Some notes from the American League:
- The Rangers reinstated a trio of players from the 60-day injured list this afternoon, per a team announcement. Right-hander José Leclerc and left-handers Brock Burke and Joe Palumbo are all back on the 40-man roster, bringing Texas’ tally to 35. Those three relievers only combined for 4.1 innings in 2020. Leclerc suffered a teres major strain in July, while Burke underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in February. Palumbo, meanwhile, battled a bout of ulcerative colitis.
- The Angels and assistant general manager Jonathan Strangio are parting ways, reports Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic (Twitter link). The Harvard alum’s contract expired October 31 and was not renewed. There’s been quite a bit of turnover in the Halos’ front office in recent weeks. The club fired general manager Billy Eppler, while former advisor Tony La Russa signed on as White Sox manager. As Ardaya notes in a follow-up tweet, Strangio had taken on a larger role in day-to-day baseball operations in the wake of Eppler’s firing. He informed the organization in August he’d be leaving at the end of the season for family reasons, Ardaya adds.
- Before deciding on A.J. Hinch, the Tigers interviewed Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro in their managerial search, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Quatraro also drew some consideration from the Pirates and Giants for their respective vacancies last offseason. The 46-year-old has been on Kevin Cash’s coaching staff since the start of the 2018 season.
admirkir
My understanding was that Strangio had informed the Angels that he would not return after his contract ended to return home to the east coast
Anthony Franco
Thanks for pointing that out! I updated the post.
racosun
LaRussa should coax his Marlboro-sucking pal Jimmy Leyland into the bench coach role.
ScottCFA
He might. Jimmy Smokes rides again!
Hard to walk with four balls
Leyland was a sack of burning garbage. I don’t think ANY manager in the history of baseball squandered more talent than that turd.
…so i hope the White Sox hire him because they deserve that.
Excel_1984
They need to clean out the entire front office
prov356
This is a good start to the post season. We need a completely new philosophy at the top. Then…pitching.