Grichuk, Cron Certain for Angels Reunion as Deadline Rampage Continues

We all knew the Angels had been determined so as to add on the deadline. How determined? Well, how determined would you need to be to name your ex — two of your exes, truly — on a Sunday evening?

The Halos continued their deadline restocking course of by reacquiring a pair of their former first-round picks, Randal Grichuk and C.J. Cron, from Colorado in change for minor league pitchers Jake Madden and Mason Albright. (No, not the previous secretary of state, however I’m gonna maintain doing a double-take each time I see Albright’s identify till properly into his massive league profession.)

Every massive league group has its personal particular circumstances and cultural idiosyncrasies, however this commerce brings collectively the 2 groups which have the perfect declare to being in distinctive conditions. With Shohei Ohtani three months from free company, the Angels sit 4 video games out of a Wild Card spot with two groups to climb over. They face time stress not like something most franchises have ever skilled. And the Rockies, properly, are the Rockies.

I believe place to start out with this commerce is to clarify what it isn’t. This shouldn’t be some nice leap ahead. You may make the argument that including Lucas Giolito to the rotation essentially adjustments the Angels’ outlook. This commerce is about shoring up holes within the dam.

At this level of their careers, each Cron and Grichuk are left-end-of-the-defensive-spectrum guys, which looks like a curious acquisition for a workforce that wants a DH lower than every other on the planet. But every has his personal use on a workforce that may not afford to have holes within the lineup, even for just a few video games.

Let’s begin with Cron. Not like anybody who follows the Angels wants me to inform them what Cron is, however he’s a mean to barely above-average hitter who performs a place the place the offensive bar is greater than that. Cron made his first All-Star workforce final 12 months, partially the results of a scorching first half (he hit .298/.350/.552 earlier than the break, .197/.263/.341 after), partially as a result of they needed to ship a Rockie.

This season, Cron is hitting .259/.300/.473, which comes out to a wRC+ of simply 91 once you play your house video games in Denver, and -0.3 WAR once you’re a primary baseman. And as a result of he’s run even platoon splits his complete profession, together with in 2023, he isn’t actually a platoon candidate.

Cron, who’s listed at 6-foot-4, 235 kilos and appears even larger, can crush the ball when he will get a maintain of 1; Baseball Savant has him within the 94th percentile for barrel price and the 91st for xSLG. But the outcomes commensurate with that sort of uncooked energy have by no means actually come.

Cron is perhaps a kind of guys who spends two weeks with the appropriate hitting coach and turns into Paul Goldschmidt, however he’s 33 years previous and in his tenth massive league season; I’d applaud such a improvement if it occurs, however I’m not going to carry my breath ready for it to. Given these concerns and the truth that Cron is a rental, I doubt the Angels are placing a lot inventory in a possible mid-30s breakout both. They want the participant Cron is now.

Now, if you happen to’re studying this pondering Cron cuts a faintly underwhelming determine as a deadline savior, I share your skepticism. But get a load of what he’ll be changing. Here’s each participant who’s made at the least 15 appearances at first base for the Angels this 12 months:

The proven fact that 5 totally different gamers have made 15 appearances at first is fairly wild in and of itself, however the outcomes haven’t been good. Thanks largely to Drury, the Angels’ mixture efficiency on the place has been about league common, however issues went south when he harm his shoulder. Adding Cron takes the Angels’ first base scenario from dire to meh, and going from dire to meh could make all of the distinction on the planet come playoff time.

Would I begin Cron over Drury or Moustakas? Probably not, however each present Angel who’s seen time at first and has proven any indicators of life — so, these two and Trey Cabbage, if you wish to give the rookie some rope — can be utilized elsewhere. And with Anthony Rendon harm, there is no such thing as a scarcity of holes to fill.

The case for Grichuk is a little bit simpler to make: He kills lefties. Since the beginning of the 2022 season, Grichuk has hit .325/.360/.610 towards left-handed pitching, good for a .409 wOBA and a 149 wRC+. This season, he hasn’t been half unhealthy towards righties both: .288/.343/.431. Some of that’s BABIP- and Coors-fueled, so perhaps Grichuk isn’t a super on a regular basis starter, however he’s good for the brief half of a platoon and a heck of a weapon to usher in off the bench.

Given the accidents and turnover the Orange County membership has needed to cope with, the concept of a hard and fast lineup is a little bit of an alien idea at this second in time. But the Angels’ outfield scenario has been as follows: Taylor Ward in left, Mickey Moniak in middle, Hunter Renfroe in proper. At least two of these gamers have began collectively in each recreation since Mike Trout went down; Sunday’s win over Toronto marked simply the second recreation out of the previous 15 that Phil Nevin didn’t begin that precise outfield trio.

How does Grichuk slot in? Well, Ward can also be a right-handed hitter who’s rocking a extreme platoon cut up… and on Saturday he acquired hit within the head with a pitch and suffered a number of facial fractures. After that ugly damage, Ward is finished for the season, and the Angels haven’t any time to be sentimental. If and when Trout comes again, Grichuk will make a tidy platoon accomplice for Moniak, who’s hitting .354/.384/.669 towards right-handed pitching however simply .156/.206/.188 towards lefties.

This is the tip of days for the Angels. You should take some dangers. That’s level to keep in mind when contemplating the destiny of poor Madden and Albright. When the Angels’ prospect record went up six weeks in the past, they had been the no. 7 (40+ FV) and no. 18 (40 FV) prospects in a reasonably weak system. Madden, a 6-foot-6 beanpole of a right-hander, has nice athleticism and arm power; given these presents, he has a variety of upside. Whether the Rockies can coax that upside from him is one other query. The excellent news, if there’s any, is that each pitchers are coming from the Angels’ A-ball affiliate at Inland Empire, and the Cal League is likely one of the few environments you’ll discover in American baseball that’s extra hostile to pitchers than Coors Field.

Will the Angels look again in just a few years and remorse not having a pitcher of Madden’s skills within the system? Probably not, no. Angels GM Perry Minasian is taking part in the ultimate few dozen turns of a dropping recreation of Civilization V; he’s throwing all the things he can at contending now, earlier than Ohtani has an opportunity to depart. If Ohtani leaves the Angels with out a lot as showing within the playoffs, this commerce goes to be to date down on the record of grievances towards Minasian and Arte Moreno that no person’s even going to recollect it.

We don’t run folks out of city on rails anymore. If all this goes south, Angels followers may deliver the apply again.

As for the Rockies, properly, on condition that the workforce has struggled to develop pitchers —notably right-handed energy starters, which is what Madden’s final upside is — I’d not have focused low-minors arms in any commerce if I had been Colorado GM Bill Schmidt. With that stated, Grichuk and Cron are each free brokers on the finish of this season, and the Rockies are 23 video games underneath .500. Getting two precise prospects again is a fairly tidy piece of enterprise. If nothing else, it reveals progress from 2022, when an equally doomed Rockies workforce made zero offers on the deadline.

Veteran hitters on unhealthy groups get moved wholesale at each commerce deadline; if Cron and Grichuk weren’t sure for the Angels, they’d most likely have been traded elsewhere, and the Angels would’ve discovered different choices for these positions. Most of these trades are comparatively inconsequential. They don’t make massive headlines. But the destiny of a whole franchise rests on this one.