Angels Sign Matt Moore

The Angels and Moore are in agreement on a one-year contract, tweets Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

The Angels’ bullpen rebuild continues.

Moreno family announces it will retain Angels ownership

After months of exploring a possible sale, the Angels announced on Monday that the exploratory process to sell the team has ended, with the Moreno family maintaining ownership of the club.

“During this process, it became clear that we have unfinished business and feel we can make a positive impact on the future of the team and the fan experience,” Moreno said in a statement. “This offseason, we committed to a franchise-record player payroll and still want to accomplish our goal of bringing a World Series championship back to our fans. We are excited about this next chapter of Angels baseball.”

Owner Arte Moreno, 76, initially began a formal search to explore alternatives that included the potential sale of the team, in August. The Angels retained Galatioto Sports Partners to assist as financial advisors during the process by arranging meetings with interested buyers.

Why The Angels’ Small Moves Might (Finally) Add Up To Big Success

One of the underrated reasons for Los Angeles’s struggles was that it gave so much playing time to outright bad players. According to wins above replacement,1 only the ghastly Pittsburgh Pirates (-13.4), Oakland Athletics (-13.0) and Cincinnati Reds (-12.5) lost more wins via negative-value players than the Angels, whose subzero-WAR contributors cost them 12.0 wins last season. If the Angels are the ultimate example of a “stars-and-scrubs” roster, the scrubs have been dragging down the stars for years.

And so, the Angels have finally made plans to address this recurring problem over the offseason by upgrading the non-star portion of the roster. On the position-player side, the team has bolstered its talent by trading for infielder Gio Urshela and outfielder Hunter Renfroe, as well as signing jack-of-all-trades Brandon Drury. Renfroe and Drury figure to receive the lion’s share of playing time in right field and second base, respectively, while Urshela looks to be sliding into a utility role. All three put together solid seasons in 2022, and will provide a much-needed boost to an offense that was 25th in runs scored.

Los Angeles added more dependability on the pitching side of the scale. In any other season, Tyler Anderson being a team’s biggest free-agent signing would be quite a disappointment. But Anderson put together his most effective season by far in 2022, thanks to a new grip on his changeup that drastically improved what was already his best pitch. He also threw it a ton more, and thanks to its incredible success the result was a 2.57 ERA (63 percent better than league average) over a career-best 178⅔ innings.

Warriors owner Joe Lacob confirms interest in buying Angels

The owner of the defending NBA champions confirmed Thursday he is exploring the purchase of the Angels.

In August, when Angels owner Arte Moreno put the team up for sale, Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob told the Los Angeles Times he would “look at good opportunities.” On a podcast with the Athletic columnist Tim Kawakami, Lacob said the Angels could indeed be a good opportunity.

“I’ve always felt that it had great possibilities,” Lacob said. “L.A. is a huge market, and it’s part of that L.A. overall market.

“They’ve drawn over 3 million fans, I think, 17 out of the last 20 years. We’re going to look at it. … It may be doable. So we’ll see.”

The Angels are expected to sell for at least $2.5 billion, which would be a record price for a Major League Baseball team.

Shohei Ohtani’s next contract will smash MLB records

How high will it go? Hard to say, but I polled nine agents — not his own — to find out, and here are the responses.

Agent A: “He will definitely beat Trout, and you have to go from there.” (Mike Trout signed a 12-year, $426.5M deal)

Agent B: “Should get $400M-plus to a winner.”

Agent C: “$430 [million] to $440 over 10 years.”

Agent D: “10 times 45 [million]”

Agent E: “I think he goes to $500M or so, probably 12 years.”

Agent F: “$500M for 13/14 [years]— $250M per position”

Agent G: “475 [million]to 525 over 13 seasons.”

Agent H: “11 times 50 = $550M. Sounds crazy but he has the ability to consistently be a 9/10 WAR player.”

Agent I: “It sure seems like something that starts with a 5 in front of it.”

Ohtani’s stardom extends beyond his pitching and batting and into the international sphere.

Word is Ohtani will indeed shoot for $500M plus, and who would blame him? He’s one of the best pitchers in baseball, and also one of the best hitters, and as a bonus, might be tied for the fastest guy on his team (that would be with Trout).

Sources: Angels, Brandon Drury agree to 2-year, $17 million deal

Utilityman Brandon Drury and the Los Angeles Angels agreed on a two-year, $17 million contract, sources told ESPN on Tuesday, adding the Silver Slugger winner to a lineup that already acquired outfielder Hunter Renfroe and infielder Gio Urshela this winter.

Drury, 30, won the award after a breakout 2022 in which he hit .263/.320/.492 with 28 home runs and 87 RBIs. Drury’s versatility is his hallmark, as he played all four infield positions and right field this year.

Former Rockies RHP Carlos Estevez agrees to 2-year deal with Angels

Through six seasons and 321 games with the Rockies, right-hander Carlos Estevez always seemed on the verge of being a solid late-game reliever. In the second half of 2022, Estevez finally turned the corner, posting a 1.40 ERA and dominating hitters.

Now he’s cashing in. But not with the Rockies.

Estevez agreed to a two-year, $14 million contract with the Angels Monday, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.

Late last season, Estevez, 29, had expressed interest in seeing what he could do away from hitter-friendly Coors Field. Now he gets his chance. Estevez’s departure was not unexpected.

Angels acquire Hunter Renfroe, send 3 pitchers to Brewers

The Los Angeles Angels continued their busy start to the offseason Tuesday night, swinging a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers for veteran outfielder Hunter Renfroe.

In return, Milwaukee received three pitchers back: right-handers Janson Junk and Elvis Peguero and lefty Adam Seminaris.

This marks the second straight offseason Renfroe has been traded. The Brewers acquired him last December as part of the Jackie Bradley Jr. deal with the Boston Red Sox.

Renfroe, 30, went on to hit 29 home runs for Milwaukee to go with a .255 average and 72 RBIs. The previous season in Boston, he slugged 31 home runs.

Angels To Acquire Gio Urshela

The Angels and Twins are in agreement on a trade sending infielder Gio Urshela from Minnesota to Anaheim, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports (via Instagram). The Angels are sending Class-A right-hander Alejandro Hidalgo back to the Twins in the deal.

It’s the second consecutive offseason in which Urshela finds himself on the move. Minnesota landed him alongside Gary Sánchez in the Spring Training blockbuster that sent Josh Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa to the Yankees. The deal was in large part about offloading the final three years of Donaldson’s contract, but Sánchez and Urshela each played key roles on the 2022 club.

Via what?

Albert Pujols to work with young players, be Angels ambassador - Los Angeles Times

Albert Pujols will work with young players at the Angels’ academy in the Dominican Republic and tutor big leaguers and minor leaguers during spring training in Arizona as part of the retired slugger’s 10-year, $10-million personal-services contract with the team, club president John Carpino said.

“He’ll be like a team ambassador,” Carpino said Monday at the Pelican Hill Golf Club in Newport Beach, which hosted a celebrity tournament to benefit the MLB Youth Academy in Compton. “We’re real excited about the possibilities moving forward. He’s Albert Pujols. It’s an asset. He has a ton of baseball knowledge.”

Sources: Angels, LHP Tyler Anderson agree to 3-year deal

Left-hander Tyler Anderson and the Los Angeles Angels are in agreement on a 3-year deal that’s expected to be in the $39 million range, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Tuesday.

Anderson turned down a one-year, $19.65 million qualifying offer from the Dodgers to join the Angels.

The Angels will lose their 2nd-round pick while Dodgers get a pick after the 4th round.

Ex-Angels employee gets 22 years in death of Tyler Skaggs

A former Los Angeles Angels employee was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison Tuesday for providing Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs the drugs that led to his overdose death in Texas.

Eric Kay, dressed in an orange jumpsuit with handcuffs and leg shackles, didn’t react when U.S. District Judge Terry R. Means read his sentence. Kay faced at least 20 years in prison on one of the two counts.

There was no reaction from Skaggs’ widow and mother or members of Kay’s family, including one of his sons who read a statement on his behalf before sentencing. A bailiff had warned observers they would be removed from the court over any outbursts.

Prosecutors presented evidence of Kay, 48, making derogatory comments about Skaggs, his family, prosecutors and jurors in phone calls and emails after he was convicted in February.

There was emotional testimony from both sides in federal court in Fort Worth, about 15 miles from where the Angels were supposed to open a four-game series against the Texas Rangers on July 1, 2019, the day Skaggs was found dead in a suburban Dallas hotel room.

Inside the MLB Culture Wars That Led to Joe Maddon’s Firing

The divide between old and new, manager and front office, data and art, Maddon and Minasian, reached a boiling point on May 9. The Angels had just scored five runs in the seventh inning against the Rays to turn a 6–3 lead into an 11–3 blowout. Ohtani hit a grand slam. The dugout was lively. Suddenly, head athletic trainer Mike Frostad walked up to Maddon at his usual perch on the top step of the dugout and said, “Perry just called down. He said get Trout out of the game.”

Earlier in the day Trout had complained about a bit of soreness in his groin. But later he told Maddon that the soreness dissipated, and he was fine.

To Maddon, Minasian broke a sacred code. The GM had called the dugout during a game to dictate strategy to the manager—a proven, veteran manager at that. To Minasian, he simply was deploying the power given to this generation of executives. Nothing was sacred. Nothing was out of bounds.

The next day Maddon blew up at Minasian in Maddon’s office. “Listen, don’t you ever f———call down to the dugout again!” Maddon said.

Twenty-six days later, he was gone. When Minasian fired him, Maddon offered him advice. He suggested that Minasian not bring Tamin on road trips. He did not tell Minasian to leave the coaches’ room to the coaches. “I was going to text him the next day to bring it up, but I chose not to,” Maddon says. “It was over.”

Blum: Angels owner Arte Moreno owes everyone an explanation after another losing season [$]

Sub required.

It’s with whom the buck stops. Team owner Arte Moreno has stated his intention to sell the team — in a press release — but nothing beyond that. Sure, owners don’t need to speak publicly often. But sometimes the moment calls for it. This is one of those moments. It has been for a while. Moreno might be hiding behind the shield of the proposed team sale, a strategy that would carry more weight if he hadn’t stayed silent for three years. It’s precisely because of the sale that he’s putting everyone in a worse position.

The man who owns the Angels, and the key to their success or failures, has avoided any accountability. The man has left the team’s loyal fans in the dark about exactly what direction the franchise is headed — and even if it’s operating in the best interest of winning.

Moreno, 76, hasn’t held a formal press availability since before the 2020 season. That’s three seasons. He answered questions on Zoom after the 2020 season during a press conference to introduce Minasian.

Moreno declined The Athletic’s interview requests through a team spokesman to speak before the season. The Angels declined The Athletic’s most recent interview request in an email Wednesday evening.

Here’s the bottom line: Moreno owes it to everyone to provide an explanation. An explanation for the perpetual losing. An explanation for the sale. An explanation for the countless legal dramas. An explanation for his disconnect with Angels alumni. An explanation for his priorities. Is it still to win? Or is it to get the highest bidder?

An explanation for everything.

‘Ecstatic’ Nevin signs one-year contract through 2023

The Angels are bringing back Phil Nevin as their manager in 2023, as the club announced they signed him to a one-year deal for next season after he served as interim manager for 105 games.

Nevin was told by general manager Perry Minasian that he would remain manager in a meeting after Tuesday’s loss to the A’s. The news became official shortly before Wednesday’s season-capping 3-2 loss at the Coliseum, and Nevin was emotional in the dugout when asked about the mentors who helped him along the way before finally becoming a full-time Major League manager.

“I’m ecstatic,” Nevin said. “Perry called me in [the office] last night and I was a little nervous. I’ve been called into that room before. But I thanked him. And I want to thank [owner] Arte [Moreno] and [club president John] Carpino and everyone involved with the Angels for entrusting me with this. It certainly means a lot. It wasn’t exactly how I envisioned these things happening, but I know I’ve been given a heck of an opportunity with some special people.”

Shohei Ohtani to make $30 million in 2023, record amount for arbitration-eligible player

Shohei Ohtani has agreed to a $30 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels for the 2023 season in the two-way superstar’s final year of arbitration eligibility before free agency.

The Angels announced the deal Saturday, avoiding a potentially complicated arbitration case with the 2021 AL MVP.

Ohtani’s deal is fully guaranteed, with no other provisions. The deal is the largest one-year contract ever given to an arbitration-eligible player, surpassing the $27 million given to Mookie Betts by the Boston Red Sox in January 2020, a month before he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ohtani’s $24.5 million raise from his 2022 salary is by far the largest for an arbitration-eligible player in major league history. He shattered the previous record of $9.6 million set by Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom of the New York Mets when his pay was bumped from $7.4 million to $17 million before the 2019 season.

SBNation: Bois: The Bob Famine

In baseball, the name “Bob” has gone from extremely common to a marginal curiosity and nexus of confusion.

There was one active MLB Bob last year, Bobby Abreu, whose given name is “Bob” but goes by “Bobby”. In 2010 there were two - Abreu, and Bob Howry, whose given name is “Bobby” but goes by “Bob”. In 2009 we also had Bob McCrory.

In the future, will “Bob” be as unheard-of for baseball players as “Dick”? Can Bob Stumpo restore glory to this appellation?

Orlando Cabrera To Retire From Baseball

OH NO, EXPO!

Last season, Orlando Cabrera batted .238 with the Indians and Giants, posting a 61 OPS+. The season before that, he posted a 76 OPS+. The season before that, he posted an 85 OPS+. Orlando Cabrera has been declining, and just turned 37 years old. As a free agent, Cabrera didn’t drum up much interest, which I’m guessing is why he’s intending to hang ‘em up. Enrique Rojas:

  “Orlando Cabrera to retire from baseball, he said in Colombia radio station. Thanks for memories!”

Cabrera had a long career that’ll be difficult to forget. He debuted with the Expos in 1997, and remained there until the giant Nomar Garciaparra three-way trade in 2004. That year, with the Red Sox, Cabrera won a World Series. He wound up with the Angels, earning the unfortunate nickname “The Wizard of O.C.”, and then he wound up with the White Sox, and the A’s, and the Twins, and the Reds, and the Indians, and the Giants ... He remained a shortstop to the end, and collected 2,055 hits. He will always be remembered as a pest. An absolute pest.

MLB Trade Rumors: Bartolo Colon Agrees to Sign With Unknown Team

Bartolo Colon has agreed to a deal with an unknown club reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (on Twitter). The right-hander wouldn’t divulge the team because he has not yet passed his physical.

Pretty sure it’s either the All-Stars or the Champs.

Angels Hoping They Can Get Mike Napoli Back Now That They Have Albert Pujols And C.J. Wilson To Trad

TFA:

ANAHEIM, CA—After spending $330 million on big-time free agents Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson, Los Angeles Angels officials said Monday they now feel they have the pieces in place to make a trade for former Angels catcher Mike Napoli. “At first we thought we could make a run at Mike by offering a player-for-player trade, but we ultimately realized the Rangers would probably want more than just C.J. Wilson,” said general manager Jerry Dipoto, adding that getting back the lifetime .264 hitter is the team’s top priority. “So we signed Albert Pujols. And if the Rangers aren’t willing to accept both of those guys, which I completely understand, we’ve already inked a $140 million contract with Prince Fielder.” Dipoto said that when he presented the deal to Nolan Ryan, the Rangers president was speechless, prompting Dipoto to throw in every single Angels draft pick through 2034.

Murray Chass: NO TWO SIDES TO AN MLB.COM SELIG STORY and MORRIS UNLIKELY TO MAKE IT

Murray Sez… have a Bud and a Jack chaser

When I left The New York Times in 2008 after having written for the newspaper for 39 years, the first offer I received to continue writing came from a high-ranking Major League Baseball official who was in position to offer me a job as a columnist with MLB.com. My initial reaction was to say no, but some people urged me to reconsider and at least talk about and consider that possibility.

Accepting that offer would have turned out to be more economically lucrative than what I have done with this Web site the past three and a half years. But money isn’t everything. Writing for MLB.com just didn’t seem like the right thing to do.

How could I have gone to work for the organization I had spent my professional life covering? Wouldn’t I be compromising my professional ethics by accepting a salary from people I would be in position to criticize and question if necessary? ...

To be sure, MLB.com serves a purpose, even for baseball writers, for whom it can serve as a 30-team research site in one location and a source of comprehensive statistics that are not mingled with WAR and VORP and all of those other metrics, as their advocates like to call them.

But then there are the self-congratulatory articles that can induce nausea. I guess we don’t have to read them, but they are there as propaganda for fans to see and be taken in by. Yes, baseball propaganda. I had never thought about it before this moment, but that’s what it is. ...

And maybe someday, perhaps when he retires, whenever that is, Selig will be big enough to allow an MLB.com columnist to write the truth about collusion and his role in the labor wars.

By the way, this column was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Based on e-mail I have received from critics of Morris and me, the Hall of Fame should take the vote away from baseball writers and simply establish statistical guidelines for players’ election. The players over the line make it, those under don’t.

Such a system would eliminate what is perhaps the greatest debate in sports, but that wouldn’t bother the stats zealots. Their numbers tell them who should be in the Hall of Fame, and the writers would be wrong if they disagreed.

That system would also eliminate the aspect of the voting that they hate most. Their opinion doesn’t mean beans. The writers’ opinion means everything.

DiGiovanna/LA Times Blog: Angels Secure Kendrick with Four-Year Deal

With the new deal, which is believed to be worth $33.5 million, the Angels will avoid Kendrick’s final year of arbitration and buy out his first three years of free agency.

I know Kendrick loses some value with his low walk rate, but a 125 OPS+ for a middle infielder sure seems like it should cost more than $8.5 million per year.  Seems like a team friendly deal for his age 28-31 seasons - getting out from under him before the weird 2nd baseman/age 32 curse strikes.

Halo’s Heaven: Moneyblog

Billy Beane should have never written this comic strip.

HBT: Pujols’ contract carries $10M in milestone incentives

According to Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports, Pujols will get an additional $3 million from the Halos if he reaches 3,000 hits and $7 million if he manages to top Barry Bonds’ record of 762 career home runs.

Pujols will begin his tenure in Anaheim with 2,073 career hits and 445 home runs. If the 31-year-old is able to maintain the kind of offensive pace he produced in 11 years with St. Louis, he should reach 3,000 hits within the next five or six seasons. The home run record is more of a stretch, but it might be attainable if Pujols mashes for all 10 years of the contract. He’d need to average 31.7 dingers per season through 2021.

Perry: Why I’m Not Mad at Pujols

Dayn’s first piece for Pitchers Hit Eighth.

This is a story without a villain:

I’m not angry at Albert Pujols. How can I be after all this? He’s provided us with too many impossible moments to chronicle and ferried us to a pair of championships. The past is unchanged, as some philosopher said at some point, probably in the original French.

...We’ll never, ever know the full complement of motivations that led him to do this. Pujols might want a new challenge after winning it all and seeing the only manager he’s ever known retire. He might believe the Angels provide him with a better opportunity to win than the Cardinals do (although there’s a self-fulfilling element to that prophecy). It could be layers of reasons. The weather. The chance to ease into the DH role in five years or so. Maybe his favorite cousin lives in Mission Viejo. He enjoys fresh, roadside citrus. Whatever. Even the most enterprising reporters aren’t privy to his thoughts.

...Most of all, to read into L’Affaire Pujols the basest of impulses is to pretend you know things you simply don’t. You’ll never know his innermost workings, the exact tenor of negotiations, or his true reasons for making this choice. Never. It makes for a tidy narrative to color him as a bad actor in all of this, but one could just as easily say the organization, after enjoying a decade-plus of Pujols for pennies on the dollar, is the disloyal party, the one who’s most transparently “about the money.” I choose not to make either case, mostly because a negotiation isn’t a morality tale.

And with that, I am sufficiently purged. I’m also ready for actual baseball.