The Angels bolstered their infield depth and added a left-handed bat to the lineup on Tuesday, announcing a two-year deal with free-agent Luis Valbuena. The Elite Sports Group client will reportedly be guaranteed $15MM under the pact, which comes with a mutual option for the 2019 season.
Valbuena will be paid $6.5MM in 2017, $8MM in 2018 and has a $500K buyout on the $8.5MM option for the 2019 season. The option can increase in value up to $10MM based upon Valbuena’s plate appearances in the next two years. If Valbuena is traded, he’ll pick up a one-time, $500K bonus.
Valbuena, 31, will join an infield and DH grouping that now features multiple options. Los Angeles had previously dealt for second baseman Danny Espinosa, who’ll join Andrelton Simmons in the middle-infield mix, and already employs Yunel Escobar at third. Cliff Pennington remains available as a utility option. Meanwhile, Albert Pujols and C.J. Cron had figured to handle first base and DH, though the former will be working back from foot surgery to start the year.
While it’s a bit of an odd match at first glance, it’s easier to see the rationale upon taking a closer look. All of the players just listed hit from the right side, with the exception of Espinosa and Pennington, both of whom are switch-hitters. Though Pennington has performed better against right-handed pitching historically, the opposite is true of Espinosa.
Even if Pennington offers one option to slot in the lineup against tough righties, he’s a light-hitting, part-time player. Certainly, Valbuena might be expected to do quite a bit more damage. It’s particularly interesting to note the situation with Pujols, who may not be available by Opening Day and could be a greater concern given his age and prior history of foot difficulties. At the very least, this signing represents an insurance policy there.
Plus, while Valbuena has spent most of his time at third, he’s also capable of playing second base, having logged 209 games there over his nine seasons in the majors. It’s worth bearing in mind, too, that both Espinosa and Escobar are slated to hit free agency after the 2017 season, so Valbuena will not only deepen the roster in 2017 but will also provide a ready replacement — presumably, at the hot corner. It’s also possible that the club could deal Cron, as Jon Heyman of Fan Rag notes on Twitter, though it’s far from clear just how much demand there would be for his services.
[RELATED: Updated Angels Depth Chart]
Los Angeles will undoubtedly be adding a talented hitter in Valbuena, who posted an excellent .260/.357/.459 batting line in his first 342 plate appearances of 2016 before going down to a season-ending hamstring injury. That was his third-straight season of above-average offensive production. There are some limitations, too. Valbuena has also fared much better when hitting with the platoon advantage. And though he used to grade quite well with the glove at the hot corner, he has slipped to average or slightly below-average metrics in recent years.
Despite his solid platform, the injury no doubt harmed Valbuena’s earning power. Of greater importance, perhaps, was the lack of clear demand around the league. Teams such as the Giants and Braves could have pursued upgrades, but neither has to this point. That same general market situation has kept Todd Frazier with the White Sox, despite the fact that he’s an obvious trade candidate as he enters his final year of control on a rebuilding team. Plus, the abundant stock of less defensively flexible sluggers has likely reduced the demand for Valbuena purely for his bat.
Taking the opportunity to add Valbuena does make sense for the Halos, as explained above. But the team still seems to have some needs that remain unaddressed. The catching situation is far from optimal, the bullpen could stand to add an arm or two, and the rotation depth could certainly stand to be bolstered. Certainly, there’s still time left for more moves, though springing for Valbuena will take some of the available resources, particularly assuming that the organization continues to fly beneath the luxury tax threshold.
Venezuelan journalist Efrain Zavarce first reported the agreement (via Twitter). Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweeted that it was a two-year deal with an option and later reported the terms of the deal in a full column; he went on to add the detail regarding the mutual option escalator on Twitter, while Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweeted the trade bonus.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
jakesaub
Would’ve made for a good signing for the Red Sox. Sandoval has no competition at third, and at the very least, Valbuena would have been a great platoon partner and/or depth when/if Sandoval can’t do the job.
pukelit
They said Brock Holt is going to compete with him for time at third
Zcash10
I still find it a bit puzzling how there’s always people who don’t think Brock Holt can be a full time player, but yet he was the only Red Sox All Star 2 years ago. He’s a good player, but I think people stick the name “utility” on him too much. But by all means he’s a very good utility player to have on any ball club.
bosox90
It truly isn’t that he can’t handle an every day role, or isn’t good enough to be an every day hitter in the lineup. If something happens to Pedroia, Bogaerts, Sandoval, Moreland, or one of the outfielders, Brock can fill in for an extended period of time and be very solid. The thing is, he is at the peak of his value when he is playing 4-6 games a week swinging around the diamond and giving different players days off. If the Red Sox can do anything to make it happen, the best move is to start the year with him on the bench, available to fill in and give breathers and also as an insurance policy if someone goes down.
rocky7
If I’m not wrong, Holt was an All-Star because he was the only Red Sox player and every team needs to have at least 1 representative at the game. That’s the only reason he got the honor.
Nice Utility player; good defense at multiple positions but not enough hitting and pop to displace a regular.
Connorsoxfan
Well yes, but he was one of the top players on that team, so he is a good player.
davidcoonce74
He doesn’t hit enough to be a regular at any position, and doesn’t field well enough to be a regular at any position. Those guys are born to be utility guys.
Nola Di Bari 67
Todd Frazier will end up going to Boston
GarryHarris
Can Hanley Ramirez play 3B?
alt2tab
Kind of an odd move considering the Angels also have Jefry Marte in the fold. I wonder if there’s legit concern over Pujols’ foot otherwise this deal seems like an odd match for both parties involved.
AddisonStreet
Luis V is way better than Marte.
alt2tab
Not saying he isn’t. Just that it’s a bit of an imperfect fit
kargus
Marte has pop too.. But he is right handed and will be depth at 1B LF and DH whereas Valbuena is left handed and provides depth at 3B 2B asnd DH. This isn’t hard to figure out.
astrosfan4life
Valbuena played a fair amount of 1B in Houston as well, and I think he handled himself great there. I wish we would’ve kept him.
IACub
That last sentence was unwarranted but I do agree with your statement.
gregsuhrstedt
There’s a decent chance Jefry Marte’s season last year was a fluke. He only played half a year and hasn’t had an extended opportunity to prove anything. Luis Valbuena gives the Angels more balance with a left handed bat. Pujols is going to be fine. Marte bats right handed and Cliff Pennington isn’t good. Just a bench/platoon signing for the Angels.
cmancoley
Hoping this means that the Halos could trade Escobar for a starter or some bullpen help. Or even just to grab some prospects for the farm. Don’t really like the vibe Yunel brings to the clubhouse. He has always come off as arrogant and cares more about the name on his back than the one on his chest. Plus, Valbuena honestly isn’t that bad of a replacement. AND he will definitely be an upgrade defensively over Escobar. Overall, I love the signing, just hope this means we can trade Escobar for some pitching.
antonio bananas
yup, your gut instinct about a guy’s “vibes”…GREAT analysis.
Phillies2017
Dude, chill- no need to go bananas on a guy just trying to express his opinion!
mcdusty31
Happens a lot in here nowadays…this site is full of keyboard warriors throwing around insults and their opinions are the only opinions that are valid
Dock_Elvis
Anyone questioning Escobars clubhouse presence has some history to work from. He’s had some run ins..a few public.
agentx
While I suspect Escobar will start the season with the Angels, having Valbuena likely increases the chances that LAA will trade Escobar midseason if the team has tanked and Valbuena is healthy and productive.
srdiaz1972
Just curious how much time you spend in the Angels clubhouse to know what kind of vibe Escobar brings?
cmancoley
I actually watch the Angels and watch him play and I’m just saying what I see. so cool ur jets kid
fettichico shiznilty
Yesss. Have always liked Valbuena.
clintwolfron
He definitely puts the angels over the top, I say 89-90 wins and a wild card
Buddy “Bud” Hull
Would it have killed you to signed a contract outside of the AL West, Valbuena? This guy always seems to absolutely murder the Mariners.
whereslou
He killed Seattle more when he played for them.
aff10
Well he played all of 18 games in Seattle. It’s pretty impressive though that he’s been able to pick up his career. After parts of 5 seasons of being essentially useless outside of the occasional walk (admittedly no full seasons, but he’d never really given any reason for a team to run him out consistently), he’s been a pretty useful player 4 years running after figuring out how to hit for a little bit of power
astrosfan4life
I hope he has a great season, except when playing the Astros.
dodgerfan711
Wheres he gonna play? Infield is crowded with him cron and espinosa
kargus
He’ll play some 3rd, some 2b and maybe even 1st and some DH. Pujols could miss first few games of the season
fettichico shiznilty
And will definitely miss plenty of time later in the season
tylerall5
Honestly, they might use him as a Zobrist type player. Not saying he is As good as Zobrist, but he could be an everyday player that doesn’t have a set position and sees regular time across the diamond.
ducksnort69
I’m not familiar with him, but he has good numbers. Based on those, I’m surprised he was not a hotter commodity.
Dock_Elvis
So it says the Angels might deal Cron? C’mon Rockies get Desmond off of 1st.
angelsinthetroutfield
Very curious as to what CJ could net us. I actually am pretty high on Cron so it’d have to be an equally promising or controlled arm.
Dock_Elvis
Cron seems attainable. A team “could” look at him like a little bit of a younger version of who Trumbo was….same orgs actually. Cron would be a potentially smart move for someone.
cxcx
:”and the rotation depth could certainly stand to be bolstered. Certainly”
This team certainly has some issues remaining, certainly…
Not meaning to be overly jerk-like but I feel like it should be pointed out, not the best look…
lesterdnightfly
You’re certainly perceptive !
Certainly !
halos101
if eppler decides to move cron now and have thaiss as his first baseman next year, he’s gotta get a decent pitcher. 4 years of control left on cron could get pretty valuable
alt2tab
I don’t think it makes sense to trade Cron when the FA market is rife with 1B/DH options. Also it’s generally not wise to deal an established MLB player to make room for an unproven prospect. Thaiss hasn’t even made it above single-A and probably won’t be MLB ready until 2018
halos101
thaiss is the kinda guy that’ll move up quickly, but who knows if he’ll be ready. I think cron is definetly tradeable if we get something back in return. Your right about the 1b market though, but it takes one team that likes him
66TheNumberOfTheBest
Lefty bat with power that could play 1st or 3rd and allow them DFA John Jaso?
I really wanted the Pirates to get him.
fettichico shiznilty
Tell your sister’s friend wassup for me
fettichico shiznilty
Oops…. spam!!
dingedhalo
Looks like Marte is going to have a hard time finding at-bats. Also looks like Cowart wont be given much of a chance to crack the opening day roster either.
Psychguy
Eppley is quietly making the Halos roster somewhat respectable. Not contenders, but respectable.
AngelFan69
This smells like a trade in the works …
Wolf Hoffmann
Poor Mike Trout. He must dream about playing for a good organization like the BoSox or the Yanks. Sad!
ronnsnow
Well considering he signed an extension, I don’t think he’s worried about it.
ryanw-2
Except that the Yankees haven’t made the playoffs since 2012 and the Red Sox have only 2 appearances in the last 7 years with two 90 loss seasons in that span. Even the best go through their droughts. The Angels have been in their’s. It happens to every sports franchise.
crazysull
He is probably going to be the fill in at 1st/DH until Pujols is ready and then he would shift to a bench bat. I guess they weren’t confident in Marte to hold down that spot until Pujols came back so they could keep both once he comes back but I see one of them being moved once Pujols is healthy again
cmancoley
Plus, i honestly think the halos are looking out for next year when both Escobar and Espinosa are gone
bosox90
Valbuena is a solid piece, will be interesting to see how Scioscia moves all these pieces around on a daily basis. I know he’s been there forever, but I don’t know a great deal about his managing style. Is he the type of manager to really thrive with all these lineup options, like Showalter or Maddon? I’ve always thought of him as the old-school type who likes to pencil someone in at every position.
Happy the Sox didn’t go for Valbuena. Solid player, they really could use a corner infielder who hits from the right side. Moreland, Holt, and Hernandez are all lefties, and Sandoval is weak against lefties whether he’s switch-hitting or not. Holding out hope they can bring back Aaron Hill.
ryanw-2
If you look at the Angels teams of around 10 years ago they would mix and match a lot, and guys like Valbuena would be worked into the lineup to the point where they’d play almost a full season’s-worth of games. That’s Scioscia’s style. Unfortunately Jerry Dipoto decided to force a station to station, walks and power approach that doesn’t work for the Angels and fueled their conflict. Billy Eppler has made an effort to bring the Angels back to the style that worked for so many years. A lot of bench and bullpen depth. Although they could go out and get another reliever or two.
angeltrout27
Wonderful signing, Eppler! He is sailing the Angels boat straight to the playoffs in 2017!
cmancoley
I agree! This year is gonna be so fun to watch! Can’t wait to shut up all the haters! —> @haloshane
halosfan4ever27
YES! More depth to a pretty good infield. I can see Valbuena replacing escobar at 3rd or espinosa at 2nd. I hope this doesn’t mean the halos trade cron…. I just feel like cron is a special player that has a ton of potential. Trade escobar or espinosa for a decent starting pitcher. This season is the season to prove people wrong about the halos! Let’s shock baseball in 2017! (I love the haloshane hater comment lol)
halosfan4ever27
Now let’s see if we can snag wieters….
angelsfan4life
Great pick up. Gives the Angels insurance for when Escobar gets injured again. Or when Cron goes on one of his man my slumps. Yes I know most of you think I hate Cron. I don’t hate Cron, I just don’t see him as a everyday player. He has too many stretches of 10 games where he only gets 3 hits. With no extra base hits and no RBI’s. Yes I know that he has 10 game stretches where he will hit close to 400 with 4 homers and 1t RBI’s. That is not an everyday player, no matter how popular he is with the fans.
ryanw-2
Sorry but you need to look up numbers before you judge any player like that. Cron never had a stretch where he went 10 games without a hit. The only stretch where Cron had 10 games with 0 RBI was the very beginning of the season. After that he hit .293 with a .332 OBP and 16 HR and 69 RBI in 104 games. He got a hit in almost every game. He was certainly an everyday player outside of his injury.
angelsfan4life
Ryan read what I wrote again. I said he has had stretches of 10 games without an extr base hit. And as a player they need to rely on to drive in runs, he should never go 10 games without an RBI. I watch every game.
ryanw-2
And what you said was still wrong. Most of the season he had a steady diet of extra base hits on a week to week basis. Just because you watch every game doesn’t mean you actually know what the numbers are. 162 games, 27 outs per game, hits, walks, errors, etc. mixed in, you’re not going to remember exactly what a player’s numbers are or whether they’re really ‘consistent’. CJ Cron rarely got too high or too low with his XBH’s most of the season. And the couple times he did, it was no different than any other power hitter. Any team will take 43 XBH’s in 116 games. Again, look at numbers before you judge a player. Especially splits and game logs.
angelsfan4life
RyAn Cron had 113 hits in 116 games this past season. Only 43 were extra base hits. Now for someone like Aybar you could see why that is. I mention Aybar because he is a slap hitter. Cron and this is my entire point, Cron is supposed to be a power hitter. Which after 3 seasons have shown us that he is not a power hitter. Hell JT Snow put up better numbers than that. And Snow was known for his glove. Which there is very few first baseman to ever have a glove like Snow. My point is simple, a first baseman should not average more singles than extra base hits. Now I’m not saying that he needs to hit 30 homers. If he hits 20 to 25 and has around 50 doubles, that would be good. But he has not shown in 3 years that he can come close to that. Now he probably could come up with those if he was playing in Texas or Boston. But he doesn’t play at either one of those places.
ryanw-2
I can tell you’re still not looking at the numbers. JT Snow had to have a really good career (career year even) to reach 40 XBH’s in a season. Especially with the Angels. In his 4 years with the Angels he only had one season with an OPS higher than 100. And after he left he barely could eclipse 100. Cron in the other hand has been above 100 all three seasons and had a 117 OPS in 2016. Cron’s XBH’s projected to 61 in a 162 game season. Guess how many XBH’s Trout had? 66!!! The only thing keeping Cron from being a cleanup hitter is his health. And Albert. Any team looking for a young controllable power bat at 1B is going to be in on Cron if the Angels do shop him after signing Valbuena.
stretcharmstrong1
Good signing. Can play everywhere but short in the infield. I am not expecting anything great from Espinosa. I hope I am wrong and they have a problem of too many good players. If not slide Escobar over to second and let Valbuena man third if his wheels are healthy.
KCMOWHOA
Halos stocking up on scrub infielders to make a non-run at the playoffs
cmancoley
Obviously you haven’t been following them his offseason. Espinosa is a heavy plus defender, giving the Angels arguably the best up the middle defense in baseball. Valbuena adds depth for when someone goes down, while carrying the potential to hit over 20 dingers. Also this signing allows for a potential trade of Escobar or Cron for starting pitching or bullpen help. So wipe the crust out of ur eyes and look at the facts
Logjammer D"Baggagecling
Talk about overpaying a player. He’s not worth 5 mil let alone 15mil
halos101
uhm he’s worth 15 million for 2 years
jdgoat
This guys been above average offensively for 3 straight seasons and you don’t think he’s worth 5 million?
Phillies2017
I think its too much money to pay a bench guy. You can splice it any way you want, he’s gonna be a bench guy.
madmanTX
The Angels sure need some “buena” on that team.
pepesilvia
Here we go again mlbtraderumors at it again. They did the same god damn thing last week with batista. We all know this guy singed with california this was reported all over last week. Espn even knew it. They post these stories to makr it look like they are hard at work but really this is lazy reporting. I undedstand there isnt much going on right now but rereporting the same stories time and time again is in very poor taste.
jdgoat
Or they publish them because it was formally announced by the team. There could’ve been a dexter fowler like situation and the Angels just announced it on Twitter an hour ago
MikeTroutForMayor
Dude the story gets reposted when they announce the salary figures. The signing part was the only news we got last week.
ryanw-2
The original lead was not considered a reliable source by some and Valbuena needed to pass a physical before it was finalized. He did end last season with a torn hamstring. So all those factors created hoops and so it couldn’t be announced until today. That’s why it’s reposted.
davidcoonce74
Dude, you aren’t required to be here. Door’s on the left. You can see your way out.