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LA Angels Thursday News Crash: Catch and Release

July 30, 2026

The Angels traded Logan O’Hoppe and Chase Silseth to the Texas Rangers for infield prospect Angel Arredondo.

The Angels just released Alek Manoah. More on Alek Manoah. The Angels are reportedly interested in picking up a young catcher but lots and lots of people are looking for catchers this year.

In the “too obvious to pass up” department, Jimothy the Racoon is getting a minor league promotion night at Rocket City.

No Angels players were mentioned in this article about ten controllable bullpen trade candidates.

Giants infielder/outfielder Casey Schmitt had meniscus surgery and is likely done for the season. Byron Buxton went on the IL with right hip impingement.

The Rangers just released infielder Santiago Espinal. The Padres designated right-hander Matt Waldron for assignment. The Cubs just designated Andrew Wantz for assignment two days after he was called up. Left-hander Matt Krook elected free agency. So did Dennis Santana.

Photo credit: Rex Fregosi

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Legend

MarineLayer

1 minute ago

Now that we’ve seen the less than inspiring return we got on our first trade, it makes me wonder what we can expect to get for Neto. After all, the guy is leading the league in strikeouts and errors. Do we really think we’re going to be able to extract Franklin Arias for that? I hope so but I doubt it.

Legend

MarineLayer

46 minutes ago

I said it yesterday and I say this again. Other than clearing space on the 40 man, I see no reason for this trade. I understand that O’Hoppe seems like a DFA at this point, but there are a lot of teams that might’ve paid more for Silseth than a 19 year old who really isn’t a top 30 prospect in either org, despite what Moz is claiming.

It’s a major takedown of Minasian, his crown jewel trade and the “best” pitcher from his pathetic all pitcher draft.

Legend

MarineLayer

39 minutes ago

Reply to MarineLayer

To be fair, MLB pipeline listed this prospect at #27 in the Angels org.

Super Member

MH252525

29 minutes ago

Reply to MarineLayer

and to be fair if a #27 prospect turns into a cost controlled reliever with an ERA+ of 150 and a great K rate then everyone and their grandmother would be thrilled. This is a salary dump because it saves Arte a little little bit of money right now and a bad one at that because Arredondo is a big nothing burger. And he’s either gaslighting us or incredibly stupid if he thinks this guy is one of our top 10 prospects.

Legend

MarineLayer

27 minutes ago

Reply to MH252525

I completely agree with you. I’m frustrated with this trade too.

Super Member

MH252525

24 minutes ago

Reply to MarineLayer

I’m having flashbacks to the Vernon Wells trade. Not only was it bad but you realized that the person that made it had to have absolutely no baseball sense. Wells was only hitting well in Toronto a hitters park and outside of Toronto had completely Adell like numbers but was making as much money as anyone in the league and EVERYONE thought his contract was unmovable. Obviously this move isn’t as bad as that one, but no competent GM makes this move IMO which is why I’m fearing it’s just another 4 or 5 years until they get out from under whatever bad moves Moz is going to make.

Author

Super Member

Charles Sutton

32 minutes ago

Reply to MarineLayer

It makes sense for the Rangers. They presumably knew Jakob Junis was on his way to the IL.

I guess Mo just wants to prepare for when Denzer Guzman flames out.

Legend

MarineLayer

29 minutes ago

Reply to Charles Sutton

I agree. Makes sense for them. A weak return for us. The best way to look at this from Moz perspective is how little our players are valued by other teams.

Legend

Pineapple12

1 hour ago

Angels will be calling up relief prospect Luke Murphy this weekend — Murphy, 26, was a fourth-round pick in 2021 out of Vanderbilt who has allowed three earned runs in 38 innings this season with Double-A Rocket City

https://x.com/i/status/2082851127989866738

Member

Texan44

1 hour ago

Reply to Pineapple12

I haven’t seen him pitch but his stats for this year look very good.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=murphy000luk

Legend

MarineLayer

45 minutes ago

Reply to Texan44

I’m good with that, why not.

Legend

MarineLayer

35 minutes ago

Reply to MarineLayer

It also supports the idea that they want to reset the 40 man with some of their more promising prospects.

Trusted Member

grichmanpoorman

1 hour ago

For every situation in life, there’s an applicable quote from “The Hunt for Red October.” Yesterday’s trade reminded me of this one: “When he reached the New World, Cortez burned his ships. As a result his men were well motivated.”

Super Member

Roy Hobbs

1 hour ago

Reply to grichmanpoorman

I agree with that. The trade was like a shot across the bow for the rest of the players. The message is the world is changing. O’Hoppe was the starting catcher for the last 4 years with no replacement on the roster, a great guy and good teammate who was well liked, and he’s gone. The message is that if they trade O’Hoppe, no one is safe.

Member

Texan44

59 minutes ago

Reply to Roy Hobbs

My first thought was Suzuki. I have no idea if that is correct but his failure to hold players accountable for mistakes and bone headed plays might let him know that EVERYONE needs to perform. At least that is my hope.

Legend

RexFregosi

35 minutes ago

Reply to Texan44

It’s an indictment of Suzuki that a young catcher couldn’t be helped at all.

Legend

MarineLayer

34 minutes ago

Reply to RexFregosi

This is just one aspect of how bad Suzuki is.

Super Member

smithy610

33 minutes ago

Reply to RexFregosi

Kurt is making me miss both Brad Ausmus and Phil Nevin

Legend

Fansince1971

2 hours ago

This is a very VERY strange trade and when experienced people like Moz do things that seem strange to me my first thought is I may be missing something.

Why did it take Silseth to make this trade? I would have thought Texas would have traded an unranked Arrendando for the potential of O’Hoppe straight up. Texas wants a replacement at catcher. O’Hoppe has struggled in Anaheim but shown promise.

Why include Silseth if Texas insists on sweetening the deal beyond O’Hoppe? Silseth alone for Arredondo would arguably be an overpay.

So I’m fully confused.

Unless – could this be part of Moz’s plan to build a team of young players that come up the ranks together? Will we see Gridlinger and Arredondo playing in Anaheim in 2030 or 2031 after 3-4 years developing together? Maybe?

The only way this makes any sense is this is the first step in a true rebuild aiming for 3-5 years. But I would really like to see some big player development improvements to begin to see a potential for this plan.

Last edited 2 hours ago by Fansince1971

Super Member

AngelsFanInHell

2 hours ago

Reply to Fansince1971

Yup. With this debacle of a trade, Moz already has me missing Perry.

At this rate, with all of the work that Turk put into his trade scenarios, we aren’t getting anything of value.

Trades are bad, m’kay.

Super Member

smithy610

1 hour ago

Reply to AngelsFanInHell

Jeez, it’s just one trade of a bad catcher and middling reliever.

Let him trade for Juan Soto first in exchange for Bremner, Klassen, Rada, Guzman and Dana before anointing him as the next Perry.

Legend

Senator_John_Blutarsky

1 hour ago

Reply to smithy610

Yep. Some are completely overreacting to what is a minor trade.

Super Member

AngelsFanInHell

54 minutes ago

Reply to Senator_John_Blutarsky

It may have been a minor trade, but we lost a player of value with little to show for it. Why Silseth and not Suter or Farris?

Is this just a dump of Perry players? Inquiring minds need to know.

Super Member

MH252525

20 minutes ago

Reply to Senator_John_Blutarsky

it shows he’s a moron. He traded a Major league quality pitcher and got back essentially no one. No one not affiliated with the Angels is saying this guy has anything more than a chance of being a bench player.

Legend

Pineapple12

8 minutes ago

Reply to MH252525

Internet man calls accomplished baseball exec a moron because he traded future HOFer Chase Silseth (who I like a lot!).

Jesus Christ lol

Super Member

MH252525

2 minutes ago

Reply to Pineapple12

So you like a guy a lot, he got traded for next to nothing, and that shows Moz knows what he’s doing? He was accomplished until he wasn’t. Notice he’s not still in St Louis!

Legend

Pineapple12

1 hour ago

Reply to AngelsFanInHell

I know you’re taking it upon yourself to troll everyone, but this is pure stupidity. Clearly, the man who ran the Cardinals’ baseball operations for two decades to a 1,521–1,291 record, a 100-win season, six 90+ win seasons, and one World Series title is inferior to the greatness of Perry.

Brilliant analysis and a great way to contribute to the conversation!

Super Member

AngelsFanInHell

57 minutes ago

Reply to Pineapple12

As I’ve said many times, I am far more of a hockey guy than a baseball guy. I can work hockey trades and signings as well as all of you do baseball.

My responses of the trade are not just to troll, but are directly off of recent experience with what happened to the LA Kings. Last summer, they went and replaced their GM with a guy who had won multiple Stanley Cups and currently is in the Hockey Hall of Fame. His first two free agent signings last year set the team back years and put their defense behind the 8-ball because they are tight against the salary cap.

If the MLB had a salary cap, then I could actually understand a trade like this, the MLB doesn’t have one.

My point is that just because a GM was great for one team doesn’t mean that he’ll make the right decisions for his new team. I should be a little more patient, but I’m one of the few here that really rooted for Silseth and don’t like seeing him basically given away.

Super Member

Roy Hobbs

55 minutes ago

Reply to AngelsFanInHell

Point is well taken. Seems like they could have made the trade without Silseth or got more in return

Legend

RexFregosi

39 minutes ago

Reply to AngelsFanInHell

Definitely a great analogy with Holland – he’s been a disaster for the Kings, but had a stellar resume.

Harry Dalton too back in the day. Admittedly he pulled off the greatest trade in MLB history but didn’t do much beyond that.

Legend

Pineapple12

34 seconds ago

Reply to AngelsFanInHell

Now you made an actual point! You don’t have to gaslight me into trying to think your original comment was anything close to this one lol

Super Member

MH252525

18 minutes ago

Reply to Pineapple12

And Sciocia was great until he wasn’t. The game moves quick.

Member

Texan44

1 hour ago

Reply to Fansince1971

My take is the Angels have been starting a AAA or AA catcher. Why keep him? This is commonly called a “throw in”. Similar to Milwaukee taking McCullers off the hands of the Astros.

Legend

Fansince1971

1 hour ago

Reply to Texan44

Okay but why include Silseth (who is actually well above average) in exchange for an unknown single A player? Thats the confusing thing to me.

Super Member

tanana40

41 minutes ago

Reply to Fansince1971

Silseth is a little deceiving in that he gives up a lot of inherited runners. But I agree that that the trade was odd.

Legend

MarineLayer

38 minutes ago

Reply to tanana40

He’s not great, but I think we could’ve gotten more.

Super Member

MH252525

14 minutes ago

Reply to tanana40

and all the Angels pitchers are a little deceiving as in underrated because they play behind a defense that is easily one of the worst in the league. That is why we need to gauge guys like Silseth on fielding independent metrics and at those he’s pretty damn good.

Super Member

tanana40

44 minutes ago

Reply to Fansince1971

I found the trade bizarre like 71 says.

Legend

Pineapple12

2 hours ago

SELLERS

Super Member

smithy610

2 hours ago

Considering O’Hoppe and maybe to a degree, even Silseth (there’s more rumors and projection re: Bachman and Zef) aren’t really on top of anyone’s (that we know of) to unload, it means a couple of things:

Moz is serious about burning this team to the ground and starting from zero.

Moz will not do anything consequential and just “improve” on the fringes. Same stuff with Perry.

I hope it’s the former.

And btw, brutal takedown by Moz of O’Hoppe from last night. All that was missing was him mentioning him by actual name.

Legend

steelgolf

2 hours ago

Reply to smithy610

I didn’t hear or read the takedown by MOEtimer regarding O’Hoppe.

Super Member

smithy610

1 hour ago

Reply to steelgolf

There’s a video on it on the Angels website. Summary is catching is very important because pitchers depend on them. And there’s two ways to look at catcher – defensive or offensive-minded. He implied Logan is neither. Wayne and Gubi also brought up how he had Yadi all those years in STL. Moz said it wasn’t just Yadi, they had other good ones who provided stability not just at the position itself, but also among the pitching staff.

Logan has been (or was) the full-time catcher of the Angels for 3 years now. And Moz essentially didn’t have a good assessment of him in his short time here. Also telling that instead of just optioning him to the minors (since they can do that) and letting him figure it out there, he opted to get rid of him completely. Which means Moz thinks he isn’t part of the Angels’ future.

Legend

RexFregosi

38 minutes ago

Reply to steelgolf

SELL MOETIMER SELL!

Legend

Pineapple12

2 hours ago

Captain Mo

Legend

Senator_John_Blutarsky

5 hours ago

Fans always overestimate the value of their players.

O’Hoppe was bad offensively and defensively. He had regressed every year on the team. He is so bad that he wasn’t considered “organizational depth” on the worst team in baseball.

The trade involving O’Hoppe to wail and gnash teeth about is giving up Marsh. That will hurt for many years.

As for Silseth, he’s not a starter. He’s not a closer. He’s not a high leverage reliever. He’s a good relief pitcher that will add value to a team in their competitive window “now”. He’s wasted on a team like the Angels because we’re years away from completing.

This trade gets one empty Jack Daniel’s bottles from me. I dislike it not because of the players involved, but because we traded with a division rival and did not get an “overpay” in return.

My trade philosophy remains: never trade with the in-town rivals or with Tampa Bay. Intradivision trades should only occur when we’re giving a fleecing – not receiving one.

We’ll see in 5 years or so how this trade worked out.

Legend

Fansince1971

2 hours ago

Reply to Senator_John_Blutarsky

Watch O’Hoppe turn into an All-Star in Texas.

Legend

Pineapple12

2 hours ago

Reply to Fansince1971

Then we’ll all be happy for him because he’s a good dude. Would be quite a shock however for the worst catcher in baseball to become an all-star

Legend

Fansince1971

2 hours ago

Reply to Pineapple12

The Angels Org is where good players with potential go to regress into 💩

Legend

Senator_John_Blutarsky

1 hour ago

Reply to Fansince1971

That just as possible as O’Hoppe being unconditionally released.

He’s simply not that good.

Last edited 1 hour ago by Senator_John_Blutarsky

Super Member

Roy Hobbs

1 hour ago

Reply to Fansince1971

He may, but he was absolutely useless here. He had no value either offensively or defensively for the last 3 years.

Super Member

smithy610

34 minutes ago

Reply to Roy Hobbs

I didn’t have high hopes for him as a defensive whiz, but at least slash around .225-.230 with some 15 HRs by now. His power, which was probably the only thing good remaining on him, is completely sapped this season.

Legend

steelgolf

2 hours ago

Reply to Senator_John_Blutarsky

I’m “meh” about this trade. Rangers wanted the bullpen arm of Silseth, they got him, The Angels get their young MILB lotto ticket that plays third and could become a useful piece. It sucks fir O’Hoppe as he just wasn’t getting it done, so he immediately got DFA’d by The Rangers, and although still collecting his 2.625M salary this year, that will certainly go down drastically next arbitration unless he turns it around in the Texas heat purgatory of The Rangers minor league system.