Los Angeles Angels

Former Los Angeles Angles employee Eric Kay was indicted Friday by a federal grand jury in Texas on two counts in the death of Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs last year. 

According to Nathan Fenno of the Los Angeles Times, Kay was indicted for allegedly distributing fentanyl to Skaggs, which contributed to the pitcher's death at the age of 27.

The indictment accuses Kay of "knowingly and intentionally" distributing "a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of fentanyl" that "resulted in the death and serious bodily injury of [Skaggs]." He is also accused of conspiring to possess fentanyl "with intent to distribute," per Fenno.

Kay was arrested on Aug. 7.

Skaggs died on July 1, 2019, in his hotel room in Southlake, Texas, when the Angels were in town for a series against the Texas Rangers.

The Tarrant County medical examiner determined the cause of death as "alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone intoxication with terminal aspiration of gastric contents." Following Skaggs' death, it was found that he had corresponded with Kay via text with Kay agreeing to give him pills.

In an affidavit, it was alleged that Skaggs and Kay had a "history of narcotic transactions."

Per Jeff Fletcher of the San Bernadino Sun, the Drug Enforcement Administration said Kay had been supplying fentanyl since 2017 and that "several individuals" associated with Kay and Skaggs knew Kay had been supplying Skaggs with fentanyl before his death.

Kay worked in the Angels' media relations department for 24 years, while Skaggs played for the Angels from 2014-19 following a trade from the Arizona Diamondbacks.

If Kay is convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison, according to Fletcher.

The Los Angeles Angels announced Sunday they fired general manager Billy Eppler.

Los Angeles entered the final day of the regular season fourth in the American League West with a. 26-33 record. Even with playoff expansion, the Angels will miss the playoffs for the sixth straight year, with five coming under Eppler's watch.

The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reported Sept. 21 the Angels "still appear the most likely team to dump their GM" and added that Dave Dombrowski had emerged as the favorite to succeed Eppler.

Hiring Dombrowski would send a clear message. Time and again the 64-year-old has built a title contender, almost always relying on marquee free agents and often leveraging his organization's best prospects for readymade talent.

He was the architect of two World Series teams (Florida Marlins in 1997 and Boston Red Sox in 2018), and the Detroit Tigers claimed four straight division titles and two American League pennants.

The irony is that the Angels have basically attempted to use that blueprint for themselves while enjoying a fraction of the success. Los Angeles has regularly targeted star players on the open market—most recently Anthony Rendon—yet it has one playoff appearance since a trip to the 2009 American League Championship Series.

An owner who's willing to spend and Mike Trout, MLB's best player, should be more than enough to make the Angels an attractive job for GM candidates.

As the Los Angeles Times' Bill Shaikin reported, however, the perception about the franchise is far different. One source told Shaikin the Angels' GM gig ranks in the "bottom third" of the league.

Another source alluded to larger systemic issues:

"That's not the job it should be. It should be a great job. It should be one of the easiest recruitment jobs in the game. Who doesn't want to live there? To me, it's one of the best locations in the world. But something is going on there that is cannibalizing what they're doing.

"They fail every single year when it comes to putting a competitive team on the field. It can't be just the general manager."

The Angels' struggles highlight how top-heavy their offense remains and how starved they are for a genuine ace after their pursuit of Gerrit Cole fell short. MLB.com also ranked Los Angeles 21st in its most recent farm system rankings. That number will inevitably go down when Jo Adell no longer qualifies as a prospect.

Whoever becomes the lead decision-maker on baseball matters won't have an easy time getting the Angels to a place where they can compete for a second championship.

The Los Angeles Angels will be without shortstop Andrelton Simmons for the rest of the 2020 season. 

On Tuesday, the Angels announced Simmons told the team that he had decided to opt out of the final five games of the season: "This year has presented unique challenges for many and the Angels respect Andrelton's decision."

The Angels will face the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers in their final five games.

They are no longer in playoff contention and sit in fourth place in the American League West at 24-31, so Simmons will not be missing any postseason games or a late push up the standings.

Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times shared Simmons' statement on his decision:

"Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association developed an environment and system that empowered players and provided us the opportunity to decide on whether to play or opt out of the season. At this moment, I feel this is the best decision for me and for my family.

"We don't know what the future holds, but we would like to sincerely thank the Angels organization and Angels fans for welcoming and making us feel at home."

The shortstop missed time this season with a left ankle sprain and appeared in 30 games. He slashed .297/.346/.356 with 10 RBI and two stolen bases. 

Simmons is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent following the season.

Add another milestone to the excellent career of Albert Pujols. 

The Los Angeles Angels slugger hit his 661st home run Friday against the Texas Rangers, passing Hall of Famer Willie Mays on the all-time list. He now trails just Alex Rodriguez (696), Babe Ruth (714), Hank Aaron (755) and Barry Bonds (762), though Rodriguez's admission to steroid use and the allegations of steroid use surrounding Bonds will leave asterisks next to their names for some baseball fans. 

PUJOLS 661!

Sole possession of 5th most HRs all-time. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/qP6UMQoowZ

— FanDuel Sports Network West (@FanDuelSN_West) September 19, 2020

While Pujols has not been completely immune to steroid allegations in his career, he's never tested positive and is generally regarded as one of the best players, and hitters, of his generation. He'll be an easy choice as a first-ballot Hall of Famer given his three MVP awards (he also finished in the top five in voting an additional eight times), 10 All-Star Game selections, two titles, six Silver Slugger awards and two Golden Glove awards.  

Pujols' consistency has been nothing short of incredible. While age has caught up to him in recent years, he bashed at least 30 homers 14 times in his career and at least 40 homers seven times. Among his other benchmarks, he's also surpassed 3,000 hits, 2,000 RBI and continues to toy with being a lifetime .300 hitter (currently .299). 

Mays has been rooting for Pujols to catch him. According to ESPN, Mays texted him in late August, "It's your time now. Go get it."

Pujols' secret, however, is that he never swings for the fences.

"You go out there and try to put a good swing," he said when he tied Mays' mark. "Every 660 that I have now, that's what I try to do every time."

And for now, he's not worrying about the baseball resume he's compiled. He'll focus on that when he retires.

"Because that's when I'm going to have plenty of time to look at what I've done," he said. "I know my place in history. I know that because friends and family are always talking to me. I try not to get caught up too much in numbers or records or who's next."

What's next would be Rodriguez, though it seems unlikely the 40-year-old Pujols will get there. Regardless, Cooperstown awaits. 

Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno helped campaign for President Donald Trump as part of a "Latinos for Trump" event in Arizona on Monday.

"It's necessary to focus on today and the future, and it’s very necessary to vote for President Trump," he told the crowd, per Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Alison Steinbach of the Arizona Republic.

Moreno is a Mexican American who was born in Arizona. In his speech, he detailed his upbringing in a conservative family before growing his wealth as a small business owner.

Per Forbes, the 74-year-old is now worth $3.4 billion thanks in part to his billboard advertising company Outdoor Systems. He purchased the Angels in 2003 for $184 million and is the only person of color among principal owners in MLB.

Moreno has supported Trump throughout his reelection campaign, donating $5,400 in 2017, per Gabe Lacques and Tom Schad of USA Today. He and his wife have donated $43,600 to Republican campaigns since 2019.

The message comes as sports figures have become more outspoken on racial injustice and politics. Angels reliever Keynan Middleton kneeled during the national anthem as a protest against racial injustice earlier this year, an act that Trump has been highly critical of in recent years.

Only four players in Major League Baseball history have hit more home runs than Albert Pujols.

The Los Angeles Angels first baseman hit the 660th long ball of his illustrious career on Sunday against the Colorado Rockies, tying Willie Mays for fifth place on the all-time list.

Only Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714) and Alex Rodriguez (696) have hit more home runs than Pujols.

No. 660!

Albert Pujols ties Willie Mays for 5th on the all-time home run list! pic.twitter.com/okGuTj6gzM

— MLB (@MLB) September 13, 2020

6️⃣6️⃣0️⃣!!! pic.twitter.com/O31nUhiqWu

— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) September 13, 2020

While the 40-year-old is no longer the dominant force he was in his prime on the St. Louis Cardinals, there is no questioning his status as one of the best players of his generation.

Pujols is a two-time World Series champion, three-time National League MVP, 10-time All-Star, six-time Silver Slugger and two-time Gold Glover. He has established his place in baseball history as an all-around player who can impact the game in a number of ways.

His power stands out given his position on the all-time homer list, but he led the league with a .359 batting average in 2003 in one of 10 seasons he finished with a mark above .300. 

The Gold Gloves are a testament to his fielding ability, and his championships and 2004 National League Championship Series MVP highlights how clutch he was in his prime.

All that was left to accomplish from an individual perspective when he joined the Angels prior to the 2012 season was to move up the all-time lists. Pujols is 15th in hits, fifth in total bases, fifth in doubles and third in RBI.

Sunday's long ball means he is in the top five in the home run list as well.

The next stop is the Hall of Fame.

Stop us if you've heard this one before, but Mike Trout is very good and the Los Angeles Angels are, well, not.

As can happen with even the best of jokes, this one's starting to get old.

To be clear, the joke's not on the aforementioned superstar center fielder. Though Trout was cool enough for a while there for his OPS to dip under—gasp!—the .900 mark as recently as August 25, he's since gone on a Trout-ian hot streak with 15 hits, 12 walks and five home runs since August 28.

The 29-year-old was so hot at one point that he made just one out in the span of 15 plate appearances:

Mike Trout’s past 15 PA’s:

HR (1st PA on Friday)
BB
BB
1B
BB
K
2B
HR
2B
BB
BB
2B
Flyout
BB
1B (in his first PA tonight)

.778/.867/1.778/2.644

— Jim Passon (@PassonJim) September 9, 2020

Altogether, Trout has played in 39 games and put up a .293/.392/.653 slash line with an MLB-high-tying 15 home runs. He's on track for a fourth straight season of at least a 180 OPS+. Between 2017 and 2019, only one other player reached that mark so much as once.

This, of course, is but one of many feathers in a cap that could easily be mistaken for a head-bound peacock at this point. 

Trout was an annual All-Star between 2012 and 2019, plus the American League MVP three times. He exited last season with more wins above replacement through the age of 27 than any player in history. Even amid this year's 60-game season, he's only slipped to fourth place among the age-28 crowd.

To the Angels' credit, they've done right by Trout on the financial front. Between his initial $144.5 million extension from 2014 and his more recent $426.5 million deal from 2019, he and future generations of Trouts (from Beckham all the way down) will never be hurting for money.

But at this point, whether the Trouts will ever have even one World Series ring as a family heirloom is very much uncertain.

At 17-27, the Angels are a distant fourth in the American League West race and only on the periphery of the wild-card race. According to FanGraphs, their odds of making the postseason are in the 3-4 percent range.

This, of course, is a variation on a theme. The Angels have made the postseason just once in the Trout era—in 2014 when he claimed his first MVP and they won 98 games, only to be swept in the first round. His tenure has otherwise been devoid of October baseball, and this season is on track to be the fifth straight without even a winning record.

It wasn't supposed to be this way in 2020.

Following a 90-loss season in 2019, the Angels actually put some effort into getting better on the offseason market. Notably, their big moves were signing superstar third baseman Anthony Rendon to a seven-year, $245 million contract and adding Dylan Bundy (via trade) and Julio Teheran (via free agency) to their starting rotation.

Especially after Major League Baseball expanded this year's playoff field, the Angels had a path to the postseason. If Trout did his thing and got enough help from the club's new additions and incumbents such as Justin Upton, Andrelton Simmons and especially Shohei Ohtani, surely October would be in the cards.

Some of the Angels' best-laid plans have actually panned out. The Trout-Rendon tandem, for example, has lived up to expectations. The two would have combined for a 1.044 OPS as teammates in 2019. This year, they're at 1.007.

Bundy, meanwhile, has been a revelation with a 2.49 ERA through eight starts. He's finally the No. 1 starter that was foretold when he was coming up with the Baltimore Orioles in the early 2010s.

Otherwise, the Angels are about as bad as their record indicates. They've amassed a total of 4.5 WAR, or not even one-third that of standout clubs like the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres.

Only the Angels and the Washington Nationals have had as many as six hitters put up zero or fewer WAR despite getting more than 80 plate appearances. And despite Bundy's best efforts, Angels hurlers are tracking toward a second straight campaign with an ERA north of 5.00.

Going forward, the Angels' future isn't entirely devoid of hope. They have one super-underrated star (David Fletcher) and a premium prospect with sky-high upside (Jo Adell). Further, only Teheran and Simmons are set for free agency this winter.

The club's current reality, however, makes it clear that Trout is going to need a lot more help if he's ever going to get into the playoffs again, much less win a World Series. And that's where there are many concerns, starting with what's going on with Ohtani.

He did the seemingly impossible by living up to the hype as a Ruth-ian two-way star upon arriving from Japan in 2018. But that season also saw him undergo Tommy John surgery, and his pitching arm quickly failed him again when he tried to return to the mound this year. He's also a hot-and-cold hitter whose .654 OPS this season underscores a general trend toward cold.

After 2020, the Angels will still owe Albert Pujols $30 million for 2021 and Justin Upton $51 million through 2022. Even if the Angels view their shift from bad in 2019 to worse in 2020 as a reason to cut them loose, they'll still have to pay them.

Even though Adell is still technically a prospect, he and fellow top-tier talent Brandon Marsh only do so much to redeem the club's farm system. We have it ranked at No. 23 in MLB, though a downward bump will be in order once Adell loses his rookie eligibility.

The task of fixing what ails the Angels almost certainly won't fall to Billy Eppler much longer. The Angels had good intentions when they hired him as general manager in October 2015. But he's a lame duck right now, and what he hath wrought in five years doesn't offer team owner Arte Moreno much of an excuse to keep him around.

Assuming the Angels do make a change, Eppler's successor will have the advantage of taking over a roster headlined by Trout and Rendon. There will otherwise be much work to get done, and the state of the club's finances and farm system will require creative solutions.

What's more, these solutions will need to come in a timely manner. Rendon is already on the wrong side of 30. Trout will be there on August 7, 2021. As great as he is, that event may well mark the beginning of the end for his prime.

Oh, sure. Trout will be a Hall of Famer regardless of whether he eventually plays in and wins a World Series. In fact, he could retire right now and still make the grade as a Cooperstown-worthy star.

And yet, two other things can also be true of Trout: He deserves the chance to win the big one, and it's a darn shame that whether he gets it isn't really up to him.

        

Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference and FanGraphs.

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout added another line to his Baseball Hall of Fame resume when he became the fastest player in Major League Baseball history to hit 300 home runs and steal 200 bases on Saturday during the first game of a home doubleheader against the Houston Astros.

3⃣0⃣0⃣ pic.twitter.com/gW8AfSxZZn

— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) September 6, 2020

Per Elias Sports Bureau (h/t ESPN's Aiden Gonzalez), Trout pulled off the 300-homer, 200-stolen base feat in his 1,235th game. Legendary outfielder Willie Mays previously held the record by hitting those marks in 1,295 contests.

Trout stole his 200th base on Aug. 31, 2019 against the Boston Red Sox. He has 201 for his career.

The 29-year-old now also leads the Angels' all-time home run list by himself after surpassing Tim Salmon, who hit 299 for the Halos.

Trout had himself a day on Saturday, going 3-for-3 with a homer, a pair of doubles, four runs and two RBI. His homer off Brandon Bielak pulled the Halos within 4-3 in the third inning at the time.

The Angels eventually won the first game of the doubleheader 10-9 after Jo Adell's walk-off home run.  

Two days before Major League Baseball's trade deadline, Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Dylan Bundy is reportedly attracting attention from multiple playoff contenders.

Per MLB Network's Jon Morosi, the Minnesota Twins have joined the Atlanta Braves and Chicago White Sox as being interested in acquiring Bundy.

The Angels have been one of the biggest disappointments in MLB this season. Their 11-22 record entering Saturday was the second-worst in the American League, ahead of only the Boston Red Sox's 10-22 mark.

Bundy is one of the few bright spots. The 27-year-old owns a 2.58 ERA, 0.89 WHIP and 44 strikeouts in 38.1 innings through six starts.

If the Angels decide to move Bundy, he could bring back a significant return for an organization trying to take advantage of the peak years of Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon. The right-hander has one more year of arbitration to go before becoming eligible for free agency after 2021.

The Twins and White Sox entered Saturday in a three-way tie atop the American League Central, alongside the Cleveland Indians. All three teams rank among the top five in MLB in ERA; the Braves are 10th.

Atlanta is 18-13 and leads the National League East, but the Miami Marlins, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals are all within five games.

Add another accomplishment to Albert Pujols' historic resume.  

The Los Angeles Angels first baseman notched his 2,087th career RBI in the fifth inning of Monday's game against the Houston Astros. He drilled a line drive into left field that scored Mike Trout and cut the deficit to 5-4.

Albert Pujols stands alone at second place on the all-time RBI list. 🏆@PujolsFive | @Angels pic.twitter.com/QfpH2eB042

— FanDuel Sports Network West (@FanDuelSN_West) August 25, 2020

The Machine keeps climbing higher. pic.twitter.com/umPzM8OOpx

— MLB (@MLB) August 25, 2020

Pujols passed Alex Rodriguez for sole possession of second place on the all-time RBI list in the process.

While Baseball Reference lists him as third behind Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth, MLB.com explained Elias considers him second because RBI was not an official stat until 1920. That means Ruth and Cap Anson are not considered members of the 2,000-RBI club even though some places consider them part of the group.

As for Pujols, this is another impressive stat on a resume that includes two World Series titles, three MVPs, a Rookie of the Year, 10 All-Star appearances, six Silver Sluggers and a batting title.

While he did much of that during his 11 seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, he continues to move up the record books with the Angels.