Angels News: Two former pitchers sign with new teams; Nolan Arenado vetoes trade

With Luis Severino departing and no word on Sean Manaea's status, the New York Mets are seemingly holding tryouts for their 5th rotation spot behind Kodai Senga, Frankie Montas, Clay Holmes, and David Peterson. They will seriously consider Tylor Megill, Paul Blackburn, and now -- Griffin Canning. Canning received a one-year, $4.25 million deal, but was expected to earn $5.1 million in arbitration with either the Angels or Braves.

Canning was swapped for Jorge Soler, the biggest move the Angels have made for a position player thus far, but was subsequently non-tendered by the Braves. The Angels would have likely non-tendered Canning, and the Braves wanted to shed Soler's remaining salary. Canning allowed the most earned runs of an American League pitcher last season, but he did show signs of life last season despite the poor on-field results.

For years, the former Angels second round pick struggled to stay on the field due to injury. Despite everything, he was able to post consistently last year and finished the year relatively strong. Perhaps now that he has his legs under him, he can harness the stuff that got him to the big leagues -- a high riding four-seam, hard, gyro-like changeup, hard, biting slider, a 12-6 curveball, and an impeccable ability to field his position.

Former Angels' reliever finds a new home

After the Angels signed Kyle Hendricks, they dumped Ryan Miller. Well, Miller has a new organization now in the Detroit Tigers. Almost exactly a year ago, the Angels selected Miller in the Minor League portion of the Rule-5 Draft.

The Angels are keen on giving priority to Rule-5 Draft picks -- they do not want to poach a player away from another team in order to just release them at the first roster bind. That would be a bad message to send. Furthermore, most of the Rule-5 selections are simply further along then the prospects already in the Angels' system. Miller being brought in during the Minor League phase, then pitching 13 innings for the Angels last season shows a lot about the Angels' 2024 season. For better and worse. It was both a testament to the Angels' player development, and exemplified just how many players the team burned through last season.

Nolan Arenado shuts down the Astros

Sorry, Astros. You're not wanted.

The Astros' embarrassing offseason continued when they were just about to acquire Nolan Arenado from the Cardinals, agreed to pay the majority of his steep contract, but Arenado declined. The Athletic's Katie Woo broke down Arenado's decision: "According to multiple team sources, Arenado did not want to rush into a decision and preferred to wait until more of the third-base market was established...The uncertainty regarding Bregman, along with the Astros’ trade of outfielder Kyle Tucker to the Chicago Cubs, also gave Arenado pause regarding Houston’s direction, per a league source."

Arenado is on-the-record of wanting to play for a contending team, and apparently he does not view the Astros as such! That's a shame.

The six reported teams he would allegedly waive his no-trade clause for are the Dodgers, Red Sox, Padres, Phillies, Mets, and Angels. You'll notice that the Astros are not amongst his desired teams, yet they tried to make it work anyway. Well, that backfired. On the Angels' front...the reporting is awfully confusing surrounding whether Arenado would, in fact, want to come to Anaheim.

Despite two straight rough offensive seasons, Arenado is the arbiter of his own destiny with his no-trade clause. The decision to include the Angels on his preferred teams list is likely more geographical, as Arenado is from Newport Beach, CA. Even if the Angels wanted to take on a majority of his salary, as the Astros did, Arenado would have to view the Angels as World Series contenders. That would be a stretch, especially if he does not consider the Astros to be good enough. Contending is clearly more important to Arenado than playing close to home. Perry Minasian's time is better spent on finding other infielders.

Best of luck, Nolan. Worst of luck, Houston.

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