Angels select Zach Neto, option David Fletcher, place Chris Rodriguez on 60-day IL

[Chuck]

 

[m0nkey]

Holy shit

[totdprods]

Please be Trea Turner 2.0, please be Trea Turner 2.0….

No, I’m definitely not putting unrealistic expectations on Neto… 

Rendon to 1B, Urshela at 3B, Drury at 2B, Rengifo as utility…all makes sense.

[Warfarin]

This also shows how ultra aggressive Minasian is.  This is the second year in a row the Angels have won the "first draft pick promoted from the previous year's draft."  Silseth got that last year, and now Neto this year.

[fan_since79]

There's a lot to like about Neto. 

Good luck to the kid. He should relax and have some fun. Early in the season, Angels one game back, no pressure. Just go out there and play baseball.

[Revad]

As far as I can tell, Urshela has 23 innings of MLB experience at 2b.

[Stradling]

 

[Warfarin]

What is really surprising to me is that Fletcher got optioned.  I would have assumed he would have been IL'd with some phantom injury.  For his purposes, it doesn't really matter (i.e. service time), given his contract is guaranteed.  But still, that's rather shocking to see.  How often do we see MLB players on significant contracts get optioned?

 

[jsnpritchett]

10 minutes ago, Revad said:

Does Neto have any experience at 2b?  Or does Urshela?  I assume they brought Neto up to play rather than take Fletcher’s role and Drury/Rengifo stand to lose playing time.  

 

8 minutes ago, mmc said:

They brought Neto up because they think he deserves to be the starting SS

Totally agree they brought him up to be the starting SS--but, Revad, just for the record, Neto wasn't a full-time SS in college until last year.  He split time between 1B, 2B, 3B, and even pitcher. 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=neto--000zac

 

[Chuck]

 

[Chuck]

Circling back to what an MLB executive, former MLB player and Prospect Evaluator said about Zach Neto this spring. 

 

[nando714]

Big balls perry 

[Revad]

1 minute ago, jsnpritchett said:

 

Totally agree they brought him up to be the starting SS--but, Revad, just for the record, Neto wasn't a full-time SS in college until last year.  He split time between 1B, 2B, 3B, and even pitcher. 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=neto--000zac

 

It would make more sense to me if they do move Rendon to 1b as others have suggested, but we’ll see how Urshela does playing 1b.  If that works well no need to shift Rendon.

[Lou]

10 minutes ago, Erstad Grit said:

Defense is important! We lost yesterday because of bad play. 

Glaus struggled with his bat as a rookie but his defense kept him in the games. 

This doesn't solve 1B unless Urshella now goes there. 

He's starting there today.

[UndertheHalo]

This is a thing that a well constructed and healthy professional baseball club does.  

[Erstad Grit]

1 minute ago, nando714 said:

Big balls perry 

[SoWhat]

Whoa! Definitely wasn’t expecting them to option Fletch. Hopefully, Minasian has just as short of a leash on Loup and Tepera. 

[AngelsLakersFan]

25 minutes ago, Stradling said:

This is huge. 

Seriously... I can't say I can recall the last time the Angels made such a bold callup.

The team's lack of a short stop is really killing them, but with all the middle infielders on the roster and Neto's inexperience it was hard to see them making this move so quickly.

[m0nkey]

I don’t know how anyone can’t be pumped for this. He may completely shit the bed but I love this by Perry and co. 

[bloodbrother]

Holy shit! Didn't expect them to be this aggressive this early in the season, but I appreciate it. You knew there was some sense of urgency this year to make the playoffs with Ohtani's long-term status in limbo, but figured they'd give it a good month+ to evaluate individual players and team performance before making any drastic decisions.

[Angel Oracle]

When was the previous time the Halos had two full time rookie position players?

[Warfarin]

Just now, AngelsLakersFan said:

Seriously... I can't say I can recall the last time the Angels made such a bold callup.

The team's lack of a short stop is really killing them, but with all the middle infielders on the roster and Neto's inexperience it was hard to see them making this move so quickly.

Urshela seems to have actually graded out decently well to start the year, both defensively and offensively.  But yeah, obviously, he is just a one-year stop gap, so it's great to see Perry promote Neto and see how ready he is.

[Warfarin]

I see this also as a move to try to help the defense overall.  This may shift Rengifo into more of a part-time role, and given how poorly he grades all over the diamond, perhaps that is best.

Neto is the primary SS, and will be backed up by Urshela on his needed days off.  Rendon will be the primary 3B and will be backed up by Urshela (likely 2+ times per week).  I imagine Drury will now absorb more starts at 2B in place of Rengifo, and Urshela will perhaps split time at 1B with Lamb (and eventually Walsh, if/when he is healthy).

Rengifo, in turn, will probably see more time on the bench now.

[Chuck]

 

[totdprods]

14 minutes ago, Warfarin said:

What is really surprising to me is that Fletcher got optioned.  I would have assumed he would have been IL'd with some phantom injury.  For his purposes, it doesn't really matter (i.e. service time), given his contract is guaranteed.  But still, that's rather shocking to see.  How often do we see MLB players on significant contracts get optioned?

 

I imagine Fletcher’s days are numbered. He’s a DFA candidate in short time, tbh, with hopes of some team claiming him and his still modest but likely overpay of a contract. Or he is involved in a future trade solely for the purpose of moving money from one team or another. Wonder if the D-backs would be interested in uniting him with Dom. 

I don’t think he has any trade value really, but a small-market team could still see some utility in having him as a fairly cheap, controlled bench vet, or if the Angels assumed a bad contract/big money and sent him over to make the money exchange a little more palatable for both teams. There just isn’t much place for him here, especially if Neto sticks, even with Urshela being a pending FA. Urshela sort of fills the same role and skill set, but with much more clout.