Los Angeles Angels

Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout is headed to the injured list again, but there appears to be some optimism he won't miss an extended stretch.

Angels manager Ron Washington told reporters after Thursday's loss to the Detroit Tigers that the 33-year-old will be placed on the 10-day injured list with a bone bruise in his left knee.

"He has a bone bruise so we’re going to put him on the IL," Washington said. "It's not significant. But he needs rest."

Trout also told reporters Friday that he's "not concerned at all" about missing an extended time because of the injury and that he's "feeling a lot better."

"Talking to the doctors, I've had two meniscuses shaved down, and I just hit it perfectly on the bag," Trout said of his latest injury. "Both bones hit each other, and I bruised both of them."

The injury occurred when Trout extended his leg trying to beat a throw to first base on a groundball in the third inning of Wednesday's 9-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners.

He stayed in the game until the top of the fourth when Jo Adell pinch-hit for him. The three-time AL MVP explained after the loss it was a "weird feeling" when it initially happened, but started to feel better after receiving treatment.

"When it happened, I knew it was like a weird feeling, but now after getting treatment and stuff, it actually feels a little better," Trout said. "Hopefully it just was little scar tissue breaking up, or a little jammed."

Trout tore the meniscus in his left knee last season and required two surgeries, with the second one in August officially ending his 2024 campaign.

Tests before Thursday's game showed no structural damage in his knee. Injuries have become a persistent issue for the 11-time All-Star in recent years. He played a total of 266 out of a possible 648 games from 2021 to 2024.

Trout had been healthy to start 2025 before his knee issue. He played in each of the Angels' first 29 games before sitting out Thursday.

Despite being in the lineup for the first month of the season, he was still trying to find his timing and rhythm in the batter's box. He is only hitting .179/.264/.462, but his nine homers are tied for the fourth-most in MLB.

The Angels will have to call someone up when he is officially placed on the IL. Jorge Soler will likely fill in as their primary right fielder until Trout can return to the lineup.

Los Angeles (12-18) has lost a season-high six straight games and fallen into last place in the AL West.

It seems like Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout avoided a serious injury despite leaving Wednesday's 9-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners early with a knee injury.

Trout told reporters after the game he was already feeling better after undergoing tests and plans on playing in Thursday's contest.

Manager Ron Washington told reporters the team took Trout out as a precaution because he felt some soreness in his left knee.

Trout appeared to suffer the injury when running to first base in the top of the third inning. He took the field for the bottom half of the frame but was replaced by Jo Adell when his spot came up in the order again in the top of the fourth.

Los Angeles returns home to face the Detroit Tigers on Thursday when he hopes to be back in the lineup.

Any injury to the three-time MVP is going to cause some concern seeing how he has reached the 100-game mark just once since the 2019 campaign. He appeared in 29 games last season, 82 games in 2023 and 36 games in 2021 as various ailments have forced him to miss time.

Trout is also off to a difficult start in 2025 with a .173/.261/.462 slash line, although he has shown plenty of power with nine home runs in his first 28 games. His track record suggests he will improve the batting average and other statistics as the season progresses, especially if he is able to stay healthy.

The future Hall of Famer is one of the best players of his generation with a resume that includes three American League MVPs, an AL Rookie of the Year, 11 All-Star selections and nine Silver Sluggers.

The only thing missing from his list of accomplishments is significant playoff success, and the Angels will have to turn things around if that is going to change in 2025.

Los Angeles is in last place in the AL West at 12-17 and has lost five straight games after Wednesday's defeat.

Mike Trout is one of several Los Angeles Angels players unhappy about the team's start time for Thursday's series finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Per The Athletic's Sam Blum, the Angels scheduled the start time for the latest possible moment for a getaway game allowed by the collective bargaining agreement at 6:29 p.m. PT.

The issue for Angels players is playing a night game on Thursday, then hopping on a plane to Minnesota where they will likely get in very late overnight before a 7:40 p.m. ET first pitch against the Twins on Friday.

"It’s not ideal for sure," said Angels superstar Mike Trout. "I don’t know when we’re supposed to land, but it’s going to be early. And we’ve got to play that night. And the worst part about it is, the next day is a day game."

Angels closer Kenley Jansen told Blum the situation isn't "healthy for anybody" because of how much stress the combination of late-night travel and playing games can put on the body.

"To finish playing a night game like that, get in at six in the morning," Jansen said. "Then you’ve got a 7 o’clock game, and the next couple days you have 1 o’clock games. It’s definitely not fair."

Blum noted the start time was picked by Angels management, with the possibility they were anticipating Paul Skenes might be starting for the Pirates. The 2024 NL Rookie of the Year is scheduled to start on Friday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In asking Angels owner Arte Moreno and president John Carpino about the possibility of a Skenes start, Blum wrote that neither one answered whether or not that was a factor in the decision to start the game at the latest time allowed under the CBA.

Another complicating factor in this decision is the airport the Angels have to use to get to Minnesota. According to Blum, their usual airports in Orange County (Long Beach Airport or John Wayne Airport) likely won't be available because they have 10 p.m. curfew times.

Even though the game will likely be over before 10 p.m. local time, when you factor in all of the postgame activities and packing up for a flight, the odds of the Angels being able to make it to either spot by that time is remote.

Instead, the Angels will have to fly out of Los Angeles International Airport that adds roughly 30 minutes to their trip.

Friday's game between the Angels and Twins was originally going to start at 7:10 p.m. CT, but the Twins announced it was moved up by 30 minutes to accommodate an expected increase in traffic in downtown Minneapolis for Game 3 of the NBA playoff series between the Lakers and Timberwolves at Target Center.

Sunday's game is also starting 30 minutes earlier to accommodate Game 4 of the Lakers-Timberwolves.

One rival executive told Blum this is a frequent problem when playing the Angels, saying it would be "great" if they would change how they operate. The executive did add it's not limited to the Angels, citing the Houston Astros and Baltimore Orioles as other examples of teams that cause difficult travel schedules for their opponents.

The Pirates, despite being the road team, aren't going to be as negatively impacted by the start team because they are staying on the west coast this weekend for a three-game series with the Dodgers.

Los Angeles is off to a decent start this season, at least relative to expectations. The Angels are 11-11 going into Thursday's game against the Pirates, but they have lost seven of their last 10 games after an 8-4 start.

Mike Trout confirmed that he's moving to play right field for the Los Angeles Angels during the 2025 season, according to Sam Blum of The Athletic.

Blum noted that Trout will also "mix in a little" time in center field as well as at designated hitter.

The three-time American League MVP has operated as Los Angeles' center fielder throughout his career, playing in right field during a mere 17 of his 1,432 games as a fielder (via Baseball Reference).

ESPN's Alden Gonzalez reported that Trout had a meeting with Angels coaches on Sunday and they determined he'll play right field "in an effort to preserve his body" moving forward.

"I knew it was coming," Trout told reporters. "Just got to get used to it. But I just want to be on the field."

Availability has been an issue for the 11-time All-Star, as he's surpassed 100 games played in just one of the past four seasons. Trout was limited to 29 appearances during his 2024 campaign due to a torn meniscus in his left knee.

He had surgery in May 2024 and was on track to return in late July, but he underwent an MRI that revealed a second tear above the first one and he had season-ending surgery on Aug. 7.

Trout also played in a mere 36 games during the 2021 season due to a right calf strain.

Switching to primarily playing right field should allow the 33-year-old to cover less ground in the outfield and help maintain his lower body health over the course of a full season.

Trout has established himself as one of the top players in the majors when healthy, owning a .299/.410/.581 slash line to go along with 378 home runs and 954 RBIs since his MLB debut in 2011.

As Los Angeles attempts to bounce back from a disappointing 63-99 finish in 2024, Trout will now be in right field.

Coming off another strong season closing games, Kenley Jansen is reportedly leaving the Boston Red Sox to join the Los Angeles Angels.

Per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Jansen and the Angels have agreed to a one-year, $10 million deal in free agency.

Jansen just wrapped up a two-year stint in Boston in which he continued to excel in a ninth-inning role. He owns a 3.44 ERA with 114 strikeouts and 56 saves in 105 appearances since the start of 2023.

It was a surprise that Jansen finished out the 2024 season with the Red Sox. They spent a lot of last offseason shopping him around in trades. Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reported on Jan. 5, 2024 that they were "entertaining offers" for the four-time All-Star.

Jansen's future likely always lied elsewhere after Boston inked a deal with closer Aroldis Chapman in December.

Amid the pivot from Jansen to Chapman, there has been a lot of frustration in Boston over the past few years about how Red Sox management is handling things with the team. In a fan survey conducted by The Athletic's Jen McCaffrey, 73.8 percent of those who responded had little or no confidence the team was headed in the right direction.

There was hope things would be different this offseason. When Craig Breslow was hired as chief baseball officer in November, Red Sox chairman Tom Werner said they were ready to go "full throttle" because "we know that we have to be competitive next year."

Werner backtracked on that statement in January during an interview with Sean McAdam of MassLive.com:

"Maybe that wasn't the most artful way of saying what I wanted to say, which is that we're going to be pressing all levers to improve the team. In the end, nobody's happy with our performance the last few years. Some years, we go after somebody who is about to be a free agent, or was a free agent, as it pertains to Trevor Story or Raffy Devers."

Jansen, who turned 37 on Sept. 30, doesn't fall into the same category as some of the players Boston has moved on from, even if Chapman is only a year younger. But he was still one of the most reliable relievers that manager Alex Cora had to call on out of the bullpen.

In Los Angeles, Jansen will look to give the Angels a reliable option to close out games after a disappointing 63-99 season in 2024.

The Los Angeles Angels tried to make another free-agent splash in their quest to return to relevancy in the American League.

Per The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal, the Angels "made a run" for Anthony Santander by offering him different three- and four-year concepts before he wound up signing with the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays were able to land Santander on a five-year, $92.5 million deal with an opt out after the 2027 season. His contract also includes $61.8 million in deferred money, bringing the present-day value down to $68.6 million.

It doesn't seem like it would have been hard for the Angels to beat that structure, but there's also the possibility that Santander felt like he would have a better chance to compete for a playoff spot with the Blue Jays.

The Angels have prioritized short-term thinking over long-term perspective for years. They've done it again this offseason by signing free agents like 33-year-old Yusei Kikuchi, 35-year-old Kyle Hendricks and 36-year-old Travis d'Arnaud.

On the one hand, it's admirable Angels ownership is still trying to spend money to build around Mike Trout. On the other hand, though, they're starting from such a low point coming off a 63-99 record in 2024 that it's hard to envision them making up enough ground to challenge for the postseason in 2025.

Santander is a flawed player, but he likely would have been the second-best outfielder behind Trout—assuming he can stay healthy—on the Angels next season if a deal would have been worked out.

The Angels are entering the year with Trout, Taylor Ward and Jo Adell as their starting outfielders. Santander made his first All-Star team with the Baltimore Orioles in 2024, hitting a career-high 44 homers in 665 plate appearances.

Los Angeles has made the playoffs just once since the 2010 season. The team hasn't won a playoff game since Game 5 of the 2009 ALCS against the New York Yankees.

Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and his wife Mamiko Tanaka are expecting their first child.

"Can't wait for the little rookie to join our family soon!" Ohtani wrote Saturday on his Instagram.

The Instagram photo announcing the pregnancy also featured Ohtani's dog, Dekopin, who is also nicknamed Decoy.

Ohtani first announced his marriage in February two months after signing a 10-year, $700 million deal to join the Dodgers.

"Not only have I began a new chapter in my career with the Dodgers but I also have began a new life with someone from my Native country of Japan who is very special to me and I wanted everyone to know I am now married," Ohtani wrote on Feb. 29 in an Instagram post.

His wife was later identified as Mamiko Tanaka, who played for the Fujitsu Red Wave in the Women's Japan Basketball League during the 2022-23 season.

Mamiko Tanaka made several public appearances with the Dodgers star before joining him for his team's World Series victory parade in November.

Ohtani led MLB with 134 runs and paced the NL with 130 RBI on his way to a second consecutive MVP award before helping the Dodgers win a championship in 2024.

He could play an even bigger role as the club looks to defend its title next fall. Ohtani is expected to return to pitching for the first time since undergoing elbow surgery in September 2023.

Ohtani underwent left shoulder surgery following the Dodgers' World Series win but is expected to return in time for spring training, according to the team.

Free-agent starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi signed a three-year contract worth $63 million with the Los Angeles Angels on Monday, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

Kikuchi opened the 2024 season with the Toronto Blue Jays before he was traded to the Houston Astros in July.

He thrived in Houston following the change of scenery, becoming a key piece of a rotation that helped the Astros finish with the No. 1 spot in the American League West.

In 22 starts with the Blue Jays to begin the year, Kikuchi owned a 4.75 ERA to go along with a 4-9 record.

As a member of the Astros, the 33-year-old finished with a 5-1 record as well as a 2.70 ERA and 0.933 WHIP. He also struck out 76 batters and allowed 14 walks during 60 innings of worth with Houston.

There appeared to be lots of interest in Kikuchi prior to his decision to join the Angels. ESPN's Jeff Passan reported that the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, Baltimore Orioles and Blue Jays were all eyeing the veteran.

Kikuchi was an All-Star during the 2021 season and wrapped up an impressive 2023 campaign, posting a 3.86 ERA in 32 starts on the Blue Jays and helping Toronto make a postseason appearance.

After finishing the regular season with a 63-99 record to go along with the third-worst ERA among starting pitchers in the majors, the Angels have continued to be aggressive throughout the beginning of the offseason.

Los Angeles signed veteran starter Kyle Hendricks to a one-year contract on Nov. 8. The Angels also added catcher Travis d'Arnaud on a two-year, $12 million deal while trading for outfielder Jorge Soler as well as infielder Scott Kingery.

As Los Angeles looks to improve in 2025, the team made a major addition to its rotation on Monday.

Trading card company Topps revealed a look at Shohei Ohtani's now-autographed, "50-50 Club" baseball cards on Wednesday.

The cards—which celebrate Ohtani's 2024 campaign, in which he became the first player in MLB history to hit at least 50 homers and steal at least 50 bases in the same season—are part of a set exclusively featuring Ohtani.

But three of those cards are one-of-one offerings that include game-worn mementos from the day he joined the 50-50 club, with specific pieces of his pants built into the card.

There will be no shortage of memorabilia from Ohtani's legendary season. These Topps cards should be some of the more prized offerings.