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Angels Place Luis Rengifo On 10-Day IL, Select Charles Leblanc

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The Angels announced prior to tonight’s game against the Mets that the club has selected the contract of infielder Charles Leblanc. The Angels already had space on the 40-man roster available in the aftermath of this week’s trade deadline, meaning no corresponding move was necessary to make room for Leblanc on the 40-man roster. Leblanc will take the place of infielder Luis Rengifo on the active roster as Rengifo was placed on the 10-day IL due to wrist inflammation.

Rengifo, 27, received plenty of trade interest in the run-up to the deadline himself but ultimately remained in Anaheim, perhaps in part due to concerns surrounding his wrist. The switch-hitter was placed on the IL with right wrist inflammation just under a month ago and was ultimately sidelined for around three weeks before being activated a week prior to the deadline. Rengifo has struggled badly since his return, however, slashing just .188/.257/.219 in nine games. A week-long slump isn’t necessarily indicative of anything serious, but manager Ron Washington told reporters (including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register) earlier this week that Rengifo had experienced a bit of a “flare-up” of his previous wrist injury and would be re-evaluated in the coming days.

The infielder took the next day off but appeared in yesterday’s contest, ultimately taking two at-bats before exiting in the fifth inning. Evidently, the continued problems with Rengifo’s wrist have now risen to the point where the club feels a second stint on the shelf is necessary. It’s not yet clear what the 27-year-old’s timetable for return looks like at this point, but it’s certainly a disappointing turn of events for a youngster who was enjoying a breakout season prior to the injury. Through July 2, Rengifo posted an excellent .319/.362/.448 slash line in 266 trips to the plate while splitting time between second and third base alongside cameos at shortstop and in right field. His switch-hitting bat, defensive versatility, and youth all figure to once again make him an attractive trade candidate this offseason, when he’ll go through his final trip through arbitration before free agency.

As for Leblanc, the 28-year-old signed a minor league deal with the Angels back in November and will now get his first opportunity in the majors since 2022. A fourth-round pick by the Rangers in the 2016 draft, Leblanc’s big league debut came six years later as a member of the Marlins. He ultimately played 48 games in Miami, slashing a respectable .263/.320/.404 with ten doubles, four homers, and four stolen bases in 169 trips to the plate for the club while splitting time between first base, second base, and third base. Leblanc spent the 2023 season in the minors with Miami and slashed a strong .253/.384/.423 but did not manage to crack the big league club. In 91 games at Triple-A with the Halos this year, Leblanc has shown similar on-base ability with a little more pop as he’s hit .262/.382/.472 in the offense-friendly environment of the Pacific Coast League. He’ll offer the Angels some depth for their infield mix for the time being amid injuries to both Rengifo and Anthony Rendon.

MLBTR Podcast: Trade Deadline Recap

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

  • Were the prospect prices high in this year’s trades? Is this a new normal due to the expanded playoffs creating a seller’s market? (2:15)
  • The three-team trade involving the Dodgers, White Sox, Cardinals, Erick Fedde, Miguel Vargas and others (15:40)
  • The Rays and Cubs, the buy-sell tightrope and the trade involving Isaac Paredes and Christopher Morel (29:30)
  • The Astros acquire Yusei Kikuchi from the Blue Jays for a three-player package and the connection to the the Dodgers acquiring Jack Flaherty from the Tigers but the Yankees reportedly being scared off by his medicals (48:00)
  • The Guardians acquire Alex Cobb from the Giants and acquire Lane Thomas from the Nationals (58:35)
  • The Orioles acquire Trevor Rogers from the Marlins and acquire Zach Eflin from the Rays (1:09:10)
  • Will teams have to be more aggressive in the offseason going forward if the expanded playoffs will make less good players available at the deadline? (1:20:35)
  • The Rockies and Angels held onto a lot of trade candidates (1:23:35)
  • The Marlins leaned in hard to seller status (1:31:40)
  • The Padres built a super bullpen (1:44:50)
  • The Braves acquire Jorge Soler from the Giants (1:47:40)
  • The Royals acquire Lucas Erceg from the Athletics (1:54:40)

Check out our past episodes!

  • Trade Deadline Preview – listen here
  • Top Trade Candidates, Hunter Harvey To KC And The Current State Of The Rays And Mets – listen here
  • Brewers’ Pitching Needs, Marlins Rumors And The Nats Prepare To Sell – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Mike Trout Done For The Year Due To Meniscus Tear

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Angels outfielder Mike Trout has suffered another meniscus tear and is out for the year. General manager Perry Minasian informed reports today, including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, who relayed the news on X.

Trout underwent surgery at the start of May to address a torn meniscus in his left knee. He was able to begin a rehab assignment by playing for the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees on July 23 but departed that game with left knee soreness. The Angels then announced that he would return to Southern California to be re-evaluated and it now appears that a torn left meniscus has been discovered yet again and he won’t be able to return in 2024.

“Since my initial surgery on May 3rd to repair my meniscus, my rehabilitation proved longer and more difficult than anticipated,” Trout said in a statement released on X. “After months of hard work, I was devastated yesterday when an MRI showed a tear in my meniscus that will require surgery again – ending my hopes of returning this season. Playing and competing is a huge part of my life. This is equally as heartbreaking and frustrating for me as it is for you, the fans. I understand that I may have disappointed many, but believe me, I will do everything I can to come back even stronger. I will continue to help my team and teammates from the dugout as we press forward into the second half of the season. Thank you for your support.”

It’s yet another brutal blow in a career that was once defined by such brilliance but has more recently been defined by injuries. From 2012 to 2020, Trout was the consensus best player in baseball. In that stretch, he hit 297 home runs and drew walks in 15.4% of his plate appearances. He slashed .306/.421/.587 for a wRC+ of 173 while stealing 197 bases and providing quality defense in center field. FanGraphs considered him to be worth 73 wins above replacement in that time frame, with Max Scherzer coming in a distant second with 50.4 fWAR. Buster Posey was second among position players with 47.1 fWAR.

But Trout has been significantly hampered by various ailments since that time. In 2021, a right calf strain limited him to just 36 games. In 2022, he got that up to 119 games but still missed a bit of time due to back problems. Last year, a left hamate fracture capped him at 82 games.

When he’s been able to take the field, he has still been able to produce at an elite level, and that was still true here in 2024. He began the season with 10 home runs and six steals in just 29 games. Despite a tiny .194 batting average on balls in play, he produced a line of .220/.325/.541 for a wRC+ of 137. But due to these ongoing knee problems, he won’t be able to add anything to those stats with the remainder of the schedule.

The news won’t have a huge impact on the Halos here in 2024. At 47-61, they are well back of the playoff race at this point. They recently made some sell-side moves ahead of the deadline, trading impending free agents Carlos Estévez and Luis García.

Fans of the club and baseball in general will be hoping that Trout comes back healthy and effective next year. Though many of his injuries have appeared to be fluky in nature, his continued absences naturally create some worry about the long-term picture for the club. Even when they had peak Trout on the same roster as Shohei Ohtani, they never managed to get into the playoffs or even finish a season with a winning record. Ohtani is now a Dodger while Trout is going to turn 33 years old next month and hasn’t played 120 games in a season since 2019.

The extension he signed in 2019 runs through 2030 and pays him $35.45MM annually at this point. Fans of other clubs often dream of getting Trout out of Anaheim via trade but his run of injuries will make other teams loath to take on all that money for his mid- and late-30s. He also has a full no-trade clause and has expressed a desire to stay and win with the Angels.

Red Sox Acquire Luis Garcia From Angels

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The Red Sox brought in their second high-leverage reliever of deadline season. Boston acquired hard-throwing righty Luis García from the Angels for four minor league players: first baseman Niko Kavadas, outfielder Matthew Lugo and pitchers Yeferson Vargas and Ryan Zeferjahn. The Sox had also acquired Lucas Sims from Cincinnati earlier in the day.

García, 37, was one of the better rental relievers available. He carries a 3.71 ERA through 43 2/3 innings. García is keeping the ball on the ground at a robust 51.2% clip while posting decent strikeout (22%) and walk (7.7%) numbers. That’s generally in line with his overall track record. García relies heavily on a power sinker to keep the ball down. His swing-and-miss rates are more solid than exceptional but it’s an effective profile overall.

Since the start of the 2021 season, García owns a 3.64 earned run average in 204 appearances between three teams. He has a 23.1% strikeout rate with a 7.5% walk percentage while getting grounders upwards of 54% of the time. It’s a different profile from Sims, who misses more bats but has less consistent strike-throwing ability.

The Halos signed García to a one-year, $4.25MM free agent deal over the winter. Los Angeles had completely overhauled its relief group via free agency last offseason. The García pickup was the only one that really worked as the front office envisioned. Boston assumes the roughly $1.39MM remaining on that contract through season’s end.

L.A.’s deft free agent pickup allowed them to net four minor leaguers. None of them are top prospects, but three of them could conceivably reach the majors late this year. Baseball America ranked Lugo 23rd in the Boston system. BA writes that the 23-year-old improved his plate discipline and has upped his offensive profile this season. The Puerto Rico native absolutely destroyed Double-A pitching at a .315/.405/.664 clip in the first half. He has a .250/.340/.452 line over 35 Triple-A games, where he’s striking out at a 27% rate. Lugo began his career as a shortstop prospect but seemingly projects to a corner outfield spot.

Kavadas, a Notre Dame product, has posted huge offensive numbers in Triple-A. He’s hitting .281/.424/.551 with 17 longballs through 335 trips to the dish. Kavadas doesn’t provide any kind of defensive value and he’s striking out a third of the time in the minors. It’s a difficult profile to pull off, but he has huge power and is on the doorstep of the majors.

Zeferjahn, 26, is a former third-rounder out of Kansas. The 6’5″ righty has a 3.52 ERA over 38 1/3 combined innings of relief between the top two minor league levels. He’s striking out 31.3% of opponents while issuing walks at an 11.8% clip. Vargas, a 19-year-old righty out of the Dominican Republic, is the one low minors development play of the group. He just reached Low-A after throwing 31 2/3 innings in the complex league.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post first reported the Red Sox were acquiring García. Sam Blum of the Athletic reported the Angels’ return.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Angels Acquire Mike Baumann From Giants

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2:10pm: The Angels announced that they have acquired Baumann from the Giants for cash considerations.

2:00pm: The Angels are acquiring right-hander Mike Baumann from the Giants, reports Robert Murray of FanSided on X. The righty was designated for assignment by the Giants a few days ago. It’s unclear what that club is receiving in return. The Angels have open 40-man spots and won’t need to make a corresponding move.

Baumann, 28, spent his entire professional career with the Orioles prior to 2024 but has spent the year bouncing around the league. He exhausted his final option year in 2023 and has therefore found himself on the transaction logs many times. He was designated for assignment by the O’s in May and has since gone to the Mariners, Giants and now Angels in small trades after DFAs.

Pitching for three different clubs this year, he has a 4.84 earned run average in 35 1/3 innings. His 20.8% strikeout rate, 10.7% walk rate and 40.2% ground ball rate are each a bit worse than league average.

But he seemed to be a solid bullpen piece as recently as last year. He tossed 64 2/3 innings for Baltimore with a 3.76 ERA, 22.3% strikeout rate and 42% ground ball rate, though the 12.1% walk rate was on the high side.

The Angels traded away Carlos Estévez recently and could make further subtractions from their pitching staff. Tyler Anderson and Griffin Canning are each controlled through 2025 and could be moved today. Guys like Matt Moore and Hunter Strickland are impending free agents. Bauman will finish this year with over two years of service time, meaning he could be retained for four further seasons if he continues to hang onto a roster spot.

Yankees Interested In Luis Rengifo, Kyle Finnegan, Lucas Erceg

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11:53am: Jorge Castillo of ESPN reports that the Yanks are more focused on pitching and acquiring Díaz is unlikely, which could perhaps apply to Rengifo as well.

11:49am: The trade deadline is just a few hours away now but teams are still scouring the market for upgrades. Per Jon Heyman of The New York Post on X, the Yankees have infielders Yandy Díaz and Luis Rengifo on their radar, as well as relievers Tanner Scott, Pete Fairbanks, Kyle Finnegan and Lucas Erceg. He adds that they could also look to add a starting pitching but might not meet the asking prices.

Some of those guys have already been connected to the Yankees in rumors. The connections with Rengifo, Finnegan and Erceg are new but also in line with their previously-reported pursuits. Even after adding Jazz Chisholm Jr. to the roster, they have seemingly still been looking for more infield help, which Rengifo could certainly help with.

The 27-year-old is in his third straight above-average offensive season. Since the start of the 2022 campaign, he’s hit .272/.323/.433 for a wRC+ of 110. He’s also stolen 35 bases in that time while bouncing to all three outfield spots and three infield positions to the left of first base. He’s not considered a strong defender at any one position but the ability to move all around is certainly attractive.

The Yanks are still trying to figure out their best alignment at the moment. Chisholm’s first game as a Yankee was in center field, where he has been spending most of his time in recent years. But then the Yanks moved him to third base last night, a position he had never played before. Now that Giancarlo Stanton is back and in the designated hitter slot, Aaron Judge moved to center field, flanked by Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo. Acquiring another infielder could result in Chisholm moving to second and bumping out Gleyber Torres, or perhaps Verdugo will get nudged out of the outfield mix.

Rengifo is making a modest $4.4MM this year, with roughly $1.5MM left to be paid out. That’s likely attractive to the Yankees as they are slated to be a third-time payor of the competitive balance tax and well above the top tier, meaning they will pay a 110% tax on anything they add to the ledger. He can also be retained via arbitration for 2025 and could perhaps slide into next year’s second base job with Torres slated for free agency after the current season. Verdugo is also an impending free agent, so perhaps Chisholm could be in the outfield with Rengifo on the infield. There’s also the looming Soto free agency to consider, though the Yanks are expected to be aggressive in trying to re-sign him. Rengifo has also been connected to clubs such as the Red Sox, Dodgers and Royals in recent weeks.

The extra year of control means that the Angels don’t have to move on from Rengifo but there would be logic in doing so as they haven’t been meaningfully competitive for quite some time. Now that Shohei Ohtani is gone and Mike Trout is having annual trouble staying on the field, the odds of them turning things around between now and the end of 2025 seem long.

Bullpen adds are generally on the radar of all contending teams and the Yanks are surely exploring all options there. Finnegan has been the Nationals’ closer for quite some time but is nearing the end of his window of club control, with one year remaining after this one. The Nats have already traded Hunter Harvey and Lane Thomas, two players that were also controllable through 2025, and Finnegan seems likely to move today as well.

He has a career 3.52 earned run average in 272 appearances. He has struck out 23.9% of batters faced, given out walks at a 9.4% rate and kept the ball on the ground at a 46.8% clip. That includes racking up 28 saves this year with a 3.48 ERA, 24.6% strikeout rate, 7.8% walk rate and 40.5% ground ball rate. He’s making $5.1MM this year.

Erceg can still be retained by the Athletics for five seasons beyond this one, but he’s a late bloomer who is now 29 years old despite his limited experience, which could tempt them to sell high. He has a 3.68 ERA this year, 26.3% strikeout rate, 8.3% walk rate and 50.5% ground ball rate. The fact that he’s pre-arbitration and therefore making a modest salary is surely appealing to the Yankees but the cost might be high. Even rental relievers are netting big returns at this year’s deadline so getting Erceg might take an uncomfortable haul.

Angels Notes: Rengifo, Ward, Pillar, Garcia, Trout

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Reports earlier this month indicated that the Angels were planning to move only their impending free agents at the deadline, and were looking to retain players controlled through the 2025 season or beyond.  The Halos have stuck to this plan to date by moving only Carlos Estevez to the Phillies, but it seems like the club is preparing to deal some longer-term assets, as rival executives tell MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand that both Luis Rengifo and Taylor Ward are expected to be dealt.  “The Angels are listening to offers on” the duo, Feinsand writes.

The Red Sox and Dodgers are both reportedly in on Rengifo, the Pirates have had talks about Ward, and the Royals have previously been linked to both players in trade speculation.  With some interest percolating around the league, it stood to reason that the Angels might back down from whatever rentals-only stance they might’ve held earlier in the summer, if such a stance was even anything more than a negotiating tactic.

It is hard at this point to see the Angels returning to contention as early as next season, and therefore there seems to be little reason why the team wouldn’t be open to moving two of their better trade assets.  Rengifo is under arbitration control through the 2025 season and Ward won’t be a free agent until after the 2026 season, so this extra control would only add to their trade value, rather than perhaps act as a reason why Los Angeles should try to keep them with so many other glaring needs on the roster.

In terms of the Halos’ rental players, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman writes (X link) that Kevin Pillar is getting “lots of interest” from rival teams.  Playing in a part-time capacity since signing with the Halos in April, Pillar is hitting .287/.343/.481 over 199 plate appearances — this works out to a 130 wRC+, miles above the 86 wRC+ Pillar posted in his 11 previous Major League seasons.

It counts as going out on a high note for a player who is planning to retire at season’s end, and joining a contender would be a nice way to perhaps add a championship ring to Pillar’s resume.  Even if some regression is probably inevitable given how Pillar is hitting so far above his career norms, the veteran can still provide outfield depth along with whatever he can do at the plate.

The Orioles are known to be looking for right-handed hitting outfielders, and Heyman writes in a separate X post that Pillar is one of the names on Baltimore’s list of possible targets.  The Orioles added Cristian Pache as part of the Austin Hays trade with the Phillies, but the 2024 version of Pillar would bring a lot more pop than a defensive specialist like Pache.

The Estevez trade got the ball rolling on the Angels’ moves and also created a hole at the back of the bullpen.  Manager Ron Washington told The Athletic’s Sam Blum (X link) and other reporters that Luis Garcia will close games unless Garcia is himself traded, and Ben Joyce would then be next in line for save situations.  Garcia is another pending free agent and there is plenty of interest in his services, so since he’ll likely be in another uniform within a day’s time, thus opening the door for Joyce.  A classic flame-throwing reliever, Joyce has garnered “closer of the future” buzz ever since he made his MLB debut last season, and he has a 2.11 ERA over 21 1/3 innings this year, albeit with a lot of subpar advanced metrics.

In non-trade news about the Angels’ biggest star, Washington told the Associated Press and other reporters that Mike Trout hadn’t yet restarted his running program after a setback with his surgically-repaired knee halted Trout’s minor league rehab assignment.  Trout played two Triple-A innings last Tuesday before leaving the game, and an MRI taken on Friday was clean, with Trout telling MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger and other media that the knee issue was related to some breaking scar tissue.

“It’s a huge relief for me.  I just have to make sure it feels good and I’ll be back out there.  Scar tissue breaking up is a weird feeling and I’d never experienced that,” Trout said.

Trout was hitting .220/.325/.541 with 10 homers over 126 PA when his knee problems arose at the end of April, and the three-time MVP hasn’t played since, apart from his brief Triple-A appearance last Tuesday.  While neither Trout or Washington held much concern over this latest setback, there won’t be much comfort until Trout is back onto the field, given how multiple injuries have plagued the outfielder over the last few years.

Angels, Nationals Interested In Dylan Carlson

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The Cardinals are exploring trades of outfielder Dylan Carlson and right-hander Giovanny Gallegos, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The club is set to add Erick Fedde and Tommy Pham in a trade that will subtract Tommy Edman, leaving them needing to open some active roster spots. Gallegos was already removed from the roster as he was designated for assignment yesterday. Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times reports that the Dodgers are interested in Gallegos while John Denton of MLB.com relays on X that the Guardians, Angels and Nationals are interested in Carlson, though the Guardians just acquired Lane Thomas from the Nationals, which presumably lowers their interest in Carlson.

Carlson, 25, has been getting squeezed out of playing time this year as guys like Michael Siani, Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbaar and Alec Burleson have been out on the grass more than he has. The crunch will be even tighter whenever Pham officially reports to the club. As mentioned, the club will have to open a couple of roster spots, so perhaps a trade of Carlson will come together between now and tomorrow’s deadline.

“Right now, he’s still one of our outfielders, but clearly we’re gonna have a roster crunch at some point,” president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said of Carlson today, per Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat on X. “So we’ll use the next 24 hours to see what happens, but he’s still a part of our organization right now and we’ll see where that goes.”

Sending out Carlson now would definitely be a sell-low move for the Cards. Not too long ago, he was the club’s first-round pick and one of their top prospects. He also seemed to be establishing himself as a solid regular in the major leagues when he first arrived. In 2021, he got into 149 games and hit 18 home runs while drawing walks at a 9.2% rate. He also received close to league average grades for his outfield glovework and was considered to be worth 2.4 wins above replacement on the year, per the calculations of FanGraphs.

That was only his age-22 season, so it seemed fair to expect better results going forward, but the opposite has happened. In 2022, Carlson went on the injured list a couple of times, first due to a left hamstring strain and then a left thumb sprain. He got into 128 games with his production slipping a bit, finishing that year with a line of .236/.316/.380 and a 99 wRC+.

Last year, left ankle issues sent him to the IL multiple times, limiting him to just 76 games and ultimately requiring surgery. He hit .219/.318/.333 on the year for a wRC+ of 84, another dip in his production but perhaps one connected to his health.

Coming into 2024, he seemed to have a chance to engineer a rebound. Both Edman and Nootbaar were slated to start the season on the IL, which should have opened up plenty of playing time for Carlson. Unfortunately, just at the end of Spring Training, Carlson and Jordan Walker collided while trying to make a catch in the outfield. Carlson was diagnosed with a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder and also had to start the season on the IL.

He was back by early May but, as mentioned, hasn’t been able to earn much playing time this year. When in the lineup, he hasn’t done much to earn a longer leash, having hit .198/.275/.240 here in 2024.

Perhaps some clubs will be eyeing Carlson as a change-of-scenery candidate. He’s been trending downwards for three straight years now but mostly due to injuries. It’s feasible that with some health luck and regular playing time somewhere, he could return to the form he showed a few years back. He is making a modest $2.35MM salary this year and has two more years of control left. He’ll be due raises in arbitration but won’t be able to push his salary up much based on his recent results and injury absences. Carlson also has options and doesn’t necessarily need to be traded, though the Cardinals may prefer to just cash him in for something now as he may no longer be in their future plans.

The Nationals have moved on from a few veteran outfielders already this year. Eddie Rosario and Víctor Robles were released and Jesse Winker was traded to the Mets. As mentioned, Thomas was just flipped to the Guardians. Perhaps they could slot Carlson in there next to James Wood and Jacob Young.

The Angels would be in a somewhat similar position. They are giving outfield playing time to guys who could be traded like Taylor Ward and Kevin Pillar. If they pull the trigger on a deal for either of those guys, they could grab Carlson in a buy-low move and give him some run for the rest of this year or perhaps next year.

Gallegos would also be a sell-low move, but the Cards don’t have much choice there. He’s an impending free agent and they already sent him off the roster and into DFA limbo. He was one of the better relievers in the league not so long ago, tossing 228 1/3 innings over the 2019-22 seasons with a 2.84 ERA. He struck out 32% of batters faced in that time and only gave out walks at a 6.6% rate, earning 33 saves and 56 holds in the process.

But his ERA jumped to 4.42 last year as his strikeout rate fell to 25.8%. Here in 2024, his punchouts have fallen to a rate of 22.3% as his ERA has climbed to 6.53. That got him nudged off the roster but the Dodgers have a solid reputation of getting good results from pitchers and perhaps see a way to get Gallegos back on track. He is making $5.5MM this year, with roughly $1.8MM still to be paid out. The Dodgers are slated to be third-time payors of the competitive balance tax and well over the top tier, meaning they face a 110% tax rate on anything they add to their payroll at this point.

Reyes Moronta Passes Away

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Former MLB reliever Reyes Moronta, who last pitched in the majors last season, has passed away per an announcement from the Mexican League’s Bravos de Leon. According to a report from Mike Rodriguez, Moronta’s tragic passing came following a traffic accident earlier this evening. Moronta, who pitched for the Giants, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, and Angels in a big league career that spanned parts of six seasons, was just 31 years old.

Moronta began his pro career in September 2010 at just 17 years old, when he signed with the Giants out of the Dominican Republic on a $15,000 bonus. The righty made his pro debut in the Dominican Summer League the following year and immediately impressed with a 2.13 ERA in 42 1/3 innings of work. He made his stateside debut the following year and slowly climbed his way through the minor leagues before making his MLB debut with San Francisco in 2017 at the age of 24. That first cup of coffee at the big league level ultimately lasted just seven appearances, but he pitched to a strong 2.70 ERA in 6 2/3 innings of work while striking out 37.9% of batters faced.

That strong showing in his first taste of big league action earned Moronta are larger role with the Giants headed into the 2018 season, and over the next two years the righty emerged as one of the most dominant forces in the club’s bullpen with a 2.66 ERA (50% better than league average by ERA+) as he punched out an excellent 29.3% of opponents, more than making up for an elevated 13.8% walk rate. Unfortunately, injury woes began to complicate what was an excellent start to Moronta’s young career when he underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder in September of 2019.

The right-hander missed the entire 2020 campaign while rehabbing following that surgery and returned to the mound in 2021 to kick off his age-28 campaign. The injury bug continued to bite Moronta, however, and he was sidelined after just four innings of work by an elbow sprain that cost him the majority of the 2021 season. Moronta was outrighted off the Giants roster late in the year and elected free agency following the season, eventually signing with the Dodgers on a minor league deal prior to the 2022 campaign. Moronta wasn’t quite as dominant in his age-29 season as he had been earlier in his career with the Giants, but he nonetheless pitched solidly for the Dodgers and Diamondbacks that year with a combined 4.30 ERA in 37 2/3 innings of work, even as he struck out a reduced 23.6% of opponents that year.

Moronta returned to free agency after being non-tendered by Arizona that offseason. He signed with the eventual World Series champion Rangers on a minor league deal and pitched in camp with the club that spring, but was cut loose just before the season began after not making the roster. That allowed him to catch on with the Angels on a minor league deal last May, and he made two appearances at the big league level for the club last year before finishing out the season at Triple-A with a 3.32 ERA and 28.4% strikeout rate in 40 2/3 innings of work. Moronta did not sign with a club in affiliated ball this winter, instead joining the Bravos de Leon for whom he struck out 24 batters in 19 2/3 innings of work this year. Overall, Moronta posted a 3.05 ERA in 170 games during his MLB career while racking up 202 strikeouts and recording three saves.

Those of us at MLBTR extend our condolences to Moronta’s friends, family, former teammates and coaches, as well as all of those mourning his tragic passing.

Dodgers Interested In Luis Rengifo

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Rengifo is a utility player who can play all over the diamond, though he doesn’t offer strong glovework at any position.  The switch-hitter does bring more offense than Hoerner, and Rengifo has returned in seemingly good health after a three-week absence due to wrist inflammation.  Perhaps the biggest obstacle to a Rengifo trade for the Dodgers would be the fact that the two L.A. teams are infrequent trade partners.  Ironically, Rengifo was part of an infamously scuttled trade between the Angels and Dodgers in February 2020, which reportedly left Halos owner Arte Moreno upset at the idea of ever again doing business with his local rivals.

With starting pitching a particular need, Tigers right-hander Jack Flaherty is a Dodgers target, according to Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press.  Nationals reliever Kyle Finnegan, Rays third baseman Isaac Paredes, Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner, and Angels infielder Luis Rengifo have also received consideration, as per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, since the Dodgers are trying to shore up both their bullpen and the infield.

Rengifo is a utility player who can play all over the diamond, though he doesn’t offer strong glovework at any position.  The switch-hitter does bring more offense than Hoerner, and Rengifo has returned in seemingly good health after a three-week absence due to wrist inflammation.  Perhaps the biggest obstacle to a Rengifo trade for the Dodgers would be the fact that the two L.A. teams are infrequent trade partners.  Ironically, Rengifo was part of an infamously scuttled trade between the Angels and Dodgers in February 2020, which reportedly left Halos owner Arte Moreno upset at the idea of ever again doing business with his local rivals.

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