5:20pm: Los Angeles will be responsible for $1.1MM of the $4.9MM or so left on the contract, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports on Twitter.
5:00pm: The Angels have acquired veteran outfielder Shane Victorino from the Red Sox, Boston announced (as first reported by Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports reports on Twitter). Infielder Josh Rutledge will head to the Red Sox in the deal, while Boston will also send an unidentified amount of cash to Los Angeles.
Victorino, 34, is a switch-hitting corner outfielder who has done much more damage from the right side of the plate in recent years. That makes him a reasonable platoon candidate to pair with Matt Joyce, the left-handed-hitting corner outfielder who has historically been quite good against right-handed pitching.
There had been indications that Los Angeles was looking into a more impactful addition at the corner outfield — perhaps one that would put an everyday player into the spot. The team seemingly preferred a left-handed bat, per reports. That could still come to pass, of course, if the Angels are willing to cut Joyce loose and use Victorino as a pure fourth outfielder. Indeed, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times tweets that the club still has interest in another outfield addition.
There’s around $4.5MM left on Victorino’s contract, which expires after the present season. It’s unclear exactly how much will remain the responsibility of the Red Sox.
For Boston, the deal was all about saving some cash and clearing roster space for a lengthy audition of major recent international signee Rusney Castillo. The 28-year-old has been recalled to take Victorino’s place on the active roster.
Rutledge, after all, has not even seen time yet at the big league level this year after joining the Angels in a winter trade. His star has dimmed considerably since a nice rookie campaign with the Rockies back in 2012, though he continues to put up solid numbers at Triple-A (.286/.336/.432) and could certainly find his way back to the majors in Boston.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
How many baseballs are in the bucket they’re sending back?
Seven. And they are factory seconds.
It was a sketchy signing to begin with. We got a series out of it.
Not his fault we offered him that contract. By the looks of it I’m not sure
we learned our lesson.
Compared to Porcello’s, Victorino’s deal is tolerable.
Too many
Guess the asking price on Jay Bruce was to high
This is a win for the Red Sox, even if the return is literally nothing.
Rutledge is close to nothing.
Lol, yep. That’s what I thought when I saw his name.
Rutledge can be nothing but the Sox still win this trade.
How so? Boston is paying some of the 4.5 he’s owed. Postseason experience who can platoon vs. LHP. Seems fair to me.
It’s a fair trade but the Sox need to give PT to Castillo and JBJ so Shane was simply standing in the way of what needed to be done. considering what he meant to the WS team it was the right thing to do to send him somewhere he can play and possibly make the postseason
I would of rather they got a bag of balls in return over Rutledge.
He’s got great hair and is married to a former Miss Alabama … so there’s that.
Im surprised why no one thinks much of rutledge. 2/3 years with the rockies as an infielder his OPS was over .700 and his numbers were more than respectable.
I think it’s all about expectations. When I first heard about this guy, the expectations were much higher than what he’s done at the MLB level.
Can he play left and K less than Joyce?
The Angels managed to find someone who is actually worse at hitting against RHP than Joyce.
Victorino vs RHP: .186/.250/.203
Joyce vs RHP: .190/.285/.317
Stoneman deserves credit, I didn’t think anyone could be worse than Matt Joyce
To be fair he said he was going to platoon vs. lefties. Hitting .321 against southpaws since 2012.
Atleast hes gonna be close to home.
well, 3000 miles closer to being 3000 miles away from home.
Good deal for both teams. The Red Sox get rid of a guy who is taking up a roster spot (and has no future on the team), while the Angels get some outfield depth.
Angels need more than OF depth. Should have given in to whatever the Reds, Padres or Rockies wanted for Bruce, Upton, or Cargo.
I don’t think the Angels farm is good enough to get something for Cargo. Unless it has heavily improved since last year, which I doubt.
I’m sure Newcomb would have done it. Angels wanted to go cheap. Maybe they’re right and they have enough to get ‘er done. I dunno. Risky.
This has to be a joke right.
Cargo’s WAR since 2012?
2012 … 2.1
2014 … -0.5
2015 … 1.6
Over those 2.75 years he’s been worth a grand total of 3.2 WAR. Now, we can’t forget that 3 years ago he was very good (2013 … 4.7 WAR). The real question is which Cargo are you going to get. The 2013 version or the 2012/2014/2015 version.
And even this year his numbers are very misleading. His 1st half numbers from THIS year led to just a wRC+ of 93 (7% BELOW a league average hitter). It’s only been an absurd hot streak (wRC+ of 271) that has led to him putting up decent numbers for the year. 1 weeks worth of amazing hitting doesn’t change my opinion of the guy.
And finally there is the money aspect. The guy is owed $37M over 2 years. That works out to being around a 3 WAR/year player … and that’s just to break even. As a reminder his 3 years (outside of 2013) he TOTALED just 3.2 WAR. You could make a compelling case that a team that is willing to take on his contract should not have to ship over any prospects – let alone a top pitching prospect.
Getting a constantly injured player is depth?
RUT ROO
an upgrade, but of the “meh” variety
Angels fans better book their world series tickets now
Still a higher WAR than Puig.
Puig 0.9 fWAR, Victorino 0.1 fWAR.
According to ESPN Puig is 0.6 and Victorino is 0.8 probably where he was looking.
Partial credit! Damn ESPN. You too BR.
bWAR Victorino .8 Puig .6.
Makes sense, but i didnt see it coming.
Even if he can’t play as well, he’s a good luck charm on the order of Lonnie Smith, trying to win a WS with his 3rd different team
Anyone think they call up Rusney to take Victorino’s spot on the roster, assuming Rutledge is sent to the minors? I can’t imagine they’d let their expensive Cuban signing remain down there for much longer, previous struggles notwithstanding.
Think they just called him up.
Yep they did. He is starting tonight.
Kind of shocked that Boston got anything remotely of valuable back
Umm, decent? He has a career 79 wRC+ with negative career WAR. He’s not even hitting at an average level in AAA as a 26 year old. He’s nothing, which makes sense, because Victorino didn’t have enough value to get anything worth anything.
In other news, The angels Matt Joyce is released
The flying Hawaiian get to be closer to home, the Angels get a decent hitter, while the red Sox free up salary this what you call a even trade.
I thought Victorino is purely RH now? Says hes a switch hitter.
He gave up switch hitting in the 2013 WS. He never announced publicly he’s giving it up but considering he hasn’t hit left-handed since the middle of the 2013 regular season it’s safe to say he isn’t going back.
Maybe its his personal life they are referring to?
you know he’s bad when a slash line isnt reported
Angels were looking for a left handed hitting outfielder with power to replace Joyce and slot in behind Pujols. Victorino provides none of that.
Guess the asking price on Gerardo Parra has actually gotten pretty high, then.
Low impact trade that will in the future be remembered by future Angel fans by the statement “Wait, we had Shane Victorino on the 2015 Angels?”
Really though, Angels get a potentially decent piece that will help them on their run and Red Sox get to shed some salary from a guy who had no future with them. Next on the chopping block: Napoli.
Just wanted to say that I always appreciated your handle. Few people probably know where it comes from. I’ve been a fan since I saw them as the house band at pizdetz in nyc.
Wrong Tim brown linked…. Unless he writes for yahoo by day and plays independent ball by night… And can shape shift into a younger version of himself
Not a huge upgrade, but definitely an upgrade over Joyce. I don’t think they’re done yet though. I think they’re still gonna look to add a lefty outfielder to platoon with Victorino. I was really hoping they could pull off a deal for Bruce or Cespedes but I knew it wasn’t likely with Stoneman at the helm and not Dipoto.
Addition by subtraction for the Red Sox. They get a little something and a bit of salary relief, and they open a roster slot. Maybe Victorino finds himself a bit in LA. Probably a cheap enough gamble. I’m interested to see what happens next from the Boston media. Let’s see if Cafardo starts talking about what a poor influence Victorino was.
At least the Angels are only taking on $1.1MM here, but this is still less-than-inspiring, if this is their only OF move.
A fine move by both teams.
If this is all the Angels or Red Sox do then it will be disappointing. As part of a series of moves that both clubs are expected to make it’s just fine.
plz be better than joyce…at least it looks like he can leadoff which is nice and maybe moves giavotella back to the bottom of the order