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Angels To Sign Jonathan Villar

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1:50pm: The Angels have officially announced the signing, with catcher Matt Thaiss optioned to Triple-A to create space on the active roster. To create room on the 40-man roster, reliever Archie Bradley was transferred to the 60-day IL. Bradley was recently shut down for at least four weeks with an elbow fracture, after which he’ll need time to get back into game shape. He isn’t likely to return within the next couple of months, making today’s transaction largely a formality.

10:50am: MLBTR has confirmed Villar is in agreement with the club on a major league deal.

8:20am: The Angels are reportedly signing infielder Jonathan Villar, according to Hector Gomez of Z101 Digital. The team has not yet confirmed the deal nor announced any corresponding moves. The club’s 40-man roster is presently full, meaning someone will have to be subtracted in order to make room for his addition. Villar is a client of ACES.

Signed by the Cubs in the offseason to a one-year, $6MM deal, Villar has struggled this year to the point that Chicago designated him for assignment and released him last week. With around $3.4MM left to be paid out, the Cubs will be on the hook for most of the remainder of that. The Angels will pay Villar the prorated league minimum for any time he spends on the roster, with that amount being subtracted from what the Cubs pay.

For the Angels, this is a way of trying to bolster an infield mix that is in serious need of bolstering. The middle infield was arguably the team’s weakest area going into the season, with a mix that included David Fletcher, Matt Duffy, Andrew Velazquez, Tyler Wade and Luis Rengifo. Fletcher struggled through 14 games before hitting the injured list and won’t return until around the All-Star break. The season-ending injury to Anthony Rendon created a hole at third base, further stretching this infield crew to cover three positions instead of two. The depth was further depleted when Duffy landed on the injured list with back spasms. Although he’s not expected to have an extended stay on the shelf, that still left the Halos with Velazquez, Wade and Rengifo in line for everyday roles, with David MacKinnon occasionally taking some time at third base.

No one out of that group has done much to solidify the infield mix, with Velazquez, Wade, Rengifo and MacKinnon all currently a sporting a wRC+ between 36 and 92, meaning they’ve all hit at below-average rates to differing degrees. Even if Duffy can return from his IL trip in short order, he’s only hitting .261/.308/.291 for a wRC+ of 74. Due to the uninspiring results of this group, the Angels have gotten a 68 wRC+ from the second base position overall, placing them 24th out of the 30 teams in the league. At third base, it’s an 82 wRC+ for 21st place, and shortstop is even worse, as their collective 44 wRC+ is dead last in the league.

Given that dearth of production from their infielders, it makes sense that they would be willing to take a gamble on Villar. Of course, whether that gamble pays off will depend upon which version of Villar shows up, as he’s had oscillating results in recent years. 2019 was arguably the best season of his career, as he hit .274/.339/.453 for a 107 wRC+. Combined with his 40 bases stolen bases, he provided 3.9 wins above replacement that year, in the estimation of FanGraphs. He followed that up with a downswing in the shortened 2020 season, hitting just .232/.301/.292 for a 65 wRC+. Last year was a nice bounceback, as he hit .249/.322/.416 for 105 wRC+, along with 14 steals. With the Cubs this year, the pendulum has swung back the other way, as Villar’s batting line is currently .222/.271/.327 for a wRC+ of 65. The defensive metrics have also soured on his glovework, with DRS giving him a -8 at second base this year.

With the Angels sporting a record of 37-42, they are currently five games behind the Guardians for the final AL Wild Card spot, with three other clubs in between them. The trade deadline is now one month away, making the next stretch of play incredibly important for teams like the Angels that could see their deadline status quickly altered by a streak, either hot or cold. If Villar can find some of the form he showed in 2019 or 2021, even for a short amount of time, it could be a significant boost to the club’s fortunes.

Archie Bradley Shut Down For At Least Four Weeks With Elbow Fracture

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Angels reliever Archie Bradley was placed on the 15-day injured list with a fracture in his throwing elbow this evening. Trainer Mike Frostad tells reporters (including Sam Blum of the Athletic and Sarah Valenzuela of the Los Angeles Times) that he’ll be shut down from throwing entirely for at least four weeks. Frostad estimated it’ll be multiple months before he’s able to return to the majors. Bradley suffered the injury during Sunday’s brawl between the Halos and Mariners, when he slipped trying to climb over the dugout railing.

Signed to a $3.75MM guarantee over the offseason, Bradley has made 21 appearances on the year. He owns a 4.82 ERA across 18 2/3 innings, striking out just 19.2% of batters faced. It’s the second consecutive season in which he’s not missed many bats, but Bradley has continued to shoulder high-leverage innings late in games. To his credit, the right-hander has induced grounders on almost three-fifths of batted balls against him, an excellent rate that has contributed to his allowing just one home run all season.

Unfortunately, the Halos will now be without one their more trusted late-game arms for the foreseeable future. An eventual transfer to the 60-day injured list seems all but inevitable, as the 29-year-old is seemingly looking at a September return at the earliest. That obviously won’t afford him much time to demonstrate his health before he again hits the open market next winter.

The fracture also all but eliminates the possibility of the Angels moving Bradley midseason. Entering play Tuesday with a 36-40 record, the Halos could find themselves dealing away short-term players in advance of the August 2 trade deadline. Flipping Bradley wouldn’t have brought back a massive return, but there’d likely have been some interest from other clubs given his high-leverage experience and lofty ground-ball numbers.

Players on the injured list can still be traded, but it’s hard to envision another team dealing for Bradley at this point. He seems unlikely to be available for more than the final month of the regular season, at best, and his status as an impending free agent means there isn’t any long-term upside in acquiring him for a contending club.

Angels Designate Jose Rojas For Assignment

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The Angels announced a series of roster moves Monday, reinstating catcher Max Stassi and right-hander Archie Bradley from the injured list. In order to open roster space for the returning veterans, the Halos optioned catcher Chad Wallach and lefty Jose Suarez to Triple-A Salt Lake. Infielder Jose Rojas, meanwhile, was designated for assignment. A 40-man move was necessary due to the fact that Stassi had been on the Covid-19-related injured list and was thus not counting against the 40-man roster.

Rojas, 29, has seen Major League time at second base, third base, first base and in both outfield corners. He’s a .199/.261./.377 hitter through 207 plate appearances in that time but does possess a much more appealing track record in Triple-A, where he’s logged a .274/.340/.496 slash in 950 trips to the plate. Rojas swatted 31 home runs with Triple-A Salt Lake back in 2019, although that came during a season when the baseball is widely believed to have been juiced both in the Majors and in Triple-A.

A former 36th-round pick, Rojas still has a pair of minor league options remaining, meaning any club that picks him up via waiver claim or a small trade will be able to shuttle him back and forth between Triple-A and the big leagues as some additional outfield/infield depth both this season and next. The Angels will have seven days to trade Rojas, attempt to pass him through outright waivers or release him.

Angels Place Archie Bradley On 10-Day Injured List

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The Angels placed reliever Archie Bradley on the 10-day injured list with a left abdominal strain, per Jeff Fletcher of the SoCal News Group (via Twitter). Elvis Peguero has been recalled to take his roster spot.

Bradley signed a one-year, $3.75MM contract to join the Angels bullpen this season. The 29-year-old is off to a rough start, yielding seven earned runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out seven over 8 2/3 innings. The Angels would be fair to expect quite a bit more from Bradley, who posted a 3.71 ERA/4.35 FIP over 51 frames last season for the Phillies.

Peguero, 25, has impressed in Triple-A this season with a 1.74 ERA in six appearances covering 10 1/3 innings with an impressive 13-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Peguero joined the Angels organization from the Yankees as part of the Andrew Heaney deal.

Angels To Sign Archie Bradley

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12:21pm: Bradley and the Angels have agreed to a deal, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. He’ll earn $3.75MM on a one-year contract, tweets Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

9:38am: The Angels are close to finalizing an agreement with free-agent reliever Archie Bradley, tweets Sam Blum of The Athletic. The right-hander is headed to Arizona (where the Halos have their Spring Training facility) at the moment, Blum adds. Bradley is a client of BBI Sports Group.

Archie Bradley | Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Drafted by the D-backs with the No. 7 overall pick back in 2011, the now-29-year-old Bradley struggled as a starter early in his career with Arizona before seeing his career take off in 2017 when he moved to the bullpen. Bradley logged a minuscule 1.73 ERA through 73 frames that season and has since been entrenched as a quality reliever with the D-backs, Reds and — last season — the Phillies.

The 2021 season was Bradley’s first in Philadelphia. After being acquired by the Reds at the 2020 trade deadline and pitching well in his brief stint there, Bradley was non-tendered in a surprising cost-cutting move by Cincinnati. He inked a one-year, $6MM with the Phillies that exceeded the salary he’d been projected to receive in arbitration with the Reds. Bradley had a solid season in Philly, notching a 3.71 ERA over the life of 51 innings, but the year wasn’t without its red flags.

Bradley missed time with a pair of oblique strains last season, and when he was healthy, he posted his lowest strikeout rate (17.9%), lowest average fastball velocity (94.2 mph) and second-highest walk rate (9.8%) since moving to the bullpen back in 2017. It was still an effective year overall, of course, and the pair of injuries quite likely had an adverse impact on him. With the Phillies, Bradley also threw his sinker at a career-high 18.2% (double the rate of the 2020 season), which resulted in a 55.7% ground-ball rate — his best since moving from the rotation to the bullpen. In that sense, it seems there was a conscious decision to trade some whiffs for some grounders (a curious approach considering Philadelphia’s woeful infield defense last year).

If Bradley resumes throwing his four-seamer more heavily in 2022, there’s good reason to expect that his strikeout rate might creep back up a bit. And if he continues to favor his sinker more than in seasons past, he’ll at least be moving to a club that boasts a better defensive group around the infield. Each of Anthony Rendon, David Fletcher and the newly signed Matt Duffy are known for quality glovework.

Bradley has experience closing games, but the move to Anaheim will reunite him with former Reds teammate Raisel Iglesias, who he’ll surely precede as a setup man. Iglesias and Bradley were both cut loose by Cincinnati following that 2020 season — Iglesias in a salary dump trade, Bradley via the aforementioned non-tender — and will now again work together to hold late-inning leads. The Halos re-signed Iglesias to a four-year, $58MM contract earlier this winter after the Cuban-born righty enjoyed a career year in 2021. That duo, along with righty Mike Mayers and lefty Aaron Loup (signed to a two-year, $17MM deal this winter) will be counted among the primary late-inning options for skipper Joe Maddon.

Bradley’s deal boost the Angels’ actual payroll up to a projected $179.5MM — only narrowly shy of last year’s $182MM record Opening Day payroll. The Halos’ luxury-tax payroll (which is based upon the combined annual value of their contractual obligations) now jumps north of $195MM — well shy of the new $230MM luxury tax threshold.

NL Notes: Brito, Cardinals, Kelly, Bradley, Rockies, Black

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In a terrifying late July incident, Phillies prospect Daniel Brito collapsed during the first inning of a Triple-A game. The young infielder was rushed to a Rochester, New York hospital and details about his recovery were understandably sparse over the next few months. Matt Gelb of the Athletic provided a remarkable update on Brito’s story this morning, catching up with him, his family and members of the Philadelphia organization a bit more than six months later.

Brito suffered a brain hemorrhage, Gelb writes, the product of an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) that had been present since birth. He spent nearly two months in the hospital, half of it in a medically-induced coma and required a pair of brain surgeries. Doctors questioned at the time whether he’d be able to again perform basic life tasks, but Brito has already progressed far more quickly than expected. He’s even recently begun baseball activities, with the 24-year-old expressing a desire to continue his playing career. Gelb’s full post — which goes into detail about Brito’s condition, rehab process, and the support he’s received from family, teammates, medical staff and team personnel — is well worth a read in full. MLBTR sends our best wishes to Brito on his continued recovery.

Other news and notes from the Senior Circuit:

  • As the Cardinals look for relief help post-lockout, the team is prioritizing pitchers who throw strikes, throw a sinkerball, and generate soft contact and a lot of grounders, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes.  Goold lists several available free agents and trade targets who fit at least a couple of these parameters, and also provides some details on specific pitchers.  Goold linked Joe Kelly (who pitched in St. Louis from 2012-14) to the Cardinals last week, and now adds that the club’s pre-lockout conversations with the right-hander were “initial but not aggressive.”  The Cardinals hadn’t yet been in touch with Archie Bradley’s agents prior to the lockout, though Bradley is seemingly a good fit as a sinkerball pitcher who keeps the ball on the ground and doesn’t allow much hard contact.
  • The Rockies tacked on a season to Bud Black’s contract yesterday, keeping their skipper in the fold through 2023. Nick Groke of the Athletic looks into that decision, writing that the organization’s faith in Black’s ability to coax the best out of their starting rotation played a key role. Black, who was also a longtime MLB pitcher and pitching coach, is well-regarded for his ability to work with young arms. Last season, Colorado starters posted a 4.77 ERA/4.44 SIERA — decent production given the extremely hitter-friendly nature of Coors Field. That said, Black and his staff could have an uphill battle in replacing Jon Gray, who signed a four-year deal with the Rangers before the lockout. Beyond the top four of Germán Márquez, Antonio Senzatela, Kyle Freeland and Austin Gomber, Peter Lambert and Ryan Rolison look to be the current favorites to step into the final rotation spot.

Phillies Place Archie Bradley On Injured List, Select Kyle Dohy

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The Phillies have placed Archie Bradley on the IL with an oblique injury, according to a team announcement. The club has selected the contract of lefty Kyle Dohy to take his place. To make room on the 40-man roster, lefty Matt Moore was transferred from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL.  (Matt Gelb of The Athletic first reported Bradley was heading to the IL and that Dohy would be coming up.)

This is surely a frustrating development for Bradley and the Phillies, as he has been a largely solid member of a shaky relief corps for the club. The righty has logged 51 innings for the Phils with an ERA of 3.71. His strikeout and walk rates are both slightly worse than average, at 17.9% and 9.8%, respectively, but his 55.7% groundball rate is excellent. This is his second trip to the injured list this year, as he missed over a month at the beginning of the season, also with an oblique injury. If this injury is as severe as that one, it has the potential to finish Bradley’s season. The Phils are still hunting for the NL East crown and are just 1 1/2 games behind Atlanta, but another month-long stretch on the injured list would keep Bradley out of action until the World Series. For what it’s worth, Bradley himself said he hopes to pitch again in October, per Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. Signed by the Phillies to a one-year, $6MM deal in January, the 29-year-old is a free agent at season’s end.

As for Dohy, he was added to Philadelphia’s 40-man roster in November to protect him from being selected in the Rule 5 Draft, but cleared waivers and was outrighted off the roster April 1st. The southpaw has spent the bulk of this year at Double-A, logging 37 1/3 innings out of the bullpen there, as well as 5 1/3 innings at Triple-A. Overall, he has an ERA of 2.95, with an excellent strikeout rate of 35.1%, but a concerning walk rate of 15.1%. As soon as he is called upon to enter a game, it will be his major league debut.

Moore was just placed on the 10-day IL September 23rd with a lower back strain, meaning today’s transfer to the 60-day IL officially concludes his season. The Phillies signed him to a one-year, $3MM deal in the offseason, based on a strong performance in Japan in 2020. Unfortunately, 2021 didn’t go quite as smooth for the 32-year-old. He logged 73 innings this year in 24 games, 13 starts, with an ERA of 6.29. His strikeout rate of 18.9% and walk rate of 11.4% were both worse than league average.

Phillies Notes: Eflin, Realmuto, Bradley

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Zach Eflin’s season could be in jeopardy following both a positive COVID-19 test and a recurrence of his right knee injury.  Phillies manager Joe Girardi told reporters (including The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Matt Breen) that he doesn’t expect Eflin to be doing much throwing during the right-hander’s mandatory 10-day minimum quarantine period, giving Eflin even less time to get prepared for a return to the mound before the regular season is up.

Eflin hasn’t pitched since July 16 due to patellar tenditis in his right knee.  He was activated from the 10-day IL on Thursday for an expected start, but he was scratched from that outing due to more knee problems.  Eflin was then placed on the COVID-related injury list the next day in the wake of his positive test.

It remains to be seen if Eflin will miss only 10 days recovering from the coronavirus, though he has already been fully vaccinated.  This 10-day break could essentially serve as a shutdown period that may have been required anyway, considering the sudden return of Eflin’s knee issue.  Still, the first step of that knee rehab can’t really begin until Eflin is COVID-free, limiting his chances of returning.

The righty has enjoyed a solid season, posting a 4.17 ERA over 105 2/3 innings and 18 starts in the Philadelphia rotation.  After a career-best 28.6% strikeout rate in 2020, Eflin’s K-rate returned to career norms with a below-average 22.4% mark this season.  However, Eflin has been better at ever at limiting free passes — his 3.6% walk rate is the lowest of any pitcher in baseball with at least 100 innings pitched in 2021.

Eflin’s potential absence for the remainder of the season won’t help the Phils in their attempts to make a late run at a playoff spot.  Philadelphia entered today’s action with an even 64-64 record, 5.5 games back of the Braves in the NL West and six games out of a wild card spot.  Eflin had been a solid No. 3 pitcher behind Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola in the Phillies’ rotation, though trade deadline acquisition Kyle Gibson, Ranger Suarez, and Matt Moore now look to be rounding out the starting five for the remainder of the year if Eflin can’t make a comeback.

The Phillies were further hampered by the loss of Rhys Hoskins to season-ending abdomen surgery earlier this week, and the club plans to use J.T. Realmuto help fill the void at first base.  Getting out from behind the plate could also help Realmuto manage an injury of his own, as the All-Star catcher told MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki and other reporters that he has been battling some soreness in his right shoulder.

Realmuto described the issue as “normal everyday wear and tear,” to the point that he even downplayed the position change as a way to keep him fresh.  “Everybody on the field is feeling some sort of tired or some sort of pain right now,” Realmuto said.  “Mine just happens to be in my shoulder.  I feel it a little bit hitting.  I feel it sometimes throwing, but I don’t think it’s actually affecting my play at all.”

Considering Realmuto has an .874 OPS over 87 plate appearances in August, he certainly doesn’t seem any worse for wear.  For the season, Realmuto is hitting .263/.351/.447 with 14 homers over 422 PA.  Realmuto is no stranger to first base, having played 40 games at the position over the last five seasons.

Archie Bradley is also dealing with right shoulder discomfort, Girardi said, though the problem isn’t considered serious.  Bradley hasn’t pitched since Tuesday, when he allowed two runs in an inning of work against the Rays.  Bradley has a 3.12 ERA over 40 1/3 innings out of the Phillies bullpen this season, with a 54.4% grounder rate helping paper over some unimpressive Statcast metrics.

Phillies Place Archie Bradley On 10-Day Injured List

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3:50 pm: Bradley’s IL placement is now official, with the team announcing it’s a left oblique strain. The Phillies recalled southpaw JoJo Romero in a corresponding move.

1:51 pm: The Phillies will be placing right-hander Archie Bradley on the 10-day injured list due to an oblique injury, The Athletic’s Matt Gelb reports (Twitter links).  Bradley just pitched yesterday, allowing two hits and recording one out against the three batters he faced, and he was charged with the loss as Philadelphia dropped a 5-4 result to Atlanta.

IL visits are rare for Bradley, who hasn’t officially missed any time since the 2015 season.  The severity of the oblique problem isn’t yet known, as more severe strains can lead to months-long absences.  Even a 10-day stint for Bradley would represent a blow to the Phillies’ bullpen, which has posted some solid results this year following a thoroughly disastrous performance in 2020.

Bradley was one of several new faces added to the rebuilt bullpen over the offseason, as he signed a one-year, $6MM deal with Philadelphia after being non-tendered by the Reds earlier in the winter.  The Reds’ decision was seemingly more based around saving money on Bradley’ arbitration salary (projected to fall between $4.3MM and $5.7MM) than on Bradley’s performance, as he posted a 2.95 ERA/3.44 SIERA over 18 1/3 combined innings with the Diamondbacks and Reds in 2020.  Bradley has worked as a closer in the past, but seemed slated for set-up duty or general high-leverage usage thus far with the Phillies.

Phillies Looking At Further Bullpen Additions

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Since Dave Dombrowski was named the Phillies’ president of baseball operations, the club has acquired Jose Alvarado from the Rays and signed former D-backs closer Archie Bradley. (Philadelphia also picked up lefty Sam Coonrod in a deal with the Giants.) At today’s press conference to introduce Bradley, Dombrowski made clear that his club is still open to further augmenting the bullpen (YouTube link).

“I think we’ve improved ourselves, but we can continue to work on improving ourselves, too,” said Dombrowski. “I think we’re open-minded to future additions as we continue to talk in this free-agent market. We’ll continue to work on it, but I do think we have significantly improved ourselves.” Neither Dombrowski nor manager Joe Girardi dubbed Bradley the team’s closer just yet, and Bradley himself enthusiastically said he’s open to pitching in any role.

Dombrowski wouldn’t delve into specifics regarding the team’s budget, but acknowledged that he has a “pulse” of where owner John Middleton is comfortable drawing the payroll line. The Phils still have room to make a few moves, per Dombrowski, who also suggested that further rotation depth would be “ideal.” Some of that depth could come in the form of non-roster invitees to Spring Training, he added.

Of course, the key factor in determining the Phillies’ budget for the upcoming season is whether the club is able to reel J.T. Realmuto back into the fold. The Phillies reportedly put forth a new five-year offer worth more than $100MM total in the past few days, and while Dombrowski unsurprisingly declined to comment on negotiations, he confirmed that the team is still hoping to keep the two-time All-Star behind the plate.

At the moment, the Phillies’ projected payroll clocks in at roughly $152MM, per Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez, with their luxury-tax obligations at a slightly heftier $157MM. That’s a ways shy of last year, when the Phils were in line to carry about a $187MM payroll prior to the prorated season — a mark that would’ve been a franchise record. That said, after a season without any gate revenue, it’s not clear how aggressively Middleton and the rest of the club’s ownership group are willing to spend.

Were the Phillies to head into the 2021 season with the current group of relievers, the newly acquired trio of Bradley, Alvarado and Coonrod would be complemented by holdover Hector Neris, swingman David Hale and likely some youngsters from the group of Connor Brogdon, Ranger Suarez, Cole Irvin and Ian Hamilton. (Brogdon, specifically, was mentioned during today’s press conference.) Certainly, there’s room for more veteran help to be brought in — be it on a guaranteed deal or, as Dombrowski alluded to when discussing the rotation, on a non-roster pact.

More broadly, Dombrowski rejected the manner in which some have characterized the 2021 season as a transitional year for his club. The Phillies simply have “too many good players … to be thinking about transitioning,” said Dombrowski, adding that the team’s focus is solely on competing for a playoff berth. The veteran front office exec acknowledged that the Phils won’t be perceived as the favorites but mentioned on multiple occasions that there are still about four weeks until camp opens, while also pointing to the increased frequency of free agents signing after Spring Training begins.

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