The Angels look to have added veteran catcher Austin Romine on a minor league deal with an invite to Major League camp, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets that Romine has a locker set up in the Halos’ clubhouse.
Romine, 33, was a backup with the Yankees from 2011-19 before reaching free agency and signing with the Tigers to be their primary catcher in advance of the 2020 season. He’d posted a well-timed .281/.310/.439 batting line during his 2019 walk year, but Romine struggled with the Tigers in the truncated 2020 season, slashing just .238/.259/.323. He signed on with the Cubs last winter, but he was hobbled by a knee issue in camp and, shortly after being activated from the injured list in April, suffered a “significant” strain in his wrist that sidelined him for much of the year. Ultimately, he hit just .217/.242/.300 in 62 plate appearances with the Cubs.
All told, Romine is a lifetime .238/.277/.358 hitter in parts of ten Major League seasons. He’s never produced much at the plate, outside of his 2018-19 seasons in the Bronx, but Romine is a well-regarded defensive backstop who’ll provide some experienced depth behind starter Max Stassi and the recently re-signed Kurt Suzuki. The Halos also have catcher/first baseman Matt Thaiss on the big league roster and have journeyman Chad Wallach in camp as a non-roster invitee.
I’d still take him at 33 years old over Gary “super-size my value meal” Sanchez.
I sure wouldn’t.
You’ve been down on Ro Ducky. Why don’t you like him? He doesn’t owe you money do he?
At least Phat Sancho can throw the ball & hit home runs. What does Romine bring? Tackling guys from behind?
In Ro’s defense, it’s easier to tackle someone that way.
Heh
@Lordd99 replied to me but it looks like he has “muted” me. I wanna think it’s an accident. But…well, you know…
I’ve muted you?
Yeah, Romine catches the ball well and tackles dudes.
Gary, however, sucker punches guys who are already on the ground.
Not anymore? It made me laugh.
Anyway: are you seeing all the “well now we need a catcher” takes? I get it. Gary Sanchez was such a disappointment. But the Twins didn’t want Higashioka. Ya know?
I am trying to get excited about a Higgy/Rortvedt combo. Not easy.
@Ducky, I DID mute you…somehow. Congrats, I wasn’t even aware I had a mute list, so was fascinated to find a few other names on it, ones I mostly don’t even recognize.
It’s kind of a## backwards, btw, that if I somehow muted you, I could still see your notes, yet somehow you could tell you were on my mute list. Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. What the heck is the point of that?!
Duck Buckin Fent-
It’s a long shot but maybe Cashman pulls a sneaky one and trades for Wilson Contreras?
@Ducky, after Gary exploded on the scene in 2016, he then slashed 278/.345/.531 with Gary 33 HRs, drove in 90 runs with a 126 OPS+ with solid pitch framing metrics, and threw out a ton of runners in 2017. Fans were boo’ing him then! He spiraled down from there, partly from expectations. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if he has a good season in Minny.
HiggyRor will be good defensively, but this has the potential to be a total black hole in the lineup. I’m hoping the Yankees see something in Rortvedt’s bat they can upgrade as they’ve done with others. A lefty hitting catcher is a good thing at the Stadium.
I was thinking; “well, seven years was a pretty good run. Maybe today was just the day he finally had it with me.”
But, I am not sure of how the mechanics of it work either. It is a feature I choose to eschew. I do – however – know what it looks like as a mutee.
We screwed Gary up.
I wish his debut hadn’t been so spectacular. The bar was set way too high. In 2016-17 he was a hard hitting, big armed catcher, that framed well & blocked poorly. We traded the Twins are hard hitting catcher who now throws, blocks, & frames poorly. & *that* is entirely on our handling & “development” of him.
It’s a shame.
Gary damn near dragged us to the WC game in ’16 all by himself. He & Judge were so good in ’17. Then we started tinkering with him. Which lead to an overhaul. Which lead to a trade.
Why can’t the angels just use Taylor Ward and Matt Thaiss As they were both drafted as catchers
I generally agree with you my friend but I’m at a point where I’d literally feel more comfortable with a retired Erik Kratz behind home plate instead of that jabroni Sanchez 🙂
Might miss Sanchez just a little bit when Higgy/Rov are producing a 60 OPS+ out of the 8 hole and Torres is playing SS late in tight games because IKF needs to be pinch hit for.
For me, the best part about the Gary Sanchez trade is that I no longer have to fight with my fellow Yankee fans about him.
Ducky, they’ll all be asking for Gary’s return after a full season of HiggyRor at the plate.
I fully expect that with all the craziness going on, Ror starts off putrid, ships off to SWB, and then it becomes HiggyBrant from mid season…
I have been in Camp Cubby since last night.
Bring Rizzo back. Trade for Contreras.
I’d be fine with that. There’s many players still out there as free agents and trade material. Looks like we do need to ask for their vaccination status first!
Do you think this changes things for us? In particular: what of Rizzo?
Yeah. Lot of Good Players left. What about Brad Miller? We could probably hold onto Voit that way too.
Better than Suzuki on a majors deal.
Yet another STELLAR signing by Angels management.
Cornering the catchers’ market.
Maybe we’ll go out and sign Mathis!
I realize that Perry can probably walk and chew gum at the same time, but does he realize he needs a shortstop and a reliable late inning RP?
After last year, I’m not so sure.
But it’s nice to add a minor league player, but I’m still more concerned about the club in Anaheim versus the clue in Salt Lake City.
I think the problem is that every Halo fan goes on MLBTR and hopes to see ‘some’ type of progression for the Angels picking up a quality starter.
There’s a fire sale in Cincinnati and Oakland and quality pitching is out there. I doubt Oak will trade inter division, but the Angels and Reds have already shown a trade partnership in the past (R Iglesias as an example).
A deal is to be had, but we all know as Angels fans, either the FO or Arte will find a way to eff it up.
I’m not looking for another starter. We don’t have the minor league talent to trade for one, there isn’t one on the free agent market and we have bigger needs.,
I think fans are dismissing Canning and we have the number one left-handed pitching prospect in baseball,
What we need is a Shortstop and we badly could use a late inning RP. Both are bigger holes than the rotation. And adding another late inning RP is a lot easier than adding another starter. And you are not going to get a starter better than a healthy Canning.
Tell me Canning isn’t healthy first.
@Halo11Fan The Angels biggest glaring hole is SS. Any effort and money left needs to go to upgrade that position.
I don’t believe the Angels should be in panic mode for a reliever.. The Angels have options. A good reliever will get you 1-2 wins a year. An reliever have an exceptional year will get you closer to 3 wins.
Raisel Iglesias 2.8 WAR
Aaron Loup 2.8 WAR
Mike Mayers 1.5 WAR
Austin Warren 0.9 WAR
I doubt Loup can repeat last years stats, but at any rate he will be an upgrade.
Warren was stellar for the Angels last year, but he was never that guy in the minors, so it may be a bit of a mirage.
Also, Ty Buttrey is coming back. I don’t know if you remember,, but he was the best option out of the pen for a while when he first came to the Angels. I don’t know where he is physically and mentally, but if he can return to form, he will be a power arm the Angels need out of the bullpen.
We don’t know if Lorenzen will pan out as a starter since he hasn’t started in years. You know I am more bullish on Lorenzen than other Angel fans. As I see it, at best, he makes our starting rotation better than it was a year ago. At worst, he makes our bullpen better than it was a year ago.
Both Buttrey and Lorenzen are capable of netting a +1 WAR or more out of the bullpen. There are far more wins for the Angels to be had by adding a serviceable SS.
We 100% agree, they have a DIRE need a shortstop. We have a disagreement in regards to the setup man, I wouldn’t call it a need, I’d call it something that should be addressed.
Loup is a match-up inning RP, he’s going to pitch the 7th or the 8th, depending on who is coming up. It is important they don’t trial and error the inning that Loup is not going to pitch. That will cost the Angels more than one or two wins. A lot more.
If Canning is healthy, I’m not nearly as worried about the starting rotation as most people. If he’s not healthy I’ll change my opinion.
The Angels know if he’s healthy or not. I don’t.
I agree strongly with Halo11 . I don’t understand why so many can’t see the potential in Canning and Detmers as well as any young player that is not preforming great at the moment. Look at the stuff and skill set and sometimes the age of a young player. There is a learning curve.
I wish they could start Canning or Detmers instead of Lorenzen and have him in the pen unless a starter is needed. One thing about the SS position is no one is talking about Brendon Davis or Michael Stefanic as at least candidates for backups Davis has the better glove and has just took off with the bat last year . ( 922 ops ) .
Stefanic needs to work on his defense. I’m not sure he can play short.
Stefanic is not close to being a big league defender– he’s bad. And this is why he is not in the conversation. Brendon Davis was a bust until last year when he had a nice year, but he has to produce a very good year at triple-A this year to be considered as a big league shortstop moving forward, but he’s not going to be the guy this year.
I worried about Canning when he was healthy. Averaging almost 4BB/9 and a WHIP of about 1.34.
I don’t know what the love affair with Canning is… he’s been bad. Doesn’t win. Gets lit up. He is soft… you can’t count on him anymore than you could Heaney.
I agree, I thought of just candidates for 2nd and utility him and ss, 2b and utility for davis . Stefanic has worked hard on D this off season. Probably not but he has really improved his batting skills. No matter what Fletcher would need to move over when he starts. Both players I think played all over.
Stefanic , I was thinking more utility guy maybe 2b if he can improve his defensive skillset like he has with his bat. I guess what I am saying is Davis and to a lesser degree Stefanic have a shot at being solid. Of those that are in house options do they really have a track record that they can hit so much that they can just exclude them?
Out the 180 starters who through 50+ innings, Canning was 12th in zone contact pct. Most of the pitchers who rank highly in that category are the best pitchers in baseball. There are exceptions, but not many.
I’ll bet on the pitcher every time and win 90 percent of the time.
All Angel fans seem to want a Gerrit Cole or Max Scherzer. I guess they must not watch the playoffs.
Do or die game, Cole goes 2 innings and gets pulled. Yankees lose.
Do or die game Game 6 for Dodgers v Braves. Scherzer can’t make scheduled start, Braves win and go on to win WS.
Point is ace starters are expensive, high risk options. If a teams wants to pay $43.3M a year for a 37 year old Scherzer, so be it. I don’t think it is the best way to go in this day and age. Scherzer will probably give you 180 innings. I can get the same production for quality bullpen guys. Three quality bullpen guys will cost half the cost as a Scherzer, provide the same amount of innings, and will be less susceptible to injury.
You can complain about the Angels rotation, but is it worse than Tampa Bay Rays?. The Rays do have an ace in Glasnow, but he was injured most of the year. The Rays won a 100 game last year. They have figured it out. Best way to get an ace isn’t through free agency., it’s through the farm system or via trade. The best way to build a winner is through the bullpen/ . The 2 teams with the best record in each league were the Giants and Rays, the 2 best bullpens in baseball. It wasn’t the teams with the $40M ace.
Rignt now, the Angels have a bigger hole to fill at SS.. I can’t believe the Angels plan to have Valazquez as their starting SS.
The Angels don’t seem to pay attention to the bullpen either. I can’t believe we are going to go into the year with Mayers as one of our late inning guys.
If we go into the year without a shortstop and with only 1 dependable late inning guy, Perry is indeed Perry the Platypus.
I wouldn’t say they didn’t pay attention this off season. . They signed the best closer available in Iglesias and add Loup.
Mayer was good 2 years ago and was decent last year. He is serviceable. I wished we had a SS option that was good 2 years ago or decent .last year.
Over the last decade the bullpen has been terrible. The Angels haven’t gone three deep in reliable RPs in over a decade. Right now the Angels have 2 reliable bullpen arms. Three is the minimum. They hope to find three or more as the season progresses, but it’s always a struggle. It always takes time. And they always lose games they shouldn’t.
They have been doing this for over a decade and they never learn. It took me awhile to see it, but now it is crystal clear.
If Trout, Rendon, Ohtani, Marsh, Fletcher, Walsh and Upton hit the way they are capable, I’ll take Velazquez’s lack of offense at short. But it’s time for Adell to become the player he is supposed to be and take ABs away from Upton.
I don’t see who you can add that is available that has been more reliable than Mayers the past couple seasons.
Mayers = 0.9WAR 2020; 1.5WAR 2021
Tepera = 0.2WAR 2020; 1.8WAR 2021
Chafin = -0.1WAR 2020; 2.9WAR 2021
More glaring hole for me is SS.
I don’t really care about WAR for RPs.
Other than the shorten season, Mayers has been bad his entire career.
He’s not particularly good at striking people out. And he’s horrible at Inducing Ground balls, preventing inherited runners from scoring, and keeping the ball in the ballpark. For RPs, Those are bad categories to be horrible at.
So whats to like? If the Angels can’t get someone who is more likely to be good than Mayers, they are in trouble.
If this is what the Angels think is a pitcher likely to be good, then that tells me a lot about this organization.
Well WAR is how the measure a players value they add to the team.
Mayers was Top 20 AL for % allowed for inherited runners last year and ground ball rate and HR rate same as Iglesias, which is not great, but far from horrible.
WAR is far from perfect, especially for an RP
Fangraphs has Mayers WAR at .7. Cishek had a higher WAR at .9.
Need I write more?
I guess I do. Iglesias was #1 on the angels in Zone Swinging miss rate and chase rate. And #2 and #5 respectively in baseball.
To compare him to Mayer is a joke.
I am getting increasingly concerned about shortstop. I didn’t expect the Angels to sign one of the big free agent shortstops, given the budget I assumed Arte would give Perry and given the pitching needs. But I thought the Angels would be fine if they could add a shortstop who could give them above-average defense and something at least approaching league-average offense, which would require a trade since no free agents really fit that bill. But it doesn’t look like it’s happening.
As for the bullpen, I thought they needed to add three good relievers. They got two in Iglesias and Loup, but I’m not sure they’re going to add a third, which would be a mistake.
I agree with you socalbball.
I could not have written a post that I agree with more.
I think Ahmed could be had for a salary dump.
it’s but a catching depth. nothing to sneer at.
@winonesooner Exactly. Suzuki is over 100 years old in catchers years and Stassi is injury prone. Perfectly fine to add depth. He is not going to be Johnny Bench.
This looks like a no risk signing to bolster our catching squad. I like it.
Why don’t they bring back are 2005 catchers Jeff Mathis he can’t hit so he will fit right in
Solid pick up…him and Kurt will be good back ups. If Max can stay healthy I think the catching can be in a solid spot all around.
I thought the Angels signed his brother out of retirement to make him as their starting shortstop. Seems to be their direction this year
lorenzen has started all of 5 games in last 6 years and i doubt even the dummy gm would have promised him to be a starter. maybe a few spot starts at best. he will be a multi-inning relief pitcher. a mediocre one.
It ain’t the dummy GM, it’s the dummy owner putting on spending restraints. You don’t think the GM wants to bring in some big time arms? A legit SS? A real catcher? It’s Moreno. Why is Eppler adding even more pitching now with the Mets? He is being allowed to… it’s that simple.
To review our Angels post lockout championship aspirations– we have signed a 38 year-old catcher who was ready to retire, and a second catcher who has had serious injuries each of the last two years, and we are planning on using a shortstop who has played 94 games total, who is all field, no hit, and let’s not forget the minor league deal for Ramos. Outstanding Angels, outstanding. I’m sure Mike Trout and Ohtani are as excited as I am!!! The only difference is I can leave… but they will follow soon if this team doesn’t get serious about pitching additions.
Can anyone tell Artie Marino to sell the team he sucks as an owner
The longest the Angeles got this owner they gone suck that’s is plain in simple.
Yep u got that right
How about the angels sent Jared Walsh and Brandon marsh to Cincinnati for Luis Castillo and then sign Freddie Freeman