11:56 am: Lagares’ deal would pay him $1.25MM if he makes the Angels’ major league roster, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link).
10:13 am: The Angels have signed outfielder Juan Lagares to a minor-league contract, as first reported by Rolando Fermín (Twitter link) and confirmed by Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. The deal includes an invitation to major league spring training.
Lagares has appeared in parts of eight major league seasons, all as a member of the Mets. A high-end defender, Lagares had a run as New York’s primary center fielder between 2013-15 but has seen his playing time drop off a bit in recent seasons. Never a particularly strong hitter, Lagares slumped to a .213/.279/.326 slash line over 285 plate appearances in 2019. He signed with the Padres last offseason but elected free agency after failing to crack the big league roster out of spring training. Lagares then returned to the Mets, where he appeared in two games as a defensive replacement but didn’t take an at-bat.
The 31-year-old now looks to have a decent opportunity to play his way onto the Angels’ roster this spring. Young talents Jo Adell and Brandon Marsh might be ticketed for the minors to start the season. That would only leave Taylor Ward as a primary outfielder on Los Angeles’ 40-man roster beyond the projected starting group of Justin Upton, Mike Trout and Dexter Fowler. (Infielders Jared Walsh, Franklin Barreto and Matt Thaiss each have very limited MLB experience in the grass, as well). Fellow non-roster invitee Scott Schebler looks to be Lagares’ most direct competition for a bench spot at the moment, although it’d hardly be surprising to see the Angels bring in another outfielder or two on a minor-league deal before spring training gets underway.
Elite glove throughout his career. Minors deal. Nice little move here. If he figures out how to hit he moves up, if not he’ll enjoy AAA
You may find this interesting….. I like this move. The Angels need an 8th inning guy. A guy with a 2 to 1 FB to GB rate is destine to fail and Buttrey has no track record of success. Find this guy and give this team a much better chance.
me too as well!
Nice. Run prevention had many facets.
I’m picking Anahiem to win the West. They don’t have a frontline starter- but Bundy, Heaney & Ohtani have a lot of upside if they can stay healthy. Quintana, Cobb & Canning could all be above average and chew innings, taking pressure off the bullpen. They could use one more arm for the pen and some pop off the bench.
Kinda interesting on a day that Lagaras signs with a new team thus leaving the Mets, that NY goes out & signs a player in Al Almora that comps IMO most closely to Juan Lagaras only younger.
Baseball has its own interesting rhythm that is unique, random, and ironic…
True. I think Almora is more of a replacement for Marisnick than Lagares, though.
Big advantage for Lagares is he can play CF
Time to move Trout back to LF.
Imagine having literally Mike Trout and you say “Ok, now to to surround him with Heaney, Bundy, Quintana, Cobb, Canning and Ohtani – that will get us to the world series!”
The Angels front office and owner need to be flung into the sun many times over.
Smart signing of Juan Lagares who has been an elite CF running down fly balls with the best and with a strong accurate arm holding and gunning down baserunners. Solid hit tool with speed with upside to steal bases with better plate discipline and baserunning guidance. He has to play smarter to reduce the unnecessary injuries due to playing with reckless abandon.
Dumb signing, Mike Trout plays CF for the Angels. Lagares will play like 4 games there.
And if Trout gets injured or has to go on the COVID list, now they have a depth replacement. It’s a minor-league deal, so if they don’t need Lagares, nothing lost.
Don’t use logic with him. He’s just angry Marty. Going to have to spout vitriol and hatred everywhere he goes. Imagine being that angry all the time.
Trout’s job is on the line this season. If he makes one bad move, his job is going to be easily overtaken by the up and coming Juan Lagares or Dexter Fowler.
lmao
Clearly, this is a precursor to a Trout trade.
Wow the excitement of this off-season continues.
No one asked if he can pitch yet
It’s only a matter time until someone does so.
I can’t wait until that happens.
2021 World Champion Angels
This was a no-brainer. It’s not often you can pick up a relatively young player who has already been a part of and has contributed to a World Series championship on the cheap that also fills a need on your team. I’ve seen him make some sensational plays in CF so the glove is undeniable. If he regains his stroke then this will be the best value signing the Mets have made so far this off-season. LGM!
This was supposed to go on the article regarding the Mets signing of Albert Almora.
The no-brainer part of this is that there are literally dozens of minor leaguers that can be called a “defensive wiz”, but couldn’t hit there way out of a wet paper bag. Dime a dozen.
Legares and Almora have both been given plenty of opportunity to differentiate and separate from these dozens of defense-only minor leaguers and have failed miserably.
A no-brain move would to be to acquire players who play Mike Trout’s position when you have Mike Trout.
Lagares is depth, in case Trout ends up on IL. He can play CF.. He will be in mix with Ward and Schebler for 4th OF spot.
Solid depth move. The Angels aren’t the Mets yet but this puts them on the way. The Mets are bonkers good. Now it’s the Angels turn. Let’s go!
Thanks for the laugh so early in the morning.
Finally, some frontline starting pitching!!!
Angels had zero CF depth in case Trout has any injury or short-term IL stint. Now they have a short-term AAA back-up plan.. All they need now is an elite ace lol
Ladies and gents Artie “99 Cent” Moreno. This guy runs the Angels more like a Minor League team than a MLB team.
Literally top 10 in payroll. Their luxury tax number is like 194. What the crap are you talking about?
They’ve also signed 3 of the 12 largest contracts in baseball history. But yeah, they’re cheap.
Almora, Lagares… I’m sensing a trend with today’s signings.
He played for the Mets a Few Weeks In 2020 Before They Dumped Him Because The Defense wasn’t There Anymore
He played two games for the Mets, and in 2019 he was well above average.
Lagares got dumped because he became redundant with Marisnick coming off the IL.
i like this much better than fowler signing. younger, cheaper and better potential.
Their is offense and defense.It’s a simple game.Why is half the game overlooked as a specialty.We have a bullpen so why not have a defensive replacement?Hes not going to play anything but 9th inning left field anyways.I like it,halos can lock it down with great defense in the late innings.
Lagares is another all-glove-no-bat defensive replacement type. The Angels probably could use a RH Outfielder to play RF against lefties as Fowler’s numbers from the right side are horrible
RSox. My only guess is Adell and Marsh are ticked for the PCL. If Adell wins the job, the Angels can decide between Schebler and Fowler. Fowler is terrible. I don’t know that much about Schebler. Lagares gives them a backup CF.
I know they want some depth but they need more pitching. Go out and get Odorizzi and trade for sonny gray.
I’m not the least bit happy with their starting pitching moves. They added two low floor, low ceiling pitcher. They should have gambled and added a player with more upside like Richards.
Depth is not an issue. Barria, Sandoval, Detmer, and even Suarez who was a borderline top 100 prospect who just turned 23, are there. All of which are at least as capable as Cobb and might be as capable as Quintana.
I’m concerned with the rotation, but the bullpen has me in a panic.
Enough with Richards. What “upside” did he even possibly display throughout his years in so cal? How about durability?
Looks like the Angels are focusing on the 21-22 off season when so much money comes off the books – pick up a couple of SP and a SS.
Hope the Angels SP holds up this year. Lots of depth with several SP4 and SP5 type pitchers.
Irony or catch 22 is, even if the Angels staff balls out Bundy Cobb Q Heaney Rasiel are all free agents next year
Angels still have 101 mill in Trout Rendon Upton next year- They need to allot the next 60 mill to pitching before they even start to think about the offence – Their gonna need to sink or swim with Marsh Adell Fletcher Walsh in 22 and just keep getting cheap ss/C imo to be most productive –
I liked the Jose Iglesias move this year, hopefully its a sign of more moves like that in the future to come . I think they will take a different angle in but never doubt Arte with a little payroll scratch to burn…. I could see Trevor Story somehow someway making his way over next year
Cap, I agree. At the end of the day, teams need to draft and develop a solid core of inexpensive, controllable talent and supplement with free agents and trades when the window opens. Unfortunately, the Angels have not done this under Arte’s leadership.
I’m with you, liking Jose Iglesias a lot.
I was hoping my jays sign this guy
Jose Iglesias film looks great. The Angels should extend him now and get a little discount. This guy is gonna get 15m plus per year, if he has a healthy year. It appears his bat skills are catching up with his elite glove. Lock him up!