Angels left-hander Andrew Heaney won’t make his season debut until around May 25 at the earliest, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports. Heaney will throw a three-inning, 45-pitch minor league rehab game Wednesday, and he’ll need to log a minimum of one more outing after that prior to his activation, according to manager Brad Ausmus.
With Shohei Ohtani unable to pitch this year, Heaney arguably ranks as the Angels’ top starter. The 27-year-old made a case for that distinction last season when he amassed 180 innings of 4.15 ERA/3.99 FIP ball over 30 starts. It was a career year for Heaney, a former star prospect whom injuries and inconsistency have stunted since he made his big league debut with the Marlins in 2014. He’s currently on the mend from issues in his elbow, which has endured “chronic changes.” Fortunately, though, the problem hasn’t forced the onetime Tommy John surgery patient to return to the operating table.
Thanks in part to Heaney’s absence, the Angels are sporting a weak 19-20 record, though they have gone on a 10-4 run since sitting a season-worst seven games below .500 through 25 games. The Halos’ Heaney- and Ohtani-less rotation sits second last in the majors in ERA and FIP, largely because free-agent additions Matt Harvey and Trevor Cahill haven’t justified the team’s investments in them yet. Meanwhile, holdover Tyler Skaggs and Felix Pena have been mixed bags, 2018 rookie standout Jaime Barria hasn’t been a factor, and Chris Stratton opened his Angels tenure in ugly enough fashion for the team to jettison him after just five starts. However, along with Heaney’s forthcoming return, there could be hope in the form of righty Griffin Canning. The well-regarded prospect, 23, excelled at the Triple-A level to begin the year and has since shown flashes of brilliance in his first two major league starts.
Omarj
Their offense has performed better than expected. They could have a shot at the playoffs. They should go after Kuechel to move up the standings. Hopefully they can come to a reasonable deal. Harvey hasn’t given up as many homers as Cahill, who’s next to go. That would mean the rotation would be Skaggs, Harvey, Heaney, Pena, & Keuchel. Canning who has looked good, and would be your immediate replacement.
prov356
That would be a solid rotation. Doesn’t look like Keuchel will compromise which tells me he is more interested in money than playing baseball.
wintwins11
I really feel like Canning has shown enough to stick for now at least.
darkangel
other than Trout and Simmons, it’s Triple-A roster with combined stats among the lowest of any team. Keuchel would wasted and . Heaney will be in rehab again soon.
macstruts
You don’t know much about Triple-A. NIce to know Ohtani and Calhoun and their entire pitching staff is AAA.
You think Fletcher is a Triple-A player. I don’t see too many at Triple-A who can pick it like he can.
prov356
Well Mac, our “Triple A” roster just beat the AL Central leading Twins last night. DarkAngel will ignore that though. Oh, and we’ve won, what, 11 of our last 15 games?
Vizionaire
angels are upwardly mobile again!
jorge78
Good luck with that.
Sryphilz27
That is really not a great rotation. I have a rumor start….
sign Kuechel (probably gonna have to pay more then then the playoff teams cause of playoff risk), it’s only money and not ours.
The trade: Castillo from the reds for Jo Adell straight up or add a small 10-20 top angels prospect. The reason this works is the reds are not gonna compete for the next two years. And Jo Adell is gonna be an all star for sure, I don’t doubt that, but so is Castillo for the next 3 years.
Pitchers are always valued lower then position prospects.
We Can sign Calhoun to a 4 year 40million, he is at least willing to learn and make adjustments. Unfortunately we have Justin Upton for the next couple of years. So things are gonna get crowded real soon. I think we all agree we like Goodwin (currently).
Harvey is unwilling to pitch backwards. And Cahill looks tired so unless we play Baltimore 50 more times we gotta improve the staff.
Philliesfan4life
Im not trading Adell for anyone , He’s gonna be the next mike trout to come up through the system. I would wait it out till the deadline, then in the offseason go after anthony rendon to play third, go hard for cole or wheeler for the rotation.
rotation
1.ohtani
2.skaggs
3.canning
4.wheeler/cole
5.pena/tropeano/heaney/meyer
angelsinthetroutfield
I disagree. Jo is a potential superstar who’s under club contract for 6+ years. You don’t trade that for 3 years of a good pitcher, especially when said pitcher is NOT the missing piece to a championship contender. Even with Castillo and Keuchel we sit at the table with two pairs. I don’t think it’s smart to go all in with two pairs….
Jo will probably take Koles spot next year and we can likely aquire superior arms (trade or free agency) by then. Real possibility of Canning/Barria/Skaggs/Heaney/Ohtani plus whoever we aquire and the existing depth we currently have (Pena/JC). I like that outlook
GeoKaplan
So many bad ideas in a single post that it’s hard to know where to begin.
Adell is as close to a franchise player as you will see for a player still in the minors. He is the Angels version of Acuña or Vlad Jr. The Angels are not going to trade him for three magic beans, as you would suggest. They will put him in RF in 2020, and he will take over CF in a few more years with Trout moving over to LF to reduce wear and tear on him.
For that reason, the team will not put 4 years in front of Calhoun. He’s been a great teammate and defensive asset, even when the bat was MIA. But the age of Adell begins next year, and if you don’t think that isn’t part of the reason Trout signed an extension, you really haven’t been paying attention.
Sryphilz27
Look I need a playoff run. I got 4 front row seats for the season that stubhub needs to sell. And yes everything that has been asked of Adell he has performed. But we have way too many outfield options with Upton coming back.
My alternative is eat some of Uptons contract and send him somewhere else. The offense is good to very good.
*Pujols is hitting better with his lower half.
*Calhoun is about as hot as it gets.
*La Stella has completely reformed his swing.
*fletcher hasn’t done anything different that what he has done his whole career. Hit and play defense.
*ohtani is back and you would assume a 24 year old is gonna get better, but I would even take a little back step in his ops.
*catching has obviously been a huge upgrade.
The biggest weak point by far is the starting pitching. Cahil and Harvey look not to be the answer. I would love Heaney but we can not trust that. I hate trading away assets but they need starting pitching.
HaloShane
Solid 3rd place team.
prov356
Interesting, Scrub, since we’re in 2nd.
darkangel
keep Heaney down there. he’ll be back on the DL before the season ends.
Ohtani-san
Pessimistic crybaby halo fans are the exact reason this site had to remove the dislike button.