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LA Angels Thursday News Crash: Play Ball

June 4, 2026

Play Ball Weekend is upon us. There will be a lot going on with most of it having to do with connecting with youth of different backgrounds around the world. All Star voting is here. This is your chance to vote Wade Meckler onto the All Star Team.

In Angels news, the Angels released Joey Lucchesi from his minor league contract. He hasn’t been all that bad by Salt Lake City standards, so this might be an opt out situation. The Angels selected the contract of Shaun Anderson. They sent Sam Aldegheri to Triple-A and transferred Travis d’Arnaud to the 60 Day IL.

Strangely, it does not appear that any Angels won any of the MLB awards for May. There is no MFP (most frustrating player) award.

Aaron Judge is seeing a specialist for a rib injury he is feeling in his shoulder. We’ll see how that goes. Garrett Crochet has a low grade lat strain.

Right-hander Austin Voth elected free agency after clearing waivers. Andrew Wantz did the same. The Padres designated Nick Castellanos for assignment. The Royals claimed Matthew Lugo off waivers from the Angels.

Photo credit: Rex Fregosi

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Legend

MarineLayer

37 minutes ago

So Grayson hasn’t been very good so far this year. But Taylor Ward is hitting .250 with 2 HRs. He is now a passive hitter. I’m glad we got something for someone who is barely a viable major league hitter now.

Trusted Member

milehigh

19 minutes ago

Reply to MarineLayer

Grayson, like every other starter, imho, need to go 6 innings minimum. I’m just not going to give starters a pat in the back for 5 innings.

Ward went through a hand injury in April and only now feels that he has healed. Before that he was hitting .333 and OPS of .919. So pretty good. After the injury he dropped off as would be expected. He is 3rd in the league in walks behind Trout and Kurtz. He has 55 walks vs. 57 strikeouts, way better than ever before. And already has half the doubles he hit last year.

If Grayson becomes a consistent 6 inning pitcher with 4’ish ERA and Ward continues with what looked like a pretty good season before the injury, then I’d be happy to say this was a good trade for both teams. But at this point Grayson needs to step it up.

Super Member

tanana40

12 minutes ago

Reply to MarineLayer

I posted yesterday that Ward’s OPS is something like .723 compared to .793 or so last season. He does have a .393 OBP but has no power this year.

Trusted Member

milehigh

1 hour ago

Interesting article about injuries and days lost to injury. Teams approach IL differently.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7330754/2026/06/04/baseball-injuries-organizations-mets-yankees-orioles/?source=athletic_thewindup_newsletter&campaign=18326309&userId=27252571

Legend

BannedInLA

2 hours ago

As Grissom continues to increase his batting average and drive the baseball well, could he supplant Schanual at 1B permanently?

I asked because 3B, SS and 2B seem well covered with the combination of Neto, Peraza, Moore & Guzman.

Lastly, Long Live The Meck !!!!

Super Member

Roy Hobbs

2 hours ago

Reply to BannedInLA

Right now, he is superior to Schanuel in all categories. If and when Perry leaves, there will be significant roster changes.

Legend

Pineapple12

2 hours ago

Reply to BannedInLA

Grissom turning into a Ben Zobrist utility type would be AWESOME.

Perry is an idiot but Peraza and Grissom were savvy pickups. Early returns on both are positive

Legend

MarineLayer

37 minutes ago

Reply to Pineapple12

This is a great way to put it and I agree 100%.

Trusted Member

grichmanpoorman

2 minutes ago

Reply to Pineapple12

Agreed but I’m kind of alarmed by what the OF we traded for Peraza is doing in rookie league for the Yankees. Supposedly the Yanks were about to DFA Peraza anyway… https://www.milb.com/player/wilberson-de-pena-821648

Legend

Pineapple12

4 hours ago

Shohei has a 0.74 ERA and 0.79 WHIP in 61 innings 🤯🤯🤯

Legend

Senator_John_Blutarsky

4 hours ago

Reply to Pineapple12

He just might be pretty good. How come we can never get a player like that in our organization?

Legend

Pineapple12

3 hours ago

Reply to Senator_John_Blutarsky

Imagine a team of Ohtani, Trout, Pujols, Rendon.

That would’ve been crazy, right?

Legend

BannedInLA

2 hours ago

Reply to Pineapple12

When he first arrived from Japan, he was more highly touted as a pitcher than a hitter. Or at least that’s my recollection.

Anyway, he’s the greatest baseball player of all-time. Probably.

That said, take a look at Ted Williams’ career numbers. My GAWD.

Super Member

TrojanBoiler

2 hours ago

Reply to BannedInLA

Yeah your memory is correct. There was some uncertainty that he could be effective as a hitter in MLB (lol) but there was a strong consensus that he would make it as a pitcher at the very least.

Legend

Pineapple12

2 hours ago

Reply to TrojanBoiler

Passan wrote this article in 2018. The scouts were very very very wrong about his bat haha. Great players accomplish great things, and Banned said it — Shohei is the greatest ever.

https://sports.yahoo.com/10-degrees-dear-shohei-im-sorry-totally-wrong-060850661.html

Legend

JackFrost

1 hour ago

Reply to BannedInLA

Did Ted Williams ever put up Cy Young numbers as a pitcher ?

Ohtani is the GOAT and I don’t think it is very close. The 50/50 season sealed the deal…. The only argument against it at this point would be longevity. If he wins the Cy Young this year it would be even harder to argue against…

Last edited 1 hour ago by JackFrost

Super Member

HalosFanForLife

49 minutes ago

Reply to JackFrost

But here’s what’s crazy – he’s likely to be over 60 WAR this season – which is completely insane for his tenure.

Legend

Pineapple12

36 minutes ago

Reply to HalosFanForLife

He’s gonna end up with 500 home runs and a Cy Young. That’s preposterous!

Credible shot at 100 WAR too

Last edited 36 minutes ago by Pineapple12

Super Member

HalosFanForLife

32 minutes ago

Reply to Pineapple12

Two generational talents on the same team – and we can’t sniff the playoffs. The fish rots from the head.

Super Member

smithy610

4 hours ago

It’s the cast-offs that had been hitting so far for this team – Meckler, Peraza, Madrigal, Grissom, Siri. And not the so-called “youth movement”.

I’m sure the clock will strike midnight soon but it’s been great to see slap hitting that keeps the innings going, with some power here and there. Kinda funny because I used to complain during the Vlad era that if only Vlad had some power around him and not a bunch of slap hitters, those Angels teams would have gone deeper in the playoffs.

Super Member

Roy Hobbs

3 hours ago

Reply to smithy610

You’re right midnight will likely come, but for now, those guys are a significant improvement over the guys they replaced which really shows how bad the other guys have been. What a roster.

Legend

Senator_John_Blutarsky

5 hours ago

There was tremor in the suckage, so Perry re-signed Lucchesi.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/06/angels-re-sign-joey-lucchesi-on-minor-league-deal.html

Trusted Member

grichmanpoorman

6 minutes ago

Reply to Senator_John_Blutarsky

“A presence I’ve felt since…” [I entered “horrible pitcher re-signed by Angels” into search engine to follow through on the joke and it spat our Lucchesi, so I guess that’s the joke]

Super Member

HalosFanForLife

5 hours ago

Wow. The Beavers went off yesterday with Meckler and Madrigal each with 4 hits. Maybe this Madrigal move pays off. He’s definitely the type of guy teams want for playoff runs. But we’ll probably release him and he’ll go off next year like Moniak.