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14 Veterans With Upcoming Opportunity To Opt Out Of Minor League Deals

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As part of last year’s collective bargaining agreement, MLB and the Players Association agreed to a few automatic opt-out dates for some veteran players on minor league contracts. Article XX(B) free agents — players with over six years of MLB service who finished the preceding season on a big league roster — who sign minor league contracts more than ten days before Opening Day now receive three uniform chances to retest free agency if they’re not added to the majors.

The first comes five days before the start of the season. For players who pass on that initial opt-out, they have additional windows to explore the open market on both May 1 and June 1 if they’ve yet to secure a spot on the 40-man roster. As that second opt-out date nears, it’s worth checking in on a few players with opt-outs under the CBA. We’ll also look at a few players who don’t meet those criteria but reportedly negotiated forthcoming opt-out dates into their own non-roster deals.

Anderson was an Article XX(B) player who passed on his first opt-out chance. The 35-year-old finished last season with nine outings (seven starts) for the Reds, allowing a 6.38 ERA in 24 innings. He returned to the organization and has started five games for their top affiliate in Louisville. He carries a 4.30 ERA over 23 frames with a modest 19% strikeout rate while walking 13% of opposing hitters. It’s not a great first few weeks but the Reds don’t have much certainty behind their top three starters. Connor Overton is on the injured list, while Luis Cessa has been rocked for 20 runs in 16 2/3 innings.

Devenski also forewent his Spring Training opt-out. The 32-year-old accepted a season-opening assignment to Triple-A Salt Lake, where he’s made seven relief outings. In nine innings, he’s allowed four runs with nine strikeouts and three walks. It’s a decent if not overwhelming performance. Devenski was an elite multi-inning relief option for the Astros between 2016-17 but he’s battled injuries and performance fluctuations since then. He threw 14 2/3 MLB innings between the Diamondbacks and Phillies last year, allowing an 8.59 ERA with a modest 17.5% strikeout rate but only walking one of the 67 hitters he faced. The Angels have a number of relievers who can’t be optioned to the minor leagues, perhaps reducing their flexibility to add another player of that ilk in Devenski.

Doolittle bypassed an opt-out chance in Spring Training after returning to Washington over the winter. He’s spent the year on the injured list as he continues to work back from last summer’s internal brace UCL surgery. The veteran threw a live batting practice session this week and could see game action in the not too distant future (via MLB.com injury tracker). It stands to reason he’ll stick with the Nats.

Duffy has spent the season on the injured list. He’s working back from forearm issues that have prevented him from throwing a major league pitch since July 2021. He already passed on a Spring Training opt-out and seems likely to do so again.

Ortega built an April 29 opt-out date into the minor league deal he signed with the Rangers earlier this month. He’d spent the spring in camp with the Yankees but didn’t crack New York’s roster and retested the market. Since signing with Texas, he’s played 17 games for Triple-A Round Rock. He carries a middling .219/.324/.313 line with one homer through 74 plate appearances. He’s drawing plenty of walks but not hitting for power and striking out a little more often than he has in recent seasons.

The lefty-hitting outfielder is coming off a reasonable .241/.331/.358 showing for the Cubs in 2022. He’s capable of playing all three outfield spots but is probably best suited for a corner. Texas has gotten strong early-season work from minor league signee Travis Jankowski and has Adolis García and Leody Taveras penciled into starting roles. The Rangers haven’t gotten much production from any of their left field options aside from Jankowski, though, and it’s questionable how long the journeyman can keep up anything approaching his current .340/.415/.447 pace.

Gamel, 31 next month, has been a decent left-handed platoon outfielder in recent seasons. He typically hits around a league average level, including a .232/.324/.369 line over 115 games with the Pirates last year. After signing with the Rays, he’s off to a .217/.316/.406 start in 79 plate appearances at Triple-A Durham. He’s walking at a customarily strong 12.7% clip but has gone down on strikes in more than 30% of his trips. Left-handed hitting outfielders Josh Lowe and Luke Raley have had excellent starts for Tampa Bay, which could make it hard for Gamel to play his way into the MLB mix anytime soon.

Hamilton, 32, returned for a second stint with the White Sox over the winter. He’s appeared in 14 games with Triple-A Charlotte but hasn’t produced, stumbling to a .150/.292/.175 batting line. The speedster has been successful on all three of his stolen base attempts but likely needs to show a little more at the plate to earn the pinch-running/defensive specialist role he’s played for a number of teams over the past four-plus seasons. The White Sox recently selected Adam Haseley onto the MLB roster to serve as a glove-first fourth outfielder.

Hoffman didn’t sign early enough to receive the automatic opt-out for Article XX(B) free agents. He negotiated opt-out chances on both May 1 and July 1 into his April deal with the Phils. The righty has pitched seven times for their top affiliate in Lehigh Valley, allowing eight runs across 7 2/3 innings. He’s punched out 13 hitters but handed out five free passes. Hoffman had a reasonable 3.83 ERA through 44 2/3 frames for the Reds last season, missing bats at a league average rate but walking nearly 12% of his opponents. The Phils only have three out of eight relievers who can’t be optioned to the minors, giving them some room to add the veteran if they’re intrigued by Hoffman’s swing-and-miss capabilities.

Naquin was an Article XX(B) free agent who didn’t break camp with the big league club. He split the 2022 campaign between the Reds and Mets, combining to hit .229/.282/.423 over 334 trips to the plate. The left-handed hitting outfielder has played in 12 games for Triple-A Nashville, hitting .273/.319/.409. He’s not hitting for much power in the early going and has never been one to take too many walks. Naquin spent a bit of time on the injured list this month but was reinstated earlier in the week.

Milwaukee lost center fielder Garrett Mitchell to a season-threatening shoulder procedure and has gotten middling offensive production from rookie outfielder Joey Wiemer. They’re soon to welcome Tyrone Taylor back from the injured list, though, and Naquin’s serviceable but unexceptional Triple-A production may not force the front office’s hand.

Rosenthal has had his last couple seasons washed away by injury. He lost 2021 to thoracic outlet syndrome and hip surgery, while his ’22 campaign was wiped out by hamstring and lat strains. The Tigers took a look at the one-time star closer in Spring Training and kept him in the organization with their highest affiliate in Toledo. Rosenthal pitched twice in the season’s first week before being placed on the minor league IL with a sprained throwing elbow. Jason Beck of MLB.com tweeted yesterday that Rosenthal is headed for physical therapy, suggesting he won’t be ready for game action in the near future.

Ross is recovering from last June’s Tommy John surgery and will spend most of the year on the injured list. He bypassed his first opt-out chance in March and seems likely to do the same next week.

Sánchez’s May 1 opt-out was built into his contract, as he didn’t sign early enough to receive the automatic opt-out under the CBA. The general expectation was that the veteran backstop would play his way onto the big league roster. That was particularly true once San Francisco lost Roberto Pérez to a season-ending shoulder injury. Sánchez hasn’t done anything to force the issue with Triple-A Sacramento, though.

He’s hitting a woeful .191/.350/.213 without a home run and a 25% strikeout rate over 13 games. Sánchez connected on 16 longballs in the majors for the Twins last year but only reached base at a .282 clip. There’s a path to playing time behind the dish at Oracle Park. Still, Sánchez’s early performance hasn’t been what the organization envisioned. Promoting him would lock in the prorated portion of a $4MM salary for this season, which could prove a disincentive for the club.

Sanchez served a depth role for Minnesota last season, logging 60 innings over 15 outings (ten starts). He was tagged for a 6.60 ERA at the MLB level but performed well enough in Triple-A the organization brought him back. He’s started five games with St. Paul this season, logging 22 1/3 innings. While his 2.42 ERA is excellent, it belies a middling 19.2% strikeout percentage and a huge 17.2% walk rate. Minnesota has quite a bit more rotation depth than they did last summer and would probably look to players already on the 40-man roster (i.e. Simeon Woods Richardson and Louie Varland) before tabbing Sanchez if injuries necessitate.

Stammen suffered a capsule tear in his shoulder in Spring Training. The 39-year-old has spent the year on the injured list and has admitted the injury might unfortunately end his career.

Red Sox Claim Justin Garza

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The Red Sox have claimed right-hander Justin Garza off waivers from the Angels, per an announcement from both clubs. The Red Sox had an open spot on the 40-man roster so a corresponding transaction isn’t necessary. Garza has been optioned to Triple-A Worcester.

Garza, 29, was designated for assignment a week ago when the Halos selected the contracts of Chad Wallach and Austin Warren. He didn’t pitch for the Angels at the MLB level this season but opened the year with their Triple-A club, where he tossed 8 1/3 innings with four runs allowed on six hits and four walks. Garza’s stay with the Angels organization was rather brief. The Guardians outrighted him off the 40-man roster back in November, at which point he elected free agency and signed a split Major League contract with the Angels, thus placing him on their 40-man roster.

In 2022, Garza made his big league debut with the Guardians, pitching to a 4.71 ERA with a roughly average 22.7% strikeout rate against a bleak 14.1% walk rate. Garza sits at 95 mph with his heater and has missed bats at a high level in Triple-A (29.2% strikeout rate), but command has been an issue for him even in the minors (12.2% walk rate).

The Sox rank 13th in the Majors with a 3.58 ERA from their bullpen, though it’s a decidedly top-heavy unit. Kenley Jansen, Josh Winckowski, John Schreiber and Kutter Crawford have all gotten out to excellent starts, but the rest of the group has been severely lacking. Ryan Brasier and Kaleb Ort, in particular, have been hit hard. Offseason signee Chris Martin, meanwhile, is on the injured list and Zack Kelly’s season is in jeopardy due to elbow surgery. Garza will give the Sox some depth with good life on his fastball, but for now he’ll head to Worcester and look to refine his command while awaiting an opportunity.

The Angels’ Unexpected Rotation Dilemma

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It’s a pivotal year for the Angels, who could be nearing an inflection point with Shohei Ohtani in his final season of arbitration control. A lack of overall roster depth has plagued the club in prior years. For much of that time, the issue was starting pitching, though last year’s team was plagued more by mediocre contributions from the bottom of the lineup and a below-average bullpen.

Los Angeles had a productive starting staff last season, checking in sixth in the majors with a 3.67 rotation ERA. As MLBTR’s Steve Adams explored towards the end of the year, much of that was attributable to the emergence of a trio of left-handers. Patrick Sandoval, Reid Detmers and José Suarez had performed effectively to varying degrees. Sandoval and Detmers looked like potential mid-rotation types; Suarez was more in the solid fourth starter mold. With Ohtani at the top and the offseason pickup of Tyler Anderson via free agency, Los Angeles entered the year with the nucleus of another strong rotation.

That hasn’t quite borne out through the season’s first month. Angels starters have allowed 4.45 earned runs per nine innings, a league average figure. That’s in part because of a disappointing first four starts from Anderson, but the bigger concern is how hittable Suarez has been. The 25-year-old has allowed 20 runs (19 earned) in 16 2/3 innings through four outings. He’s walked nine batters against 12 strikeouts and surrendered a staggering seven homers. His 10.26 ERA ties that of the recently released Madison Bumgarner for the seventh-highest mark among starters with 10+ innings.

It’s very early in the season but Suarez’s first few starts have been noncompetitive. He’s only completed five frames once. That came against a mediocre A’s lineup that still teed off for seven runs and connected on five of the homers Suarez has allowed. The Angels can’t accept continued performances at that level for very long.

The struggles have mostly come out of nowhere. Suarez never flashed the upside that rotation mates Sandoval and Detmers have. He’d been seen by many prospect evaluators as a perfectly capable back-of-the-rotation starter, though, and that’s what he’d been from 2021-22. Suarez allowed a little under four earned runs per nine in both seasons, combining for a 3.86 ERA/4.01 FIP in 207 1/3 frames over that stretch. His 21.5% strikeout rate was a tick below average but he did a decent job keeping the ball in the park and kept his walks to a manageable 7.9% clip.

While it’d perhaps be in the organization’s best interest to get Suarez some Triple-A work to iron things out, that’s not easy. He has exhausted his minor league option years. In order to take him off the MLB roster, the Halos would have to designate him for assignment and either trade him or put him on outright waivers. If he went unclaimed, they’d be able to send him to Triple-A. Even with his awful first month, it seems likely another team would roll the dice based on his prior track record. Noncompetitive clubs like the A’s, Reds, Rockies and Nationals could find a spot for him in the rotation and hope he gets things on track. Suarez has yet to reach arbitration and isn’t trending towards free agency until the 2026-27 offseason.

General manager Perry Minasian and his front office are left with three choices: keep giving Suarez turns through the rotation, move him to relief, or make him available to other clubs via DFA. To this point, they’re sticking with the first option. Manager Phil Nevin was initially noncommittal after Suarez was knocked around by the A’s on Monday; however, the skipper told reporters Tuesday afternoon the southpaw would make his next start (link via Sam Blum of the Athletic). He’s slated to take the mound for Sunday afternoon’s game in Milwaukee.

“We’ve got to get him better,” Nevin told reporters (via Blum). “He’s talented. He’s worked too hard. And he’s come so far. I’ve gone on and on about how we feel about him and the things he’s done. It’s just right now, it’s got to get better.” Suarez expressed some exasperation. While he pointed to a potential pitch-tipping issue during his Oakland start, he told the team’s beat he “honestly (doesn’t) know what’s happening.”

On a pitch-for-pitch basis, Suarez doesn’t look much different than he did last season. The velocity on his pitches has held steady. The spin on his four-seam fastball is up a bit. He’s getting swinging strikes on 11.7% of his offerings, an exact match for last year’s rate. Suarez has been an effective pitcher with essentially this exact arsenal in previous seasons.

He hasn’t executed as consistently this year as he has in prior seasons. Suarez is having a hard time getting ahead in counts, throwing a first-pitch strike just 57% of the time after starting with strike one at a near-65% rate last year. That’s obviously a disadvantageous position for a pitcher who succeeds more on command and sequencing than overpowering raw stuff. Even when Suarez has gotten himself into favorable counts, he’s had a hard time putting hitters away by leaving too many pitches over the heart of the plate. (This Teoscar Hernández homer on an 0-1 slider is a representative example.)

That the issue seems largely to be about command rather than a drop in raw pitch quality offers some optimism. Suarez needs to execute his pitches more consistently but there aren’t any indications he’s battling physical issues. That said, it’s perhaps tougher to diagnose how quickly Suarez can break out of his ongoing funk, raising the question of how long the Angels can keep him in the starting staff.

A bullpen transfer could allow Nevin to deploy him more selectively as he works on things but that’d be far from ideal. As Blum points out, six of the Angels’ eight current relievers cannot be optioned themselves. One of the two who can be sent down, Andrew Wantz, has been the club’s best reliever so far. Putting Suarez in that mix wouldn’t leave the team with much flexibility and would perhaps force a veteran bullpen arm off the roster.

The Angels could flip the out-of-options Tucker Davidson, who’s been working in long relief, into Suarez’s rotation role while kicking the latter into mop-up duty. Davidson has been quite effective out of the bullpen after struggling as a starting pitcher last season. Obviously, the club’s hope is that Suarez finds his footing sooner than later. Another poor start or two could leave them to ponder a tough decision they weren’t anticipating on Opening Day.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Logan O’Hoppe To Miss 4-6 Months With Torn Labrum

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Angels manager Phil Nevin told reporters (including Sam Blum of The Athletic) today that catcher Logan O’Hoppe has a torn labrum on his left (non-throwing) shoulder that will require surgery. The 23-year-old catcher, who was placed on the 10-day injured list yesterday, is expected to miss four to six months, potentially putting his season in jeopardy.

O’Hoppe was acquired by the Angels at the trade deadline last season in the deal that sent outfielder Brandon Marsh to the Phillies. A consensus top-50 prospect in the sport entering the 2023 season, O’Hoppe earned the Angels’ starting catching job out of camp this season despite having just five games of big league experience under his belt as Max Stassi began the season on the injured list. The youngster was off to an impressive start this season, with a .283/.339/.547 slash line across 16 games that was good for a wRC+ of 142.

Losing such a productive bat for most, if not all, of the remainder of the season is a massive blow to the Angels, who have largely seen their offense struggle outside of superstars Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, with only O’Hoppe and outfielder Hunter Renfroe posting an above average wRC+ so far this season among the rest of the club’s offense.

In addition to losing O’Hoppe’s bat, the Angels now find themselves without either half of their usual starting tandem, as Stassi does not appear to be close to a return from the hip ailment that sidelined him at the start of the season. Until Stassi returns, the Angels figure to use Matt Thaiss, who opened the season as the club’s third catcher, and journeyman Chad Wallach behind the plate. Neither of those options inspire the same confidence that O’Hoppe would, as Wallach sports just a 59 wRC+ in 274 career plate appearances since his MLB debut with the Reds in 2017, while Thaiss only began catching in 2021 and has a career wRC+ of 81 in 298 plate appearances.

Given the worrying situation behind the plate for Anaheim, it wouldn’t be a shock to see the club explore external catching options to supplement their current group. Robinson Chirinos and Austin Romine are available on the free agent market, while Gary Sanchez and Jorge Alfaro are among the catchers with significant big league experience who are on minor league deals in other organizations.

Angels Select Austin Warren, Chad Wallach; Designate Justin Garza

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5:50pm: The Angels have now announced all the moves listed below, as well as the fact that right-hander Justin Garza has been designated for assignment as the move to open up a second spot on the 40-man roster. The 29-year-old Garza posted a 4.71 ERA in 21 games with Cleveland in 2021 but hasn’t made it back to the big leagues since. The Angels signed him to a split contract over the winter and he has a 4.32 ERA through six Triple-A appearances so far this year.

5:30pm: Bollinger adds (Twitter links) that right-hander Jimmy Herget was optioned as the corresponding move for Warren, and that catcher Logan O’Hoppe has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to his shoulder injury. Chad Wallach was selected to take O’Hoppe’s spot, but he wasn’t on the 40-man and will need a corresponding move.

The optioning of Herget comes as a surprise as he registered a 2.48 ERA last year and got himself some high-leverage work, racking up nine saves and six holds. However, he’s struggled to a 6.23 ERA so far this season, with his strikeout rate dropping to 13.2% after being at 23.7% last year.

The club still doesn’t know the severity of the shoulder issue that has been plaguing O’Hoppe of late, but he’ll sit for a week-plus while they figure it out. Wallach is a 31-year-old with 90 games of major league experience scattered over the past six seasons. He’s hit .198/.265/.296 in that time but has a good reputation for his defense and game calling.

5:20pm: The Angels have added right-hander Austin Warren to their 40-man roster, reports Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com (Twitter links). The club already has a vacancy on their 40-man due to outrighting infielder David Fletcher earlier this week, though a corresponding move will be required to get Warren onto the active roster.

Warren, 27, was selected by the Angels in the sixth round of the 2018 draft and has spent his entire career with the organization to this point. He was selected to the big league roster in 2021 and has 30 games of major league experience thus far. He has a 3.47 ERA in 36 1/3 innings, striking out 18.8% of his opponents, walking just 6.5% of them and getting grounders on 45.9% of balls in play.

Back in January, Warren was designated for assignment when the club signed Brett Phillips, ultimately clearing waivers and sticking with the organization. He started the year at Triple-A and tossed seven scoreless innings over five appearances before getting brought back to the big leagues today. He’ll give a fresh arm to an Angels bullpen that has seen a decent amount of work this week. Shohei Ohtani’s start on Monday was interrupted by a rain delay when he had only thrown two innings and he didn’t return after the game resumed. Then José Suarez lasted just 3 1/3 innings on Tuesday. Griffin Canning got to 5 1/3 frames on Wednesday but Patrick Sandoval tallied just four innings yesterday.

Warren still has a couple of options remaining, which means he can be easily sent back down to the minors the next time the Halos need to make a bullpen swap.

Dave Frost Passes Away

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Former big league pitcher Dave Frost recently passed away, the Angels confirmed this afternoon. He was 70 years old.

A Long Beach native, Frost attended Stanford. The White Sox selected the 6’6″ hurler in the 18th round of the 1974 draft. He pitched his way to the big leagues with Chicago three years later. Frost made his MLB debut against the Halos as part of a four-appearance rookie season. Over the 1977-78 offseason, the Sox dealt him to California alongside outfielder Brian Downing and right-hander Chris Knapp for three-time All-Star Bobby Bonds (as well as then-prospects Thad Bosley and Richard Dotson).

Frost would play the bulk of his career in Southern California. He pitched for the Halos between 1978-81, leading the team with 239 1/3 innings across 36 outings in 1979. Frost pitched to a 3.57 ERA and threw 12 complete games that year, the best season of his career. He ultimately tossed 445 1/3 frames for the Angels in parts of four campaigns, posting a 3.90 ERA while striking out 181 batters.

After the ’81 season, Frost qualified for free agency. He signed with the Royals and spent one injury-riddled year in Kansas City. After posting a 5.51 ERA across 81 2/3 innings, he was released. Frost would play one more season in Triple-A but never got another big league look. He ended his playing career at age 30. The right-hander appeared for three MLB clubs over a six-season career. He tossed 550 2/3 frames with a 4.10 ERA, picking up 222 punchouts and winning 33 games.

MLBTR sends our thoughts and condolences to Frost’s family, friends, loved ones and former teammates.

Angels Outright David Fletcher

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The Angels have sent David Fletcher through outright waivers, tweets Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. The infielder remains in the organization but lost his spot on the 40-man roster.

It’s the result of a sharp downturn in production from Fletcher. The Loyola Marymount product looked like a core organizational piece a few years ago. Los Angeles signed him to a five-year contract extension two Aprils back. It was a $26MM guarantee that bought out one free agent year and contained club options for two more. The hope was they’d secured an excellent defensive middle infielder with roughly league average offense.

Fletcher signed that deal on the heels of a .319/.376/.425 showing during the abbreviated 2020 season. While that was built on an unsustainable .348 average on balls in play, it brought his career line to .292/.346/.386 in just shy of 1200 plate appearances. Fletcher never hit for power but demonstrated elite contact skills and played plus defense at second base.

Unfortunately for the Halos, the righty-swinging Fletcher has seen a significant drop in his offensive production for the past couple seasons. He put up only a .262/.297/.324 line across 665 plate appearances in 2021. The following year proved challenging both from a performance and health perspective. Fletcher was nagged early in the season by a hip strain that eventually sent him to the 60-day injured list. He got into 61 games, hitting .255/.288/.333. He’d been off to a 2-16 start through this year’s first couple weeks.

Fletcher’s contact skills have remained elite. His walks have dipped the past couple years, though, and he hasn’t gotten good results on batted balls. Going back to 2021, he carries a .258/.292/.323 line in just over 900 trips to the plate. Even with continued strong grades as a keystone defender, the lackluster offense led the Angels to look elsewhere this winter. The Halos brought in Gio Urshela and Brandon Drury to add some offensive punch to the infield. They called up top shortstop prospect Zach Neto on Saturday, announcing at the time they’d optioned Fletcher back to Triple-A Salt Lake.

In conjunction with that move, they apparently also placed Fletcher on waivers. It’s no surprise he didn’t get claimed. Any team that added him would’ve had to taken on his contract. Fletcher is making $6MM both this season and next. He’ll make $6.5MM in 2025 and is due at least a $1.5MM buyout on the ’27 option. For any club to take on the nearly $20MM in guaranteed money given Fletcher’s recent struggles would have been unlikely.

There’s surely some amount of strategy in the Halos’ timing of the outright. Any player with over three years of major league service time can refuse an outright assignment in favor of minor league free agency. However, players with between three and five years of service would have to forfeit any remaining guaranteed money on their contract to do so.

Fletcher entered the 2023 campaign with four years and 111 days of big league service. A player gets a full service year at 172 days, so Fletcher needed 61 days on the MLB roster this year to crack that threshold. Had he still been in the majors into early June, he’d have had the right to elect free agency while collecting the rest of his salary if the Halos wanted to take him off their 40-man roster.

By timing the outright before then, the Angels ensure Fletcher sticks in the organization. He’s obviously not going to pass on nearly $20MM in guaranteed money. He’ll accept the assignment to Salt Lake and try to hit his way back onto the major league radar.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Angels Promote Zach Neto, Option David Fletcher

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The Angels made a significant transaction today, calling up top prospect Zach Neto, their first round pick from the 2022 draft. In the corresponding move, the Angels optioned David Fletcher, sending the six-year veteran to Triple-A. To make room on the 40-man roster, Chris Rodriguez has been transferred to the 60-day IL.

Neto will make his debut less than a year after the Angels took him 13th overall in the draft. The 22-year-old has absolutely torn up minor league pitching in that time, slashing .444/.559/.815 with three home runs in 34 plate appearances at Double-A to start this year, after slashing .320/.389/.492 over 136 plate appearances at the level last year.

All told, it took Neto just 44 minor league games to do enough for the Angels to call him up, and he’s now expected to take over as their everyday shortstop, per Jeff Passan of ESPN. The Athletic’s Keith Law ranked Neto as the Angels’ top prospect, and had him 59th overall in the sport. Law describes Neto as a “definite shortstop who projects to be a plus defender”, and combined with his bat expects him to be a “strong regular”.

The other side of this transaction is the demotion of Fletcher. The 28-year-old signed a five-year, $26MM extension just prior to the 2021 season, but Fletcher’s numbers have since deteriorated. After hitting .298/.356/.395 over 883 plate appearances between 2019-20, Fletcher has managed only a .258/.292/.323 slash line with four home runs over 909 PA, good for a wRC+ of just 69.

Fletcher’s a quality defender at second and third, posting a combined 31 Outs Above Average at the two positions throughout his career, while he’s more of a solid defender (two career OAA) at shortstop. He’s also sporadically played in the outfield.

Fletcher’s owed $6MM in 2023, and then a further $12.5MM over the next two seasons plus $3MM in buyouts on a pair of club options for 2026-27. It’s not an overly burdensome amount of money, but it’s a lot to be paying a minor league infielder. It’s possible the Angels see if Fletcher can rediscover his bat at Triple-A and then look to recall him to serve as a utilityman on the big league club going forward.

Of course, Neto has never played above Double-A so if he struggles after a stint in the big leagues the team could opt to give him a bit more time at Triple-A to develop and turn back to Fletcher. For now though, Neto will be the Angels’ starting shortstop, and if his hitting in the minor leagues can translate to the Show he could have that position for many years to come.

Ryan Tepera Leaves Game With Shoulder Problem

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Ryan Tepera left today’s game with a shoulder issue and will receive further examination, Angels manager Phil Nevin told MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger and other reporters.  Tepera needed 33 pitches to get through two-thirds of an inning against the Red Sox today, with two hits, a walk, and two catcher’s interference calls on Matt Thaiss resulting in three runs (one earned).

Losing Tepera to injury wouldn’t help an Anaheim bullpen that has already had its share of struggles in the early going, though Tepera has been part of those struggles with a 13.50 ERA over 3 1/3 innings of work.  The veteran reliever signed a two-year, $14MM free agent deal with Los Angeles during the 2021-22 offseason and was pretty solid in 2022, posting a 3.61 ERA over 57 1/3 innings with some elite soft-contact rates. [UPDATE: the Angels placed Tepera on the 15-day IL due to shoulder inflammation on Sunday. Tepera doesn’t think the injury is too serious, as he told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register and other reporters that he plans to start throwing again after a few days off.]

Bad Bunny And Noah Assad Launch Rimas Sports Agency

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Rimas Entertainment CEO Noah Assad, his client Bad Bunny and Rimas executive Jonathan Miranda have launched a sports management agency, per a report from Thania Garcia of Variety. MLB certified agent William Arroyo is working for Rimas, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post.

“We are thrilled to break into a new industry with the launch of Rimas Sports. In the music world we accomplished success by knowing how to develop talent, helping our clients reach their vision by catering to their unique needs,” said Assad in a statement. “This new venture is an expansion of that mission as we aim to bring greater representation to the Latin community in the world of sports.”

Bad Bunny is already well known on account of his music career, where he has been represented by Rimas for many years. He’s also clearly a baseball fan, as he took part in the Celebrity Softball Game during last year’s All-Star festivities, as covered by Daniel Kreps of Rolling Stone. Now he will get involved in baseball in a different way, with he and Rimas getting into the agency side of things.

Per Garcia’s report, Miranda will serve as president of the agency, which will offer a wide range of services from agent management to public relations and more. Former big leaguer and Hall of Famer Iván Rodríguez is involved as an ambassador.

They seem to have already inked a number of major and minor leaguers, with Garcia’s report listing the following players as being part of the Rimas roster:

Heyman says that Fernando Tatis Jr. has employed Rimas for marketing but will retain Dan Lozano of MVP Sports Group as his agent for baseball purposes.

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