LA Angels Weekend News Crash: Deal or No Deal

Angels’ deadline plans coming into clarity: Any confusion about whether the Angels will add or subtract ahead of the trade deadline has seemingly cleared up in recent days, with a four-game losing streak that has them five games under .500.

The Angels are telling teams their pending free agents are available, sources with knowledge of the situation said. That includes third baseman Yoan Moncada, utility infielder Luis Rengifo, starting pitcher Tyler Anderson and closer Kenley Jansen. Left fielder Taylor Ward, controllable through 2026, can also be had for the right price.

The Angels famously never rebuild under owner Arte Moreno and are prone to adding even in times when they seem like long shots to contend — most notably in 2023, when they not only held on to Shohei Ohtani but also traded for Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez before collapsing in August.

At this time last year, they tried to move the likes of Anderson and Rengifo but did not believe they would have received enough back to justify holding on to them through the following season. And so it is worth noting: Even if the Angels do decide to punt on 2025, their goal would be to contend again next season.

Any moves they make would probably be geared toward that. By trading away rentals, the Angels will try to use the trade deadline to add accomplished players who can help the team next year.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/45761723/2025-mlb-trade-deadline-tracker-rumors-alerts-news-latest-updates-analysis

Blum got me teary-eyed with this one.

Instead of celebrating a milestone strikeout record with his teammates, Tyler Bremner took the historic ball in his possession, packed up his car and drove south. There was only one person he wanted to see that evening.

This was on May 9 — two months before the Los Angeles Angels would make him the No. 2 pick in the MLB Draft.

One of college baseball’s elite arms, Tyler stayed at UC Santa Barbara for his junior season so he could be close to his mother, Jen, who was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in 2020. He’d received interest and NIL offers to transfer, but rebuffed those opportunities at every turn.

Those five-hour drives through the night were what mattered most in his life. Not power programs, TV exposure or extra cash in his pocket. He wanted to see her, and sit by her bedside and play guitar to ease her pain.

On that night, his mom was no longer strong enough to attend games, as she had countless times over his baseball journey. The cancer was making each day more and more painful. She knew, and her family knew, that her life would soon end.

She watched on a stream as her son struck out 10 batters — surpassing the school’s all-time record on a Friday night against Loyola Marymount. Bremner didn’t stay after the blowout win. They had two more games that weekend, but he had somewhere more important to be.

He had a baseball to deliver to his biggest fan.

“It was hard,” Tyler said. “But it was the right thing to do. I was happy I was able to have that opportunity. That time was huge for my mom. Everyone told me that when I got here, she lit up and she had a lot more energy. I’m happy that I was able to bring her that joy.”

Jen Bremner died on June 11, five years to the day after she was first diagnosed.

When Bremner was taken in the draft, barely a month later, it was a moment of pure shock and joy. He wasn’t supposed to be picked that early. And the video of him finding out captures the emotion better than words can describe.

What the video didn’t show were those same people just 72 hours prior, all gathered in the exact same location, inside that same San Diego home. There, they held a celebration of life ceremony for Jen. She was 55 years old.

Growing up, everyone always told Tyler that he and his mom were one and the same. She was an emotional person, expressive of how she felt at all times. That’s why she became Tyler’s most important confidant. He went to her with everything.

“I feel like we were really connected in that way,” Tyler said. “If I had a problem off the field, if I had a problem on the field. Mentally, trying to get through struggles as we all do, she was that person that I went to all the time.”

Triple negative breast cancer is a rare form of the disease, where typical breast cancer treatments aren’t effective.

Following Jen’s diagnosis, Tyler’s father, Jason, held a family meeting with their three kids, then much younger. He leveled with Tyler and his two sisters. He told them that every moment with their mother would be “bonus time.” They didn’t know how much time she had left.

“We have to make sure that we’re making that clock count,’” Jason said. “‘As a family, we all made the decision that, when it’s needed, we’re all going to have to make sacrifices. To make sure that we push the clock as far as we can, and that the time we have is useful and meaningful.”

Her battle teased hope of a full recovery. Following 18 months of chemotherapy treatment, the cancer was held at bay. Not in remission, but for more than two years her condition remained stable.

It was only a year ago that she received a stage four, terminal diagnosis, indicating that her cancer had spread.

She continued rigorous weekly treatments, but not because it would increase her chance of remission. At that point, recovery was not medically possible. Those treatments were to extend her time, as physically painful as it was. She wanted to make it as long as she could, specifically to make it to July 13.

“That was her dream,” Jason said. “To see her son drafted.”

Now, after her death, Tyler is determined to keep her story alive, and to fight for a cause that has become extremely personal to him.

“She would tell me all the time, ‘If you’re able to have that platform later in life, and you have eyes on you, I want you to use it for good,’” Tyler said. “‘I want you to spread awareness on cancer, and spread awareness on my story.’ I’m definitely going to try to honor that.”

He had come into the year after an elite sophomore season, going 11-1 with a 2.54 ERA, and was projected as a potential early draft pick. But the start of his season threatened to derail all of that. By the end of March, he’d posted a 4.24 ERA, without any double-digit strikeout performances.

The Angels considered both his on-field performance and his personal situation, knowing that his family’s tough times might have impacted him. They still believed in him. And over Bremner’s final seven starts, that faith paid off. He posted a 2.91 ERA, while striking out double-digit batters six times. There’s a correlation, he believes. As his mother’s condition worsened, his pitching got better.

“I think it got real for him and everybody around the program really fast, what was going on,” said UC Santa Barbara head coach Andrew Checketts. “I feel like he had another gear, and he left it all out there on the field.”

That’s because pitching wasn’t an escape for Bremner. It was a way to connect. Every time he took the mound, he’d get on a knee and have a conversation in his head. He’d remind himself, “She’s proud of you. She’s watching you. She’s fighting for you.”

He’d draw a heart on the mound — the same way she drew it. He plans to get a tattoo of it, as well.

In the moments where things got tough, he’d go back to that. He’d look at the heart and internalize his reason for drawing it. That would reset him, he said, in a way that’s tough to explain.

If he can make it to the big leagues, he’ll do the same thing. He’ll draw that heart, he’ll have that conversation. And he’ll know that she’s right there alongside him for a moment she made possible.

“I’m not a religious person,” Bremner said. “Up until this point, I haven’t thought much about what the afterlife is, or if that’s even a real possibility. But this all unfolding this way has genuinely strengthened my belief in the whole thing.

“I know she’s here.”

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6513680/2025/07/25/angels-draft-tyler-bremner-mother/