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Pirates Trade Roansy Contreras To Angels

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1:50pm: The Angels sent cash to the Pirates in the deal, reports Andrew Destin of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

1:18pm: The Angels are acquiring right-hander Roansy Contreras in a trade with the Pirates, reports Alex Stumpf of MLB.com. Pittsburgh designated Contreras for assignment five days ago.

The Halos have an open 40-man roster spot after designating lefty Amir Garrett for assignment last night, and they already cleared a 26-man roster spot earlier today when they announced that utilityman Niko Goodrum and righty Davis Daniel were optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake, with infielder Luis Rengifo coming off the injured list. A second 26-man roster move wasn’t revealed at the time, but it now seems that’ll go to Contreras, who’s out of minor league  and thus cannot be sent to Triple-A himself.

Still just 24 years old, Contreras was the headline prospect going from the Yankees to the Pirates in the 2020-21 offseason trade that sent Jameson Taillon to the Bronx. At the time of the swap, Contreras was widely regarded among the top-100 minor leaguers in the sport, and through the early portion of his career, the reasons for his prospect fanfare were apparent. Contreras debuted as a 21-year-old late in the 2021 season and tossed three shutout innings, then went on to make 18 starts and another three relief appearances for the 2022 Pirates. In all, he pitched 98 innings with a 3.67 ERA, 21.4% strikeout rate and 9.5% walk rate in the majors — all before celebrating his 23rd birthday.

That’s a fine start to any big league career, and as recently as April 2023, Contreras looked like a foundational rotation piece alongside Mitch Keller. The 2023 season went about as poorly for Contreras  as possible, however. He made 11 starts between April and mid-June — struggling so much that the Pirates dropped him to the bullpen. Through Contreras’ first 56 1/3 frames last year, he was torched for a 5.91 ERA with a greatly reduced 17.4% strikeout rate and a bloated 10.1% walk rate. His fastball velocity, which sat just shy of 96 mph from 2021-22, averaged a noticeably lesser 94.4 mph. Statcast painted the picture of a right-hander who opponents had little problem squaring up: 90.3 mph average exit velocity, 9% barrel rate, 42.7% hard-hit rate.

The 2024 season hasn’t brought better results. Despite a full-time move to the ’pen, Contreras’ 94.7 mph average fastball is still more than a mile per hour slower than his 2021-22 velocity out of the rotation. His 21.6% strikeout rate is a slight uptick from last year’s 21.4% mark, but his 10.8% walk rate is a career-high. His Statcast profile looks quite similar to the rough numbers he posted as a starter in 2023: 90.8 mph average exit velocity, 10% barrel rate, 42% hard-hit rate. Opponents hit .292/.370/.477 against Contreras this season. He’s sitting on a respectable enough 4.41 ERA, but his 5.01 FIP doesn’t match even that modest number. (His 4.13 SIERA is a bit more optimistic, forecasting some improvement in terms of homer-to-flyball ratio.)

Since the Pirates couldn’t send Contreras to the minors without first passing him through waivers, the club opted to DFA him. It’s clear they no longer viewed Contreras as a viable candidate to take a rotation spot alongside Keller, Paul Skenes, Jared Jones and veteran Martin Perez. With several pitching prospects having leapfrogged Contreras on the depth chart and no set-in-stone place in the team’s bullpen, the decision was made to designate him and evaluate other options. The cash return on the swap will surely frustrate Pirates fans, but that negligible return also speaks to the manner in which the leaguewide perception of Contreras has changed over the past 13 to 14 months.

The Angels have a full five-man rotation — Patrick Sandoval, Reid Detmers, Griffin Canning, Tyler Anderson, Jose Soriano — so it seems likely they’ll plug Contreras into the bullpen for the time being. It’s possible he’ll eventually get a look as a starter, with injuries always standing as an inevitability plus some notable workload concerns for Soriano, who’s making the transition from reliever to starting pitcher this season.

Checking In On 2024’s Reliever-To-Rotation Experiments

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The 2023-24 offseason saw several teams go outside the box to add to their rotation mix by announcing plans to convert an established reliever into (or back into) a starting pitcher. It’s not a new concept by any means, of course, but it’s always notable when a player who’s found some success in one pitching role is shifted to the other — be it one-inning relievers stretching out to join a rotation or struggling starters shifting to the ’pen and hoping to find new life as their stuff plays up.

In some instances — e.g. Jordan Hicks, Reynaldo Lopez — the pitchers in question signed lucrative multi-year deals as part of this planned pivot. For others, this role change comes amid their original six seasons of club control and could greatly impact their earnings in arbitration and/or in free agency down the road.

Now that we’re about a quarter of the way through the year, it seems like a good time to check in on how some of these role changes are playing out. Readers should note that this rundown will focus on pitchers who pitched exclusively or near-exclusively out of the bullpen last season. Pitchers like Boston’s Garrett Whitlock (who started 10 games last year and nine in 2022) or Tampa Bay’s Zack Littell (who moved to the rotation last summer and finished out the ’23 campaign as a starter) aren’t the focus here so much as arms who were more strictly confined to short relief recently.

Since so many of these transitions are going to bring about clear workload concerns, we’ll check back in periodically throughout the season. For now, here’s how things are going through about 25% of the schedule.

Jordan Hicks, RHP, Giants

Hicks’ transition from flamethrowing late-inning reliever to … well, flamethrowing starting pitcher has gone seamlessly thus far. It’s only nine starts and 48 innings, but the 28-year-old boasts a 2.44 ERA in his move to the rotation. A career-low 19.9% strikeout rate is a red flag, but Hicks’ 8.2% walk rate is lower than the league average and a career-best mark as well. His 56.2% grounder rate isn’t quite as high as the 60% mark he carried into the season but is still more than 10 percentage points above average.

As one would expect, Hicks’ blazing sinker has lost quite a bit of velocity now that he’s not throwing one max-effort inning at a time. His sinker sat at 100.2 mph last year but is clocking in at 96 mph in 2024. Even with four fewer miles per hour on his primary offering, however, Hicks has more than enough velocity to keep hitters off balance.

Hicks has also fully incorporated the splitter he tinkered with in 2023 into his arsenal this year. After throwing it just 1.6% of the time last season, he’s thrown 22.5% splitters in 2024. Opponents may as well not even bother swinging at the pitch. Hicks has finished off 42 plate appearances with a splitter, and hitters have posted a .079/.167/.105 slash in those instances. Opposing batters have chased the pitch off the plate at more than a 35% clip, and Hicks boasts a huge 42.9% whiff rate on the pitch, per Statcast.

The big question for Hicks, as it is for virtually any pitcher making this transition, is how his arm will hold up once he begins pushing it into uncharted waters. Hicks has never topped 77 2/3 innings in a big league season. That mark came way back in his 2018 rookie showing. The 105 frames Hicks tallied as a minor league starter in 2017 are the most he’s ever pitched in a full season. He’ll be approaching his MLB-high after he makes another four starts or so and will be on the cusp of a new career-high about 10 to 11 starts from now — when there’s still roughly half a season left to play. Hicks wasn’t even especially durable as a reliever, only surpassing 35 appearances in two of his five prior big league seasons. The early returns are outstanding, but the real test will probably come in late June and into July.

Reynaldo Lopez, RHP, Braves

Unlike Hicks, Lopez is no stranger to starting games at the MLB level. He started 73 games for the White Sox from 2018-20 after coming over from the Nationals alongside Lucas Giolito and Dane Dunning in the Adam Eaton trade. The first of those three seasons went well, but Lopez stumbled in 2019-20 and began to transition to the bullpen in 2021.

The shift to a relief role seemed to suit the right-hander well. His already impressive velocity played up even further. Lopez averaged better than 95 mph as a starter in ’18-’20 but saw that number jump to 97.1 mph in 2022 and a massive 98.4 mph in 2023. Over those two seasons, he pitched to a sharp 3.02 earned run average. His rate stats were somewhat uneven, as he showed pristine command (4.3% walk rate) but an only slightly higher-than-average strikeout rate in ’22 before jumping to a huge 29.9% strikeout rate in ’23 … but pairing it with a bloated 12.2% walk rate. Taken together, however, Lopez gave the Sox 131 1/3 innings with that 3.02 ERA, 31 holds, six saves, a 27.4% strikeout rate and an 8.5% walk rate.

When he signed with the Braves for three years and $30MM, that generally fell in line with expectations for what he’d command as a late-inning reliever. However, it quickly became clear that the Braves were going to stretch Lopez back out. There was plenty of skepticism — myself very much included, admittedly — but the experiment has gone better than anyone could’ve imagined.

Thus far, Lopez has not only been the Braves’ best starter but one of the most effective starters in the league. He’s pitched 35 1/3 innings of 1.53 ERA ball. His velocity has dipped back down to his 2018-20 levels, sitting 95.6 mph, but that’s to be expected working out of the rotation. His 25.5% strikeout rate is better than average but not elite. His 9.9% walk rate could stand to come down. But Lopez is throwing more curveballs than ever before (10%), has largely abandoned his changeup and is keeping the ball on the ground at a career-best 41.1% rate. That’s a bit shy of the 42.8% league average but noticeably higher than the 35% clip he posted during his time with the White Sox.

The uptick in grounders is one reason that Lopez is yielding a career-low 0.51 homers per nine innings. The other is a 5.4% homer-to-flyball rate that he almost certainly can’t sustain. That fluky HR/FB and an abnormally high 88.7% strand rate are part of the reason metrics like SIERA (3.87) and xFIP (3.79), which normalize HR/FB, tend to peg him for some regression. Still, even if he’s bound to see his ERA tick up by a couple runs, Lopez has looked great through his first six turns.

Time will tell just how his arm can handle a return to his 2018-19 workloads, but the early results are excellent — and the importance of his breakout is magnified by the loss of ace Spencer Strider to season-ending elbow surgery. Notably, Lopez exited last night’s start with some tightness in his back, but manager Brian Snitker suggested after the game that he’s likely to make his next start.

A.J. Puk, LHP, Marlins

On the other side of the coin, the Marlins’ efforts to move Puk back into a starting role quickly went down in flames. Puk, a former No. 6 overall pick who worked as a starter in the minors, looked excellent this spring. He pitched 13 2/3 innings over four starts and two earned runs with a 23-to-4 K/BB ratio. The transition could hardly have gotten out to a more promising start.

In his first four regular-season starts, Puk also pitched 13 2/3 innings. The similarities stop there. Opponents bludgeoned Puk for 14 earned runs on 19 hits and a stunning 17 walks. He fanned only 12 of his 77 opponents (15.6%).

Miami placed Puk on the injured list on April 20 due to left shoulder fatigue. He returned from the injured list just yesterday. Despite myriad injuries in their rotation, the Fish have already pulled the plug on the rotation experiment for Puk, announcing that he’ll be back in the bullpen following his stay on the injured list. It’s a role he thrived in over the past two seasons, logging a 3.51 ERA, 29.4% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate while piling up 22 saves and 19 holds.

If Puk returns to form as a reliever — he was particularly impressive in ’23, striking out 32.2% of opponents against a 5.4% walk rate — the ill-fated rotation gambit will be little more than a footnote in what hopefully ends up as a strong overall career as a reliever. If Puk’s struggles persist, however, there’ll be plenty of second-guessing the decision to take one of the team’s best relief arms and stretch him out despite a litany of injury troubles that had combined to limit Puk to only 147 2/3 innings in his entire career prior to this season.

Garrett Crochet, LHP, White Sox

Crochet has worked to a pedestrian earned run average on the season due to a bevy of home runs allowed, but the former first-rounder who’s drawn comparisons to Chris Sale since being drafted by the White Sox has turned in elite strikeout and walk numbers. The 4.63 ERA looks unimpressive, but Crochet has fanned more than a third of his opponents (34.2%) against a pristine 4.8% walk rate.

Crochet boasts an excellent 14.5% swinging-strike rate and is averaging 96.9 mph on his heater. That’s a ways from the 100.2 mph he averaged in six innings as a rookie in 2020, but Crochet has had Tommy John surgery since that time and is working in longer stints now as opposed to bullpen work in ’20. This year’s velocity actually slightly exceeds his average velocity from working purely as a reliever in 2022-23.

In terms of workload concern, Crochet is up there with Puk in terms of extreme uncertainty. He entered the season with a total of 73 big league innings since his No. 11 overall selection in 2020 and is already at 46 2/3 innings on the young 2024 campaign. So long as he keeps missing bats and limiting walks anywhere near his current levels, the run-prevention numbers will come down — FIP and SIERA peg him at 3.33 and 2.37, respectively — but it’s anyone’s guess as to how Crochet will hold up. He skipped the minor leagues entirely, so even if you add in his whole minor league body of work, that’d only tack last year’s 12 1/3 rehab innings onto his track record. Going from a total of 85 1/3 professional innings over a four-year period to a full starter’s workload is bound to have some bumps in the road, but so far Crochet looks quite intriguing as a starting pitcher.

Jose Soriano, RHP, Angels

The Angels nearly lost Soriano back in 2020, when the Pirates selected him in the Rule 5 Draft. At the time, Soriano was wrapping up his rehab from 2020 Tommy John surgery and could’ve been stashed in a rebuilding Pittsburgh bullpen upon his reinstatement from the injured list. A setback in his recovery early in the season prompted another wave of imaging and revealed a new tear, however. Soriano underwent a second Tommy John surgery on June 16, 2021. He was eventually returned to the Angels.

Unfortunate as that back-to-back pair of surgeries was, Soriano’s injury troubles allowed the Angels to keep him in the system. They’re now reaping the benefits. The flamethrowing righty made 38 relief appearances last season and pitched to a quality 3.64 ERA with a huge 30.3% strikeout rate — albeit against a troubling 12.4% walk rate. Soriano averaged 98.6 mph on his heater last year and wound up picking up 15 holds, as the then-rookie righty increasingly worked his way into higher-leverage spots.

The Angels announced early in spring training that Soriano would be stretched out as a starter. His ramp-up continued into the regular season. His first two appearances this year came out of the bullpen but both spanned three innings. He’s since moved into the rotation and has looked quite impressive. Through his first seven starts, Soriano touts a 3.58 ERA with an above-average 24.8% strikeout rate and an outstanding 62.8% ground-ball rate. Even though he’s working in longer stints, he’s improved his fastball and is now sitting at 99.3 mph with it. His 12.4% walk rate still needs improvement, but the returns here are quite promising.

Soriano only pitched 65 1/3 innings between the minors and big leagues last year, and he’s already at 38 2/3 frames on the 2024  season. He’s never pitched more than 82 1/3 innings in a professional season. We’ll see how he fares as he pushes past those thresholds, but there’s a lot to like with this rotation move — even though it’s garnered far less attention than some of the others around the game.

Tyler Alexander, LHP, Rays

The Rays obviously have a knack for finding hidden gems and converting unheralded arms into viable starting pitchers — hey there, Zack Littell — and Alexander is an example of their latest efforts to do so. The left-hander has started for the Tigers in the past and functioned in a swingman role, but the Rays picked him up in a low-cost move following a DFA in Detroit with the idea of stretching him out. Since it’s Tampa Bay, not all of Alexander’s “starts” have been, well, actual starts. He’s followed an opener on multiple occasions already, but he’s followed that one- or two-inning table-setter with at least four innings each time out.

Overall, Alexander has made eight appearances and averaged just under five frames per outing (39 2/3 total innings). He’s sitting on a pretty rough 5.45 ERA, thanks in part to a six-run drubbing at the hands of the Yankees last time out (though he did at least complete seven frames in that start, helping to spare the Tampa Bay bullpen). Alexander’s 19.1% strikeout rate is about three percentage points shy of average. His 6.9% walk rate is about two points better than average. However, he’s taken his longstanding status as a fly-ball pitcher to new heights in 2024, inducing grounders at just a 30.4% clip.

Alexander’s 14.5% homer-to-flyball ratio is only a couple percentage points north of average, but because of the sheer volume of fly-balls he’s yielding, he’s still averaging more than two taters per nine frames. Opponents have posted an ugly 11.8% barrel rate against him (ugly for Alexander, that is). If he can’t cut back on the fly-balls and/or start finding a way to avoid the barrel more regularly, it’s going to be hard for Alexander to find sustained success. The Rays don’t convert on every dart-throw — much as it’s fun to joke to the contrary — and so far the Alexander experiment hasn’t paid off.

Bryse Wilson, RHP, Brewers

Wilson’s move to the rotation wasn’t necessarily planned, but injuries up and down the Brewers’ staff forced the issue. Five of his past six outings have been starts and he’s sporting an eye-catching 1.78 ERA in that span. The rest of the numbers in that stretch are less impressive. Wilson has a tepid 17.3% strikeout rate in that stretch but has walked an untenable 13.5% of opponents. Opponents have posted a hefty 45.7% hard-hit rate (95 mph or more) against him during that time. Were it not for a .191 BABIP and 92.2% strand rate, the ERA wouldn’t look nearly as rosy. Metrics like FIP (4.64) and SIERA (5.34) are quite bearish.

Wilson is still scheduled to take the ball on Saturday in Houston, but his recent stretch of run-prevention doesn’t seem sustainable without some improvements in his K-BB profile.

Dylan Bundy Retires

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Veteran right-hander Dylan Bundy hasn’t pitched professionally in nearly a year, and in an interview with MASN’s Roch Kubatko this morning revealed that he has retired from baseball. The veteran right-hander pitched in parts of eight seasons in the majors with the Orioles, Angels, and Twins.

Drafted fourth overall by Baltimore out of high school in the 2011 draft, Bundy was long a consensus top prospect in the sport. He flew threw the minor leagues to make his big league debut in September of 2012 at the age of 19, throwing 1 2/3 scoreless innings across two appearances in the brief cup of coffee. Unfortunately, injuries would keep him from returning to the big leagues for several years after that. Bundy underwent Tommy John surgery back in 2013, and rehab cost him that whole season as well as the first half of 2014. Bundy then made just eight starts in 2015 due to shoulder issues.

The right-hander finally re-emerged at the big league level in 2016 at the age of 23. He split time between the Orioles’ starting rotation and bullpen throughout his rookie season, pitching to an above-average 4.07 ERA and striking out 21.9% of batters faced. That performance was enough to earn Bundy a rotation spot entering the 2017 season, and he delivered a solid back-of-the-rotation season for the Orioles with a 4.24 ERA and a 4.32 FIP in 169 2/3 innings of work. The highlight of Bundy’s 2017 campaign came on August 29, when he struck out 12 batters in a complete game shutout of the Mariners that saw him surrender just one hit and two walks.

Bundy was the club’s Opening Day starter in 2018 and remained with the Orioles through the end of the 2019 season as a dependable starting pitcher, ultimately posting a roughly league average 4.67 ERA with a 4.75 FIP and 602 strikeouts during his tenure in Baltimore. Bundy’s time with the Orioles came to an end in December of 2019, when he was traded to the Angels in a deal that sent a package of four youngsters to Baltimore, including current Orioles starter Kyle Bradish.

While the 2020 season was cut to just 60 games by the COVID-19 Pandemic, Bundy nonetheless went on to post the best season of his career during the abbreviated season. In 11 starts with the Angels, the righty pitched to a strong 3.29 ERA (138 ERA+) with an excellent 27% strikeout rate in 65 2/3 innings of work. The strong performance earned Bundy a ninth place finish in AL Cy Young award voting that year, and his sterling 2.95 FIP ranked behind only Shane Bieber, Zack Greinke, and Framber Valdez among AL starting pitchers.

The strong performance during the shortened season earned Bundy Opening Day starter honors for the second time in his career, but the righty struggled badly throughout the 2021 campaign and eventually found himself moved to the bullpen in late June. After returning to the swing role in which he started his MLB career, Bundy performed a bit better with a decent. 4.21 ERA in nine appearances (five starts) through the rest of the summer before his season came to a premature end in late August thanks to a shoulder strain.

Bundy went on to pitch for the Twins in 2022 after signing a one-year deal with the club. He made 29 starts for Minnesota, though he struggled to a relatively pedestrian 4.80 ERA and 4.66 FIP as his strikeout rate dipped to just 15.8%. That left Bundy to sign a minor league deal with the Mets during the 2022-23 offseason, though he made just six starts for Triple-A Syracuse before being placed on the injured list in May of that year and eventually being released from the Mets that July.

In his interview with Kubatko, Bundy discussed his decision to step away from the game, noting that “nothing was feeling good” during his stint in the Mets organization last year as he sat just 87-88 with his fastball, which had averaged 91.7 mph throughout his big league career. After departing the Mets last summer, Bundy decided to stay home for the rest of the 2023 season and while he considered returning to pitching during the offseason, he ultimately decided to step away from the game. Kubatko added that Bundy has now begun work as a real estate agent for Ary Land Company in his hometown of Sperry, Oklahoma.

In all, Bundy pitched 910 2/3 innings in 190 appearances across eight big league seasons. He finishes his career with 852 strikeouts, 54 wins, and a 4.74 ERA. We at MLBTR congratulate Bundy on a fine playing career and wish him all the best in retirement.

Angels Acquire Luis Guillorme, Transfer Anthony Rendon To 60-Day IL

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8:40pm: Guillorme is active for tonight’s game against the Royals. The Halos placed both Drury and Rengifo on the 10-day injured list while recalling Kyren Paris in corresponding moves.

10:00am: The Braves announced that Guillorme has been traded to the Angels for a player to be named later or cash. The Angels have also announced the swap, transferring third baseman Anthony Rendon to the 60-day injured list to create roster space. Rendon has been out since April 20 with a hamstring injury and will now be sidelined into at least late June.

7:27am: The Angels are reportedly acquiring infielder Luis Guillorme from the Braves, according to Daniel Alvarez-Montes of El Extrabase. The return headed to Atlanta is not currently known.

Guillorme, 29, was non-tendered by the Mets back in November but signed with the Braves in early January on a one-year, $1.1MM deal. A tenth-round pick by New York in the 2013 draft, Guillorme made his big league debut in 2018 but did not receive significant playing time until the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. While he had struggled to a .227/.303/.297 slash line in 80 games over his first two seasons in the big leagues, 2020 saw Guillorme appear in 29 of the club’s 60 contests while slashing an incredible .333/.426/.439, good for a wRC+ of 145.

Impressive as that performance in the shortened campaign was, it was inflated by a .463 BABIP that would be completely unsustainable over a full season. Even so, Guillorme began to see more frequent use by the Mets in the seasons following his strong performance in 2020. With that increase in playing time came improved results; Guillorme slashed a serviceable .265/.374/.311 (97 wRC+) in 69 games during the 2021 campaign, and in 335 plate appearances the following year he hit .273/.351/.340 (104 wRC+).

Overall, that trio of campaigns saw Guillorme post production that was 7% better than league average off the bench while striking out just 15.4% of the time and walking at an excellent 12.4% clip. Guillorme’s overall offensive performance was capped by an extreme lack of power that saw him hit just three home runs in 559 trips to the plate from 2020-22. Still, the infielder managed to make up for that not only through strong plate discipline but also excellent glovework; those years saw Guillorme post an impressive +10 Outs Above Average in limited playing time while shuffling between second base, third base, and shortstop.

While his combination of contact, on-base ability, and versatile infield defense made Guillorme one of the better bench bats in the league over that three year stretch, the 2023 campaign saw him regress significantly. In 120 trips to the plate across 53 games, Guillorme slashed just .224/.388/.327 (70 wRC+) with much weaker peripherals than his previous seasons. His 23.3% strikeout rate was nearly a ten-point jump from where it had been the previous year, while his 8.3% walk rate was the worst of his career. Making matters worse was a regression in Guillorme’s fielding that saw him go from a clearly above-average defender around the infield to below average at every spot he played. The infielder generated -4 Outs Above Average in 2023, including at least a -1 figure at each of his three positions.

That difficult 2023 season is what led the Mets to non-tender Guillorme back in November, allowing the Braves to add him to their bench mix. Unfortunately for Guillorme, however, he’s been limited to just nine games this season and his .150/.190/.250 slash line in that limited playing time hardly made a case for a larger role in Atlanta. With Luke Williams currently occupying a spot on the bench and non-roster veterans such as David Fletcher and Leury Garcia able to step into Guillorme’s utility role, it’s unlikely the Braves will be impacted too significantly by his departure.

With that being said, it’s possible the 29-year-old will receive more runway to re-establish himself in Anaheim. The club’s infield has struggled to stay healthy this year with Anthony Rendon, Michael Stefanic, and Miguel Sano all currently on the injured list. Meanwhile, Luis Rengifo has been out for nearly a week due to illness and Brandon Drury could be headed to the injured list in the coming days himself after exiting yesterday’s game in the sixth inning due to hamstring tightness.

Cole Tucker and Ehire Adrianza are currently filling in on the infield alongside shortstop Zack Neto, but Tucker has routinely struggled at the big league level throughout his career and Adrianza sports a .165/.248/.218 slash line in the majors over the past three seasons. Given those limited options, it appears likely that Guillorme will have plenty of opportunities to earn a larger role in Anaheim than he had in Atlanta over the coming weeks. If he manages to bounce back to the form he showed from 2020-22, the Angels will have found a solid in-season addition to their infield mix who could remain valuable even once the club’s infield regulars begin to get healthy.

Angels Sign Drew Ellis To Minor League Deal

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The Angels are adding infielder Drew Ellis on a minor league contract, per an announcement from his now-former team in the independent Atlantic League: the Charleston Dirty Birds. Ellis’ contract was purchased from the Dirty Birds by the Angels yesterday, per the announcement. Presumably, he’ll head to the Halos’ Triple-A affiliate in Salt Lake City.

Ellis, 28, has appeared in each of the past three major league seasons, spending time with the D-backs, Mariners and Phillies. He’s only tallied 129 overall plate appearances, during which he’s popped three homers and walked at a 13.2% clip while struggling to an overall .157/.295/.269 batting line. Ellis has fanned in 31.8% of those 129 trips to the plate. He’s played first base, second base and third base in the majors, plus a pair of minor league games at shortstop and 37 games in left field back in his days at the University of Louisville.

Originally drafted by the Diamondbacks back in 2017, Ellis was that year’s No. 44 overall pick. Baseball America ranked him 66th in that year’s draft class and pegged him as high as ninth in Arizona’s system at one point, touting his plus power, athleticism and solid skills at the hot corner.

In parts of three Triple-A seasons, Ellis has shown off that power and a good approach at the plate but still hit for a low average. He’s a career .247/.364/.500 hitter at the minors’ top level. Given his big league contact issues and that low average, it’s easy to suspect he’s been excessively strikeout prone in the minors. But while Ellis has fanned at a slightly higher-than-average 24.3% rate in Triple-A, the greater culprit has been his penchant for weak infield flies. He’s totaled 1124 Triple-A plate appearances and popped up to the infield a staggering 86 times. That propensity has undercut his plate discipline and impressive power.

The Angels are in clear need of some infield depth, making their pickup of Ellis plenty understandable. The Halos just acquired veteran Luis Guillorme from the Braves and moved Anthony Rendon to the 60-day injured list. Rendon will be out until at least late June. Brandon Drury exited his most recent game due to a hamstring issue and seems likely to head to the injured list. Infielders Miguel Sano and Michael Stefanic are also on the IL. The Angels are currently rostering both Ehire Adrianza and Cole Tucker, but neither has provided any offense in an eight-game sample. Niko Goodrum was claimed off waivers from the Rays today. Ellis will give them some depth with a bit of versatility and a nice track record of power and on-base skills in Triple-A, should the Halos eventually want to shuffle their bench mix or in the event that they incur further injuries.

Angels Claim Niko Goodrum

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The Angels announced Thursday that they’ve claimed utilityman Niko Goodrum off waivers from the Rays, who’d designated him for assignment earlier in the week. In a corresponding move, the Halos recalled righty Kelvin Caceres from Triple-A and placed him on the major league 60-day injured list.

Goodrum appeared in nine games with Tampa Bay but tallied only 18 plate appearances, during which he collected a trio of singles, walked once and struck out three times. He hit .316/.422/.605 with three homers in 45 plate appearances down in Triple-A Durham.

A second-round pick by the Twins in 2010, the now-32-year-old Goodrum has played in parts of seven MLB seasons (this year included). The best stretch of that seven-year span came with the 2018-19 Tigers, who gave Goodrum regular playing time and saw him enjoy a .247/.318/.427 slash while playing quality defense at multiple positions. For a time, Goodrum served as the Tigers’ everyday shortstop. He logged 964 plate appearances over those two seasons and belted 28 homers in addition to swiping 24 bags.

Goodrum’s bat wilted in subsequent seasons. He split the 2023 campaign between the Red Sox’ Triple-A affiliate in Worcester, batting .280/.448/.440, and the Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization, for whom he turned in a .295/.373/.387 line.

The switch-hitting Goodrum has experience at all four infield positions and in the outfield corners. He’ll give the Halos some depth at a time when Anthony Rendon was just transferred to the 60-day IL and when each of Miguel Sano, Michael Stefanic and potentially Brandon Drury — who exited yesterday’s game with a hamstring issue — are unavailable. Sano and Stefanic are both on the injured list already, and Drury could soon join them. The Angels also acquired Luis Guillorme in a morning trade with the Braves. Goodrum and/or Guillorme could eventually push current bench players Cole Tucker and Ehire Adrianza off the roster; neither has hit much in his first eight games with the team.

Former Top Outfield Prospect Monte Harrison To Play College Football At Arkansas

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Former second-round pick and top outfield prospect Monte Harrison hasn’t appeared in the majors since 2022 and apparently isn’t pursuing a return to the big leagues at this point. Rather, he’s now committed to the University of Arkansas’ football team as a walk-on wide receiver, as first reported by Richard Davenport of WholeHogSports.com.

Harrison, who’ll be 29 next fall, will be the oldest player in college football when the season gets underway. A three-sport star at his Missouri high school, he’d committed to play football for Nebraska before the Brewers selected him in the second round of the 2014 MLB draft (No. 50 overall) and offered a $1.8MM signing bonus. Harrison opted to forgo his NCAA commitment and turn pro in baseball.

Royce Boehm, Harrison’s high school coach, tells Mitch Sherman of The Athletic that even at the time he was being selected in the second round of the MLB draft, “My whole thought back then was that he’s an NFL player, but he was stuck on baseball.” Sherman spoke to Boehm and University of Nebraska baseball coach Will Bolt about Harrison’s long-shot football bid and freakish athleticism.

Though Harrison came to professional baseball with plenty of pedigree, drew ample top prospect fanfare and ultimately reached the majors, his MLB career certainly did pan out as he’d hoped. After Harrison coupled his preternatural athleticism with a .272/.350/.481 line between two Class-A levels in 2017, he emerged as a consensus top-100 prospect in the sport. Then 21 years of age, Harrison was one of the key pieces sent from the Brewers to the Marlins in the Christian Yelich blockbuster that significantly altered the trajectory of both franchises.

Yelich broke out with an MVP showing in his first season in Milwaukee, finished second in NL MVP voting his second year there, and signed a franchise-record $215MM contract ($188.5MM in new money) that runs through the 2028 season. The Marlins saw all of the prospects acquired in that trade — Harrison, Lewis Brinson, Isan Diaz and Jordan Yamamoto — struggle immensely in Miami. None of the four are with the organization anymore.

Harrison played parts of two seasons with the Fish (2020-21) and had a nine-game cup of coffee with the 2022 Angels as well. He tallied just 76 major league plate appearances across those three seasons and batted .176/.253/.294 with a 48.7% strikeout rate. His bat never fully broke through even at the Triple-A level, where he slashed .238/.322/.398 with a 36.5% strikeout rate in parts of four seasons (1179 plate appearances). His speed was still on display, however, as he swiped 90 bags in 105 tries (85.7% success rate). Overall, Harrison stole 210 minor league bases and was caught only 39 times — an excellent 84.3% success rate.

Even though his baseball career has fizzled out, Harrison still checks in at an imposing 6’3″ and 220 pounds. An eventual NFL emergence is an obvious long shot, but Harrison’s journey will be a fun story to track in the months ahead as he fights to keep his professional sports dream alive.

Angels Release Zac Kristofak

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The Angels have released right-hander Zac Kristofak, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He was designated for assignment last week when the Angels selected Willie Calhoun’s contract.

There’s no clear indication as to why Kristofak was released rather than passed through outright waivers, although speculatively speaking, it’s possible there’s an injury at play. Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers and thus must be traded or released if removed from the 40-man roster by way of a DFA.

The 26-year-old Kristofak made his big league debut earlier this season, pitching two innings and yielding three unearned runs on three hits and two walks with two strikeouts. A 14th-round pick back in 2019, Kristofak struggled early in his pro career, posting ERAs north of 6.00 in the low minors in his first two seasons (2019 and 2021). He’s since posted a combined sub-4.00 mark while climbing to the upper tiers of the minor leagues and, earlier this season, to the majors. In 18 2/3 frames of Triple-A work this year, he’d turned in a 3.38 earned run average — albeit with a shaky 10-to-5 K/BB ratio (13% strikeout rate, 6.5% walk rate).

If Kristofak indeed has encountered an injury that prevented him from being placed on outright waivers, it’s quite possible he’ll simply re-sign with the Halos on a minor league contract. That’s a common outcome for injured players who are released on the heels of a DFA, though certainly not a universal one. Kristofak will have the opportunity to hear from other clubs upon clearing release waivers.

Who Could The Angels Trade This Summer?

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The Angels came into 2024 hoping to compete, despite losing Shohei Ohtani to free agency, but it’s not going well so far. It’s usually unwise to pour dirt on a club’s grave so early in the season, but the odds were against them even before the 2024 campaign started. They have piled up a few losses while Mike Trout is once again facing a significant absence, narrowing whatever contention window they had.

The Playoff Odds at FanGraphs gave them a 16.9% chance of making the playoffs prior to any games being played. Now that the club is 11-20 and Trout is set to miss weeks due to surgery to repair a torn meniscus, those odds have slimmed. As of this morning, their chances of cracking the postseason are down to 2.6%. The PECOTA Standings at Baseball Prospectus are even more pessimistic, giving the Halos just a 0.3% shot.

Barring a miracle in the next few months, they are going to be deadline sellers in the months to come. There could be some speculation about Trout being available, but that’s a complicated situation. He has full no-trade protection and has said he wants to stay in Anaheim. Even if he changes his mind and wants out, facilitating a deal won’t be easy. Despite his immense talents, he actually has negative trade value right now. He is about to turn 33 years old, is making $35.45MM annually through 2030 and has frequently been injured in recent years.

The Angels would be in a tough spot, as they would likely want some notable prospect return in trading a face-of-the-franchise player like Trout, but they would have to swallow a significant portion of the deal to make that happen. On top of that, Trout’s no-trade clause means they would have to factor in his preferences, perhaps narrowing their options and reducing their leverage. Given how convoluted the factors are, a Trout trade isn’t likely to come together hastily, especially since he’s currently hurt.

On top of Trout, there are others who aren’t likely to be moved. Anthony Rendon has a massive salary and hasn’t been healthy in years. Robert Stephenson recently underwent Tommy John surgery and is out until the middle of next year, at least. Players like Logan O’Hoppe, Zach Neto and Nolan Schanuel are still in their pre-arbitration years, giving the club little reason to move them.

But that still leaves them with quite a few options that could hold appeal around the league:

Luis Rengifo

Rengifo is currently hitting .326/.376/.465 this year for a 142 wRC+. That’s at least partly a mirage because he won’t be able to sustain a .377 batting average on balls in play all season. But even with a bit of regression, he’d be on track for his third straight year of above-average offense. He hit a combined .264/.315/.436 over 2022 and 2023, with a 103 wRC+ in the first of those two seasons and a 114 wRC+ last year.

Defensively, Rengifo can play all over the diamond. He has spent time at the three infield positions to the left of first base, as well as all three outfield slots. He’s not considered especially strong at any one spot, but the ability to move around will help him fit in with other clubs. The fact that he’s a switch-hitter gives him extra versatility.

Financially, Rengifo is making just $4.4MM this year and can be controlled via arbitration for next year as well. Even if a club has financial concerns due to the competitive balance tax or lack of TV revenue, he won’t break the bank.

Carlos Estévez

Estévez is out to a rough start this year with a 6.23 ERA, but the numbers are good just about everywhere else. He is striking out 29.4% of batters faced on the year and hasn’t yet issued a walk. The runs are scoring at least partially due to a tiny strand rate of 48.4%. His 3.83 FIP and 2.70 SIERA point to him being the same lockdown reliever he has been in previous years.

The righty has a 4.51 career ERA but spent his entire career in Colorado until last year. He secured a two-year, $13.5MM deal with the Angels going into 2023. His first season in Anaheim saw him rack up 31 saves while punching out 27.8% of opponents, though walking 11% of them. He should be one of the better rental relievers available this summer. He’s making a salary of $6.75MM this year.

Tyler Anderson

Anderson’s up-and-down career is in a bit of an upswing right now, at least in terms of results. Through six starts this year, he has a 2.23 earned run average. But with a .194 BABIP and 90.9% strand rate, he likely won’t be able to keep that up. His 4.76 FIP and 4.80 SIERA suggest regression is coming, as his 18.5% strikeout rate and 10.3% walk rate are both subpar.

The lefty secured a three-year, $39MM deal with the Halos going into 2023. He had a 4.62 ERA through 2021 but then posted a 2.57 ERA with the Dodgers in 2022. That led to his deal with the Angels, but he regressed immediately with a 5.43 ERA last year. Though his results will likely dip a bit as the year goes on, pitching is always in demand at the deadline and the Angels could be able to eat some of his salary to get a deal done. His contract pays him $13MM annually and runs through the end of 2025.

Griffin Canning

Health has been the big question mark for Canning, but he showed positive development in that department last year. He missed the 2022 season entirely but then appeared in 24 games in 2023 — 22 of them starts — while logging 127 innings. All of those figures were career-highs. Beyond the quantity, the quality was also encouraging. He had a 4.32 ERA on the year with a 25.9% strikeout rate and 6.7% walk rate.

Unfortunately, things have backed up in 2024. Through six starts, he has struck out just 15.9% of opponents while walking 9.1%, leading to a 7.45 ERA. A 56.1% strand rate isn’t helping him, but even his 5.48 FIP and 4.96 SIERA aren’t amazing. He’ll have to get things back on track in the months to come but would have some appeal if he did. Because of the missed injury time, he’s making a modest $2.6MM salary this year and has one more arbitration season remaining in 2025.

Patrick Sandoval

Sandoval’s ERA is up at 5.91 this year, but the numbers under the hood are more encouraging. His 10.8% walk rate is a bit high, but he’s striking out 25.7% of batters faced and getting grounders on 47.3% of balls in play. Were it not for a .396 BABIP and 57.5% strand rate, he’d be in better shape, which is why he has a 3.17 FIP and 3.83 SIERA.

He’s a bit less of an obvious trade candidate since he’s controlled through 2026. He’s making $5.025MM this year and will have two more arb seasons before he’s slated for free agency. The Halos could hold him if they think they can compete again in that window, but his trade value will only decline going forward as his control window shrinks and his salary keeps rising.

Taylor Ward

Ward is in the same service bucket as Sandoval, meaning he has two years of control beyond this one. He’s had a bit of a stop-and-go career due to injuries but is often in good form when healthy. He already has seven home runs this year and is slashing .278/.313/.492 with a 126 wRC+. Going back to the start of 2021, he’s hit .267/.343/.453 for a 122 wRC+.

Similar to Sandoval, the Halos don’t have to move Ward, but there’s an argument for it. He’s making $4.8MM this year and will be in line for a healthy raise if he keeps hitting homers. Since his health has been so mercurial, they might be tempted to strike while the iron is hot, cashing him in for younger players if he stays healthy through July.

Matt Moore

Moore is continuing to enjoy a nice second act to his career after moving from the rotation to the bullpen. Since the start of 2022, he’s made 125 appearances with a 2.35 ERA, 26.9% strikeout rate, 9.8% walk rate and 40% ground ball rate.

His strikeout rate has dipped to 21.3% this year, but in a small sample of 12 appearances. His 3.97 ERA is more passable than it is exciting and he’s making $9MM on the year. But every contender is looking for bullpen upgrades at the deadline and Moore will have suitors, especially since he’s left-handed.

Brandon Drury

Drury parlayed a 28-homer breakout in 2022 into a two-year, $17MM deal to suit up for the team he grew up cheering for. The first season went well, as he launched another 26 home runs last year while bouncing between multiple positions, but he’s out to a dreadful start here in 2024. He has battled some hamstring tightness and migraines while hitting just .176/.245/.235.

Those nagging injuries are surely playing a part in his struggles, as is a .209 BABIP. He could be due for a turnaround if his health and batted-ball fortune both improve. If that comes to pass, he could fit on multiple clubs around the league. He has played all four infield positions and the outfield corners in his career, so various teams could find a way to squeeze him in.

Luis García

Somewhat similar to Estévez, García is allowing more runs than he seemingly deserves. He has struck out 28.3% of opponents this year while walking just 5.7% and keeping 54.3% of balls in play on the ground, leading to a 2.52 FIP and 2.38 SIERA. But a strand rate of just 39.7% has helped push some runners across the plate, leading to a 5.54 ERA.

He’s a 37-year-old veteran and won’t fetch a huge return, but each contender needs bullpen help. He’s making just $4.25MM on a one-year deal and has a decent track record. Since the start of 2021, he has a 3.77 ERA, 23.8% strikeout rate, 7.3% walk rate and 55% ground ball rate.

Adam Cimber

Cimber had a pretty solid run in 2021 and 2022, pitching over 70 innings in each of those seasons with a combined ERA of 2.53. He only struck out 18.8% of batters faced in that time, but he only walked 5% of them while his submarine delivery helped him produce a 47.9% ground ball rate and lots of weak contact.

He was hurt for a lot of 2023 and his ERA shot up to 7.40 when he was on the mound. The Angels took a shot on a bounceback which has mostly gone well so far, as Cimber has a 3.14 ERA this year. His 11.1% walk rate is uncharacteristically high, as he’s never finished a season above 7.8% in that department. If he can shake off the rust and rein in his control, perhaps he’ll be back in 2021-22 form in the months to come. He’s making just $1.65MM this year and could fit in the budget of any club.

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The Angels could also push further, depending on what their long-term plans are. Reid Detmers and Jo Adell haven’t yet reached arbitration yet, but they will this coming winter. Adell has struggled so much over the years but is in good form so far this year, which may tempt the Angels to listen to offers on him now in case he turns into a pumpkin. He’s slashing .290/.338/.565 for a 152 wRC+, with his 26.5% strikeout rate a big improvement compared to previous years.

Parting with Detmers could be painful since he seems to be breaking out this year. He has a 3.12 ERA, 26.6% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate and 44% ground ball rate. With three more years of control beyond this one, there’s no rush to move him. But if the club is planning a significant rebuild, those years might be wasted in Anaheim. If they decide to pull the trigger, he would fetch a haul.

Braves Acquire Jimmy Herget

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The Braves have acquired reliever Jimmy Herget from the Angels for cash considerations, both teams announced. Atlanta had an opening on the 40-man roster after waiving David Fletcher last week. They optioned Herget to Triple-A Gwinnett, so no further move was necessary.

Herget has been with the Halos since 2021. Los Angeles inked the sidewinding righty to a minor league deal that August and selected his contract two weeks later. Herget logged 14 appearances with a 4.30 ERA down the stretch and held his spot on the 40-man roster. The South Florida product followed up with a career year in 2022. He tossed a personal-high 69 innings with a 2.48 ERA, striking out 23.7% of opponents against a tidy 5.6% walk rate.

A spike in home runs the following season led the Halos to shuffle Herget between Anaheim and Triple-A Salt Lake. He allowed 4.66 earned runs per nine over 29 MLB innings and turned in a similar 4.68 mark over 32 2/3 frames in the Pacific Coast League. The Angels overhauled their bullpen last offseason, pushing Herget back to Salt Lake to open this season.

The 30-year-old has made 10 appearances with the Bees, tossing 11 1/3 innings. He has allowed seven runs (five earned) on 10 hits. Herget has only issued one walk, but opponents have connected on four homers in the early going. The Angels designated him for assignment over the weekend when they selected Zac Kristofak onto the MLB roster. (Kristofak was himself DFA yesterday when the Angels selected Willie Calhoun.)

Herget is in his final option year, meaning the Braves can keep him in Gwinnett for the rest of the season without putting him on waivers. He owns a 3.47 ERA in 142 2/3 major league innings between the Reds, Rangers and Angels.

Atlanta has a strong relief group without much in the way of roster flexibility. Of the eight relievers in the current MLB bullpen, only one (Dylan Lee) can be optioned. Herget joins Ray Kerr and Daysbel Hernández on optional assignment, while Ken Giles and Jackson Stephens are among the non-roster bullpen pieces in Gwinnett.

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