Angels Sign Johnny Cueto To Minor League Deal
The Angels and veteran right-hander Johnny Cueto are in agreement on a minor league deal, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The news comes on the heels of Cueto opting out of his minors deal with the Rangers earlier this month.
Cueto, 38, is a two-time All-Star and a veteran of 16 MLB seasons. From 2010 to 2016, he was among the very best starters in the entire league with a 2.86 ERA (141 ERA+) that was second to only Clayton Kershaw among qualified starters with at least 500 innings of work during that span. As the righty entered his 30’s, injuries began to cost him more and more time on the mound, and after a dominant 2016 season in the first year of his $130MM pact with San Francisco he managed just 394 1/3 innings of work over the next five seasons, with a middling 4.38 ERA (95 ERA+) during that time.
Cueto ended up signing on with the White Sox on a minor league deal entering the 2022 season, and things appeared to be turning around for the veteran upon his arrival in Chicago. The deal could hardly have gone better for the South Siders, as the right-hander enjoyed a return to form with a 3.35 ERA (118 ERA+) and 3.79 FIP in 158 1/3 innings of work across 25 appearances (24 starts.) Those ERA, ERA+, and FIP figures were all the best Cueto had posted in a full season since his dominant 2016 campaign in San Francisco, though his career-worst 15.7% strikeout rate offered reason for concern.
That didn’t stop the Marlins from pursuing Cueto during the 2022-23 offseason, however, and they signed him to a one-year deal that guaranteed him $8.5MM that winter. It’s a contract that did not go how either side was hoping, to say the least. Cueto struggled badly with Miami during his age-37 campaign, posting an ugly 6.02 ERA with a 7.02 FIP in 52 1/3 innings of work amid trips to the injured list for biceps tightness and a viral infection. While it’s at least feasible that Cueto’s injury and illness issues last season played a role in his deep struggles, the right-hander was unable to find a big league deal this winter and eventually settled for a minor league deal in Texas back in April.
The veteran ultimately made eight starts with the Rangers at the Triple-A level, struggling to a 5.92 ERA in 38 innings of work as he did so, before opting out to return to the open market. He’ll now get a chance to prove himself with the Angels, and it’s relatively easy to imagine the pitching-hungry Halos affording Cueto a big league opportunity as long as he proves able to hold his own at Triple-A. After all, lefty Tyler Anderson and righty Griffin Canning are the club’s most established starters at the moment, and both of those arms have been the subject of plenty of trade speculation ahead of the deadline. Even if a trade doesn’t open up a spot in the club’s rotation, however, there’s plenty of room for Cueto to push his way into a mix that currently features the likes of Carson Fulmer and Jack Kochanowicz.
Mike Trout Slated To Begin Minor League Rehab On Monday
Mike Trout‘s last health update came in late June, when the Angels superstar was aiming to return to action before the end of July. That timeline appears to be coming into focus, as MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger writes (via X) that Trout could be back in the Angels’ lineup before the end of the week. The first step is facing live pitching at the Angels’ Spring Training complex this weekend, and Trout is then expected to start a Triple-A rehab assignment on Monday.
Bollinger suggests that Trout could be activated from the 60-day injured list on Thursday, when the Halos return home to start a four-game series with the A’s. Assuming this date holds up, that would make it almost exactly three months since Trout’s last game, as the outfielder last took the field on April 29 before suffering a torn meniscus in his left knee. The injury required surgery and another lengthy absence for Trout, which has unfortunately become far too common an occurrence for the three-time AL MVP. Between a right calf strain, back issues, a left hamate fracture, and now this knee surgery, Trout has played in only 266 games since the start of the 2021 season.
In typical fashion, Trout has still been outstanding in that limited playing time, posting a .951 OPS over 1133 plate appearances since Opening Day 2021. Those numbers include 10 homers and a .220/.325/.541 slash line in 126 plate appearances this season, and while this translates to a 138 wRC+, that impressive number still counts as a step down from Trout’s usual level of Cooperstown-esque production. Trout was making much less hard contact than usual but also with a drastic reduction in his strikeouts.
While it may be overstating things to read too deeply into a 126-PA sample size, some kind of dropoff is perhaps inevitable given Trout’s age (33 in August), his recent injury history, and simply the fact that only a few players in baseball history have ever kept Trout’s prior level of production over a longer period of time. Trout’s 135 wRC+ over the last two seasons comes on the heels of a 174 wRC+ and a .305/.418/.592 slash line from 2012-22.
Of course, Los Angeles reached the playoffs just once during that 11-year run, and the team hasn’t had a winning season since 2015. Trout will return to another lost season, as the Angels have languished to a 41-56 record and are again looking to sell at the deadline, albeit in perhaps a somewhat limited fashion. Finishing out the year in his usual form and in good health would provide Trout with a nice platform for 2025, though questions will persist about how long Trout might continue putting up with the Halos’ struggles before asking for a trade. Or, if a deal would be feasible given how Angels owner Arte Moreno has long resisted rebuilding, plus how Trout’s huge remaining contract ($212.7MM over the 2025-30 seasons) and his health history would certainly make interested suitors wary of taking on such a big salary commitment.
Angels Sign First-Round Pick Christian Moore
The Angels have signed first-round pick Christian Moore with a signing bonus of $4,997,500, per Carlos Collazo of Baseball America on X. The fact that the bonus is $2,500 shy of $5MM probably isn’t a coincidence. As explained by Jim Callis of MLB.com on X, players get a bonus of that amount when the signing is executed. The slot value for that pick is just over $6.5MM, so this comes in well under slot.
Moore, 21, has spent the past three years putting up huge numbers at Tennessee. He hit 61 home runs in 186 games over those three campaigns and slashed a combined .338/.447/.698. That includes 34 home runs in 2024 alone, with a monster line of .375/.451/.797 this year.
His power is considered better than his hitting ability, but he made some positive strides in that department lately. He struck out at a 24.3% clip last year but dropped that all the way to 14.5% this year. Defensively, he has played all three outfield spots and the three infield positions to the left of first base, but he’s spent the majority of his time at second base.
Despite the concerning elements of his game, the power is strong enough for him to have been placed highly on pre-draft rankings, though not as high as where he was ultimately selected. Keith Law of The Athletic had him in the #37 slot, FanGraphs at #23, MLB Pipeline at #13, while both Baseball America and ESPN had him at #12. Law expressed skepticism that Moore’s power would hold up with a wooden bat and also suggested his limited defensive abilities would eventually push him to left field. BA expressed optimism that his improved contact would play well with his natural power.
Though Moore was taken eighth overall, his bonus actually falls between the slot value of the 14th and 15th pick, which aligns more closely to his pre-draft rankings. By signing Moore to an underslot deal, the Halos will have some money to work with in signing players taken in later rounds.
How Moore fits into the club’s future will depend on his ultimate defensive home. Players like Luis Rengifo and Brandon Drury have seen most of the playing time at second base in recent years but Drury is an impending free agent while Rengifo is a trade candidate with one arbitration season remaining.
Angels Request Release Waivers On Miguel Sano
The Angels are releasing corner infielder Miguel Sano following last week’s DFA, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He’ll be a free agent once he formally clears release waivers.
Sano returned to the big leagues with the Halos this season after not playing in 2023. A former All-Star and third-place Rookie of the Year finisher with the Twins, Sano looked ticketed for stardom earlier in his career but never consistently established himself as a middle-of-the-order hitter in Minnesota, despite possessing 80-grade power (on the 20-80 scale). He’s cleared 25 home runs in four different MLB campaigns, including a pair of 30-homer seasons, but has gone down on strikes in more than 36% of his career plate appearances and regularly graded as a poor defender at both infield corners.
From 2015-19, Sano turned in a .245/.338/.498 batting line with 118 home runs in 2051 plate appearances with the Twins (an average of 39 homers per 162 games played). His bat has tailed off significantly since that time as he’s struggled to stay on the field as well. In 903 plate appearances from 2020-24, Sano is a .207/.295/.428 hitter. That stretch includes a 30-homer showing in 2021, but that’s the lone time in the past five years he’s made an impact at the plate.
Sano never curbed his strikeout woes and, as his struggles intensified, began to walk less than in his earlier days. He hit just .083/.211/.133 in 71 plate appearances with the ’22 Twins, didn’t play in ’23, and posted an anemic .205/.295/.313 slash in 95 plate appearances as an Angel. He also missed nearly six weeks of the season with a left knee injury. Sano still has that huge raw power, which could land him a minor league deal with another club, but it seems likely he’ll need to slug his way back into the majors with a decent Triple-A showing.
MLBTR Podcast: Brewers’ Pitching Needs, Marlins Rumors And The Nats Prepare To Sell
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- The Brewers acquiring Aaron Civale from the Rays (2:05)
- The Marlins likely trading Tanner Scott and Jazz Chisholm Jr. (9:45)
- The Angels reportedly only want to trade rentals (17:30)
- The Nationals reportedly preparing to be deadline sellers (22:40)
Plus, we answer your questions, including…
- Who gets traded from the Blue Jays at the deadline? (27:55)
- What will the Mariners do to take advantage on their stellar rotation and make a run for their first World Series appearance? Also, should the Mariners trade J.P. Crawford for a proven hitter? (33:30)
- Do you think there’s a chance the Braves make Max Fried a legitimate offer to keep him this winter? (39:00)
Check out our past episodes!
- The Rays Could Deal Starters, Garrett Crochet, James Wood And Free Agent Power Rankings – listen here
- Injured Trade Candidates, The Cristopher Sánchez Extension And Blue Jays’ Woes – listen here
- José Abreu’s Release, Mookie Betts and Yoshinobu Yamamoto Hit The IL And Even More Injuries – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Angels To Promote Jack Kochanowicz
The Angels are calling up right-hander Jack Kochanowicz to start Thursday’s game, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register on X. The righty is already on the 40-man roster but will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. The Halos announced that righty Davis Daniel has been optioned to Triple-A with lefty Kenny Rosenberg recalled to take Daniel’s spot tonight. A move will be required to get Kochanowicz onto the roster tomorrow, which might just be Rosenberg getting optioned back down, depending on what happens in tonight’s contest.
Kochanowicz, 23, was a third-round pick of the Halos in the 2019 draft. He didn’t pitch in the affiliated ranks in the months following that selection and then the minors were wiped out by the pandemic in 2020, delaying his professional debut.
He has since been working his way through the system with a grounder-heavy approach. He has thrown 326 innings in the minors to this point in his career with a 5.44 earned run average. His 19.1% strikeout rate in that time is subpar but he’s limited walks to a 7% clip and has had strong ground ball rates at every stop so far. Major league average is at 42.4% this year but Kochanowicz has been between 48 and 63% at every stop of his career so far. His .317 batting average on balls in play and 61.4% strand rate are both a bit on the unlucky side, so perhaps he’ll be able to have some better results with stronger defenders behind him.
Kochanowicz was added to the Angels’ 40-man roster in November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. Baseball America and FanGraphs both currently list him as the club’s 13th-best prospect, highlighting his high-90s velocity. MLB Pipeline is a bit more bullish and has him up in the #7 slot while Keith Law of The Athletic had him in the #12 spot coming into the year.
The Angels recently lost Patrick Sandoval to season-ending surgery while guys like Reid Detmers, Chase Silseth and Zach Plesac have struggled and been optioned to Triple-A, with Daniel now in that pile as well. The rotation currently consists of Tyler Anderson, Griffin Canning, José Soriano and Roansy Contreras. Kochanowicz will take the ball tomorrow, though it’s unclear if it’s just a spot start or if he’ll get a lengthy rotation audition. He still hasn’t pitched at Triple-A but the Halos will skip him over that level for now. With the All-Star break next week, they could survive with a four-man rotation for a time and call someone else up to take the fifth spot once needed.
It’s possible that the Angels will make some trades at this year’s deadline that thin out that group. The club is 37-54 and clearly in seller mode going into the deadline. Their farm system is poorly regarded, which will perhaps make it tough to contend in the seasons to come. That should leave the front office open to considering trades of players even if they have some club control beyond the current campaign. Anderson has one year left on his deal, for instance, while Canning has one year of arbitration remaining.
Some recent reporting has suggested that the club prefers to hold onto Anderson, Canning and other players with similar windows of control, though it’s possible that’s posturing for negotiation purposes. The trade deadline is July 30.
Pirates, Angels Reportedly Discussing Taylor Ward Trade
1:14pm: The Pirates are indeed interested in Ward, per Noah Hiles of the Post-Gazette, though he’s one of multiple targets on their radar and a deal isn’t near the finish line at present.
11:24am: The Pirates and Angels are in talks on a trade that would send outfielder Taylor Ward from Anaheim to Pittsburgh, reports Paul Zeise of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and 93.7 FM The Fan. While a deal isn’t yet complete, Zeise adds that Pittsburgh is actively trying to get the deal across the finish line.
Adding to the outfield is a sensible pursuit for a Pirates club that is in the NL Wild Card hunt but has received poor production from its outfield. While Bryan Reynolds is having one of his best seasons (.280/.344/.486, 17 homers, 131 wRC+), the rest of the group has been lacking. Even with that standout production from Reynolds, the outfield has combined for a .225/.297/.357 batting line overall. The resulting 84 wRC+ indicates that Pittsburgh outfielders have been 16% worse than average at the plate. Each of Jack Suwinski (.187/.269/.349), Michael A. Taylor (.202/.259/.274) and Edward Olivares (.216/.285/.324) have struggled mightily in the outfield. Connor Joe has roughly league-average numbers on the whole but hasn’t hit well when tasked with patrolling the outfield (.205/.292/.270 on those days).
Ward, 30, would give the Bucs a steady bat to plug into a corner spot, with Reynolds manning the other. The 2024 campaign hasn’t been Ward’s best, but he’s hitting .238/.321/.417 (107 wRC+) with 14 homers on the year. And dating back to a 2021 breakout, the former first-round pick carries a .259/.340/.441 slash with quality defensive marks, particularly in left field. Ward’s below-average speed limits his range, but he has a strong and accurate arm that’s helped him to be a solid defensive contributor.
For a perennially cost-conscious club like Pittsburgh, Ward makes extra sense. He’s being paid a reasonable $4.8MM in 2024 and is controllable for two additional seasons beyond the current campaign. He’ll earn a pair of raises in arbitration for 2025 and 2026, but his price tag isn’t likely to balloon to untenable levels, even by the Pirates’ standards. Those extra two seasons of control make him a particularly appealing target for a club that doesn’t have a top-ranked outfield prospect knocking down the door at the moment but is teeming with young pitching talent that looks like the foundation for a competitive core.
The Angels are reportedly reluctant to trade their players who are controlled beyond the current season, though it’s always possible that stance is at least partially posturing. It’s also feasible that the Pirates feel Ward checks enough boxes for them that they’re willing to make an offer the Angels don’t feel they can pass up, even if their general preference is to only deal from their stock of rental players. That talks are ostensibly substantial even with three weeks to go until the deadline would suggest that Pittsburgh is at least willing to discuss the possibility of parting with some compelling names.
Angels Designate Miguel Sano For Assignment
The Angeles announced they’ve designated infielder Miguel Sanó for assignment. The move opens active and 40-man roster space for Anthony Rendon, who is back from the 60-day injured list.
Sanó made a return to professional baseball this year after sitting out the 2023 season. He signed a minor league deal with the Angels in January and hit four homers in 23 Spring Training contests. That was enough to nab a spot on the Opening Day roster in a backup role. Sanó got a bit of run as a designated hitter through the season’s first couple weeks before a left knee injury sent him to the injured list.
The veteran slugger was out of action for nearly two months. The Halos reinstated him from the IL on June 25 but have only gotten him into seven games over the past few weeks. Sanó only has one hit since his activation and carries a .205/.295/.313 batting line over 95 plate appearances. Opponents have punched him out 36 times (a 37.9% rate), continuing the career-long struggle Sanó has had in making consistent contact.
Rendon’s return should push Luis Guillorme back into a glove-first utility role. Guillorme and Keston Hiura will serve as infield depth behind Nolan Schanuel, Brandon Drury, Zach Neto and Rendon. Manager Ron Washington has Rendon at the hot corner and atop the lineup tonight against the Rangers and Jon Gray. It’ll be the veteran infielder’s first game action since he suffered a partially torn left hamstring on April 20.
The Halos have five days to trade Sanó or put him on waivers. He’s not likely to draw any trade interest and could decline an assignment to the minor leagues, so he’ll very likely be released this week.
Latest On Angels’ Deadline Outlook
The Angels are one of the few obvious deadline sellers at the moment, but even they might not be fully open for business. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale suggests that the club prefers to hold onto outfielder Taylor Ward and starters Tyler Anderson and Griffin Canning, due to the fact all three are signed/controlled into next season. If the Angels are reluctant to move anyone signed or controlled beyond the current campaign, that would then extend to Luis Rengifo as well. Anderson is signed through 2025 and earning $13MM each season. Ward is controlled through 2026 via arbitration. Canning and Rengifo are arb-eligible through the 2025 season.
It’s always possible, especially this time of year, that there’s some level of posturing in that stance. The Halos are 15 games under .500, 10.5 games out of the division lead and 12 games out of a Wild Card spot as of Monday morning. Their -78 run differential is the fifth-worst in MLB. Mike Trout has been on the injured list since late April. Patrick Sandoval and Robert Stephenson have both been lost to UCL surgeries. To say things have not gone well in 2024 would be putting things mildly.
That said, Angels owner Arte Moreno has long appeared averse to embarking on any kind of rebuilding effort. The Angels have regularly been active in free agency and on the trade market over the past decade, even as their playoff drought has grown to the largest in the sport. (They last qualified for postseason play in 2014.) That trend has spanned multiple general managers — Jerry Dipoto, Billy Eppler, Perry Minasian — and thus seems largely attributable to ownership. Even as they were faced with losing Shohei Ohtani in free agency this offseason, Minasian decisively stated that the Angels would not rebuild.
When considering that context, it’s easier to see a scenario in which the Angels would rebuff interest in names like Ward — even if there’s a strong logical case that they should be capitalizing on trade value nearly anywhere it exists on the roster. As it stands, Nightengale writes that the Angels have been “bombarded” with interest in closer Carlos Estevez and are also likely to trade setup man Luis Garcia. Other rental players of note on the Halos include Matt Moore, Brandon Drury, Kevin Pillar, Hunter Strickland and Miguel Sano.
The 31-year-old Estevez is in the second season of a two-year, $13.5MM contract signed in the 2022-23 offseason. The longtime Rockies hurler has taken his game to a new level in Anaheim — particularly in 2024. He boasts a tidy 2.89 ERA with a strong 26.9% strikeout rate and a career-best 3.8% walk rate. Estevez averages just shy of 97 mph on his heater, has picked up 16 saves this year (and 31 last year), and was named the AL Reliever of the Month in June after tossing 10 shutout innings and recording a 32.3% strikeout rate without issuing a walk.
Garcia, 37, is on a one-year, $4.25MM contract. He’s pitched 36 innings and yielded a 4.25 ERA while recording nine holds. The veteran righty has fanned a sharp 23.7% of his opponents against a similarly strong 7.9% walk rate. He’s kept the ball on the ground at a hearty 49.5% clip. His sinker is down from the career-best 98.7 mph average he showed with the Padres in 2022 but still has plenty of life, sitting at 96.4 mph, per Statcast.
Strickland, 35, has had an up-and-down career with inconsistent year-to-year results but is in the midst of a strong season. He’s pitched 40 innings out of the bullpen and logged a 3.60 ERA, 20.6% strikeout rate, 6.3% walk rate, 35.3% ground-ball rate and 0.90 HR/9. Over his past 9 2/3 innings, he’s gone unscored upon and allowed only one hit and three walks while punching out 10 batters.
The 35-year-old Pillar was released by the White Sox in April and has been a godsend in Anaheim. Since heading to Orange County, the journeyman outfielder has turned in a huge .305/.360/.516 slash with six home runs and five steals in just 139 plate appearances. Pillar recently acknowledged that this will likely be his final season, so it stands to reason that he’d welcome the opportunity to join one more playoff race and one more chance to chase down a World Series ring.
None of the other rental options on the Angels’ roster are performing particularly well. Moore, Adam Cimber and Jose Cisnero all signed one-year deals in the offseason. Moore has seen his strikeout rate plummet as he’s struggled to keep his ERA under 5.00. Both Cimber and Cisnero have ERAs north of 7.00 and are presently on the injured list. Drury, hitting .172/.24/.227 in the second season of a two-year $17MM deal, is more a release candidate than a trade candidate. Sano, back in the majors after not playing in 2023, is hitting .205/.295/.313 with a 37.9% strikeout rate in 95 plate appearances.
Kevin Pillar Likely To Retire Following 2024 Season
Veteran outfielder Kevin Pillar is planning to retire following the 2024 campaign, he told USA Today’s Bob Nightengale in a recent interview. The 35-year-old veteran has played in parts of 12 big league seasons, including seven seasons with the Blue Jays. Pillar previously suited up for the Mets, Rockies, Giants, White Sox, Dodgers, Red Sox, and Braves throughout his lengthy MLB career and currently plays for the Angels.
Pillar’s professional career began in 2011 when he was drafted in the 32nd round of that year’s draft by the Blue Jays out of California State. Despite that relatively unimpressive draft stock, Pillar rocketed through the minor leagues to make his big league debut in 2013 at the age of 24, just over two years after he was drafted. His 36-game cup of coffee in the majors that year did not go well, as he hit just .206/.250/.333 (57 wRC+) in 110 trips to the plate. He showed improvement the following year, however, and by 2015 had taken on an everyday role in Toronto. In 601 games with the club from 2015 to 2018, Pillar slashed a respectable .263/.301/.401 (88 wRC+) while playing excellent defense in center field and swiping 68 bases.
Pillar parted ways with Toronto early in the 2019 season, shipping him to the Giants in a rare spring trade. Then 30 years old, Pillar took to San Francisco fairly well and picked up right where he left off in Toronto, slashing a roughly league average .264/.293/.442 with a career-high 21 homers and his typical strong defense in center field. Pillar became a free agent for the first time in his career following the 2019 campaign, and split the abbreviated 2020 season between the Red Sox and Rockies.
Although he began to spend more time in the outfield corners during his time with Boston, Pillar nonetheless was a valuable piece for both clubs, slashing .288/.336/.462 with a 105 wRC+ while playing in 54 of 60 games that year. The veteran moved on to the Mets following the 2020 season and acted as a fourth outfielder for the club that season, signaling the start of his transition out of an everyday role. Since the start of the 2021 campaign, Pillar has appeared in 267 games between the Mets, Dodgers, Braves, White Sox, and Angels. In that time, he’s slashed a decent .238/.282/.427 with 31 homers in 736 trips to the plate while splitting time between all three outfield spots.
The 35-year-old veteran is currently in the midst of perhaps the best offensive stretch of his career with Anaheim, as he’s batted an impressive .299/.355/.512 (143 wRC+) in 41 games with the club this year as a part-time player. That success could make Pillar a viable trade candidate this summer as teams scramble for offensive help ahead of the trade deadline on July 30. While it may not be clear who Pillar is going to play for down the stretch this year, the veteran seems to feel good about the 2024 campaign bringing his 12-year MLB career to a close.
“I watched some of my good friends and teammates, who were much better players than me, maybe go a year too long,” Pillar told Nightengale. “I think it would be kind of cool to go out playing really well, and people being curious to why you don’t want to play anymore, and not that the game kicked you out.”
Pressed if he was certain that he would retire at year’s end, Pillar responded by saying that he’s “98% sure” that the 2024 campaign will be his last. The veteran explained that he doesn’t want himself and his family to have to go through “another offseason of the unknown,” though he did leave the door open to discussing a return in 2025 with his family should he be “fortunate enough to get a phone call early in the offseason.”