News

Dec 18, 2023

Sport Shorts: Angels acquire C.J. Cron, Randal Grichuk in trade with Colorado for 2 minor leaguers

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — The Los Angeles Angels reacquired slugger C.J. Cron and outfielder Randal Grichuk in a trade with the Colorado Rockies on Sunday, bolstering their injury-plagued roster with

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — The Los Angeles Angels reacquired slugger C.J. Cron and outfielder Randal Grichuk in a trade with the Colorado Rockies on Sunday, bolstering their injury-plagued roster with more veteran depth as they fight for a playoff spot.

Los Angeles sent minor league pitchers Mason Albright and Jake Madden to the Rockies in the deal that brought two former Angels first-round draft picks back to the team. Colorado also sent cash along with Cron and Grichuk, who are in the final year of their contracts before unrestricted free agency.

The Angels (55-51) are desperate to end their MLB-worst streaks of seven consecutive losing seasons and eight consecutive non-playoff seasons, but their efforts have been endangered by injuries that have seriously compromised their big league depth.

Los Angeles has a major league-leading 17 players on its injured lists after outfielder Taylor Ward joined the group Sunday before an extra-inning victory in Toronto. Ward was moved to the 60-day injured list later in the day, effectively ending his regular season, with facial fractures after Toronto's Alek Manoah hit him in the face with a fastball on Saturday.

The 33-year-old Cron spent his first four major league seasons with Los Angeles, hitting 59 of his 186 career homers before getting traded to Tampa Bay in early 2018 for prospect Luis Rengifo, who is still a valuable contributor to the Angels. Cron is batting .260 with 11 homers and 32 RBIs this season for the Rockies as their power-hitting first baseman.

Grichuk was selected by the Angels one pick before Mike Trout in the 2009 draft. Los Angeles traded him to St. Louis before he reached the majors and began a 10-year career with the Cardinals, Toronto and Colorado.

Grichuk is batting .308 with an .861 OPS in 64 games this season for the Rockies. His positional flexibility in the outfield will be valuable for the Angels in the injury absences of Trout, Ward and Jo Adell, leaving Mickey Moniak and Hunter Renfroe as the only healthy outfielders on Los Angeles' 40-man roster.

Grichuk is making just over $10.3 million this season, while Cron is earning $7.25 million. The moves continue the Rockies' teardown for the final two months of what's almost certain to be their fifth consecutive losing season.

The 20-year-old Albright is 11-8 with a 5.36 ERA in three seasons in the low minors. The 21-year-old Madden, a fourth-round pick in 2022, is 2-6 with a 5.46 ERA in 14 starts for Low-A Inland Empire this season.

The Angels have traded a significant amount of minor league talent in recent weeks in their determined effort to make the playoffs during the final season of Shohei Ohtani's contract.

Los Angeles has acquired six veteran major leaguers — slugger Mike Moustakas, right-handed starter Lucas Giolito, reliever Reynaldo López and infielder Eduardo Escobar along with Cron and Grichuk — in four separate trades since late June.

Trout has been out since July 3 with a broken hand, and third baseman Anthony Rendon was sidelined one day later with a bone bruise after fouling a ball off his shin. Trout and Rendon are making roughly $75 million combined this season.

Ward and veteran infielder Gio Urshela are likely out for the season, while infielder Brandon Drury, rookie catcher Logan O'Hoppe and rookie shortstop Zach Neto have all missed significant time.

Los Angeles is in third place in the AL West, five games behind Texas. The Angels are four games behind Toronto for the final AL wild card, but the Red Sox and Yankees are also between them.

Rangers acquire starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery and reliever Chris Stratton from the Cardinals

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The AL West-leading Texas Rangers continued to load up on pitching Sunday by acquiring left-hander Jordan Montgomery and reliever Chris Stratton from the St. Louis Cardinals.

The deal came a few hours after Texas announced the addition of three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer from the New York Mets. Also on Sunday, the Rangers placed ace Nathan Eovaldi on the 15-day injured list with a right forearm strain, retroactive to July 27.

Texas sent left-hander John King, minor league infielder Tommy Saggese and Double-A right-hander T.K. Roby to the Cardinals. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Rangers designated right-hander Joe Barlow for assignment.

Montgomery is 6-9 with a 3.42 ERA in 21 starts for last-place St. Louis, with 108 strikeouts against 35 walks. He can become a free agent after this season.

Stratton is 1-1 with a 4.36 ERA and one save in 42 relief appearances, with 59 strikeouts and 17 walks.

The Cardinals are last in the NL Central, 13 games under .500.

St. Louis also sent hard-throwing reliever Jordan Hicks to the Toronto Blue Jays for minor league right-handers Adam Kloffenstein and Sem Robberse.

To get Scherzer, the Rangers sent highly rated infield prospect Luisangel Acuña to the Mets. He is the younger brother of Atlanta star Ronald Acuña Jr.

Scherzer waived his no-trade clause to complete the deal, and the Mets will send cash to Texas. The pitcher also agreed to opt in on the final year of his contract in 2024 at $43.3 million, according to reports that said the Mets were paying about $35 million of the remaining $58 million on the right-hander’s contract.

17-year-old American cyclist killed while training for mountain bike world championships

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Seventeen-year-old American cyclist Magnus White, who was scheduled to race at the upcoming world championships in Scotland, was killed Saturday when he was struck by a vehicle on a training ride near his home in Boulder, Colorado.

USA Cycling announced his death in a statement Sunday.

White was a rising multidisciplinary star, winning a junior national championship in cyclocross in 2021 and earning a place on the U.S. national team. He competed with the team in Europe ahead of last year's cyclocross world championships, and he was picked to represent the U.S. again at this year's cyclocross worlds in the Netherlands.

White began to dabble in road cycling and mountain biking this season. He was on one of his final training rides before the junior world mountain bike championships in Glasgow, Scotland, when the accident occurred.

He is survived by his parents, Michael and Jill, and his brother, Eero.

Brian Holtzapple can be reached at 570-742-9671 or [email protected].

Log In

Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,racist or sexually-oriented language.PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.Don't Threaten. Threats of harming anotherperson will not be tolerated.Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyoneor anything.Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ismthat is degrading to another person.Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link oneach comment to let us know of abusive posts.Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitnessaccounts, the history behind an article.

Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.

Error! There was an error processing your request.

Would you like to receive our daily news? Signup today!

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.