The Angels have claimed infielder Phil Gosselin off waivers from the Braves, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Angels already had a vacancy on their 40-man roster, meaning no corresponding move will be required.
This will be Gosselin’s second stint with the Halos, as he spent the 2021 season with the club. The 33-year-old veteran has also spent time with the Braves, Diamondbacks, Pirates, Rangers, Reds and Phillies throughout his career.
In 104 games with the Angels last year, he served a utility role, playing all three non-shortstop infield positions as well as the outfield corners. His 373 plate appearances on the year were a career high for him, a time in which he put up a batting line of .261/.314/.363 for a wRC+ of 87.
This year, he signed a minor league deal with Atlanta and got selected to the big league club just over a month ago. He’s managed to get into just 12 games so far, making 24 plate appearances. His line on the year is .261/.292/.261, while playing mostly second base. He hit well in the minors before his promotion, however, slashing .297/.358/.473.
The Angels are likely hoping Gosselin can give a boost to them at either second or third base, as they’ve struggled to get any kind of production out of their infield this year. Their second basemen have collectively hit .232/.284/.313. The resultant wRC+ of 71 is 24th in the league. Third base is even worse, as the team’s line from that position is .222/.292/.301 for a wRC+ that ranks 28th.
Gosselin is unlikely to help too much, as he’s the owner of a career batting line of .261/.313/.360 for a wRC+ of 82. However, the club’s been giving a lot of playing time at the keystone to Michael Stefanic and his .206/.325/.235 batting line (72 wRC+), as well as time at the hot corner to Jonathan Villar, who’s hitting .167/.222/.167 since becoming an Angel for a wRC+ of just 12.
Welcome back Phil! Should get some playing time almost right away. He seemed competent in the field and at the plate last season. Better than others this season…good pick up
He’s a really good short term gap filler, which is perfectly fine. He’ll get the job done well enough to where you can’t point at that position and say, we failed because of him. But he isn’t dynamic enough to really impact the team in a positive way. A classic “band-aid” type player
I wish we’d have kept him. Hit lefties well last year and backed up Rendon. Who I figured would need some rest early this year.
He hit .275/.344/.352 against lefties last year, and that was his better side. I wouldn’t be too excited about this one.
what for? minasian must think a collection of useless multi-positin infielders make a great team. or is he gunning for a top 5 pick in next draft?
If you needed a sign that the season is officially over for the Angels, there it is.
Angels seem to be swiping up the Braves leftovers. Guess the Braves are so good that even their bad must be better than most of the angels roster lol.
Jk, good pickup for them. Can’t hurt them, which is better than a lot of pickups
I think a big part of picking up old Braves players is our GM Perry was the Braves assistant GM a few seasons ago. He knows the players and system and it worked well for them. We can use all the good players we can find right now…
LAA is forever lacking pitching and ATL has been lauded for their pitching depth — obviously Gosselin isn’t part of that — but Perry knows more about ATL’s farm than most anyone not in Braves FO. Even pre-Minasian it was interesting LAA was the landing spot for the 2 highest-ranked international players (Maitan, Soto) that were made FA after Coppy-gate.
Ah, the ole coppy gate. What a load of bull. Astros did far worse, get a slap on the wrist. coppy gets a lifetime kick for barely anything. Poor guy. He doesn’t get enough credit for the rebuild and turning this franchise around, he crushed it for us
I was trying to get a replica ring to him in Orlando, FL where he resides as a thank you. He’s a real American hero, a scapegoat while his superior, John Hart, didn’t get anything and went straight into a cushy MLB Network job, smh.
Say you know nothing about the Angels, without saying so. Is easy to figure out, they always comment, the Angels struggles is do to the pitching and nothing else comments. Since May 16th the Angels are 16th in team ERA, not great, but not horrible either. But in the same time period, the Angels are 29th in runs scored. But hey having 6 players in the lineup with an OPS under 650 can’t be the bigger issue. They just baseball to turn back into what it was, in the 1960’s where 2 runs a game was considered good.
Correction I meant to say 5 not 6. Stupid fat fingers lol
This is so laughable. Middle infield was such an unforced error. The Angels went into this year with a second baseman who wouldn’t start on most teams playing shortstop which meant they had no shortstop or second baseman.
I don’t blame anyone for the pen, the Angels tried. I don’t blame them for Marsh/Adell, What were they going to do? I don’t blame them for Rendon getting hurt or the slide of Walsh and Stassi.
But fixing the middle infield was obvious to everyone with a clue. It was an unforced error. An error a smart team doesn’t make.
To your credit, I do remember you predicted a middle infield failure during the off-season if the Angels didn’t address the positions in a significant way. Its obvious Velazquez was not going to do that when they signed him.
laughable? the angels are laughable. two of the best players in the game, and they can’t get out of the cellar. laugh, laugh, laugh!
What’s the point of your comment? Trying to run something in on a commenter that has already said his team is laughable? Well, thanks for your intellectual, well thought out post.
Balzenuf…yawn.
Supposedly the Angels maxed themselves with pitching and were out of budget for IF. Hence Duffy, Wade, Velazquez,, and anyone else with OPS under .500 playing middle IF. A .260 SLG since June 1st for 3B, 2B. SS, are you kidding me??? Goose would have been much helpful sooner but hey it is what it is with this circus
they still have $23 mil. it is either arte not wanting to go over certain figure or dumb f/o not being able to find a player to use that for
Phil did good in Anaheim.
Phil had a 85 OPS+ last year with a negative WAR. He was good?
Fletcher had a 71 OPS+ last year. The only reason Fletcher is even playable is he plays good defense AT SECOND BASE!!!… which was unlikely to happen at short.
It was an unforced error. 100 percent avoidable.
He’ll probably bat .261.
I was just looking at that. Career .261. 2022 hitting .261. 2021 hit .261.
His Man Cave has nothing but his own jerseys hanging everywhere
Bring your boxing gloves, Phil, because the Angels are going down on August 5th. Payback is he*l.
Haha, this is a joke, right?
Payback? The mariners started that entire mess. I didn’t see any angel players taunting the crowd like it was a WWE match. Some people at beyond blind…smh
No, it looks like the Angels started this. Seeing is proof, right? Started with Upton who actually DID get hit in the head by an Angels pitcher.
youtu.be/QFUawXZhnlc
Jomboy gives a pretty detailed description of not just the Angels – Mariners brawl but what also lead up to it.
The Ms admittedly threw up and in at Trout and almost hit his head.
Earlier in the game they almost hit Walsh in the head. Wasn’t that enough? I can’t remember if that happened before or after the Upton pitch, but that cancels each other out. It should have ended there.
Going after Trout was a jerk move. And they did go after Trout. It was a classless move.
breaking winker’s middle fingers would be great!
Upton was HIT in the head the weekend prior when they played in Seattle. In the 9th inning of the 1st game in Anaheim is when they pitched at Trout. That is where it should have ended. But evil Nevin decides to insert an opener in the next day to retaliate. First they throw at Julio’s head in 1st inning. Warnings were issued. Again, it should have ended. Mariners did not retaliate the Julio incident. But then in the top of the 2nd, Winker gets beaned on the very first pitch. Nevin should be suspended for the rest if the year.
At least Winker is tough and not a prissy princess like Mike Trout.
It happened after the Upton pitch. One got hit (Upton) and one did not. Also, the Angels went after Winker as well so are they even? I don’t know about all that. You should watch the vid.
Once the pitch came up and in to Trout, someone was going to get hit in the ribs.
Period. It doesn’t get more obvious than that.
The umpire thought Walsh got hit in the head, Walsh thought he got it, and I’m pretty sure it hit his helmet. When it’s that’s close, it’s irrelevant if it hit him or not.
But regardless, If you throw up there, hit a guy or not, one of your players takes it in the ribs. End of story. That’s the way the game is played and that’s the way the game should be played.
Don’t go up and in unless you know what you are doing. This isn’t rocket science. I always expect an Angel to take one in the ribs after their pitcher comes close to a player’s head.
Thats baseball.
Tired Angels fan rant about trying to hit Trout. There is no way the Mariners wanted to hit Trout in that situation. Erik Swanson’s control was all over the place and why would you want to put the go-ahead run on first base? I can’t believe Angels fans won’t own up to the obvious that they were the instigators in that entire sordid affair. I guess they’re just bitter and don’t want to face the reality that the Mariners and Dipoto are running circles around them.
Good. The Ms are in a playoff race and I hope the Angels put a couple Ms players on the I.L.
Who cares if the M’s put Phil on the I.L.
Lyman Bostock, Donnie Moore, Chico Ruiz, Nick Adenhart, Tyler Skaggs, Luis Valbuena and Mike Miley say “Hi.”
The curse is REAL.
Hmmm. Gosselin’s career BA is the same as Upton’s career BA.
as a Braves fan, I have SOME love for Phil. Not a Braves level player, though. Good luck, Goose!
Wonder if Nevin will hit him cleanup like Maddon did…
Gosselin, Duffy, Mayfield, Velazquez, Wade….et. al…. I have zero faith in the Angels organization to draft & develop talent if they need to keep continually bringing in guys like this to play significant innings. They have to be in the bottom third of farm systems, because they have no “difference makers” in their pipeline. Manasian, Eppler, DiPoto & Reagins. Were still recovering from the mistakes those past & present GM’s made. I’m beginning to believe the crowd that says it’s OWNERSHIP.
Gosselin, Duffy, Mayfield, Velazquez, Wade….etc. al…. I have zero faith in the Angels organization to draft & develop talent if they need to keep continually bringing in guys like this to play significant innings. They have to be in the bottom third of farm systems, because they have no “difference makers” in their pipeline. Manasian, Eppler, DiPoto & Reagins. Were still recovering from the mistakes those past & present GM’s made. I’m beginning to believe the crowd that says it’s OWNERSHIP.
That’s really what the issue is…they have money, and they have arguably the two best players in baseball. Their problem is they can’t seem to develop players to augment their stars. They clearly need to overhaul their player development department, or their scouting, or both, because something just isn’t adding up.
If you’re hoping Gosselin gives you a bump in production at 2nd or 3rd base, you have a serious problem on your hands.