasing pitches and striking out at alarming rates. Colas will have to hit his way into being an option whatsoever, but he’ll give them some depth at a thin position.

Angels Sign Chris Taylor, Option Kyren Paris

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4:19PM: The Angels officially announced Taylor’s signing, and Paris’ demotion to Triple-A.

4:00PM: The Angels are going to sign utility player Chris Taylor, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Halos haven’t officially announced anything but Rosenthal says Taylor will be playing center field tonight when the club squares off against the Yankees, so it seems he’s jumping right onto the roster and into the lineup. The Angels have an open 40-man spot after right-hander Shaun Anderson was recently designated for assignment. Per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, outfielder Kyren Paris will be optioned as the corresponding active roster move.

Taylor, 34, spent many years as a useful player for the Dodgers. He bounced all over the diamond, stole bases and was above average at the plate as well. The Dodgers valued those contributions enough to re-sign Taylor ahead of the 2022 season, a four-year, $60MM deal. Unfortunately, Taylor’s production has dropped in recent years, which has cut into his playing time. He has been unable to climb out of his hole while stuck in a part-time gig, so the Dodgers released him just over a week ago.

The Dodgers are still on the hook for what’s left of Taylor’s $13MM salary this year, as well as the $4MM buyout on Taylor’s $12MM 2026 club option. That makes this a buy-low move for the Angels. They will only have to pay Taylor the prorated league minimum for any time he spends on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Dodgers pay.

The Halos are presumably hoping that getting Taylor some regular playing time will help him get back on track. From 2017 to 2021, he hit .265/.343/.461 for a 116 wRC+, stealing 50 bases over that span while playing every position except for first base and the battery. But since then, he has a .222/.307/.369 line and 90 wRC+. Last year, he dropped to a .202/.298/.300 line and 74 wRC+. He has fallen even farther so far in 2025, with a .200/.200/.257 line and 23 wRC+.

Taylor’s versatility essentially makes him a more experienced version of Paris, who has seen time as a second baseman, shortstop, center fielder, and left fielder over his three MLB seasons. Paris appeared in 36 games with the Angels over the previous two seasons, but he got a much longer look this year, getting into 43 games while mostly toggling between second base and center field.

It seemed like Paris was cementing his place as a lineup regular when he got off to a hot start, but his bat has drastically cooled off after the season’s first two weeks. Over 140 PA, Paris has struck out a whopping 59 times, and his slash line is down to .190/.266/.381 with six home runs. Some time in the minors might help Paris stabilize things at the plate, and it should be noted that Paris has only 37 career games at the Triple-A level (all in 2024). The Angels continued their habit of aggressive prospect promotions by calling Paris up for his MLB debut in 2023 before Paris had even appeared to Triple-A.

Latest On Mike Trout

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Mike Trout is seemingly nearing a return to action, as the Angels superstar has been taking part in batting practice sessions and running drills, and is set to start running the bases within the next few days’ time.  Trout has been out since April 30 due to a bone bruise in his left knee, and when he does get back, it isn’t clear whether or not Trout will return to outfield duty or if he’ll get more time as a DH in order to help preserve his health.  Halos manager Ron Washington told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register and other reporters that the focus right now is just on getting Trout healthy, and “once Mike is back, we can have that conversation right there” about his spot in the lineup.

After years as the Halos’ center fielder, Trout began 2025 in right field, already as a way to try and reduce the wear-and-tear on the oft-injured star.  Of course, if Trout takes on more of a regular DH role, that would force Jorge Soler into more right field work, which wouldn’t bode well for the L.A. defense given Soler’s long history of subpar glovework.  While Washington has felt Soler has “done an outstanding job” in 13 appearances as a right fielder this season, the team feels keeping Soler in right field only in limited fashion is the best solution to help Soler’s overall game.  “Running him out there five, six days in a row, we’re not going to do that.  But give him two days, a change from just hitting, will help him focus more,” Washington said.

Angels Promote Caden Dana

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The Angels announced this evening that they have designated right-hander Shaun Anderson for assignment. Anderson’s departure would make room for right-hander Caden Dana, who Sam Blum of The Athletic notes is poised to join the club’s bullpen.

Anderson, 30, was a third-round pick by the Red Sox all the way back in 2016 who made his big league debut with the Giants in 2019. He’s pitched parts of six seasons in the majors but has never had much success in doing so. Across 162 innings of work between the Giants, Twins, Orioles, Padres, Blue Jays, Rangers, Marlins, and Angels, the righty has a career 6.11 ERA in the big leagues with a 16.8% strikeout rate and an 8.7% walk rate. He’s also had troubles with the long ball over the years, with 13.5% of his fly balls leaving the yard throughout his career.

It’s a rough profile, though a solid 2023 season in the KBO league where he pitched to a 3.76 ERA across 14 starts for the Kia Tigers offers at least some level of optimism about his ability to get outs at a higher professional level. He also has a 3.86 ERA in 349 1/3 career innings at Triple-A, suggesting he can at least be viable minor league depth for a pitching-needy club. The Angels will have one week to either work out a trade involving Anderson or attempt to pass him through waivers, at which point he would have the option to either accept an outright assignment or test free agency.

As for Dana, the 21-year-old has not yet done much at the big league level across parts of two seasons. He’s posted an 8.78 ERA in 13 1/3 big league innings so far, spread between three starts last year and one multi-inning relief outing earlier this season. Despite those lackluster performances in his brief time in the majors so far, Dana is a consensus top-100 prospect who dominated Double-A pitching last year with a 2.52 ERA across 23 starts (135 2/3 innings of work) with a 27.4% strikeout rate.

It was an extremely impressive showing, though Dana hasn’t been able to keep it up at Triple-A this year. In 38 innings of work across eight starts, he’s posted a 5.21 ERA despite a solid 24.6% strikeout rate. Much of that is surely due to the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League, however, and perhaps getting Dana into a more pitching-friendly environment is why the Angels have decided to work to continue the right-hander’s development at the big league level. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time a top pitching prospect broke into the majors first as a reliever, with Chris Sale’s early years with the White Sox standing out as perhaps the most noteworthy example.

The competitiveness of the big league club may also be a factor in the club’s aggressive promotion of Dana. After all, the club entered the weekend with an eight-game winning streak that had brought them back up to a .500 record, which puts them just 1.5 games out of playoff position in a weak AL Wild Card field. After a playoff drought that has lasted nearly all of Mike Trout’s career, it makes plenty of sense for the Angels to be aggressive in trying to capitalize on that opportunity. That aggressiveness could include pushing Dana to finish his development in the big league bullpen rather than the Triple-A rotation, where he can get reps against big leaguers in a less hostile environment to pitchers while avoiding the need to build up to a full starter’s workload or pitch a third time through the order.

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