Los Angeles Angels

The Los Angeles Angels are starting to run out of time with Shohei Ohtani, who will be eligible for free agency after the 2023 season.

Per The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal, the Angels had "informal" talks with Ohtani's agent, Nez Balelo, during spring training, but the discussion "never gained traction."

Rosenthal noted Angels officials "expressed an understanding" that they would have to give Ohtani a deal with the highest average annual salary in Major League Baseball history to get something done but that they were "reluctant" to make a long-term offer.

New York Mets ace Max Scherzer is the highest-paid player in MLB with a $43.3 million yearly salary. No one else has an AAV higher than $36 million (Gerrit Cole of the New York Yankees).

Ohtani's teammate, Mike Trout, has the largest contract in MLB. He signed a 12-year, $426.5 million deal prior to the 2019 season.

Despite having two of the best players of this generation, the Angels have been unable to build a successful roster and haven't made the playoffs since 2014.

After a promising 27-17 start this season, the Angels lost 14 straight games from May 25 to Wednesday. Joe Maddon was fired as manager after the 12th consecutive loss. Third base coach Phil Nevin will serve as the interim manager for the rest of the season.

The Angels signed Ohtani as an international free agent in December 2017. His deal included a $2.3 million signing bonus. He was coming off a stellar five-season run with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in which he made five All-Star teams and was named Pacific League MVP in 2016.

Ohtani became an instant sensation upon arriving in the United States. The Japanese star was named American League Rookie of the Year in 2018 after posting a .925 OPS in 104 games as a hitter and 3.31 ERA in 10 starts as a pitcher.

An elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery after the 2018 season kept Ohtani from pitching in 2019 and limited him to just two games on the mound in 2020.

Ohtani returned full-time last season and had one of the best seasons in MLB history. The 27-year-old hit .257/.372/.592 with 46 homers, 100 RBI and 26 stolen bases in 155 games. He also had a 3.18 ERA and 156 strikeouts in 130.1 innings over 23 starts on the mound.

The Baseball Writers' Association of America voted Ohtani the American League MVP, making him the 19th unanimous MVP in MLB history.

When the Los Angeles Angels were in the midst of their franchise-record 14-game losing streak, former manager Joe Maddon was willing to go to any length to help motivate his team.

ESPN's Tim Kurkjian reported during this week's Sunday Night Baseball game between the Angels and New York Mets that Maddon had cut his hair into a mohawk as a way to "awaken" the team. However, the players never got to see Maddon's new hairdo because he was fired after Los Angeles' 12th consecutive loss.

Angels general manager Perry Minasian visited Maddon at his home to deliver the news of the firing in-person, which may have been awkward. Minasian apparently was not impressed enough by Maddon's hairstyle to give him another chance.

The Los Angeles Angels are making a coaching change, announcing Tuesday that they have fired manager Joe Maddon after 12 straight losses.

Phil Nevin will take over as interim manager.

Though ESPN's Buster Olney reported earlier Tuesday that the Angels had discussed making a managerial change, the final decision came as a surprise to Maddon.

"A little bit. Actually, a lot," Maddon told The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal when asked if he was surprised by the move. "You always rely on people in charge to read the tea leaves properly. This time, they did not. You didn’t even have to ask me. You can ask any of the players or coaches. They’re the ones who really know."

He also noted there was "no dissension, no finger-pointing" in the clubhouse.

Maddon was hired as manager of the Angels ahead of the 2020 season. In his two-and-a-half seasons at the helm, he was 130-148 and never led the team to a postseason appearance.

Before joining the Angels, Maddon served as manager of the Chicago Cubs from 2015 to '19, going 471-339 in that span and leading the team to four postseason appearances, including a World Series title in 2016.

The 68-year-old also served as manager of the Tampa Bay Rays from 2006 to '14, going 754-705 in that span, leading the team to four playoff appearances, including the World Series in 2008, where it fell to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games.

While the firing means he will no longer be in charge of the Angels, Maddon made it clear he would still be interested in returning to the dugout in the future.

"Of course. Of course I want to manage," Maddon told Rosenthal when asked if he wants another shot at managing. "I’m really good at it."

The Angels' 12-game losing streak began with a 7-2 loss to the Texas Rangers on May 25. They have since been swept in series against the Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies and are down 1-0 in their current four-game series against the Boston Red Sox following a 1-0 loss on Monday.

L.A. has relied heavily on its All-Stars, Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, this season. It was fine at the beginning of the year when they were in peak form and able to carry the rest of the team, but both players have struggled over the course of this losing streak, and the rest of the team hasn't picked up the slack.

In 49 plate appearances over the team's current losing streak, Trout is slashing .114/.204/.205 with one home run and two RBI on just five hits.

Ohtani, who both hits and pitches, is slashing just .180/.333/.385 with two home runs and four RBI on seven hits in 48 plate appearances. The team is also 0-4 in his last four starts dating back to May 11, as he's allowed six home runs and 12 earned runs in 21 innings while striking out 24 and posting a 5.14 ERA.

It's extremely uncharacteristic from both players, though it highlights the remainder of the team's shortcomings and needs for improvement, which it failed to address during the offseason.

The Angels enter Tuesday with a 27-29 record, second in the AL West but 8.5 games behind the Houston Astros for first place. It'll be interesting to see how they respond with Nevin now in charge.

Los Angeles Angels manager Joe Maddon hinted that superstar pitcher/designated hitter Shohei Ohtani may have tipped his pitches during his team's 6-1 road loss to the New York Yankees on Thursday.

Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com relayed Maddon's comments:

It was an unusually rough outing for Ohtani, who allowed four earned runs (three solo home runs) and eight hits in three innings. He struck out just two.

The 27-year-old entered the day with a 3.45 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 44.1 innings. His ERA dropped to 3.99 with the loss.

Ohtani is coming off one of the greatest seasons in MLB history. At the plate, he hit 46 home runs with 100 RBI and a .965 OPS. On the mound, he went 9-2 with a 3.18 ERA and 156 strikeouts in 130.1 innings. Ohtani was the unanimous choice for the American League MVP after the season.

Ohtani hasn't done as well at the plate or on the mound this year, but he's still clearly one of the most valuable players in baseball. He entered Thursday with a more-than-respectable .795 OPS with 11 home runs and 32 RBI.

The Angels are faring better this year, too, although they have lost seven straight and 11 of their last 14. They are still 27-24, good enough for second in the AL West and the sixth and final playoff spot in the league.

For now, Ohtani will shift to designated hitter duties as the Angels look to take one back from the Yankees in the nightcap of their Thursday doubleheader, which begins at 7:05 p.m. ET.

Los Angeles Angels star outfielder Mike Trout is doing his best to steer clear of the dispute between Tommy Pham and Joc Pederson over fantasy football, but that doesn't mean he's ready to give up his spot as league commissioner.

"I haven't made that decision yet," Trout told reporters when asked if he would step down following the incident. "But every commissioner I know always gets booed."

Prior to Friday's game between the San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds, Pham approached Pederson and slapped him in his face.

"He kind of came up and said like, 'You remember from last year?'" Pederson said. "And I was like, 'Fantasy football?' He was like, 'Yeah.'"

Pham sat out the game, which the Reds ended up winning 5-1. He then received a three-game suspension for his actions.

While there are different versions of the story, the dispute comes down to the interpretation of the rules of the fantasy league and a perceived disrespectful exchange.

According to Pederson, in a group chat containing the other MLB players in the fantasy league, Pham accused Pederson of breaking the rules, and Pederson responded with a GIF that he said was meant to be funny.

"We had too much money on the line, so I look at it like there's a code," Pham said Saturday. "You're f--king with my money. Then you're going to say some disrespectful s--t. There's a code to this."

Pham also maintains that Trout bears some of the blame for the whole thing as commissioner of the league.

"Trout did a terrible job, man," Pham said. "Trout’s the worst commissioner in fantasy sports. Because he allowed a lot of s--t to go on, and he could’ve solved it all. ... He didn't want to do it; we put it on him. It was kind of our fault too, because we made him commissioner."

When asked Wednesday if he thinks Pederson broke the rules, Trout said, "I'm not answering that question."

The Reds and Angels will not face each other this season, so there likely won't be any incidents between Trout and Pham going forward.

The Anaheim City Council voted unanimously Tuesday evening to void the city's deal to sell Angel Stadium to Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno.

The Orange County Register's Alicia Robinson noted the Angels still have a lease at Angel Stadium through 2029.

Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu resigned earlier on Tuesday amid an FBI investigation into allegations he leaked information about the sale of Angel Stadium to the team and sought a $1 million campaign donation to finalize the deal.

The Angels agreed to buy the stadium for $320 million.

Sidhu has yet to be charged with any crime, and his lawyer, Paul S. Meyer, issued a statement on his client's behalf: "Mayor Harry Sidhu has always, as his foremost priority, acted in the best interests of the City of Anaheim, and he does so today."

Per Robinson, Meyer also denied the allegation that Sidhu leaked any inside information or attempted to collect an illicit campaign payment.

Angel Stadium, which opened in 1966, is owned by the city of Anaheim.

In December 2019, the Anaheim City Council approved an agreement to sell the stadium to a company owned by Moreno. The city council advanced negotiations in September 2020, voting in favor of a plan to sell 150 acres and the venue to SRB Management for $150 million.

Critics questioned whether the overall $320 million price tag represented fair value to the city. Jose Moreno, a council member who voted against the September 2020 agreements, said one appraisal commissioned by the city said the land would be worth $500 million if Angel Stadium were demolished entirely.

In April, officials from Anaheim and the state of California reached an agreement regarding affordable housing that was included in the stadium sale, which seemed to represent the final hurdle for the city and the Angels.

That's no longer the case.

"The stadium proposal was evaluated and approved on its merits," Mayor Pro Tem Trevor O’Neil said of the situation. "However knowing that there may have been an element of corruption that brought the final product to us, we cannot move forward in good conscience."

Anaheim, California, mayor Harry Sidhu resigned Monday amid allegations that he acted improperly in relation to the sale of Angel Stadium.

According to Nathan Fenno, Seema Mehta, Adam Elmahrek and Gabriel San Roman of the Los Angeles Times, it was alleged after an FBI probe that Sidhu leaked confidential information to the Los Angeles Angels at least twice in hopes of receiving a million-dollar campaign donation from the team.

Sidhu has been accused of bribery, fraud, obstruction of justice and witness tampering.

The city of Anaheim has owned Angel Stadium since it opened in 1966, but it has been in negotiations with Angels owner Arte Moreno to sell the venue to him.

Last week, Moreno called for Anaheim City Council members to finalize the sale by June 14 despite the FBI probe into Sidhu's actions.

Despite the allegations and Sidhu's resignation, his attorney Paul Meyer released the following statement on the matter, per the Los Angeles Times:

"A fair and thorough investigation will prove that [Sidhu] did not leak secret information in hopes of a later political campaign contribution. The negotiations followed lawful practices used in all major business negotiations. No closed session material, no secret information, was disclosed by Mayor Sidhu. The government affidavit confirms that Harry never asked for a political campaign contribution that was linked in any way to the negotiation process."

Meyer added that Sidhu stepped down in order "to continue to act in the best interests of Anaheim and allow this great city to move forward without distraction."

According to the Los Angeles Times, former Anaheim Chamber of Commerce head Todd Ament secretly recorded a conversation with Sidhu in December 2021, and during the discussion, Sidhu said the following regarding the Angels: "We'll push for them at least have a million dollars. You know, for [Angels Representative 1] to say 'no' is bad."

Sidhu, a Republican, announced his resignation shortly after Melahat Rafiei resigned as a member of the Democratic National Committee and state party secretary after she was named in the probe as well.

Thus far, Sidhu has not been charged with any crimes for his alleged actions, and the Angels have not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Amid the controversy, the Angels are off to one of their best starts in years, as their 26-17 record has them just one game behind the Houston Astros for first place in the American League West.

The $320 million sale of Angel Stadium to the MLB franchise is on hold amid an FBI probe into alleged corruption by Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu.

“We will determine what this means for the stadium plan in the days ahead,” Anaheim spokesman Mike Lyster told the Los Angeles Times in a statement. 

Sidhu is accused of greasing the wheels of the sale in order to obtain a donation to his reelection campaign.

"We'll push them at least [to] have a million dollars," Sidhu said on an FBI-recorded phone call. "You know, for [an Angels official] to say 'no' is bad."

The city of Anaheim agreed to sell Angel Stadium and its surrounding parking lots to the team in 2019 for $320 million. It was later announced the Angels would only pay $150 million in cash as part of the deal.

Sidhu also worked to cut affordable housing in the area by Angel Stadium by 80 percent. 

FBI special agent Brian Adkins wrote that Sidhu "knowingly provided confidential information intended for the sole use of Anaheim and its negotiating team to the Angels … with the intent of concealing his actions from the negotiating team and the public, for the purpose of assisting the Angels and himself at the expense of the city of Anaheim."

Adkins also accused Sidhu of attempting to obstruct an investigation into the alleged impropriety. According to the affidavit obtained by the Times, Sidhu instructed an FBI witness to lie to a grand jury about discussions pertaining to the stadium sale.

City councilman Jose Moreno accused Angels owner Arte Moreno and Sidhu of engaging in an "illegal land sale" designed to enrich the owner and the franchise at the expense of the citizens of Anaheim.

Sidhu offered no comment on the story.

Given how much work Shohei Ohtani puts in as a two-way player and the injury volatility of their other starting pitchers, the Los Angeles Angels are reportedly going to take a conservative approach with their rotation. 

Per The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal, the Angels aren't expecting any of their starters to throw more than 165 innings each this season. 

Rosenthal did note the Angels aren't seeing hard limits and "things change" over the course of a 162-game season. 

The Angels have been one of the most pleasant surprises in Major League Baseball through the first month of this season. They are one of only three teams in the American League with at least 20 wins (21-12) entering play on Friday. 

One big reason for their surprising performance thus far is the success of their rotation. Angels starters rank fifth in MLB with a 3.28 ERA and seventh with 3.1 FanGraphs wins above replacement. 

Among their five pitchers who have made at least five starts, Michael Lorenzen is the only one with an ERA above 4.00 (4.13). 

While those numbers are impressive, it's not a shock to hear the Angels want to tread carefully with this group.

Ohtani threw a career-high 130.2 innings last season after throwing a total of 53.1 innings from 2018-20. He didn't pitch at all in 2019 after undergoing Tommy John surgery in October 2018. The reigning AL MVP has been dominant on the mound this season with a 2.78 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 32.1 innings. 

Noah Syndergaard missed almost two full seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery in March 2020. He did make two relief appearances for the New York Mets at the end of the 2021 season. The 29-year-old has a 2.45 ERA through five starts in 2022. 

Patrick Sandoval, who threw a career-high 87 innings last year, leads Angels starters with a 2.03 ERA this season. Rookie Reid Detmers threw a no-hitter against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday, but manager Joe Maddon certainly made it sound after the game like his spot isn't going to be guaranteed. 

"Bully for him," Maddon told reporters. "I mean, that’s potentially a life-altering event for a young man, as a major league player. Hopefully, we’re gonna get a lot of residue out of that in the future because he’s capable. Of course, no-hitters don’t happen all the time. I’m just saying that’s how he should pitch. That’s what he should look like more often."

Detmers entered that start with a 5.32 ERA in his first five appearances. 

Jose Suarez was supposed to be the Angels' sixth starter, but he was demoted to Triple-A on May 1 after posting a 6.35 ERA in four starts. 

If the Angels remain in postseason contention, they might target starting pitchers before the Aug. 2 trade deadline. They could also attempt to push their top starters, including Ohtani and Syndergaard, down the stretch if they can lock up a playoff berth for the first time since 2014.     

Los Angeles Angels star Noah Syndergaard is apparently a no-hitter absolutist.

Angels left-hander Reid Detmers tossed a no-no in the team's 12-0 home victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night. Syndergaard celebrated his teammate's achievement by needling his former team:

The New York Mets had a combined no-hitter in their 3-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on April 29. Five different pitchers contributed to the effort as starter Tylor Megill only went five innings.

While things didn't get too messy in public, the Mets and Syndergaard appeared to have a somewhat acrimonious divorce in the offseason.

The New York Post's Joel Sherman reported in November the 6'6" right-hander preferred to stay in New York. However, he "experienced radio silence from the only team for which he had ever played in the majors while other clubs began to woo him" after the Mets extended a qualifying offer.

And once the Angels tabled a one-year, $21 million deal, Syndergaard didn't grant the Mets an opportunity to match or exceed that offer. Based on recent events, he might still have some bitter feelings about how everything unfolded.