After a strong start to the 2023 campaign, the Angels have faltered with a 4-14 record over their last 18 games. That slip to fourth place in the AL West has been accompanied by a rash of major injuries to key players like Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon, and Gio Urshela. Fortunately for the club, the tides of their injury misfortune may be turning. MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger notes that both infielder Brandon Drury and catcher Logan O’Hoppe have progressed to hitting off a tee in their injury rehab processes.
Drury, in a particular, seems poised for a quick return, as Bollinger adds that he hopes to return from injury “in a few days.” O’Hoppe is farther away, considering his initial recovery timeline of four to six months after undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum back in April. Still, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register indicates that O’Hoppe’s recovery is going well, as he told reporters that his healing process following the surgery is expected to end next week, allowing him to focus on baseball activities going forward. While no specifics were given regarding O’Hoppe’s timeline for return, his most recent comments seem to leave the possibility of a late-season return on the table, which is excellent news given his status as the Angels’ top prospect entering the 2023 campaign.
More from around the AL West…
- It’s been a frustrating season for the Rangers and 2021 second overall pick Jack Leiter. After his selection in the 2021 draft, Leiter entered the 2022 season as a consensus top-25 prospect in the sport. Since then, however, he’s struggled mightily when pitching at the Double-A level, with a 5.54 ERA in 92 2/3 innings of work last season that saw him fall off many top 100 lists entering the 2023 campaign. Things haven’t gotten better from there, as Leiter has posted an eerily similar 5.52 ERA in 15 starts (65 1/3 innings) this season. Leiter’s struggles culminated in the club moving him to the development list yesterday, taking him off the Double-A active roster. Per Jeff Wilson of Rangers Today, the club hopes to work with Leiter on his mechanics in a more controlled environment than minor league starts can provide, and has offered no timetable for Leiter’s return to game action. It’s a deeply disappointing update for Rangers fans, as the 54-39 club would surely benefit from the front-line production Leiter was expected to provide when he was selected with the second overall pick two years ago.
- While the Astros have not been shy about their desire to acquire rotation help ahead of the trade deadline on August 1, Astros GM Dana Brown recently discussed with reporters (including MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart) the club’s back-up plan in the event that the club fails to acquire a surefire starter for the rotation over the next couple of weeks. Brown indicated that the club would consider a second half call-up for right-hander Spencer Arrighetti to help supplement the rotation if reinforcements are still necessary after the deadline. A sixth-round pick in the 2021 draft, Arrighetti a 4.21 ERA in 72 2/3 innings of work between the Double- and Triple-A levels this season. While Arrighetti seems unlikely to provide the same impact a rental starter such as Lucas Giolito or Eduardo Rodriguez could offer, the Astros have managed to find success while relying on unheralded rookies this season, including J.P. France, Ronel Blanco, and Shawn Dubin.
Erod and a flier to Texas for Leiter and Foscue.
terrible trade for both teams
Texas wants to win this year and I thought they were looking for pitching according to recent articles (bullpen too). The Tigers have pitching and Erod is playing well this year. Throw in some big league relievers too.
Foscue is blocked in the big leagues and playing well…good OPS et al. Tigers need IF’ers who can hit. I’d like to see Chris Fetter get a crack at fixing Leiter’s issues. Jobe was not the pitcher I hoped the Tigers would get in the 2021 draft, Leiter was.
It’s kind of tough to give up on Leiter that quickly when the return is a player widely expected to be opting out after the season.
as long as the rangers starters are healthy, they should really focus on bullpen. i dont see e rod moving the needle too much for them now.
as for the tigers, they probably would love foscues bat, but ive always maintained they should focus on defensive minded position player prospects, with as big of a home field they man. foscue could take up a spot on the right side of the infield, but him and leiter seem like middling value at best for their top trade chip
A half season of E Rod seems like middling value at best. The other 2 are top 100 prospects imo. Look what a few months of Darvish got Texas.
no way you get 2 top 100s and 2 of a teams 10 best prospects for Erod. He is pitching well, but he’s pretty much a rental.
Is Leiter a top 100 prospect now? Maybe on Texas farm system rankings but not in MLB.
number 91
number 119 in fangraphs so I don’t know which you want to believe, either way it’s probably too much for ERod I think
leiter is turning out to be a huge bust, his stock has fallen so far that unless someone somewhere thinks they know exactly what to do with him he will stay put on that development list and in the low minors until he figures something else out, maybe as a reliever. as for the angels’ batch, great news on o’hoppe, but this is a majorly pivotal two weeks upcoming for them and he might still be back too late to help this year. the astros should see if the white sox or tigers would do gio or erod for arrigheti straight up, maybe a lotto ticket for gio, otherwise theyre better off sticking with arrigheti, trading for an innings eating starter and definitely another bat, and rolling for the playoffs with their top three in place.
The Tigers don’t need pitching, they need hitters.
all the astros have are a used korey lee and some spare parts outfielders
Far too early to call him a bust.
Jumping the gun on a bust my friend. It is certainly disappointing for a guy we all expected to progress quickly, but he wouldn’t be the first guy to struggle and then hopefully figure it out.
I think it was a mistake to start Leiter at AA last year. He should have started lower like most prospects. Now he will probably start all over at A or A+ where he should have started.
fair enough, maybe texas has just rushed him so far. i hate to call him a bust so early but he also does seem to have plateaued. hopefully he breaks through and finds success
I’m speculating that it was an ego thing, similar to Lonzo Ball. Threw him to the wolves early to tame the ego a bit. It’s time to work for him now.
Cory: Good theory. AA has humbled a lot of players.
I hope Farhan, and the Giants, do not offer Harrison, Luciano and Wisenhunt for Ohtani.
Not worth losing all of our top tier prospects, unless Ohtani signs long term. The Farm is finally starting to produce.
It’s been a frustrating season for the Rangers? They’re 15 games over 500 and finally in first place after a long streak of mediocre to bad seasons. Feels like some sort of Debbie Downer setup.
“…and 2021 second overall pick Jack Leiter.”
It’s the team’s hopeful development of Leiter they’re talking about. The major league team obviously is doing well.
Hindsight is 20/20 but they never should have placed Leiter in AA to start his career. A/A+ leagues are there for a reason.
And why not just send him down to A-ball? Kind of baffling the way they’ve handled his development up to this point.
I’m with you and think they probably should’ve started him in one of the A ball leagues. Texas league is pretty tough on pitchers and many minor leaguers say the difference between A+ and AA ball, is the largest in baseball.
Because you want him to try to fix his mechanics in a non-competitive environment without further damaging his confidence. Start from scratch with tossing batting practice… except not in actual meaningful games.
Honestly this is a combination of bad luck (injuries) and bad performances by our pitching staff. Last year we had a very promising young staff and the addition of esteves, reduction of tepera was great. I don’t know why people say this is an endless cycle for the Angels, Perry did exactly what everyone was b*****g about last year and got depth, it’s not his fault everyone is under performing or got hurt. We just need to be aggressive before the deadline, add a starter and some bullpen help and we are solid.
Drury, in a particular, seems poised for a quick return, as Bollinger adds that he hopes to return from injury “in a few days.”
Wrong tense. Seemed. Past tense. He was supposed to be back after the all star break remember? Everyone is coming back just around the corner. And of course O Hoppes rehab is going well. Everyone’s rehab is going “great”. Has there ever been an injury that wasn’t going great?
Everyone is coming back “soon” until initial timelines have quietly come and gone. And then when they get back they’re never the same as before.
But everyone still has “positive vibes” while the boat’s sinking.
Obviously not everyone.
I’ve said all year that win or lose Perry should be held accountable for this bullpen.
His head should roll
@SkipJutz – Take a look at Michael Brantley for Houston if you want to see a rehab assignment where the club has stated it is not going well.
Seems. Present tense.
Many players rehab isn’t going great. Stassi and Rodriguez for example.
Other than Walsh, who’s started back from injury on a rehab assignment? Another Minasian philosophy that hasn’t proved successful.
“In a particular?” This Mr. Deeds sure is a stinky writer.
Speaking of these teams, the Anaheim, California Angels of Los Angeles from Anaheim played an amazing game against the Astros after losing with Ohtani. That was a thriller!
Amazing? You do realize it ended on a DP ground ball that the Astros booted.
Thank goodness, Escobar screwed up the sacrifice, Nevin almost lost another game. The Angels should have walked off the game in the 9th.
It was a lucky win, but we have had unlucky loses, so I’ll take it.
I did watch that. I was thinking, “Oh no! Not a DP. I’m going to bed now.” I then saw the error and got pumped up. I was messaging an Astros’ fan live while this whole game was unraveling.
Alot of time has been spent discussing to trade ohtani. Lets just play devils advocate for a minute. Realistically what if the angels go all in on proving to Ohtani theyre all in. Buyers instead of sellers. It would have to be done asap not wait til august 1. But maybe start with calls to the cards? White sox? Halos11fan has said it till hes blue in the face, the pen is atrocious. And the rotation needs help.
The time to go “all in” on Ohtani was prior to this season, when he was open to extension talks. He made it clear he didn’t want extension talks once the season started. Since he’s distracted by trade talks anyway, I’d guess Ohtani is open to extension talks now… just not with the Angels.
I dont disagree they probably missed the window. But the reality is they still have time until deadline day. They can still right this ship. But not with the current pitching staff. Start with stringing together 5 wins, hell 3 wins get back above 500 and start chipping away at leads. We have all seen enough baseball to know streaks occur on both sides. 5 games back isnt something to be afraid of as long as you know your roster is good enough. But with this team, its gonna need pitching
Dude… Arte knows how to market, and his net worth reflects that. Arte doesn’t know or doesn’t care about building a winning organization, as reflected in zero playoff wins since 2009 in spite of GOAT numbers from Trout in his cost controlled years. This isn’t bad luck. Any team can say “if everything goes right, we got a chance! (well maybe not the A’s this season, but you know what I mean). What this team needs is new ownership. The Dodgers took years to turn that organization around after McCourt. It will take years to fix this culture-less, second rate, losing club by new ownership that has the resources and actually gives two cents about the community.
Nobody said this was bad luck?
They walked into the season with this pen. This awful pen!!, No Competent GMs walk into a season with this pen with the team’s future on the line.
For that reason alone every Angel fans should want Minasian fired. If he was a doctor, he should be sued foe malpractice.
My question about perry is, wasnt he one of the minds praised for building that braves farm before it was stripped? Well wheres that building in Anaheim? Starting to believe he had nothing to do with it..but need a braves fan to shed some light.
Dude – Minasian did build the pen that the Braves now enjoy. I believe the issue is Moreno. Every GM the Angels have had in 20 years have suffered the same results in their lack of ability to build a winning team. The only common denominator is Moreno. I believe Moreno doesn’t allow his GMs the autonomy to build a team properly because he values the wrong thing. Moreno knows big bats are exciting and sells tickets while no hitters bore fans. So he signs declining hitting stars like Pujols, Hamilton, et al. That’s why we never build a proper pitching staff in my opinion.
Halo – I know we disagree on this so no need to hit me over the head!
Sealbeach, you hit the nail on the head. Arte knows how to market. He even put a clause into his current stadium lease that pays him for being a good marketer and drawing in more than 2 million fans.
He could care less about winning. That is why Ohtani is still an Angel.
Prov, add to that the fact that since 2015 Arte has not allowed one contract for a pitcher that exceeded 3 years. He just won’t allow his GM’s to sign the best pitchers.
Why? They only start every 5th or 6th game. Them playing doesn’t bring in enough fans day in and day out like a Trout or Ohtani the DH does.
I was suspect of his competence when his early bullpen moves were to lock in Guerra and Claudio. I ended up being 100 percent right and Minasian was 100 percent wrong. No competent GM would have made those moves.
He’s had three years, and the bullpen still sucks. He has shown he has little to no idea what he is doing, and people can try to spin that, but the fact is, any spin is not based on fact.
Halo – You continue to ignore the possibility that my and others’ analysis might be correct and it’s not Minasian, but Moreno, directing those moves. Minasian is the guy “making” the moves because that’s technically his job, but Moreno is saying yes and no. There is no alternate scenario that could explain how Minasian could be so successful building a pitching staff in Atlanta and failing so miserably in Anaheim at the same task. It is less likely that Minasian suddenly lost his mind and more likely that he is completely hindered by Moreno. Moreno is the only common denominator over the past 20 years with the same problem.
Moreno did not suggest bringing in Claudio of Guerra. That’s pretty obvious.
How?
Ohtani made it clear he wasn’t interested in extension talks at all during the offseason. He wants to win.
Minasian did a good job with what he was given, An owner that will not allow a pitching contract longer than 3 years and a total unwillingness to ever surpass the CBT threshold. It wasn’t enough
outinleftfield – “Ohtani made it clear he wasn’t interested in extension talks at all during the offseason.”
This is not true. He and his agent have stated they were open to an extension. His agent had a press conference early in spring with a focus on this and indicated he wanted to get things going before the season starts as Ohtani would see that as a distraction. Ohtani never said he wanted to leave if they don’t show that they can win or anything like that. I think he wanted to get an extension early so he could stop the questions about an extension. Unfortunately the owner was asked at the end of spring training if they have gave him any offer? His answer was not yet! I don’t think the Angels have gave any extension offer yet and that is the biggest problem.
It’s exactly what he said.
The good news? Arte is 78. He likely doesn’t have another two decades left to keep this team hostage.
Lol the bad owners tend to cling to life and dont die when you need them too.
I doubt I have two decades either. I’m literally one of the longest tenured Angel fans alive.
Selling the team and moving himself back to AZ was what I had in mind. Wow, you went dark real fast there!
Lol oh stop! You should know when he backed out of the sale in the offseason you had to know he was gonna keep this team until hes old and decrepit like virginia halas, jerry jones and probably most famously al davis.
Well the Angels are number one in worst manager in the MLB, worst General Manager in the MLB and worst Owner in the MLB. So at least they can finally lead the league in something. It’s shocking to see they are nowhere near the playoff again (not really). They should have traded Shohei and tied the glass Rendon dead contract to it for a prospect. They should trade Mustakis, Anderson, Renjifo, Renfro, Bachman, Sandoval, Escobar, Adell for pure prospects. But they don’t have the player development or scouting to understand basic team management. So we have another decade plus until Arte finally dies and someone with money and a since of baseball acumen takes over. So fun… bye bye Shohei, and thanks for the past and future decades of losing baseball Mr. Trout.
Your emotional rant is very harsh. Minnassian inherited a mess that included NO Prospects in their system. All of their worthwhile prospects were drafted by the current GM. Moniak is a rising star and he got him for three months of Syndergaard. He stole an elite young catcher in O’Hoppe at a position where there is a serious shortage. He drafted a rising star SS in Zach Neto just a year ago when no one else in his draft class is close to being an every day player. Moreno is the mess and Nevin was always meant to be temporary– they were selling the team.
I just watched a major league “manager” put his all star closer in the 8th inning against the defending world champs and a team they are chasing, then put their worst overall pitcher in the game in the 9th…. Only to lose the game, as we all knew he would. I have to assume the Angels are playing for a draft pick next year and have began tanking now, but to get better they need to fire every person from the general managers office down to everyone on the field staff as well.
The manager might be the worst manager in baseball. The GM is likely in the bottom third.
I suspected Perry was a bad GM when he reserved a spot in his bullpen for Claudio. And then he locked up another spot with Guerra. No competent GM would have done that.
If you think Barria is the worst pitcher in the game, you are seriously baseball knowledge deprived.
Estevez gave up 2 runs in his 1 inning and had pitched on the 15th. He is only good for 1 inning. His ERA beyond that is 5.67
Sometimes it pays to know a pitcher’s limit. Obviously you have no clue.
True outinleftfield, but Nevin messed it up again. I know there best hitters were up in the 8th, but u don’t put your closer in to start the 8th, up 4 in a non-save situation. So what in Barria gives up a 3 runs like he did, but in the 8th instead of the 9th. He might not of gave up anything, who knows. But still even so, you have your closer fired up in a save situation, which he’s been near perfect and thriving in all seasons. Another Nevin debacle.
You are just silly. Didn’t say the worst in the game of baseball. Learn to read and comprehend before you speak. Save yourself the embarrassment.
Finally some good news. Even if its coming too late.