Tigers Release Phil Bickford, Colin Poche
The Tigers have released right-hander Phil Bickford and left-hander Colin Poche, reports Jason Beck of MLB.com. Both pitchers signed minor league deals with Detroit this offseason. They will now head back to the open market to search for their next opportunities.
Bickford, 30, was invited to big league camp but wasn’t able to pitch in any official spring action. He was diagnosed with a triceps strain in late February. He was reassigned to minor league camp a few days later. His current health status is not known.
He has 189 innings of big league experience under his belt, split between the Brewers, Dodgers, Mets and Yankees. Overall, he has allowed 4.62 earned runs per nine frames with a 26.1% strikeout rate and 9.1% walk rate.
His last big league appearance was in 2024. He spent 2025 in Triple-A, signing minor league deals with the Cubs and Phillies. Between those two organizations, he had a 3.52 ERA, 28.5% strikeout rate and 9.1% walk rate in 46 Triple-A innings. That wasn’t enough to get him to the big leagues last year. He did get a camp invite with the Tigers a few months ago but the injury scuttle any chance of him making the team.
Poche, 32, has a better overall track record but has fallen on hard times lately. At the end of 2023, he had 171 career innings pitched with a 3.58 ERA. His 9.3% walk rate was a bit high but he struck out 28.2% of batters faced. In 2024, his strikeout rate fell to 21.6%. His ERA didn’t suffer greatly, as he finished that year with a 3.86 mark, but the Rays non-tendered him.
He signed a minor league deal with the Nationals for 2025 and made the Opening Day roster but was designated for assignment on May 1st after 13 appearances. He had allowed 11 earned runs in 8 2/3 innings while giving out walks to 12 of the 46 batters he faced, an awful 26.1% clip. He spent most of the rest of the year with the Mets at the Triple-A level, where he walked 17.3% of opponents.
The Tigers gave Poche a minor league deal but didn’t invite him to big league camp. His transaction tracker at MLB.com says he was placed on the Triple-A Toledo injured list last week, without specifying the issue.
Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images
Mariners Notes: Crawford, Emerson, Shortstop
The Mariners recently signed a record extension with infield prospect Colt Emerson. President of Jerry Dipoto spoke to members of the media in the wake of that deal. Per Daniel Kramer of MLB.com, Dipoto said that J.P. Crawford will remain the club’s shortstop this year. If Emerson is recalled to the active roster at some point, he will likely play third base, which will bump Brendan Donovan into a utility role.
Though the Mariners signed Emerson to that long-term deal, they immediately optioned him to Triple-A Tacoma. That’s an unprecedented sequence of events but it also has some logic to it. Emerson is 20 years old and only has ten Triple-A games under his belt so far. The Mariners clearly believe in his long-term future but he is still a prospect and they will have to make the choices that they feel are in the best interest of his development.
They also have a fairly crowded infield at the moment. Crawford started the season in the injured list due to some shoulder inflammation but he was reinstated today. Fellow infielder Ryan Bliss was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma as the corresponding move. Crawford will retake his shortstop position with Cole Young at second and Donovan at third.
Perhaps Emerson will force his way onto the roster at some point via his bat, since his offense is his true calling card. He went from High-A to Double-A to Triple-A last year, slashing .285/.383/.458 along the way. His 11.8% walk rate and 17.5% strikeout rate were both a few ticks better than average and he hit 16 home runs, despite being very young for each level.
His defense has generally been considered a bit behind his offense. He has made strides in recent years and many evaluators think he has a chance to be a serviceable shortstop, but it’s understandable that the Mariners would opt for Crawford for now. Crawford’s defensive reviews are mixed, with Outs Above Average putting him at minus-29 for his career while he’s been credited with five Defensive Runs Saved. Despite that imbalance, he has almost 8,000 big league innings at the position, while Emerson has none and is questionable at the spot for now.
Crawford is slated for free agency after 2026, so perhaps Emerson will get a crack at the shortstop job next year. That is perhaps another reason to keep him in Triple-A for now, as he will have greater ability to continue getting reps at shortstop in the minors. His third base experience is also still fairly limited, so he’ll need to keep working at that spot as well, if that’s his current path to a big league job.
As for Donovan, his potential move is another illustration of why he was such a perfect fit for the Mariners this offseason. His versatility means that he can be moved around the diamond depending on what happens with other guys. Young only hit .211/.302/.305 last year and therefore wasn’t a sure thing at second base, while Emerson seemingly had some small chance to break camp at third.
Young went on to hit .281/.349/.667 in spring and seize the job at the keystone. He has carried that over in the season so far, as he’s currently sporting a .320/.346/.520 line. That pushed Donovan to third base for now, though his outfield experience means Emerson could push him to the grass at some point. That could take playing time away from the Luke Raley, Dominic Canzone, Rob Refsnyder, Víctor Robles group, depending on how things go between now and then.
Dipoto also expressed broad openness to doing more extensions. “I can’t tell you that there’s any likelihood we’ll get anything else done in this season, but it won’t be because we’re not interested,” Dipoto said, per Adam Jude of The Seattle Times. “It’s always an open door.” It was recently reported that the Mariners have broached the subject of contract extensions with both Logan Gilbert and Bryan Woo, though it doesn’t appear the club got close to an agreement with either pitcher.
Photo courtesy of Matt Kartozian, Imagn Images
Latest On MLBPA’s Funds
The Major League Baseball Players Association is putting aside money in anticipation of the end of the collective bargaining agreement, as it routinely does. Jorge Castillo of ESPN and Evan Drellich of The Athletic report that the union has about $519MM in total assets, as of the start of this year.
It is standard practice for both MLB and the MLBPA to set aside money in a CBA year, as having a war chest could be needed for a work stoppage or for leverage in negotiations. Back in February, it was reported that the league had set aside about $2 billion. No details on the MLBPA’s funds were available until this week.
As both Castillo and Drellich point out, the MLBPA war chest has more than doubled relative to the last round of CBA talks. In 2021, just after the COVID-impacted 2020 season, the union had under $200MM on hand. Castillo reports they had $171MM ahead of the last round of negotiations, though Drellich puts them slightly higher at $192MM. Both reports note that the players have allowed the union to withhold licensing checks since 2024, in order to bolster the available funds.
After more than 25 years without a work stoppage, the league locked out the players in December of 2021. That lockout lasted 99 days until a new agreement was reached in early March, just in time to still play a full 162-game season, with some creative scheduling.
Many in the industry are expecting yet another lockout after the CBA expires on December 1st this year, with the bargaining perhaps becoming even more contentious. The game’s economic imbalances have seemingly widened. Clubs like the Dodgers and Mets continue to ramp up spending to record highs. Other clubs have been clutching the purse strings tightly, pointing to the decreased broadcast revenues as many fans cut cable cords and pivot to streaming.
The owners are expected to push for a salary cap, as they have done in the past. The players are opposed to a salary cap and will likely push for alternatives involving greater revenue sharing between clubs. Any salary cap proposal would be accompanied by a salary floor, which would likely require the smaller clubs to receive more money from the bigger clubs, in order to meet that floor. A notable shake-up of baseball’s finances seems inevitable, though the league and union will have different ideas about which changes are acceptable.
If the two sides can’t reach consensus on an acceptable framework, the possibility of losing games in 2027 would grow. Such an outcome would have negative consequences for baseball at a time when its popularity is on the upswing. Ratings and attendance have been increasing in recent years, with Game Seven of the 2025 World Series the most-watched game since 1991. The recent World Baseball Classic had TV ratings comparable with the most recent NBA finals. Cutting into that popularity could be costly since a large number of the league’s broadcast deals expire after the 2028 season.
Even if the two sides can avoid cancelling games in 2027, a lockout is still widely expected. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has spoken positively about how a lockout affects negotiations. In the wake of those comments, then-executive director of the MLBPA Tony Clark said the union expects to be locked out. Clark recently resigned under the shroud of scandal with deputy director Bruce Meyer taking over on an interim basis.
Speaking of Clark, during his tenure, concerns were raised about an MLBPA-owned company called Players Way. The company came under federal investigation as the union seemed to be diverting millions of dollars to it without the company doing much with that money. The union hired a law firm to conduct an internal investigation in response to those concerns, as well as the investigation of OneTeam Partners, a joint venture with the NFLPA. That internal probe reportedly uncovered messages between Clark and his sister-in-law, an MLBPA employee, which led the union to seek his resignation. This week, both Castillo and Drellich report that Players Way has now been shut down.
Photo courtesy of Evan Petzold, Imagn Images
Pirates, Konnor Griffin Reportedly Working On Extension
April 2nd: Olney now reports that the sides are working on a nine-year deal worth $140MM, though he cautions that the deal isn’t done as they are still working on some things.
April 1st: The Pirates and prospect Konnor Griffin are reportedly deep into extension negotiations, per Buster Olney of ESPN.
It doesn’t appear that anything is done or agreed to yet but it seems the two sides aren’t too far apart. Olney’s report frames Pittsburgh as hoping to get something done that is comparable to Corbin Carroll‘s $111MM eight-year deal with Arizona while Griffin’s camp is targeting Roman Anthony‘s $130MM eight-year pact with Boston. Given that the gap is less than $20MM, perhaps something can get done. A couple of weeks ago, Jon Heyman of The New York Post suggested the Pirates could be willing to get to the $110MM range. Last week, Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the two sides had indeed discussed an eight-year deal worth $110MM.
Griffin is not yet 20 years old and hasn’t played in the majors yet but he is the top prospect in the game right now and many consider him the best prospect seen in years. Last year, he slashed .333/.415/.527 while hitting 21 home runs and stealing 65 bases.
He topped out at Double-A yet seemed to have a chance at breaking camp with the club here in 2026. He hit four home runs in spring training but his other numbers were not great, as he slashed .171/.261/.488. Part of that was a .125 batting average on balls in play but Griffin also struck out at a 28.3% clip and only drew a walk in 4.3% of his plate appearances.
That surely didn’t do anything to dampen the club’s long-term hopes for Griffin but the Pirates decided to start the season with him at the Triple-A level. He has a .462/.588/.692 slash in four games to start the season.
Extensions for players with little or no major league experience have become far more common in recent years. Earlier this week, Colt Emerson and the Mariners set a new benchmark for pre-debut guys, signing an eight-year deal with a $92MM guarantee.
Emerson is one of the 10 to 15 top prospects in the league but, as mentioned, Griffin is the clear #1 and is perhaps the best prospect in quite some time. With that in mind, he should sail past Emerson’s guarantee and it seems like the talks are already past that point.
For extensions signed quite early in a player’s career, Carroll and Anthony are some of the most notable. Carroll and Anthony each signed within two months of their respective debuts. Julio Rodríguez has the record for a deal for a player with less than a year of service time. Towards the end of his rookie season, he and the Mariners signed a convoluted deal with a $210MM guarantee and multiple club/player options.
The largest contract in Pittsburgh’s franchise history is the $100MM deal they signed with Bryan Reynolds a few years back. It seems they are willing and hoping to break that record to lock up Griffin as part of their core. The longer they wait, the harder that will become. Young players generally gain earning power as they push further into their careers and closer to free agency, as the Rodríguez deal shows. For guys with two years of service time, Bobby Witt Jr. got a $288.8MM guarantee while Fernando Tatis Jr. got $340MM. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got $500MM when he was just a few months from free agency.
It’s been over a decade since the Pirates last made the playoffs but it’s possible better days are ahead. They have already graduated a number of exciting young players onto their major league roster in recent years, headlined by Paul Skenes. Their farm system is currently ranked by many outlets as the best in the majors. That’s in large part due to Griffin but they also have Edward Florentino, Seth Hernandez and other exciting young prospects on the way. They had a busy offseason, adding Brandon Lowe, Ryan O’Hearn, Marcell Ozuna and others as they try to take a step forward.
Griffin will be a key part of the competitive window that appears to be opening but the Bucs would naturally love to extend the relationship if they can. From Griffin’s perspective, he would have to be willing to delay his path to free agency. Going year to year could potentially mean hitting the open market after his age-25 or -26 season. Signing a deal now would lock in an upfront guarantee while perhaps still giving him a chance to become a free agent before his 30th birthday.
Without a deal officially signed, there’s a notable ticking clock with Griffin’s service time. A major league season is 187 days long but a player only needs 172 days in the majors to be credited with a full year of service time. That means Griffin can still hit that one-year mark if called up in the next week. If he does so without an extension in place, he would be eligible to earn the Pirates an extra draft pick via the Prospect Promotion Incentive, though players who sign pre-debut extensions are not PPI eligible. If Griffin is still in the minors by the end of next week, he wouldn’t be able to get a full year of service the old-fashioned way but would be credited with one year retroactively if he is eventually called up and places in the top two in National League Rookie of the Year voting.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
Mariners Request Release Waivers On Ryan Loutos
April 2: The Mariners announced Thursday that they’ve requested release waivers on Loutos, who’s out with an undisclosed injury. Since injured players cannot be placed on outright waivers, Seattle will opt for release waivers. It’s common in these situations for the player to quickly re-sign on a minor league deal, but that’s not a given. Loutos will be able to talk to all 29 other clubs now.
March 31: The Mariners announced they’ve designated reliever Ryan Loutos for assignment. That’s the corresponding 40-man roster move for the now official Colt Emerson extension. Although Emerson will remain in Triple-A on an optional assignment, the M’s needed to carry him on the 40-man once he signed a major league contract.
That roster quirk is an unfortunate development for Loutos, who gets pushed into DFA limbo as a result. The 27-year-old righty hasn’t pitched in a regular season game with Seattle. The Mariners claimed him off waivers from Washington at the beginning of the offseason. He made four appearances in Spring Training, allowing seven runs (six earned) through three innings.
A former undrafted free agent, Loutos has pitched for three teams at the MLB level. He has a total of 15 career appearances divided between the Cardinals, Dodgers and Nationals. Loutos had a tough go against MLB hitters, who have put up 21 runs with more walks than strikeouts across 14 1/3 innings. The 27-year-old righty has an ERA just under 5.00 while striking out 24% of opponents over parts of four Triple-A campaigns.
The M’s have five days to trade Loutos or place him on waivers. He sits in the 95 mph range with his four-seam fastball and sinker while mixing in a slider and changeup. Loutos has a minor league option remaining and could be sent to Triple-A if another team is willing to carry him on the 40-man roster.
Sal Stewart, Reds Open To Extension Talks
The annual crop of spring/early-season extensions is still ongoing, and while the Reds and young slugger Sal Stewart haven’t yet had any substantial talks about a deal, Stewart tells Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer that he’s open to discussing a long-term pact. President of baseball operations Nick Krall voiced mutual interest when asked by Wittenmyer, though he gave standard caveats about asking price and finding a middle ground that works for all parties. To this point, there have not yet been substantial talks between the two sides.
“I’m definitely open to it,” said Stewart, noting how well the organization has treated him to this point in his career. “…I’m open to it because they took a chance on me when I was young, and I want to do it for this city. This city means a lot to me, and they’ve become my family.”
Since being called to the majors as a 21-year-old late last season, the now-22-year-old Stewart has done nothing but hit. He’s taken 84 plate appearances, ripped seven homers and four doubles, and mashed to an overall .311/.393/.649 batting line. He’s walked more than he’s struck out this season and has an overall 11.9% walk rate to a 21.4% strikeout rate. Stewart has posted sensational batted-ball metrics in his young career, averaging a comical 95.5 mph off the bat with a 19.6% barrel rate and a 55.4% hard-hit rate. He shouldn’t be expected to sustain those Aaron Judge/Kyle Schwarber-esque levels, but plenty of big league hitters aren’t physically capable of even fluking their way into that type of batted-ball quality over a stretch of 24 games.
Suffice it to say, Stewart looks the part of a middle-of-the-order slugger — precisely the type of hitter Cincinnati has struggled to develop in recent years. The former third baseman is being given every opportunity to run with the Reds’ primary first base job, and so far, the results speak for themselves. Stewart has already positioned himself for a quality payday, based on recent precedent for early-career extensions. Would the Reds pony up a competitive offer? That much remains unclear.
“It always depends on where each side is and what each side is looking for,” Krall said on the possibility. “…You have to find the right number for the club and the player to have it make sense.”
As MLBTR’s Contract Tracker shows, the Reds haven’t given been especially active on the extension front in recent seasons. They signed backup catcher Jose Trevino to a two-year deal guaranteeing him $11.5MM when he was on the doorstep of free agency, but that’s quite a different situation than the one in which Stewart finds himself. The only time in the past decade that Cincinnati has come to terms on a long-term deal extending club control over a pre-arbitration player is Hunter Greene‘s six-year, $53MM deal signed about three years ago. They’ve made other overtures, including a club-record offer to shortstop Elly De La Cruz last spring that didn’t come to fruition. Joey Votto‘s 10-year, $225MM deal is the largest in franchise history.
[Related: Largest contract in franchise history for every MLB team]
Stewart, coincidentally, is represented by the same agency as Votto. He and his team at MVP Sports Group won’t be seeking an arrangement of that magnitude, but recent precedent can provide some context on what Stewart might reasonably command.
Again using MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, there have only been eight extensions over the past decade for position players with between one day and 171 days (one day shy of a year) of major league service time. Those deals range from Ceddanne Rafaela (another MVP client) signing at eight years and $50MM to Julio Rodríguez landing a 12-year, $210MM contract in Seattle. Four additional extensions for players with zero big league service include Detroit’s Colt Keith (six years, $28.6MM plus three options), Milwaukee’s Cooper Pratt (eight years, $50.75MM plus two options), Milwaukee’s Jackson Chourio (eight years, $82MM plus two options) and Seattle’s Colt Emerson (eight years, $95MM plus one option).
Stewart’s offensive upside is considerably greater than that of Rafaela, meaning he could reasonably expect larger arbitration paydays and thus a larger guarantee on the contract. Conversely, Rodriguez had close to a year in the majors by the time he signed his deal. He’d already made the 2022 All-Star team and was the clear frontrunner in an AL Rookie of the Year race he’d eventually win with 29 of 30 first-place votes.
Landing between those two extremes would make sense. The Orioles got catcher/first baseman Samuel Basallo to sign for eight years and $67MM near the end of the 2025 season, just days after he’d first been summoned to the majors. Corbin Carroll had roughly the same number of games and plate appearances as Stewart when he signed for eight years and $111MM, though he was a more well-rounded prospect who offered huge baserunning/defense value on top of his bat. Stewart is more of a bat-first prospect, but the early returns on that bat are hard to ignore.
Aside from the previously mentioned six-year deal for Greene, the Reds don’t have much on the long-term books. Greene is signed through 2028 with a club option for 2029. He’s guaranteed a total of $41MM from 2026-28, or $60MM through 2029 if the option is exercised. Ke’Bryan Hayes is signed through 2029 but for a more modest total of $36MM (including the buyout on a 2030 option). No one else is is signed beyond the 2027 season. Closer Emilio Pagán and the aforementioned Trevino are the only players even guaranteed anything for 2027 — and Pagán could opt out following the current season.
That leaves the Reds on the hook for a total no greater than $42MM in any of the next four seasons. Obviously, there are arbitration salaries that’ll factor in to increase that number, and future trades and free agent acquisitions will also alter that bottom line. For the time being, however, there’s no financial roadblocks in place for a Stewart deal, especially considering that the early seasons of an extension would probably come with minimal salaries. Since contract extensions typically (albeit not always) mimic a player’s would-be earning progressions throughout arbitration, Stewart’s salary probably wouldn’t begin to really climb until after the very end of the club’s control windows over Greene and Hayes.
Nationals Release Matt Mervis
The Nationals have released first baseman Matt Mervis, per Bobby Blanco of MASNsports.com. He’d signed a minor league deal over the winter, spent spring training with the Nats, and opened the season with their Triple-A club in Rochester.
Mervis appeared in only one game with Washington’s top minor league affiliate prior to being released, going 0-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout. He was 3-for-12 with a pair of walks and strikeouts in 14 official spring plate appearances. He went 3-for-11 with a pair of doubles for Israel during the World Baseball Classic.
The Nationals added Mervis as first base depth back in December, but since signing him they acquired first base prospect Abimelec Ortiz from the Rangers as part of their return for MacKenzie Gore and more recently brought Curtis Mead over from the White Sox, giving them another first base option on the MLB roster and pushing Andres Chaparro down to Rochester. The need for further depth was lessened, as was Mervis’ role on the Rochester roster, and the two sides have now parted ways.
Mervis has logged big league time in each of the past three seasons, suiting up for both the Cubs and Marlins. He’s routinely clobbered Triple-A pitching, slashing a combined .264/.359/.522 with 71 long balls in 1318 plate appearances at the top minor league level. Strikeouts have been an issue his past few trips through Triple-A, however, and they’ve been an insurmountable obstacle for Mervis in the majors. Through 261 big league plate appearances, Mervis has slashed .165/.238/.322 with a huge 34.5% strikeout rate. Among the 521 players who tallied at least 250 plate appearances from 2023-25, Mervis ranked 502nd with a 66.9% overall contact rate and 506th with a 76.7% contact rate on pitches within the strike zone.
Mervis is now free to sign with any club seeking some first base depth and/or a left-handed power hitter to stash in Triple-A. Speculatively speaking, he also has a profile that we’ve seen command interest overseas in the past, though there’s no indication that’s a possibility for the 27-year-old slugger (28 later this month).
The Opener: Winn, Griffin, White Sox
Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball throughout the day:
1. Winn OK after car accident:
Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn hit the first walk-off of his career against the Mets in the 11th inning yesterday, but not long after doing so the shortstop was involved in a single-car accident on the interstate near Busch Stadium. As noted by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals thankfully announced that Winn is OK after he was examined at a local hospital.
The Cardinals are off today as they travel to Detroit for their first road series of the year. Whether the star shortstop will play remains to be seen, and Goold notes that the team plans to re-evaluate him prior to tomorrow’s game. Thomas Saggese, José Fermín, and Ramon Urías all have infield experience and could sub in for Winn on the infield if needed. Fermín and Saggese both have shortstop experience, while Urías could plug in at second base if JJ Wetherholt covers short for Winn.
2. Griffin, Pirates working towards extension:
The Pirates have been working to extend the sport’s top prospect, shortstop Konnor Griffin, ahead of his impending MLB debut later this year. ESPN’s Buster Olney characterized the sides as “deep” into extension talks yesterday. The Pirates are seemingly willing to offer Griffin the largest contract in franchise history (surpassing Bryan Reynolds‘ $100MM deal). That would also top Mariners prospect Colt Emerson‘s newly secured $95MM deal for the largest ever to a pre-debut player. Will Griffin join Emerson, Cooper Pratt, and Pete Crow-Armstrong in signing early-career extensions this spring?
3. White Sox home opener postponed:
The White Sox announced that today’s scheduled game against the Blue Jays has been postponed until tomorrow. Today was meant to be Chicago’s home opener, but those festivities will now be moved back a day due to an inclement weather forecast for this afternoon. Perla Paredes of MLB.com writes that the pitching matchup for the game remains unchanged, with righty Sean Burke set to take on former White Sox ace Dylan Cease as he returns to town with the Blue Jays. Gates for tomorrow’s home opener will open at 11:10am local time, with first pitch scheduled for 1:10pm. Paredes goes on to note that all tickets for today’s postponed game will be valid for tomorrow’s home opener without any exchanges being necessary.
MLB Mailbag: Soriano, Ryan, Nats, Extensions, Rays, Cardinals
I'm pinch-hitting for Tim Dierkes one more time on this week's mailbag. In this edition, we'll look at (very) hypothetical trade possibilities surrounding the Angels' Jose Soriano and the Twins' Joe Ryan, some young Nationals, the recent wave of extensions, and some questions on the outlooks for the Rays and Cardinals. Let's begin!
Casey asks...
OK, you're the Angels (sorry). When do you trade Jose Soriano...to whom...and what would be a likely return??
I'll delve into some hypotheticals involving Soriano's trade value and potential suitors shortly, but first and foremost, I'd caution against the idea of the Angels trading him.
That may sound counterintuitive. After all, the Halos obviously aren't expected to contend this season. They're out to a 3-3 start on the year, but the team's bullpen is comprised of rebound candidates, its position player group is littered with strikeout-prone veterans whose best years are behind them, and the rotation has all of two established big league starters: Yusei Kikuchi and Soriano.
FanGraphs projects the Angels to go 71-85 over the rest of the season. Baseball Prospectus/PECOTA is far more bearish, projecting a 66-96 season even after a decent first week of play. Very few expect this team to compete. (Apparently that's OK for owner Arte Moreno, who recently claimed that winning isn't among the top five priorities for Angels fans. Got it, Arte.)
Beyond that grim outlook, the Angels' farm is one of the game's worst. Anaheim's system briefly trended upward several years ago, but that was short-lived. Frequent development misses and prioritization of players who are close to MLB-ready in the draft -- often in place of higher-ceiling talents who are further from the majors -- have left the team without much of a farm. That leads to repeated dice rolls on former top prospects; the current roster includes names like Oswald Peraza, Yoan Moncada, Alek Manoah, Grayson Rodriguez and Vaughn Grissom.
On the surface, all of that would seem to indicate a rebuild is nigh. The Angels haven't reached the playoffs since 2014. They haven't had a winning season since 2015. This is a team in dire need of a rebuild.
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MLBTR Podcast: Lots Of Extensions And Big-Picture Topics
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 Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- The Mariners signing an extension with Colt Emerson (1:20)
- The Brewers agreeing to an extension with Cooper Pratt (19:05)
- The Orioles signing an extension with Shane Baz (28:40)
- The Cubs signing extensions with Pete Crow-Armstrong and Nico Hoerner (38:00)
- Free agents coming from Japan getting less than expected this offseason (53:35)
- The Tarik Skubal arbitration decision potentially being a paradigm shift (59:15)
- The economics of the game with the collective bargaining agreement expiring in less than a year (1:05:50)
- Did the short-term deals for Kyle Tucker and Bo Bichette signal a new trend? (1:22:45)
- Dealing with high-spending clubs with draft pick penalties instead of financial penalties (1:31:00)
- Can the Brewers continue to win after trading away some valuable guys? (1:38:10)
- The exciting crop of 2026 rookies (1:41:15)
- Can the Pirates push into contention in a crowded NL Central? (1:43:40)
- The excitement around the introduction of the ABS system (1:44:50)
Check out our past episodes!
- The PCA and Sanchez Extensions, And Prospect Promotions And Reassignments – listen here
- Banged-Up Reds And Braves, Kevin McGonigle, And Spring Breakouts – listen here
- Jesús Luzardo’s Extension, Atlanta’s Depth, And Zack Littell – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images