In summary, the Angels closer options article reads “injured, injured, sucks, sucks, old.”
Brandon Drury got a minor league deal with the Royals. He has an invitation to spring training. Michael Fulmer got his minor league deal with the Giants.
Carlos Santana signed a one year $2 Million deal with the Diamondbacks. The Yankees designated right-hander Dom Hamel for assignment. Mason Thompson got a minor league deal with the Rangers. The Red Sox claimed utility player Mickey Gasper off waivers from the Nationals. The Yankees will claim outfielder Yanquiel Fernandez off waivers from the Rockies. The Red Sox will sign Isiah Kiner-Falefa. The White Sox DFAd left-hander Bryan Hudson. The White Sox also signed outfielder Austin Hays to a one year deal worth $6 Million.
Mickey Lolich passed away at the age of 85. David Peralta announced his retirement.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
I’d be hard pressed to think of a more SoCal (Angles) name than Chase Shores.
Friend of mine who is a writer wanted to name an OC character Lance Katella, Millionaire Playboy.
Another new sponsor landed.
Angels Fans crowd sourced sponsored.
ESPN’s Top 10 org prospect lists came out… too GA to check but it seems like they just command-C’d the MLB list. Bremner/Guzman/Klassen, verse chorus verse.
Other org lists hold more goodies. LIke: WTF happened to Charlie Condon? Critical darling of the 2024 draft… today can’t crack the Top 200.
Condon broke his wrist going into the 2025 season, and struggled to recover through much of spring/summer, with elevated whiff and chase rates as he rehabbed and got healthier. He always had defensive limitations at 3B and OF, but Colorado nudged him to first base, so now he’s an all-or-nothing bat who needs to show he can mash again in a full healthy season.
He still makes the top 100 on multiple lists: #46 on Keith Law’s list, #70 at MLB Pipeline. Pretty uniformly rated as Colorado’s #2 prospect, but Colorado is also pretty uniformly rated as the worst farm and worst player development system in the MLB. Not an auspicious landing spot for a guy who could use coaching to refine his offspeed recognition.
Yeah. Checked out his 2025 numbers… they really weren’t THAT bad. Hit .230-something in AA with the power you’d expect and high OBP. I would definitely take him over, say, Tibbs.
Osvaldo Bido claimed by the Yankees. Until the next time he’s DFA’d anyway
The Tigers and Valdez… THIS is what a team going “all in” looks like when it’s the right time to do it. The window is open stripey cats. Jump on in.
Especially to have waited for his market to not develop and get him on a short deal. Nicely executed by Detroit.
or it means they had a feeling they lost the Skubal arb case and are going to trade him
Feels like more than any other team, Detroit has a glide path to win their division. Twins and White Sox are stompable, Cleveland had a very underwhelming off-season, and KC admirably tries, but feels like a WC bubble team that needs a last minute miracle to go deep.
This is what a team that has one year of Skubal and a surging young offensive core should do.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/02/angels-sign-brent-suter-reliever.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook
Brent Suter aka Jamie Moyer bullpen 2.0 coming to Anaheim
You can kill the man, but not the idea
Loup ➡️ Chafin ➡️ Suter
He allegedly attended Harvard, but was not smart enough to avoid signing here?
I actually like Suter. It’s been fun watching batters try to hit him after facing Hunter Greene twice for the Reds. He’s corn on the cob. Not as exciting as a steak but makes the meal nice. That walk rate’s gonna be nice to watch after sitting through the various nibblers the Halos like to trot out of the pen.
All the old farts the teams added to the pen are fine with me. Developmental year + experienced old men who kids may learn from and we may eventually trade. It’s all just bland meh, but it beats “going for it”.
Not sure this team’s defense is meant for a contact pitcher, but this is like #219 on the list of this team’s problems.
Corn on the cobb is killer when it’s cooked on the grill, otherwise, hard pass.
Let’s hope we’re getting the grilled version of Suter.
Count me in on Suter. Classic pitchability lefty.
Unlike other Minasian pick-ups, he has a long track continuous record of success, and even if he is the guy we saw in 2025 (4.08 xERA) that’s fine for a different-look middle reliever who stays healthy and eats innings.
I enjoyed this piece on his slo-mo FB a few years back:
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/brent-suter-the-slowest-unicorn/
I’m a traditionalist. I am. Very few rule changes I like. I still to this day get confused that the Seahawks are NFC and the Brewers are National League. But I sure like this idea.
Yankees
Mets
Red Sox
Blue Jays
Phillies
Nationals
Orioles
Charlotte
Braves
Marlins
Rays
Nashville
Pirates
Indians (yes, I know)
Reds
Tigers
Twins
Brewers
Cubs
White Sox
Royals
Cardinals
Rangers
Astros
Mariners
Rockies
A’s
D-Backs
Giants
Dodgers
Angels
Padres
At least we remain the same bottom-feeder position that we have become accustomed to. 😥
should swap Giants and AZ if close proximity is the main goal, which this looks like it is.
I had Arizona there first, but tried to keep the Giants/Dodgers and switched. Tough breaking up Cards/Cubs (but the Royals is a good swap for Cards) Cubs adding White Sox and Brewers is a good swap too. The NL East is a shame, but having those close rivals play more often will fill up seats and become even better rivalries. Philly/Orioles/Nationals would be great for them. I think ticket sales would have to rise with close proximity teams playing more often.
Yeah man. That’s a good lookin plan there. I like that. And with balanced schedule, interleague etc it works. Why not? Only problem is, where do the Angels go when they move to the Austin/San Antonio market or SLC?
Rhett says that some guy named Stephenson is healthy and ready for the season! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Over/under – 6 innings in 2026.
Even the former player known as “Rendon” is healthy and in the best shape of his life.
It’s the right of passage as the days grow longer and the frozen tundra starts to thaw. Following the example of the great media-saavy groundhog known as “Phil”, athletes around the globe make their annual proclamation of “great health”.
Their words are empty and signify nothing. Especially if they wear an Angels jersey.
I’ll take the under.
Here’s to three months of lights out pitching and a trade to a contender! Let’s go tear down!
The Man or the Myth? Give me the over. He doesn’t want to pitch for nothing next year!
Ohhhh, going all in!
Here are the NRIs
P
Shaun Anderson
Tyler Bremner
Chris Cortez
Jose Gonzalez
Austin Gordon
Joel Hurtado
George Klassen
Samy Natera Jr.
Angel Perdomo
Nick Sandlin
Tayler Saucedo
Chase Shores
Nate Snead
Huascar Ynoa
C
Juan Flores
Omar Martinez
Marlon Quintero
Sebastián Rivero
IF
Nick Madrigal
Trey Mancini
Yolmer Sánchez
Donovan Walton
OF
Gustavo Campero
Niko Kavadas
Wade Meckler
Nelson Rada
Raudi Rodriguez
Bremner 😇!
(Assuming ST games are televised) I can’t wait to see Rada, Klassen, Cortez, Shores, Hurtado, Raudi, Flores, and Quintero.
I am also looking forward to seeing if Nicky Two Strikes can rebound and reach his potential. I have a good feeling there. Biased, because I just like watching him play. We’ll all need some moral victories this year. And who can’t be pulling for Mancini?
Backup infielder(s) will be an underrated camp battle imo — Grissom vs. Peraza vs. Guzman vs. Paris vs. Madrigal
Looking at the current 40-man and we still don’t have a backup 1st baseman 😂😂😂. Roster makes 0 sense.
Peraza is listed as Schaunny’s back-up, also as Moore’s, on the team depth chart. He is the 3rd option at SS, after Neto and Guzman. Considering also he can’t go to SLC without waivers, I think you can write his name in pen for the Opening Day roster at this point
Like he said, “Looking at the current 40-man and we still don’t have a backup 1st baseman”.
Mancini would be a good platoon partner, but don’t seem room on the 26 man unless Soler goes away.
You are probably correct but that still doesn’t make him an actual 1st baseman haha.
Some of those dudes, like Shores and Snead, are likely just getting looked at by the big coaches as they get things going and then sent out to MiLB camp… though you never know, we had Johnson last year.
Yep, especially with all the vet relievers Perry stocked up on. I don’t watch MiLB during the season so this is my best opportunity to see these guys
Yep. Facing batters in the minors and going to the pitching lab to work on things that didn’t work facing live batters.
Bremner is the first two dudes I want to see. It’s almost impossible to overstate the importance of him turning into a true
Ace.