The Angels released Taijuan Walker. That was quick.
The Phillies are designating right-hander Bryse Wilson for assignment. Jack Leiter is on the 15 day IL with a right ankle posterior impingement. The Marlins placed catcher/first baseman Liam Hicks on the IL with a lower back strain.
Soler back in the line up. The 2nd best hitting regular benched for the 3rd game in a row after getting 3 hits in his last game. The 2 hottest hitters on the team Walton and O’Hoppe are hitting 7 and 8 so that Schanuel and Adell can hit 2nd and 3rd, and the 2nd best hitting non regular Jose Siri is hitting 9th. There is no apparent rhyme or reason to anything that Suzuki does. Even with the team we have, there is no attempt to put the best version of it on the field. I shouldn’t care, but what a clown show.
Angels transactions:
•Reinstated OF Jorge Soler from injured list
•Designated INF Nick Madrigal for assignment
•INF Trey Mancini was outrighted to Triple-A and elected free agency
Why is Soler still here
$$$$
That’s it.
Madrigal is a decent player who I would like to keep around as the team rebuilds. Good contact rate, solid defensively. He’s an inexpensive plug and play guy.
Soler will be gone at the end of the year. I can’t see anybody trading for him at the deadline. And if they do, the return will not be as good as Madrigal.
Guzman makes my guy Madrigal expendable. Soler is as useless as a white crayon on copy paper.
Makes sense to call CMo up to sit him behind Soler. I want out of the Perry Suzuki experience
Madrigal might get traded this week and not even make it to waivers. He’s not expensive.
Perry is a cum guzzling road whore.
Source?
They seem to have removed Perry’s picture.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cum+guzzling+road+whore
Exactly!
Not a good sign. He will replace someone who is actually hitting and can field and run.
Tomorrow’s links will have significantly more information than I was able to find for today.
What if Guzman keeps it rolling and actually becomes a legit MLB third baseman?
OPS is over .800 now and still striking out only 17% of the time. Worried that he will struggle a bit as teams get more data on him. But right now its fun to dream.
He just looks like a stud at the plate. Hitterish for days.
Then we are happy. Let’s get Rada up here the last couple of months and see if he can be a leadoff option.
It’s too bad I can’t cash in my GUZ stock for real money. Been holding long and strong since 2024
Word from Nightengale, which is mehliable, is that the FOarte is NOT interested in trading Detmers, Soriano and Adell…. because clearly we need them for the play off push in 26-28. And Neto? Hell no. You don’t trade a generational talent like Trevor Story…. I mean Zach Neto.
Rad.
Adell will be gone anyway after next year, why would we want to get anything for him.
Prospects don’t sell White Claws at the Big A.
🙂
He’s just posturing to get extra parking lot attendants in the trade.
Oh yeah – and welcome back Senor Snark.
In an attempt to counter some of the downbeat opinions on this site, I need to post how much I am enjoying watching the current cast of characters. These guys are actually fun to root for! Let’s continue the effort to put the best team possible on the field by DFA’ing Moncada, Soler and Yates! They are all non-performing sunk costs.
I am also enjoying this losing team far more than I have enjoyed the previous versions.
Guzman, Peraza, Meckler, Bachman, Urena, these guys might be good. You can see reasons why they could be, anyway. This is like a full year of spring training in a lot of ways. The performances of a few guys matter more than the final score.
It’s good to see O’Hoppe starting to stir as well.
Me too. I’m consuming a gluttonous amount of world cup fitba, COME ON SCOTLAND, but this shite team has a lot a fun players.
Don’t get too Meckled
Being new to the site, I hesitated in posting what you said. These “new” guys play with heart. They may not be the most talented team but will win more games just out of desire. (My Opinion)
Really glad you hit post comment, definitely don’t hesitate to post whatever especially not negative haha.
The Scoop: No qualified hitter had a better OPS this past week than Rodriguez. The 2023 19th-round pick has had an excellent season with Double-A Rocket City, hitting .307/.425/.520 with 11 home runs. This past week, he had hits in all five games he played against Montgomery, including a two-homer game on Friday in which he racked up nine total bases. He had three multi-hit games and seemed to be all over the barrel. Rodriguez likely has a future as a strongside platoon bat. (GP)
In addition to making the BA hotlist this week, he’s also up to #13 among all AA hitters per RoboScout (BA’s projection system), with a similar Hit+ score to Jesus Made and Leo De Vries (though both are 2-3 yrs younger than Raudi)
Can’t wait to get my Raudi Rod custom. Even if were ass, I’d be all in just in thr name.
Juan Flores moving on up to AA.
The Los Angeles Angels are promoting C Juan Flores to Rocket City (Double-A).
Flores had a .275 batting average with 23 extra-base hits and 35 RBI for the Tri-City Dust Devils.
Hoo boy. Crazy this was his third season at Tri-City (at age 20). He seems to have it mentally.
While his bat will not translate too well in the Show, he is already exhibiting the catch skills this team really needs. 70 grade on the defensive side. Cannot get to Anaheim soon enough.
You never fully understand the true value of a defensive catcher until your favorite team is saddled with O’Hoppe for 100+ games behind the dish
Amen.
O’Hoppe is an outlier though. He’s a really bad defensive catcher and not much of a hitter either.
The young fellow just posted a .900 OPS in high-A at age 20. He also performed well against MLB-ready pitching in the AFL last fall. All this would suggest that his bat might in fact translate very well (or at least adequately?) to the Show.
Hell yeah.
How about those eight bags swiped in one game by the Cespedes kid down in the DSL? Exciting. And man… Raudi is hot again. I know the “fourth outfielder” label has been applied, but he’ll be a 20/40 guy this year if the org keeps him in AA. His development arc keeps accelerating. Could be an impact regular in the bigs.
and Hayden Alvarez has been amazing the past 2 months.
Yes bro!
Two reasons why Raudi has a 4th OF label on him, and why I’ve said in the past that his most likely projection is a strongside platoon OF who gets 400 ABs a season: he’s much weaker vs LHP and his contact rates don’t yet translate to MLB consistency.
Despite being on fire this week, he’s still hitting .244 vs lefties, and carrying a 72.6% contact rate overall (Christian Moore was at 74% at AAA, and we can see what that looks like in the MLB at present, whereas Denzer’s overall contact and in-zone contact rates were both above average upon promotion).
Raudi actually made this week’s BA Prospect Hotsheet at #4, and they used the same language I’ve used to project his likely role. (I’ll post that above.)
Here’s my thoughts:
Trade Adell to Cleveland for Jacob Cozart.
Meckler/Rada/Rodriguez in the outfield on most days with Trout as DH. Sub out Rodriguez for Trout in right field against a lefty.
Add a right handed bat who can play first base and DH.
At least that’s an attempt to try something other than the same thing which hasn’t worked.
I’m a Alvarez over Rodriguez guy. Yesterday, today and tomorrow.
I agree, but also
It would be nice if they actually saw it that way instead of suffering through the other 200 ABS against LH Pitching.
MOARRRR KIDDDZZZZ!
Wouldn’t it be amazing if Denzer Guzman became our Adrian Beltre? What he’s flashing with the bat & the glove can make one dream a little.
Donavon Walton may not be long for the majors and this level of productivity won’t be sustained, it’s still nice to see a .300+ hitter in action.
Guzman, Walton & Siri are all contributing in significant ways.
Just for fun… here’s the 2021 Top 30 International Player rankings. Our boy at No. 28 behind an enormous pile of failed and/or under-realized talent (except for Jackson Chourio at No. 16, notably). Big win for the org so far. They picked the right guy to hand $2 million to… and obviously didn’t impair his development too much over the intervening five years, despite what upbeat souls around these parts constantly communicate.
https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/2021/international/
this tweet espouses on your point. Tbh Perry’s regime has done alright rebuilding our LATAM presence.
Brian Parker (Angels Sr. Director, International Scouting) deserves some praise for the Angels international signings improving since he took over.
*note that some of these players may have agreed to deals before Parker took over, but it’s hard to know who exactly
https://x.com/BeyondTheHalo/status/2068911199992025230
Guzman, Urena and Edgar Quero were all part of the spring ’21 class – Parker came on 3-4 months earlier and agreements were already in place with that trio probably 1-2 years prior.
The international class with Parker’s first imprint was likely the Rada class of 22-23.
Parker has a good resume, though. He was the international crosschecker for the Dodgers for several years, and the scouting director for the Jays before that.
Whoever was in charge of the Denzer and Walbert signings gets a nice little resume boost.
I like several of the bigger swings we’ve taken at high ceiling guys under Parker’s leadership. $2 million for Davalillo is getting a side eye from me until the kid drops like 30 lbs
I mean… he’s 18 and holding his own in the Cal League. Seems spot-on so far save the thicc carriage.
Maybe swap Neto and Guzman in the infield. Neto has the arm to play third and Guzman appears to have more range. Angels need to move Neto eventually.
Angels need to move Neto to a team in contention with a stacked farm full of tradable kids.
If Guzman was our number 7 prospect – our farm is not as bad as they have them listed. That kid looks like a WAR contributing Major Leaguer to me.
Every outlet had Walbert Urena outside the top 10 too. The real rebuild starts with those 2, and I suppose Neto.
Schanuel and O’Hoppe aren’t good enough to be counted on for the future. Soriano, Detmers, and Adell should all be moved this deadline but Arte seems keen to keep them because he’s a shortsighted “businessman”
I’m skeptical about Schanuel and O’hoppe, but Schanuel’s bat-to-ball is pretty good – if he can learn to match it with his size. Do I expect it? Not at all – but there’s hope. Speaking of hope, O’Hoppeless can not be depended on as a backstop. It’s too important unless you hit like Piazza. He doesn’t hit like Piazza.
I think the best case scenarios for Schanuel are Casey Kotchman or James Loney.
That can be OK if a team can slot them 6th or 7th in the order, get power elsewhere in the lineup, and not pay them a ton.
The free agent market is not great at first base this coming year so expect him to stick around. Nathaniel Lowe would be a nice addition, Ty France has more pop.
Can Donovan Walton play 1st base? Schanuel is the epitome of average. We have bigger holes elsewhere, but, he’s also a candidate for replacement at the earliest opportunity.
I can’t find any evidence of Walton playing first base. Then again, Grissom and Peraza hadn’t played there either.
On a good team there would be more urgency to replace Schanuel. But this is not a good team.
There is that, but I do look forward to the day he is replaced with a good bat.
The dude is 5’9” tall with his shoes on and standing on the chalk line, hard pass. Honestly, we all need to enjoy it while we can but Walton will crash hard.
If he’s going to be a marginal hitting 1B, he needs to pick up his defense. I don’t know what can be done about his suboptimal baseball brain.
O’Hoppe’s defense is unacceptable for a starting catcher. Wish we would shove him in a corner OF where I think his bat would play up with less defensive responsibilities
Tracking to everything here with the trade pieces that should be made available and the two guys not good enough for the future.
I’m a suppose on Neto too based on the pop in his bat for a middle infielder and still cannot rule out an improvement. He’s on the 2027 team until a good offer comes along.
Yeah we’re not selling Neto at a discount when he’s pacing for a 4+ WAR season.
He is looking like the sweepstakes winner. Kid has awesome stuff.
Some of the prospect rankings out there haven’t been updated in a while. Look at prospect grades and think of them as tiers of players more than absolutes. Keep in mind that MLB Pipeline only updates their boards two or three times a year, and Fangraphs only once – with a post draft update if you’re lucky.
On my own list, Guzman was top four entering the season, and had made it to #1 by end of May. The improvement in underlying contact metrics were predictive to me. I rate guys like Flores, Alvarez and Raudi higher than some of the stale rankings do.
But most analysts didn’t see Urena coming…at least not this fast. And to be fair, his minor league control and command was not great, his slider came and went (and is still inconsistent), and he was more of Silent-C GB specialist that looked like a future leverage reliever. There’s still likely some regression coming, btw. But what we’ve seen in the early season is still a long tail outcome, mostly to his credit.
There is the proof. We released Taijuan Walker, the tank is clearly on.
