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Angels Interested In Willson Contreras

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The Angels are making a bid to reunite manager Joe Maddon with his World Series winning backstop in Chicago Willson Contreras, writes the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. No deal is imminent, but the match is certain to raise a few eyebrows because of the potential fit between the two clubs. Given the recent return for ace Yu Darvish, the Cubbies would seem interested in restocking a thin farm system (though it’s possible they consider that box now checked). The Angels, conversely, have a clear need for some gravitas behind the plate and an earnest desire to win now.

For Los Angeles, Max Stassi may miss the beginning of the season, and neither he nor Anthony Bemboom are established regulars. They made a run at James McCann earlier this offseason before he signed with the Mets. Contreras would be a huge upgrade as an elite offensive catcher who has continued to find his way defensively. He earned 2 runs from extra strikes in 2020 while averaging the second fastest poptime among all catchers. His arm also profiles as above-average, if a tad error-prone in the past. Contreras caught 35% of would-be base-stealers in 2020, well above the league average of 25%.

With two years of team control remaining, the two-time All-Star catcher may be the Cubs’ best available trade chip, however, which could slow any trade talks as they look to milk the most out of any return. He’s a firestarter, fan favorite, and a leader of the team. Besides, having sent Victor Caratini to San Diego as part of the Darvish deal, moving Contreras would also leave them imperiled at the catching spot. The organization likely views Miguel Amaya as a future starting catcher, but he’s not likely to open 2021 with the Major League team. Likewise, Ethan Hearn and Ronnier Quintero are interesting prospects, but neither has played about Rookie Ball. Contreras and the 21-year-old Amaya are the only catchers currently on the Cubs 40-man roster.

Quick Hits: Rule Changes, Angels, McCann

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During a Zoom call with reporters, Rockies manager Bud Black suggested the possibility of teams losing their DH upon pulling their starting pitcher from the game, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The rule change’s purpose would be to deter the use of openers, while keeping some National League strategy in the game in the event that MLB decides to keep the universal DH. That said, Black’s idea could be considered even more outside-the-box than the opener itself, and it doesn’t seem likely to gain much traction. Besides, opener deterrence isn’t necessarily all that high up on the league’s to-do list. Limiting shifts, however, does appear to be gaining in popularity, notes Topkin. Forcing teams to keep two players on each side of the second base bag and keeping infielders on the infield dirt are two ways in which the league could decide to stymie current shifting strategies. Elsewhere…

  • The Angels and catcher James McCann did indeed have mutual interest before the Mets inked their backstop of choice to a four-year deal, per MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger (via Twitter). The Angels have been one of the more aggressive teams so far this winter. With many holes to fill, it’s no surprise that they would check in on a cheaper catching option than superstar free agent J.T. Realmuto.
  • A few catchers have come off the board already, increasing the likelihood that the Angels enter 2021 with Max Stassi and Anthony Bemboom as their catching tandem. That would be fine as far as manager Joe Maddon is concerned, notes Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times. The veteran Stassi would figure to get the first crack at starter reps after slashing .278/.352/.533 across 105 plate appearances last season. Bemboom had a fine showing in 2020, though the 30-year-old has never received more than 60 plate appearances in a season. The Angels are said to be at least exploring bringing in veteran Kurt Suzuki, who is just a year removed from helming a World-Series-winning staff in Washington.

Joe Maddon Discusses Adell, Ohtani

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Jo Adell made his Major League debut to mixed results in 2020. The toolsy outfielder still has a bright future in Los Angeles despite an opening salvo of .220/.294/.266 across 132 plate appearances. His output last season can be taken with a grain of salt, however. If not for the bizarre circumstances of 2020, the 21-year-old likely would have spent the season in Triple-A.

Apparently, that’s where he’ll return at least for the beginning of 2021, per Maria Torres of the Los Angels Times. Manager Joe Maddon didn’t leave a lot of room for interpretation: “He needs more time in the minor leagues, no question.” Adell turns 22 years old in April, so more time in the minors hardly counts as a setback for the former first-rounder.

Still, the news might challenge some assumptions about the makeup of the Angels roster heading into 2021. With Adell ticketed for the minors, new GM Perry Minasian will no doubt explore free agent outfielders as a short-term stopgap.

Mike Trout and Justin Upton have hammerlocks on center and left. Taylor Ward and Jared Walsh are the only other outfielders on the roster. Both Ward and Walsh are 27 years old, and while they aren’t exactly top prospects, both raked with the Salt Lake Bees in 2019. Walsh stayed hot into the 2020 season, slashing .293/.324/.646 in 108 plate appearances. They both boast some power potential, but if the Angels anticipate Adell spending a healthy chunk of 2021 in Triple-A, they may want insurance beyond that pair.

David Fletcher has spent a fair amount of time in the outfield grass, but he’s presently slated for every-down reps at second base. Still, Fletcher’s presence gives the club some flexibility when looking to build out the roster for 2021. Prospects Jahmai Jones and Brandon Marsh could also theoretically enter the outfield picture while Adell gets more seasoning time in Triple-A.

As ever, don’t expect Shohei Ohtani to roam the grass. Maddon fully expects Ohtani to return to the rotation, and any other playing time is likely to come at designated hitter. Though Ohtani no doubt has the capability of playing the outfield, the Angels have long tabled that possibility.

Angels Announce Roster Moves

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The Los Angeles Angels announced a number of roster moves today. Luis Rengifo and Ryan Buchter have been recalled from the team’s alternate site, while Hoby Milner hits the 10-day IL and the recently-acquired Franklin Barreto has been placed on the COVID-19 injured list.

Barreto’s placement on the COVID IL is a matter of protocol, as it will take a couple of days to complete the intakes tests before joining his new squad. Barreto was acquired on Friday in a straight-up swap for Tommy La Stella. La Stella, however, is already in the Oakland lineup for tonight’s game against the Astros.

Rengifo re-joins the club and figures to get some extra playing time at the keystone until Barreto passes testing protocols. David Fletcher steps in as the de facto everyday second baseman now that Andrelton Simmons has returned to shortstop. Fletcher, however, can play all over the diamond and will likely continue to do so in order to give some run to Rengifo and/or Barreto.

Presumably, Maddon and the Angels will give time to all three players with the hopes of clarifying their second baseman arsenal ahead of 2021. Thus far, Barreto has managed just a 50 wRC+ mark in 211 at bats spread across four seasons, while Rengifo saw semi-regular playing time last year in his debut season. He’s off to a slow start this year, however. In total, Rengifo owns a 82 wRC+ mark across 466 at bats.

On the pitching side, Milner heads to the injured list with right back spasms. The move is retroactive to August 26th. Milner, 29, has been utilized liberally this season out of the pen by Maddon. Across 11 appearances, the journeyman southpaw has managed a 3.86 ERA with 6 strikeouts to 2 walks in 7 innings.

Buchter takes over at least temporarily as a lefty option for Maddon. The former Oakland Athletic has made 9 appearances this season with the Angels, sporting a 5.40 ERA across 5 innings. Like Milner, the 33-year-old Buchter has been called upon fairly often, but rarely for more than a couple of batters at a time.

Quick Hits: Bowling Green, Maddon, Roberts, Gardner, Cards

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Current Diamondbacks special assistant, ex-major league right-hander and former MLBTR contributor Burke Badenhop is among those leading a spirited effort to save baseball at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. BGSU dropped its baseball program in a cost-cutting measure May 15, which sparked some of its ex-players – Badenhop and Indians Triple-A manager Andy Tracy, to name a couple – to begin raising funds to revive it, as Jack Carle of the Sentinel-Tribune and Jordan Strack of WTOL have covered. In the past few days alone, 120-plus people have contributed a total of $1.2MM over a five-year commitment, Badenhop informed MLBTR. The goal is to come up with at least $3.5MM, Strack reports. “There’s a lot of people that played Bowling Green baseball,” Badenhop told Strack. “While we’re not LSU, and we’re not a top program in the country, there’s a lot of people that have gone through and played at Stellar Field that Bowling Green baseball means a lot to them.” We at MLBTR wish Badenhop, Tracy & Co. the best in what’s certainly a worthwhile endeavor.

Now to check in on a few MLB teams…

  • According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people over the age of 65 and cancer survivors are among those who are at the highest risk of contracting the coronavirus. With that in mind, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times wonders if it will be safe for the Angels’ Joe Maddon (66) or the Dodgers’ Dave Roberts (Hodgkin’s lymphoma survivor) to manage during a pandemic-shortened season. Maddon, who has lost 15 pounds via diet and exercise, explained to DiGiovanna he’s “on a mission” to get healthier. Roberts, meanwhile, received the go-ahead from one of the Dodgers’ team physicians, Dr. John Plosay, to continue in his current position. “I asked [the doctor] if I were to go back, does that put me in any different [risk] category, and he said absolutely not,” Roberts told DiGiovanna. “He didn’t really give me any details, and I didn’t really ask.”
  • Yankees mainstay Brett Gardner could become a free agent next winter, at which point he’ll be 37, so could this be the outfielder’s last season (if there is one)? Not likely, especially if the season’s canceled, George A. King III of the New York Post writes. For his part, Gardner doesn’t sound like someone who’s nearing the finish line. “In a perfect world for me, I stay healthy and have a good season, and they pick that option up and I come back and do it all over again,” Gardner said of his $10MM option for 2021 during spring training. New York can either exercise that option or buy Gardner out for $2.5MM, but the $10MM price tag doesn’t look unreasonable when considering what he brings to the table. The longest-tenured Yankee put up 3.6 fWAR last season and hit .251/.325/.503 (115 wRC+) with a personal-high 28 home runs in 550 plate appearances.
  • With catcher Yadier Molina potentially months from free agency, the Cardinals may soon have to find a long-term replacement for the franchise icon. That could one day be prospect Ivan Herrera, whom Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch profiles. Set to turn 20 on June 1, Herrera – the Cardinals’ fourth-ranked prospect at MLB.com – spent the majority of last season in High-A and batted .286/.361/.423 with eight home runs in 291 plate appearances. Although he’s not as advanced as a defender, there’s optimism he’ll keep improving that aspect of his game, as Goold writes. “We hear he has the aptitude to go along with the game plan behind the plate,” manager Mike Shildt told Goold.

Injury Notes: Canning, Snell, Robles

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Griffin Canning’s ongoing health concerns will remain nebulous until tomorrow at the earliest. The message from Angels manager Joe Maddon certainly paints the situation as unusual, per The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya (via Twitter). Whether there’s mixed messaging coming from the medical staff themselves, or if this particular injury is causing undue confusion isn’t totally clear from Joe’s comments. What is clear is that the next step is assessing how Canning reacts to his throwing session today. Canning is one of the wild cards in the Angels’ rotation, and it’d certainly be disappointing to begin the season with a significant setback. An update is likely to come tomorrow from Angels camp. In the meantime, let’s check in on some less serious injury news around the game…

  • Rays ace Blake Snell received a cortisone shot in his “outer elbow,” tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. He is expected to resume throwing as early as Tuesday. As important as Snell is to the Rays’ rotation, they also have admirable depth there with young players like Brendan McKay, Brent Honeywell Jr. and Anthony Banda likely on the outside looking in at this stage. Still, Topkin notes that the Rays are not worried about the southpaw’s health. Snell is coming off an injury-shortened season in which he made just 23 starts, pitching to a 4.29 ERA/3.32 FIP. The ERA ended up higher than expected, but the peripherals point to Snell being close to the same guy who won the Cy Young award in 2018, albeit with less BABIP luck.
  • Washington Nationals centerfield Victor Robles underwent an MRI on his left oblique recently. Nats fans can breath easy as the results came back negative, per MLB.com’s Jessica Camerato. Robles is already back in the cage, but the plan is to remain cautious for the time being. Given Robles’ importance to the Nats, it certainly makes sense to take their time with him this early in spring. The Nationals don’t have a ton of depth behind Robles, with Michael A. Taylor serving as his primary backup. While Taylor is an above-average defensive outfielder, his struggles at the plate led him to spend most of the 2019 season in Double-A.

Angels Notes: Maddon, Cubs, Anderson, Pena, Soriano

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Joe Maddon is pleased to be returning to the Angels organization as the team’s new manager, the veteran skipper tells ESPN.com’s Alden Gonzalez.  Rumors about Maddon taking over the managerial post swirled for much of last season, and the Angels ended up being the only team Maddon officially interviewed with, after a dinner with owner Arte Moreno, team president John Carpino and GM Billy Eppler.  “I just thought it would’ve been disingenuous to accept interviews with anyone else if I truly wanted to be here.  And then, after it was all set and done, it couldn’t have been more obvious it was the right thing to do for me,” Maddon said.

Maddon also touched on his departure from Chicago, telling Gonzalez that he decided during the 2019 season that he was ready to move on from the team.  There was heavy speculation that the Cubs were planning a managerial change when no extension talks were held with Maddon prior to his last year under contract, and Maddon said some “philosophical differences” emerged following what was perceived as a disappointing 2018 season.  The front office “wanted to control more of what was occurring in just about everything,” Maddon said, as “when I started there — ’15, ’16, ’17 — it was pretty much my methods. And then all of a sudden, after ’18 going into ’19, they wanted to change everything.”

Interestingly, Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein provided something of a counterpoint to Maddon’s statement, telling The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma that he didn’t feel any “philosophical differences” existed with Maddon.  Epstein didn’t entirely deny that the front office played a larger role in 2019, as while he didn’t see the extra attention as overly controlling, he felt he had to address what he saw as a “growing organizational complacency” in the clubhouse.  “I think his [Maddon’s] approach was more that things will work themselves out.  These are great players, let them play and these things will work out,” Epstein said.  “From my perspective, there was a little bit more cause for concern.  It wasn’t an everyday thing that I would try to step in and offer feedback, help and remind about expectations.”

Some more out of Anaheim…

  • Right-hander Justin Anderson will be out for four-to-six weeks and will begin the season on the injured list, Maddon told MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger and other reporters.  Anderson suffered a Grade 2 strain in his left oblique while playing catch on Tuesday.  The 27-year-old is entering his third season in Los Angeles and looking to improve on an injury-hampered 2019 that saw Anderson post a 5.55 ERA over 47 relief innings, while battling a trapezoid issue.
  • Maddon also provided an update (to the Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya and other reporters) on right-hander Felix Pena, who is expected to be ready for Opening Day.  Pena tore his right ACL last August and had a projected recovery time of six-to-nine months, though it seems as if Pena is progressing well and won’t require the long end of that projection.  Pena has a 4.38 ERA, 8.9 K/9, and 3.00 K/BB rate over 189 innings since the Angels acquired him in a deal with the Cubs during the 2017-18 offseason, with Pena starting 24 of his 41 games as a semi-regular rotation fill-in for the Halos’ many pitching injuries.  Most notably, Pena tossed the final seven innings of the Angels’ combined no-hitter on July 12, entering the game as the bulk pitcher after opener Taylor Cole.
  • Angels pitching prospect Jose Soriano will miss the entire 2020 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo reports (Twitter link).  At the end of last season, MLB Pipeline ranked the right-hander as the ninth-best minor leaguer in the Angels’ farm system, praising Soriano’s “electric fastball” that sits in the 97-98mph range and a breaking ball that “trends towards being a plus pitch.”  The 21-year-old Soriano is coming off a solid season spent mostly at A-ball Burlington, posting a 2.55 ERA, 9.7 K/9, and 1.75 K/BB rate over 77 2/3 innings (starting 15 of 17 games).

Angels To Hire John Mallee To Coaching Staff

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The Angels are indeed hiring John Mallee to their coaching staff as an assistant hitting coach, according to a tweet from Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (link). Bruce Levine of WSCR-AM had previously reported that Mallee was in consideration for a position on Joe Maddon’s Los Angeles staff (link).

As Fletcher notes, the club has not announced the departure of any of their hitting coaches from the 2019 season, so the final staff makeup is still to be announced. At the least, they will be adding a very practiced hand in Mallee.

Mallee spent the majority of the last two seasons working under Gabe Kapler in Philadelphia before an offensive downturn saw him replaced in favor of Charlie Manuel. Before that, Mallee was Maddon’s hitting coach for the Cubs from 2014 through 2017, also serving as the chief hitting instructor on Bo Porter’s Houston staff in 2013 and 2014. The 50-year-old Mallee, a native of Chicago, enjoyed a brief minor league playing career in the early 1990s.

Jeremy Reed, Shawn Wooten, and Paul Sorrento worked as hitting instructors on the Angels staff of Brad Ausmus in 2019.

AL West Notes: Mariners, Maddon, Newhan, Andrus

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The Mariners will be looking for veteran pitching this winter, The Athletic’s Corey Brock writes, though they’ll be focusing on relatively inexpensive hurlers on one-year deals as the rebuilding team will give priority to its younger arms.  Tanner Roark, Andrew Cashner, or Tyson Ross are suggested as the types of pitcher (if not those names directly) the M’s could target as they look for experience and the ability to eat innings.

Evaluating how any pitcher will perform on a year-to-year basis is always an inexact science, of course, though Brock also notes that the Mariners and other teams will face an added wrinkle in this year’s offseason market — not knowing how the official MLB baseball could be adjusted in the wake of the home run onslaught that was the 2019 season.  Only three teams allowed more homers in 2019 than the Mariners, despite playing their home games in a relatively pitcher-friendly ballpark.

Here’s more from around the AL West…

  • The Angels officially introduced new manager Joe Maddon at a press conference today, with the veteran skipper telling reporters (including MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger) that he hopes to remain with the club beyond the length of his current three-year contract.  That deal, a three-year/$12MM pact, also includes a bonus clause that will be unlocked if the Angels win the World Series under Maddon’s watch, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link).  Should the Halos win a title, Maddon will earn an extra $1MM in each subsequent year of the deal.
  • David Newhan, manager of the Angels’ Double-A affiliate, isn’t expected return to the organization in 2020, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reports (Twitter link).  Newhan spent the last three years working for the Angels, working as the minor league infield coordinator in 2017-18 before serving as Double-A Mobile’s skipper last season.
  • In regards to a reader question about potentially using Elvis Andrus to fill the Rangers’ hole at third base, MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan highly doubts the team would consider such a move.  For one, moving Andrus would simply create another vacancy at shortstop, and there doesn’t seem to be any reason to move Andrus when he is still a defensive plus at his current position.  Though 2019 was Andrus’ first negative year (-6) in Defensive Runs Saved since 2016, he has long been considered an above-average fielder by the UZR/150 metric, including a 2.2 UZR/150 last season.

Quick Hits: Maddon, Sasaki, Red Sox

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In an interesting bit of “what if” history, Scott Miller of Bleacher Report runs down the story of how new Angels manager Joe Maddon almost become the club’s skipper at the tail end of the ’90s (link). Apparently, former Angels GM Bill Bavasi identified Maddon back in 1996 as a potential future manager and hatched a plot to install the pitching mind as something of an heir apparent–assuming, of course, that Bavasi could secure the managerial services of Sparky Anderson to serve as Maddon’s mentor. The plan went awry, however, when Bavasi, then-team president Tony Tavares, and Anderson met for a fateful lunch. Apparently, Tavares was offput when Anderson, then 62, struggled to raise a soup spoon to his mouth with a steady hand, and the prez nixed the Anderson-Maddon succession plan immediately after the lunch date. The club later went with Terry Collins as manager (with Maddon serving as bench coach), with the club later going outside the org to hire Mike Scioscia after the ouster of Collins.

If Maddon is harboring any resentment over the way things worked out, he’s doing a good job of hiding it. “I couldn’t be more grateful, sincerely, for how things have worked out for me in my baseball career,” Maddon says in Miller’s article. “I’ve always been a big believer in not having anything happen to you before it’s time. In other words, I had to earn this opportunity, and I felt like I did by 2006.”

More news from around the diamond…

  • Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki was selected today in NPB’s amateur draft by the Chiba Lotte Marines, according to the Japan Times (link).  Sasaki, 18, was clocked at 101 mph during his time in high school, and many major league scouts were said to have an interest in luring the pitcher to the States. Had the youngster decided to forego the NPB draft, he could have signed with an MLB club in June; instead, he will report to the Marines under the guidance of Chibba Lotte captain and former MLB infielder Tadahito Iguchi. Iguchi, for one, is eager to have the firearmer in the fold. “He’s an extraordinary pitcher,” Iguchi said. “It’s scary to think how far he might go. He was the best player available and now it’s incumbent on us to nurture his potential.” Unlike the MLB Draft, every team in the NPB has an equal chance of landing the first overall pick; teams provide their first choice in secret to the league, and the player’s negotiating rights are decided by the drawing of lots. Some Japanese teams, including the Yomiuri Giants and the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, have refused in recent years to allow for the posting of players before they become nine-year veteran free agents. The Chiba Lotte org, meanwhile, has taken no such public stance, so it is not impossible to imagine Sasaki being posted for MLB clubs in the coming years.
  • Conversations surrounding the Red Sox bullpen continued for much of the 2019 season, as the club’s decision to forego the Craig Kimbrel market caused many fans to wonder about front office priorities. It’s rather kind then, for Jen McCaffery of The Athletic to offer some free bullpen scouting in her latest piece, in which she looks at a few outside acquisitions who might be a fit in a Boston uniform. Trade options (Brandon Kintzler) and impending free agents (Steve Cishek, Will Harris) are both bandied, with McCaffery wondering aloud if Boston’s new leadership might be inclined to keep Brandon Workman in the ninth inning role he handled for much of 2019. The Sox recorded a collective 4.40 relief ERA last season, 18th among major league teams.

 

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