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Clips

(July 1, 2017)

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Today’s Clips Contents

FROM LOS ANGELES TIMES (Page 3)

Mariners hand Angels’ Parker Bridwell his first loss in 10-0 rout

Mike Trout takes batting practice in preparation for rehab assignment

Major League Baseball is ‘failing’ in its attempt to increase front-office diversity and

the issue could get worse

Expect Angels to sign several international players when the spending limit is lifted

Sunday

FROM ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER (Page 16)

Parker Bridwell pounded in Angels’ blowout loss to Mariners

Angels Notes: Mike Trout’s workout on the field went ‘great’

FROM ANGELS.COM (Page 19)

Gaviglio, Nolasco square off in AL West tilt

Scioscia optimistic after Trout’s first BP

Cano goes deep twice, as Mariners roll

FROM ESPN.COM (Page 24)

Cano hits 2 HRs, Miranda pitches Mariners over Angels, 10-0

Brewers trade Nick Franklin to Angels

ESPN’s 2017 AL and NL All-Stars Picks

MLBRank: 20-1 A Yankees prodigy takes his place amongst the best

FROM SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (Page 28)

Nolasco, Angels take aim at Mariners

Brewers trade Nick Franklin to Angels

July 1, 2017 Page 3 of 29

FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

Mariners hand Angels' Parker Bridwell his first loss in 10-0 rout

By Pedro Moura

All season, the Angels have hung around wild-card contention because they have hung around games,

never falling so far behind as to render a revival an impossibility. Accordingly, they lead the major

leagues in comeback victories.

Ten runs is too much, they learned Friday at Angel Stadium. Seattle shut them out, 10-0, in the Angels’

most thorough defeat of 2017, of which not even one positive could be extracted.

“Oh, we’re turning the page on this one,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia began his postgame news

conference. “It was a rough night all the way around.”

Before this laugher, the Angels had not trailed by double-digit runs all season. Their year’s worst defeat

had contained an eight-run margin, to this same Seattle club in May. Left-hander Ariel Miranda started

that game and pitched seven strong innings, surrendering only two runs.

Miranda started Friday night, too, and restricted the Angels to one single, one double, and two walks

over seven stronger innings. The 28-year-old Cuban is no ace. He entered the game with a career 4.02

earned-run average, and this season he has pitched to a 4.24 ERA against teams not named after

spiritual beings. But against these Angels, he has dominated.

To oppose him, the Angels sent right-hander Parker Bridwell to the mound for his fourth career start.

His first three produced better results than most anyone expected. The trend did not continue. The

control issues he pitched through two starts ago in New York did not plague him. Instead, he suffered

the opposite problem: His pitches caught too much of the plate.

In the first four innings, Bridwell benefited from two lucky lineouts that went as double plays, and an

elite catch from left fielder Eric Young Jr., who tracked Robinson Cano’s drive into the left-field fence

to end the third.

In the fifth, Cano struck to a degree no Angel defender could prevent. He slammed a first-pitch fastball

into the first row of the right-field seats for a three-run home run after three Mariner hits.

Bridwell had been pounded for nine hits and five runs in five innings, and still he stayed in the game. He

finished the sixth on three batters, again aided by a double play.

“I have to locate better,” Bridwell said. “I’ve gotta be better in five days, and I will be.”

July 1, 2017 Page 4 of 29

Scioscia turned to Yusmeiro Petit for the seventh. Five days before, Scioscia had asked Petit to record a

rare two-inning save with the Angels up one run. On Friday, Scioscia asked him to be the long man. Petit

performed the more important task, but failed the latest. He gave up another home run to Cano in the

seventh and failed to finish the inning.

He may have been hurt. Before Cano clubbed an 0-and-2 breaking ball for a two-run shot, a Ben Gamel

single struck Petit’s right shin. A trainer tested it for sensitivity, but he remained in the game for two

more batters, and Scioscia said he would be fine.

Rookie right-hander Brooks Pounders pitched the rest of the game. At that point, his rate of success was

irrelevant. The Angels needed innings, and he provided them, then readied to head back to triple-A Salt

Lake.

The Angels (42-42) came closest to scoring in the ninth inning, against long-limbed 23-year-old right-

hander Max Povse, who was pitching in the second big league game of his life. Albert Pujols walked

and Ben Revere singled. With two runners in scoring position, Jefry Marte pounded a ball bound for left

field, but Seattle’s Taylor Motter slid for it and jump-threw in time for the out.

The Angels did reap one advantage from the advanced lead, as Scioscia rested his regulars in the late

innings. He has rarely been able to do so this season because of the continuous tight finishes. Kole

Calhoun, Yunel Escobar and Andrelton Simmons all exited early, and Simmons earlier appeared pained

when he slid awkwardly onto his left knee while fielding a groundout.

Mike Trout takes batting practice in preparation for rehab assignment

By Pedro Moura

The specifics of Mike Trout’s path back to the Angelslineup are becoming clearer.

The center fielder, who is recovering from thumb surgery, took batting practice Friday at Angel Stadium

and will need to do so for three to five more days before starting a minor league rehab assignment.

“He feels good with it,” manager Mike Scioscia said. “But he needs the batting practice just to get the

stamina up and make sure that everything’s firing the way it should.”

Trout could begin play Tuesday for triple-A Salt Lake or for Class-A Inland Empire.

The first half of the major league season ends July 9. If Trout starts playing early in the week, a return in

Texas before ends is plausible. If he requires more time, he’d likely target the first day after the All-Star

break, July 14 against Tampa Bay, for his return.

Garrett Richards is nearing evaluation

July 1, 2017 Page 5 of 29

Right-hander Garrett Richards has not pitched since the season’s third day because of biceps nerve

irritation. He has recouped strength and is scheduled to visit a doctor next week for an evaluation.

General manager Billy Eppler said the date has not been set. Scioscia said the best-case scenario would

be Richards being cleared to begin a throwing program.

Richards, 29, said in mid-May that he had targeted an August return. For that to be possible, he would

need to be cleared immediately.

“We felt this might be a little bump in the road,” Scioscia said. “It’s turned out to be a pretty big crater.”

Nick Franklin joins Angels

The Angels acquired utility man Nick Franklin from Milwaukee for a player to be named or cash.

Franklin, 26, is out of options and has been added to the club’s 40-man roster, so he must join the

Angels’ 25-man roster this weekend.

Drafted as a second baseman two picks behind Trout in 2009, Franklin has played primarily in the

outfield in recent seasons.

Short hops

The Angels sent left-hander Jose Alvarez to Salt Lake and recalled right-hander Brooks Pounders. … The

Angels will activate right-hander Bud Norris on Saturday from the disabled list. … Recovered from a one-

day bout with a stomach bug, right-hander Matt Shoemaker said he will throw a bullpen session

Saturday. He has not pitched since June 14 because of a forearm strain. … Angels owner Arte

Moreno will present Albert Pujolswith the bat and ball from his 600th home run at a pregame ceremony

Saturday.

Major League Baseball is ‘failing’ in its attempt to increase front-office diversity and the issue

could get worse

By Bill Shaikin

This year marks the 70th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s breaking baseball’s color barrier, and the 45th

anniversary of his last public appearance. He had accepted an invitation to throw out the ceremonial

first pitch at the 1972 World Series but had no interest in serving as a prop for the sport to pat itself on

the back.

He stood dignified on the field in Cincinnati, in coat and tie, his hair turned silver, his hands clasped and

his head bowed as he listened to Bowie Kuhn, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, bestow

July 1, 2017 Page 6 of 29

plaudits upon him. Robinson then stepped forward to accept a plaque, and gave a 17-second speech

that challenges baseball to this day.

“Thank you very much, commissioner,” he said. “I am extremely proud and pleased to be here this

afternoon, but must admit I’m going to be tremendously more pleased and more proud when I look at

that third-base coaching line one day and see a black face managing in baseball. Thank you very much.”

Robinson died nine days later. By 1987 — 40 years after Robinson’s debut — three black men had been

hired and fired as manager, one as general manager, and the number of African Americans in each

category had returned to zero.

"If you were to ask me if I think we've made enough progress, the answer is no," the commissioner told

The Los Angeles Times.

That was not Rob Manfred today, although it could be. Those were the words of Peter Ueberroth in

1987.

The gulf between the faces who play the sport and the faces who run the sport never has been wider.

And under its current strategy, the numbers could get worse before they get better.

“We are failing in that regard,” said Tony Clark, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players

Assn.

In a season in which a record 43% of players are minorities, according to the Institute for Diversity and

Ethics in Sport, the Angels’ Arte Moreno is the only minority controlling owner.

No one who is not a white man has served as a president or chief executive of a team since 2011. And

there are only three minority managers, including the Dodgers’ Dave Roberts, down from a high of 10 in

2009.

“There is a lot more that needs to be done,” Rachel Robinson, Jackie’s wife, said last year.

In seven of the past eight years, the number of minorities in control of a team’s baseball operations

department has declined or stayed the same. This year, that number is three.

::

In the waning days of the 2015 season, over the sounds of balls colliding with bats and landing in gloves,

Chris Gwynn heard his cellphone ring.

He was on a field in Peoria, Ariz., working with a prospect in the Seattle Mariners’ instructional league.

The Angels were calling. They were looking for a general manager, and they wanted to interview him.

July 1, 2017 Page 7 of 29

“I kind of went, ‘Whoa. I thought this was already settled,’ ” Gwynn said.

Within the industry, Billy Eppler was widely regarded as a shoo-in for the job. In 2011, the previous time

the Angels had hired a general manager, Eppler had been the runner-up.

“There’s always that thought: Is this a real interview?” Gwynn said. “There’s always that thought for

minorities: Am I just checking a box, or do they really have interest in me?”

In 1999, then-Commissioner Bud Selig directed teams to consider minorities when filling vacancies for

manager, general manager, assistant general manager, scouting director and minor league director.

With more minorities in the candidate pool, the logic went, surely more would get hired — maybe not

after a first interview, but after a second or third interview they might not have gotten without the

chance to make a strong impression the first time.

When he enacted what came to be known as the Selig Rule, three teams were managed by minorities.

That number rose to five in 2000, seven in 2001 and 10 in 2002, a record tied in 2009. That same year, a

record five teams employed a minority general manager.

Today, 18 years after the introduction of the Selig Rule, the number of minority managers is the same as

when Selig imposed the rule.

“These things are cyclical,” said Selig, 82, who is in his second year of retirement. “I think we’re very

much on the right track.

“Would you like it to be better? Of course. I hope you and I have the opportunity to speak five or 10

years from now. I think you will agree with me that this is cyclical.”

That opinion rings hollow to Richard Lapchick, the director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in

Sport. Lapchick, who has studied racial and gender hiring practices in sports for three decades, said the

trend has lasted too long to be cyclical.

“I think baseball needs to be concerned,” he said. “Just bringing in a diverse pool of candidates has not

produced the numbers they want.

“The number is low enough and has been low enough for the past couple years that there has got to be

a way to come up with a bigger hiring pool.”

On Aug. 13, 2015, in his seventh month in office, Manfred announced that the league had retained Korn

Ferry, an executive search firm, to prepare teams and candidates for interviews in jobs subject to the

Selig Rule. The announcement said Korn Ferry would give “special emphasis to the preparation of

minority and female candidates.”

July 1, 2017 Page 8 of 29

Gwynn, brother of the late Hall of Fame outfielder Tony Gwynn, interviewed with the Angels six weeks

later. He said no one reached out to help prepare him for the interview.

He said he thought the Angels were sincere. He talked about how he knew the market, by growing up in

Long Beach and playing for the Dodgers. He explained how he would rebuild the Angels’ barren player

development system, using his experience as a scout and player personnel director for the San Diego

Padres and as a minor league director for the Seattle Mariners.

And, since former general manager Jerry Dipoto had clashed with manager Mike Scioscia, Gwynn made

sure to point out he could get along with Scioscia. He already had. The men had adjacent lockers for five

years with the Dodgers because Scioscia wore No. 14 and Gwynn wore No. 15.

That was Gwynn’s first — and, to this point, last — interview for a general manager job. After the Angels

hired Eppler, Gwynn said no one reached out to offer ways he could improve his skills to remain atop

the candidate pool.

Two weeks before the Angels interviewed Gwynn, the Milwaukee Brewers interviewed Tyrone Brooks,

then director of player personnel for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Brewers were looking for a general manager too. Brooks, who like Gwynn is African American, said

that Korn Ferry worked with the Brewers during the interview process but not with him.

The Brewers, like the Angels, hired a white man. Brooks said he believed the Brewers gave him “a full

and fair chance” in his first interview for a GM job. But, after more than two decades of working his way

up the front-office ladder with three teams, Brooks wasn’t about to wait around for a second chance.

On his own time, Brooks had developed a baseball networking group of more than 30,000 members on

the LinkedIn website. He quit his job with the Pirates and went to work for the league.

He was tired of hearing about baseball’s diversity problem. He wanted to do something about it.

::

As the ballroom doors opened at the Arizona Biltmore on an afternoon this February, baseball’s diversity

problem was easy to see. It was Cactus League media day, when the manager and general manager of

every team that trains in Arizona makes himself available to reporters.

The Dodgers — Jackie Robinson’s team — have a minority manager in Roberts and a minority general

manager in Farhan Zaidi. Even then, the final say in the Dodgers’ personnel decisions rests with Andrew

Friedman, the president of baseball operations.

The other 14 teams represented in the ballroom, combined, had one minority manager and zero

minority general managers.

July 1, 2017 Page 9 of 29

Manfred, the commissioner, won’t say what numbers might have been acceptable. “That’s called a

quota, and that’s probably against the law,” he said.

The situation goes well beyond optics. Manfred last month introduced a 16-man committee to advise

owners in “on-field matters.” The committee includes three owners, three team presidents, three

baseball operations chiefs, four managers and two Hall of Famers.

“Some of the best minds in our game, from a variety of positions and perspectives,” Manfred said in the

announcement.

The committee could examine the type of issue that was revived during this year’s World Baseball

Classic: whether the major leagues should embrace the joy and flair with which baseball is played in

Latin and Asian countries, where a bat flip might trigger a smile rather than a fight or retaliatory

beanball.

But only two on the committee are minorities: one is Latino; another was born in Japan — Roberts, who

grew up primarily in Southern California.

“Our industry, I believe, is suffering as a result of the lack of diversity,” said Clark, the union chief.

“Diversity offers a perspective and experience that can be a part of the conversation and can’t be

replicated any other way than to access the talent that has that history and that perspective and that

experience.”

However, what is good for the game might not always be what is good for a team. An owner who

appreciates the need for diversity might still decide a white man is the best candidate.

“I do believe there is something fundamentally American about the idea that the best guy should get the

job,” Manfred said. “I think it’s very difficult to ask owners to do anything other than that. I think they

have to do that, in a really competitive business.

“I think our job is to make sure you have a pool of candidates where there is a reasonable likelihood that

the best guy is going to be a diverse candidate.”

That challenge is made more difficult in an industry notorious for breeding copycats.

The current trend of hiring for expertise in statistical analysis is so pronounced that when Seattle

Mariners President Kevin Mather called the commissioner’s office two years ago to get

recommendations for a general manager, he said he was told: "We're assuming you're looking for a

younger, analytic guru, computer-nerd type.

“Everybody else is asking,” he said he was told.

July 1, 2017 Page 10 of 29

Mather later said he “embellished a little bit.” Manfred said his office never recommends a specific

person but instead recommends “a slate of candidates” diverse in skill sets as well as in racial makeup.

“The philosophy in this office is that analytics are great, but the best-run clubs have some combination

of analytics and more traditional thinking, and who you want to sit at the top of an organization is a

business judgment the owner needs to make,” Manfred said.

“It is really rare — a unicorn — to find the guy who is an A+ analytical, sabermetric guy and an A+

traditional baseball-thinking guy.”

::

The rise of the “A+ analytical, sabermetric guy” has had the unintended consequence of altering the

likely career path of a baseball executive.

Of today’s general managers and baseball operations chiefs, 15 attended Ivy League schools. Three

times as many executives went to Harvard as played in the major leagues — two: Dipoto, the guy hired

by Mather to run the Mariners, and Billy Beane of the Oakland Athletics.

Dipoto was 32 when his playing career ended. David Stearns was 30 when the Brewers hired him as

general manager, the job for which Brooks had interviewed.

Stearns attended Harvard, interned with the Pirates, worked in the front offices of three other clubs and

in the commissioner’s office. He might be the model for what has become an overwhelmingly white

collection of young, highly educated, analytical executives who never played the game at a high level.

“I don’t think as an industry we’ve necessarily pigeon-holed it quite like that,” Stearns said. “The

qualities that I think owners and clubs are looking for are people who have the ability to process large

amounts of information, people who can lead organizations and set a culture of winning, innovation and

collaboration.”

As a mission statement, that might sound perfectly suited for use by an executive search firm. But the

skills that enable the chief executive of a clothing company to become the chief executive of a

restaurant chain — the skills a search firm might focus on in finding executive candidates — are not

necessarily transferable to baseball.

And, for all the publicity baseball attracts, the league is not a corporate behemoth as much as 30 small

businesses operating in association with one another, and a fraternity of owners sharing

recommendations. It’s an old boys’ network, even if the old boys recommend young candidates.

Turnover is rapid, the pressure to win is intense, and the mentoring that typically develops among junior

and senior executives in corporate America is rare. An executive at Bank of America or Coca-Cola might

nurture a woman or minority because the two might work at the company for decades.

July 1, 2017 Page 11 of 29

“General managers have a shelf life of two to four years,” said a major league executive, speaking on

condition of anonymity. “So why am I going to spend my time trying to develop somebody when I

should be trying to figure out who I can get to play shortstop?”

In the current environment, hiring an analytically minded, highly-educated manager or general manager

has become the safe choice.

“You can’t tell me honestly that owners don’t get swayed by public opinion,” the executive said. “When

it’s their reputation at stake, when it’s their standing in the community, when you’re resting it all on

somebody’s head that you’re not quite sure about, it’s going to take someone with a lot of courage.”

If the “best guy” for the job were going to be a minority candidate, the pool of candidates needed to be

deeper, developed from an earlier age, equipped with relationships throughout the league.

“You’re only going to get a lot of really qualified candidates if you focus on what happens when they are

22 years old,” Chicago Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer said.

Manfred decided the league had to develop the executives in much the same way a team develops its

players. Korn Ferry had to go. Manfred took the mission in-house.

::

The commissioner’s office did not shy from talking about its diversity dilemma. Manfred sat in a

conference room at league headquarters in New York for a one-on-one interview. In another room, five

high-ranking league executives spent an hour detailing what they plan to do about it.

Brooks was one of those executives. After the Brewers rejected him for general manager, he put that

goal on hold and came to work for Manfred, to launch what the league calls its “pipeline program,” to

get those diverse 22-year-olds into baseball, to get them trained, mentored and on a path to top

positions.

Tony Reagins was another of those executives. Reagins, the Angels’ general manager from 2007-11, was

the fourth African American general manager in major league history. He now runs the league’s youth

programs.

Brooks and Reagins each started his baseball career as an intern — Brooks in baseball operations for

the Atlanta Braves, Reagins in marketing for the Angels.

Eppler, the Angels’ current general manager, worked as an intern for the NFL’s Washington Redskins,

then started as a part-time scout for the Colorado Rockies, making $5,000 per year. John Coppolella, the

Atlanta Braves’ general manager, turned down a job at Intel for $90,000 per year to take a New York

Yankeesinternship for $18,000 per year.

July 1, 2017 Page 12 of 29

Internships are an important first step to building industry connections. Yet the recent trend

toward hiring Ivy League graduates, most of whom are economically able to work an internship

or two for near-zero wages, has amplified baseball’s diversity problem.

For the first time, the league is prepared to subsidize minority candidates who cannot afford to

live on intern wages.

“We are absolutely willing to spend our money to ensure that individuals who couldn’t

otherwise do so can take advantage,” said Dan Halem, the league’s chief legal officer.

Baseball now recruits minority candidates — at job fairs, career days and at baseball games

among historically black colleges — promising a salary healthy enough to persuade them to

choose a major league team over a Fortune 500 company.

“We’re in competition with Goldman Sachs,” said Renee Tirado, hired alongside Brooks as the

league’s vice president of talent acquisition, diversity and inclusion. “We look at this as an

investment.

“This is not an affirmative action program. We’re not going to target Latino and African

American kids just because they play baseball and find a job for them. … These are going to be,

as the commissioner says, the A+ kids. We haven’t been as proactive in getting out there and

saying, ‘Come here first, before you go to Goldman, or you go to Google.’ ”

In his first year, Brooks said he placed 32 minority candidates with teams or with the league

office. One is Andre Park, a Korean whom Brooks said he found working for the Seoul-based

club LG Twins and placed with the Dodgers. Park is living in the Dominican Republic, assisting in

the Dodgers’ video operations there and immersing himself in learning Spanish.

Under Brooks, the league has explored ways to equip minority candidates with skills that are in

demand.

In March, the league paid the registration costs for 10 college students to attend the Society for

American Baseball Research analytics conference in Phoenix, then arranged a seminar with the

Dodgers’ front office. The league also has launched seminars on analytics, salary arbitration and

waiver rules for the Buck O’Neil Professional Scouts and Coaches Assn., a group with a

predominantly minority membership.

And, despite the decades-long good intentions of committees and task forces, no one had the

authority Brooks does now.

July 1, 2017 Page 13 of 29

Teams with high-profile openings must check with him for recommendations on minority

candidates. Teams must submit to him a list of diverse employees with high potential and

identify how that potential will be nurtured so they can be prepared for those openings.

“This is not a guarantee anyone will get there,” Halem said. “This is an opportunity to hold clubs

accountable so the candidates have the opportunity to grow.”

Manfred defines success in baseball’s diversity efforts not by getting any particular numbers

but by putting in a process that can be trusted.

“I want programs in place that ensure we are hiring enough qualified minority candidates,” he

said. “I want programs in place in which we take people who make progress in the baseball

operations area and work with them on their career path, and on rounding out their skills, so

we know we are creating a pool of qualified candidates that are available to take those jobs.

And then I want clubs giving a genuine opportunity to diverse candidates.

“After that, the numbers are going to shake out the way they’re going to shake out.”

Expect Angels to sign several international players when the spending limit is lifted Sunday

By Pedro Moura

Carlos Gomez, the Angels’ international scouting director, was standing between fields where minor

league games were being played at the team’s Tempe, Ariz., spring-training complex in March as he

started to answer a question about Roberto Baldoquin, a Cuban infielder he had pushed to sign late in

2014.

Just then, a hard grounder was hit toward the shortstop and the executive paused mid-thought.

“Please make that play,” Gomez said as he watched Baldoquin scoop up the ball and deliver an

on-target throw. “That would suck if he booted it right there.”

Baldoquin’s defense is OK. His hitting is not. At 23, he is struggling in the low minors, an

unequivocal flop since the Angels paid nearly $15 million — more than double what had been

the international spending record — to sign him.

Because that bonus figure far exceeded their available pool of money, Major League Baseball

rules prohibited the Angels from spending more than $300,000 to sign another international

prospect for two years. That limit ends Sunday, when the club can again spend up to $4.75

million to sign talented teenagers from foreign lands.

July 1, 2017 Page 14 of 29

The Angels are expected to sign several, most prominently Bahamian outfielder Trent Deveaux,

a top-20 international prospect according to Baseball America. The Bahamas Tribune reported

in February that Deveaux and the Angels agreed to a $1.2-million bonus; on his Instagram

account, he lists himself as a professional player for the team.

As Gomez fixed his outlook toward Sunday’s start of the 2017-2018 international signing

period, he said he had learned from failure under former Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto.

“I would’ve liked to have been a little more thorough, to know more,” Gomez said. “At that point, it

really wasn’t so much about the money. … We just had to beat other teams, and we had to do it with

less information than we ideally wanted.”

Gomez said the nature of the international market, with its limited access to the players, can

create a risky scouting environment.

“If you really like a guy and you know other people really like him, and you go, ‘OK, let’s check it

out, let’s follow our process, let’s be exact about how we do things,’ you might be too late,”

Gomez said. “You hear about deals that get done early, teams that saw a guy three or four

times and then they decide, ‘OK, I think this is the best guy available, let’s give him $2.5 million.’

Sometimes, it works. Oftentimes, it doesn’t.”

Gomez, 39, is a former independent league submarine pitcher who earned his first front-office

job in 2007, after his insightful posts on pitching garnered attention on The Hardball Times and

Baseball Think Factory, online hubs for critical thinking about the sport. Dipoto, who was then

working for Arizona, read them and offered Gomez a job. Five years later, Dipoto brought him

to Anaheim.

Described by coworkers past and present as notably passionate, Gomez wasn’t the only Angels

executive who was wrong about Baldoquin.

“He’s not a raw, let’s-wait-and-see-how-this-turns-out projection,” Dipoto said at the time. "He

looks like a major league player now.”

Scott Servais, who was then an assistant general manager, also indicated the Angels liked the

shortstop’s potential but were already sold on his ability. “His ceiling is good, don't get me

wrong; we like his ceiling,” said Servais, who is now Seattle’s manager under Dipoto. “But his

floor is very high."

July 1, 2017 Page 15 of 29

In 193 games in Class A, Baldoquin has hit .228 with a .279 on-base percentage and .295

slugging percentage. He’s hitting slightly better after a demotion to low-A Burlington, Iowa,

where he is among the team’s oldest players.

Although Gomez is not ready to give up, Baldoquin may not be long for affiliated baseball. The

degree to which the Angels erred prompts questions about the decision-making process

involved. Now in his second season on the job, current general manager Billy Eppler declined to

discuss the matter in detail.

“It’s hard for me to comment on the process that was utilized in that signing because I was

somewhere else at that moment in time,” Eppler said this week. “From a 30,000-foot view,

we’ve worked to understand any process that was here, whether it related to player

performance, player development, and we’ve implemented our process for every single

department.”

During last year’s international signing period, the Angels signed more than 20 teenage players

— none for more than that $300,000 limit.

The MLB restrictions forced the organization to focus on prospects who lacked the potential

star qualities or polish of the top tier of international prospects. In the last year, Eppler said

players hoping to sign for millions wouldn’t attend the Angels’ workouts.

It’ll be many years before it becomes clear how those efforts panned out.

Jaime Barria, a right-hander from Panama, is a rare success story for the Angels in the international

market. Signed for $60,000 in 2013, before Baldoquin and at a time when the Angels also weren’t

spending much money internationally, he is among the organization’s top prospects. At 20, he is

pitching in double A and has earned an invitation to participate in the All-Star Futures Game.

Gomez embraces the uncertainty inherent in the international scouting industry. He knows that only

one in about 20 foreign signees will reach the major leagues. He understands he will be wrong

about future prospects. But with the Baldoquin blunder, he saw an opportunity to better

develop valuable scouting skills.

Any scout can tell which players run the fastest, hit the farthest and throw the hardest, he said.

There is little skill required to measure those traits.

“But it’s not about what they’re doing now, it’s what they will be doing in the future,” Gomez

said. “So, in a way, it allowed us to hopefully train ourselves to look for the guys that seem

July 1, 2017 Page 16 of 29

undervalued now when, in reality, they have these characteristics that tell us maybe they’ll be

better, throw harder, run faster, or be better players in the future than they are now.”

FROM ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Parker Bridwell pounded in Angels’ blowout loss to Mariners

By Jeff Fletcher

ANAHEIM — For four innings, Parker Bridwell defied the odds.

And then the fifth happened, ruining the night for Bridwell and the Angels.

Bridwell, who had skated through four innings of line drives with only one run on the board, was finally

burned by four runs in the fifth inning of the Angels’ 10-0 loss to the Seattle Mariners on Friday night.

The big blow was a three-run homer by Robinson Cano in the fifth, his first of two homers on the night.

Charged with five runs, Bridwell took a step back after a couple encouraging performances in his rookie

season. Bridwell had not allowed more than three runs in four games, and in his previous two outings he

gave up two runs apiece at Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park.

“He was ahead in the count so much in his good games and tonight he reversed that,” Manager Mike

Scioscia said. “He had to work back into counts a lot and those guys swung the bats well tonight.”

The Mariners were on Bridwell from the start.

In the second inning, Mitch Haniger hit a 111 mph line drive that was snagged by third baseman Yunel

Escobar and turned into a double play. In the third, Cano drilled a ball 101 mph, but Eric Young Jr.

caught it while crashing against the left field fence. In the fourth, Haniger hit a 103 mph liner

into another double play.

At that point, the only run had scored on Mike Zunino’s 446-foot homer in the third. But it was clear

that Bridwell wasn’t fooling the Mariners hitters.

Scioscia said, although Bridwell clearly wasn’t sharp, he wanted to give him a chance to turn it around.

Just a few days earlier, the Angels had seen Alex Meyer get through three sloppy innings, with no runs

scoring, and then he pitched three strong innings to finish his outing.

“You just let it play out,” Scioscia said. “There are times pitchers start to make better pitches and they

finish strong. With Brid, he never got his feet on the ground.”

July 1, 2017 Page 17 of 29

The bullpen was quiet as Bridwell began the fifth inning. Jarrod Dyson led off the inning with a double into

right field. After a groundout, Jean Segura doubled into left-center, making it 2-0. Ben Gamel then ripped a

single up the middle, sending Segura to third.

Bridwell’s first pitch to Cano was belted just over the fence in right, pumping the lead to 5-0 and

changing the complexion of the game.

“Obviously not a good outing,” Bridwell said. “I’ve got to be better in five days, and I will be.”

Even if Scioscia had a quicker hook on Bridwell, it still might not have mattered because the offense was

quiet against Seattle lefty Ariel Miranda.

The Angels didn’t get their first hit against Miranda until the fourth inning, when Kole Calhoun’s broken-

bat flare dropped into center. They had only two hits against him in seven innings.

Albert Pujols and Cameron Maybin, two key hitters at the top of the order, have both been particularly

cold lately.

Pujols is hitting .196 (19 for 97) since he hit his 600th homer on June 3.

Maybin, who had been hot for more than a month, has also come crashing back to Earth lately. He’s hitting

.135 over his last 37 at-bats, with 12 strikeouts.

As for the Angels’ overall ineffectiveness against Miranda, Scioscia gave credit to the pitcher.

“He pitched well,” Scioscia said. “He hit his spots and changed speeds well. We didn’t get too many good

looks at him. When we did get some pitches to hit, we didn’t square them up. It’s a rough night all

around.”

Angels Notes: Mike Trout’s workout on the field went ‘great’

By Jeff Fletcher

ANAHEIM — Soaked in sweat after a 30-minute workout on the field at Angel Stadium on Friday

afternoon, including line drives and balls flying into the seats during batting practice, Mike Trout voiced

continued optimism about his return.

“It felt good,” he said. “It was good to get out on the field. After being in the cage, you don’t get that full

experience of taking BP. It felt good. A little sore, but it’s normal.”

Trout said he still isn’t sure when he’s going to be back.

July 1, 2017 Page 18 of 29

“I leave it up to the trainers,” he said. “They just told me to hit BP and get my work in and see how it

feels.”

Trout hit for about seven or eight minutes, his first on-field batting practice since undergoing surgery to

repair a ligament in his left thumb about four weeks ago. Trout also played catch, threw to bases and did

some baserunning.

Manager Mike Scioscia, who said Friday’s workout was “great,” said Trout still needs to repeat that for at

least three more days before he could begin a rehab assignment.

“We’re going to take it day by day,” Scioscia said. “If he needs five, six, seven days, whatever it’s going to

be, then it is. But the way he swung the bat today was encouraging. He’s going to need to repeat it a

number of times before you can start to map out when he can go on a rehab.”

NEW PLAYER ON THE WAY

The Angels acquired utility man Nick Franklin from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for cash

considerations or a player to be named. Franklin is expected to join the Angels’ active roster on Saturday,

although it’s unclear who he will replace or how he will be used.

Franklin, 26, was a first-round pick in 2009 and briefly considered a top prospect. He spent parts of five

major league seasons with the Seattle Mariners, who drafted him, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Brewers.

A middle infielder earlier in his career, he has played mostly outfield the last two seasons. The switch-

hitting Franklin is better from the left side, against right-handed pitchers. He has a career .693 OPS against

righties, including .699 in 74 plate appearances this season.

TEST FOR RICHARDS

Garrett Richards, who has been out almost the entire season because of nerve irritation in his biceps, is

expected to undergo a full evaluation sometime next week, General Manager Billy Eppler said. The exam

will include an EMG test, which measures muscle response to nerve stimulation.

Scioscia said the “best-case scenario” is that Richards would then be cleared to resume throwing. Even if

that does happen, he would still be at least a month away from pitching in the majors, essentially needing

almost an entire spring training’s worth of work.

Scioscia said the Angels didn’t expect Richards to be out this long.

“We felt this might be a little bump in the road,” he said. “It’s turned out to be a pretty big crater.”

BULLPEN MOVES

July 1, 2017 Page 19 of 29

The Angels optioned struggling lefty Jose Alvarez to Triple-A, recalling Brooks Pounders to take his place,

temporarily. Alvarez had a 5.40 ERA, including an 8.10 mark in his last 21 games.

“It’s just really some command issues,” Scioscia said. “He’s not overpowering. He lost his release point on

his breaking ball. Some were good and some were just spinning. His glove side command to lefties, hitting

that outside corner, was a little spotty as the season moved on. He’s got some things to work on. He’ll be

back.”

After the game, in which Pounders gave up three runs in 2-1/3 innings, he was optioned back to Triple-A,

presumably to make room for Bud Norris. Norris has been on the disabled list with right knee

inflammation.

Norris had been the Angels’ primary closer before he got hurt, but now the team has several options,

including Cam Bedrosian, so it’s unclear how Scioscia will use the bullpen. Lately he’s been using pitchers in

a variety of roles from one day to the next.

The Angels currently have no lefty in the bullpen, but Scioscia said the righties have been effective enough

against lefties that it’s not an issue.

ALSO

Matt Shoemaker (forearm tightness) returned to the team after missing a day with what he felt was a

stomach bug. He is expected to throw a full bullpen session on Saturday. If that goes well, he could then be

scheduled for a rehab assignment. …

A ceremony honoring Albert Pujols for his 600th homer will be held before Saturday’s game. The

ceremony is scheduled to begin just after 7. …

The Angels are unsure how much time Tyler Skaggs lost with the recent setback in his rehab from a

strained oblique. Skaggs was cleared to resume throwing. “I don’t think he’ll be knocked back to 20 throws

at 60 feet but he’s certainly going to have to work into his long toss again and prove this is behind him

before he gets out there on the mound and starts to get after it,” Scioscia said. Skaggs, who has been back

in the clubhouse this week, said he’s feeling “great.”

FROM ANGELS.COM

Gaviglio, Nolasco square off in AL West tilt

By Greg Johns / MLB.com

July 1, 2017 Page 20 of 29

Mariners rookie Sam Gaviglio will square off against Angels veteran Ricky Nolasco in a battle of right-

handers in Saturday's middle game of a three-game series at Angel Stadium.

Gaviglio has been very solid in eight starts since being promoted when the Mariners were minus four of

their original members of the rotation, going 3-2 with a 3.38 ERA. He now appears to have a more

permanent place in the rotation with news that Drew Smyly faces Tommy John surgery and won't pitch

at all this year, while Hisashi Iwakuma continues to deal with a shoulder issue.

The Mariners have regained Felix Hernandez and James Paxton over the past few weeks, but Gaviglio

has pitched well enough to keep a spot.

"The expectations haven't changed and they won't," Mariners manager Scott Servais said. "Just do your

thing and keep us in ballgames, give us a chance to win, trust your stuff with the sinker and getting the

breaking ball over when he has to. I don't think he'll think any differently. I don't want to raise any

expectations or want him to do more than he's done, because he's been fine."

Nolasco (3-9, 4.86 ERA) is looking to build on his last outing, when he threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings in a

4-0 victory over the Dodgers and snapped a career-long and Angels franchise-tying record of seven

straight starts with a loss.

The 34-year-old has allowed 23 home runs, the most of any American League pitcher. He is 1-4 with a

4.76 ERA in seven career starts against Seattle and has had trouble with both Robinson Cano (.412

average with three homers in 17 at-bats) and Nelson Cruz (.333 with three homers in 21 at-bats)

Things to know about this game

• Gaviglio has made do at the big league level so far despite missing few bats. His 5.9-percent swinging-

strike rate as a starter is third-lowest among all pitchers who have thrown at least 500 pitches in that

role this year. However, Gaviglio does rank in the top 10 in that group in called-strike rate (19.6

percent).

• Prior to the game, the Angels will hold a special ceremony to honor Albert Pujols, who became the

ninth player to join the 600 home run club earlier this month.

• The Angels plan to activate right-hander Bud Norris from the 10-day disabled list on Saturday. Norris,

who has been sidelined since June 20 with right knee inflammation, logged a 2.43 ERA with 11 saves

over 33 1/3 innings this season.

Scioscia optimistic after Trout’s first BP

By Maria Guardado / MLB.com

July 1, 2017 Page 21 of 29

ANAHEIM -- Angels center fielder Mike Trout cleared a significant hurdle on Friday, taking batting

practice on the field for the first time since undergoing thumb surgery last month.

Manager Mike Scioscia said he was encouraged by the way Trout swung the bat and added that the

reigning American League MVP winner will need at least three more sessions before he's ready to begin

a rehab assignment.

"I think that he did everything you need to do, but you need to build some stamina," Scioscia said. "You

need to repeat it. I think definitely swinging the bat, he was letting it go. He feels good with it. But he

needs the batting practice just to get the stamina and make sure that everything's firing the way it

should."

Trout underwent surgery to repair the torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb on May 31, and

the Angels estimated that he'd be sidelined for six to eight weeks. But barring any setbacks, Trout could

conceivably beat that prognosis and return to the Angels' lineup before the All-Star break.

Before injuring his thumb on a head-first slide in Miami, Trout was hitting .337 with a 1.203 OPS, 16

home runs, 36 RBIs and 10 stolen bases over 47 games. While the Angels' chances of staying in

contention initially appeared grim without Trout, they have managed to stay afloat without their star

outfielder, going 15-14 in his absence heading into Friday's game against the Mariners.

Richards update

General manager Billy Eppler said right-hander Garrett Richards will undergo a medical evaluation next

week that will include an electromyography (EMG), which measures muscle response to nerve

stimulation.

If Richards' examination goes well, he could receive clearance to begin throwing. Richards has been out

since April 7 with nerve irritation in his right biceps, but the Angels remain hopeful that he'll pitch again

this season.

"We felt this might be a little bump in the road," Scioscia said. "It turned out to be a pretty big crater."

Angels acquire Franklin

The Angels announced Friday that they have acquired utilityman Nick Franklin from the Brewers in

exchange for cash considerations or a player to be named later.

Franklin, 26, has posted a .217 batting average with a .650 OPS in parts of five Major League seasons

with the Mariners, Rays and Brewers. A switch-hitter, Franklin has fared better against right-handers

(.693 OPS) than left-handers (.534 OPS) and has experience playing the middle infield as well as left

field.

July 1, 2017 Page 22 of 29

The Halos intend to add Franklin to their 25-man roster on Saturday, though it's unclear what role he

will fill for them.

Worth noting

• The Angels called up right-hander Brooks Pounders from Triple-A Salt Lake on Friday and optioned

left-hander Jose Alvarez. Alvarez had struggled over the last two months, logging a 7.45 ERA in 12

appearances in June, and his demotion leaves the Angels without a left-hander on their pitching staff.

"I think it's just really some command issues," Scioscia said. "He's got some things to work on, but he'll

be back."

• Scioscia said the Angels plan on activating right-hander Bud Norris (right knee inflammation) from

the disabled list on Saturday.

• Right-hander Matt Shoemaker will throw a bullpen on Saturday for the first time since landing on the

disabled list with a forearm strain. The session had initially been scheduled for Thursday, but it was

pushed back after Shoemaker got sick.

• Left-hander Andrew Heaney is also scheduled to throw a bullpen on Saturday and is inching closer to

shifting his rehab from Tommy John surgery to the Angels' complex in Arizona.

Cano goes deep twice, as Mariners roll

By Greg Johns and Maria Guardado/ MLB.com

ANAHEIM -- Robinson Cano homered twice and drove in five runs and left-hander Ariel Miranda fired

seven scoreless innings to help the Mariners snap a four-game losing streak with a 10-0 rout of the

Angels in Friday night's series opener at Angel Stadium.

Cano launched a three-run homer in the fifth and added a two-run shot in the seventh, bringing his

season total to 16 and giving him his 22nd career multi-homer game. Mike Zunino and Kyle

Seager also homered, while Ben Gamel finished 4-for-5 with two RBIs.

"We were due to bust out," said Mariners manager Scott Servais. "The last four games have been pretty

frustrating for us. Really good sign for our offense. Just a complete win. And it starts with starting

pitching and Miranda was awesome tonight."

The Mariners' offensive production was more than enough for Miranda, who held the Angels to just two

hits -- a single by Kole Calhoun and a double by Andrelton Simmons -- while walking two and striking

out four in the 95-pitch effort.

July 1, 2017 Page 23 of 29

The Angels allowed a season-high 17 hits and were shut out for the seventh time this season, tied for

the second-most in the Majors. Friday also marked the Halos' most lopsided loss of the season, bringing

them back down to .500 at 42-42.

"We're turning the page on this one," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "Rough night all the way

around."

Rookie right-hander Parker Bridwell struggled in his fourth spot start for the Angels, surrendering five

runs on 11 hits while walking one and striking out two over six innings. Bridwell allowed at least one hit

in each of his six frames, and the Mariners could have inflicted more damage against him were it not for

the three double plays the Angels' defense turned behind him.

"I had some luck tonight," Bridwell said. "Obviously it could have been a lot worse than that, but the

defense behind me made plays. I've got to be better in five days, and I will be."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

Zunino's moonshot: Zunino opened the scoring by hammering a 446-foot solo homer to left field off

Bridwell in the third, giving the Mariners a 1-0 lead. It marked Zunino's third-longest blast

since Statcast™ was introduced. The 26-year-old catcher finished June with 10 homers and 31 RBIs, the

most RBIs by a Mariners backstop in a month and just two shy of the club record of 33 for any position

player.

"I haven't had a stretch this long in my career," Zunino said. "Obviously, you're going to have a week or

two, but to sustain it for a month and be able to go in there after a game and see what you have to work

on, I hope I can keep that going."

Mariners pile on: Bridwell teetered on the edge of trouble from the outset, but he unraveled in the fifth,

allowing the Mariners to score four runs and build a 5-0 lead. Jean Segura began the big inning with an

RBI double, but Cano inflicted the most damage with his first home run of the night, a three-run shot to

right field off Bridwell. Cano's 15th homer of the season had an exit velocity of 102 mph and traveled an

estimated 375 feet, according to Statcast™.

"Robbie is one of those guys, when he gets going, he can legitimately carry you, not just for one game,

but for awhile," said Seager. "That's something that's pretty special and there's not many guys that can

do that."

QUOTABLE

"What a play. To put that much on the throw when you're in the air like that, it's as good of a play as

you're going to see in the hole by a shortstop. It's Motter. What do you expect?" -- Servais, on Taylor

Motter's game-ending play to throw out Jefry Marte

July 1, 2017 Page 24 of 29

SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS

Gamel ended June with a Major League-leading 42 hits and .393 average in 26 games.

WHAT'S NEXT

Mariners: Sam Gaviglio (3-2, 3.38 ERA) makes the 10th start of his career in Saturday's 7:18 p.m. PT

game. The rookie right-hander has been a solid addition to the rotation since being promoted in early

May during a rash of injuries. This will be his first time facing the Angels.

Angels: Right-hander Ricky Nolasco (3-9, 4.86 ERA) will pitch the middle game of the Angels'

three-game series against the Mariners at 7:18 p.m. PT at Angel Stadium. Nolasco has recorded a

5.23 ERA in two starts against Seattle this season.

FROM ESPN.COM

Cano hits 2 HRs, Miranda pitches Mariners over Angels, 10-0

Associated Press

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- After a six-game winning streak, the Seattle Marinersunexpectedly found themselves

in a rut. The offense cooled, the pitching waned and suddenly there were four straight losses.

That made a 10-0 rout of the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night feel so rewarding. The Mariners got two

home runs from Robinson Cano, and Ariel Miranda held the Angels to two hits in seven innings.

"Just a complete group win, but it starts with Miranda," said Mariners manager Scott Servais. "He was

just awesome tonight."

While the Mariners were collecting 17 hits, Miranda (7-4) held the Angels to Kole Calhoun's bloop single

in the fourth and Andrelton Simmons' double in the fifth.

It made for the 28-year-old left-hander's best outing of the season. He walked two and struck out four.

Parker Bridwell (2-1) was hit hard all night in his first loss in seven career games (four starts). He allowed

five runs on 11 hits in his six innings.

"Not a good outing," Bridwell said. "I'll be better in five days. I just have to put it behind me."

Catcher Mike Zunino started Seattle's scoring with a solo home run in the third. Kyle Seager added a solo

shot in the ninth, his 10th on the season. Ben Gameland Seager each had four hits, while Cano had

three.

July 1, 2017 Page 25 of 29

Cano hit a three-run homer off Bridwell that broke open the game in the fifth and a two-run shot

off Yusmeiro Petit in the seventh. Petit had not allowed a run in his last seven appearances. Cano has 16

home runs.

"For me it's not really about the home runs," Cano said. "You just want to get the wins and see everyone

contribute."

Reliever Max Povse threw the final two innings to complete Seattle's seventh shutout of the season. It

was also the seventh time the Angels have been shut out this year.

JUNE BLOOMS

Two Mariners may hate to see the month end. Gamel finished June with 42 hits and Zunino with 31 RBI.

"Forty-two hits in a month is pretty special," Servais said. "He doesn't give away at-bats."

Cano was more impressed with Zunino's RBI total.

"Thirty-one in one month," he said. "That's hard to do. First you have to have someone on base. That's

incredible."

STILL WORSE

Bridwell got out of a couple jams in the first four innings when he twice got Mitch Haniger to line into

double plays, though both hits were rockets.

"I had some luck tonight or it could have been a lot worse," Bridwell said.

MIRANDA LIKES HALOS

He is now 4-0 against the Angels in five career starts. He's struck out 19 and walked 11 in the 31 innings

of his five starts.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Mariners: Rookie RHP Andrew Moore is scheduled to be called up from Triple-A Tacoma and start

Monday in Seattle against the Royals, moving Felix Hernandez back to Tuesday to gain an extra day of

rest. Moore could become a regular member of the rotation.

Angels: OF Mike Trout took a strong batting practice on the field for the first time since his May 31

thumb surgery. Manager Mike Scioscia said he would need a minimum of three more such sessions

before going on a rehab assignment. . RHP Bud Norris is expected to rejoin the bullpen Saturday after

throwing a scoreless inning in a Class-A rehab appearance Thursday.

July 1, 2017 Page 26 of 29

UP NEXT

Mariners: Rookie RHP Sam Gaviglio (3-2) is scheduled to make his 10th start Saturday against the Angels.

It will be his first career appearance against the Angels. Has a 3.32 ERA as a starter.

Angels: RHP Ricky Nolasco (3-9), coming off his best outing of the season, is scheduled to start Saturday

against the Mariners. Nolasco threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings against the Dodgers on Monday, allowing

five hits and two walks with five strikeouts.

Brewers trade Nick Franklin to Angels

Associated Press

MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers traded utility player Nick Franklin to the Los Angeles Angels on Friday

for a player to be named or cash.

Franklin had been designated for assignment on Tuesday.

The Brewers claimed Franklin off waivers from the Tampa Bay Rays in April. He hit .195 in 53 games,

mainly as a pinch hitter.

ESPN’s 2017 AL and NL All-Stars Picks

ESPN.com

The All-Star managers have been relieved of the burden of filling out the National League and American

League rosters, thankfully, because every year the explanations can be no better than imperfect. There

are only 32 spots on each All-Star team, with the guidelines requiring selection for at least one player

from every team in each league. That rule and others box in the choices, and inevitably players worthy

of selection are left off and feelings are hurt.

Because Joe Maddon no longer has the responsibility of rounding out the NL All-Star roster, he isn't

required to answer questions about why some of the great first basemen in the league must be left out.

Not everybody can go, meaning that either Anthony Rizzo, or Joey Votto, or Ryan Zimmerman,

or Eric Thames, or Mark Reynolds, or Paul Goldschmidt, and others will be left behind.

Those sorts of complicated choices pop up no matter how you pick a team, and because of that, there

are no perfect picks, and there is no perfect process. In trying to simulate the process and pick the best

32-man teams for each league, I wound up choosing Alex Wood over Zack Greinke, and Jay

Bruce over Matt Kemp. If you disagree, I couldn't possibly say you are wrong. The voters will

pick Daniel Murphy as the starting second baseman, a great pick. I chose Josh Harrison of the Pirates

for his better all-around play. After watching Francisco Lindor lift the Indians to Game 7 of the World

July 1, 2017 Page 27 of 29

Series last year, I hate leaving him off, but Andrelton Simmons has had an excellent first half; it was

one or the other, and either way seems wrong.

So extend a little pity to Joe Torre, the MLB executive who is now charged to answer for all roster

decisions, when there are really no right answers.

MLBRank 20-1: A Yankees prodigy takes his place amongst the best

ESPN.com

Who are the best players in Major League Baseball right now?

To determine this, ESPN formed a panel of MLB writers, analysts, contributors and Insiders to rank the

top 100, which we've counted down from No. 100 to No. 1 -- 20 players per day for five days.

To compile the top 100, we collaborated with Microsoft Research and The Wharton School, and polled

65 ESPN experts who voted in thousands of head-to-head matchups based on a list of 167 players. We

asked our panel to vote on both the quality and the quantity of each player's contributions to his team's

ability to win games. After seven days of voting in June, we have our results.

#1 MLB RANK PICK

MIKE TROUT

Position(s): Center fielder

Team: Los Angeles Angels

Honors: American League Rookie of the Year (2012), AL MVP (2014, 2016), AL All-Star (2012-16), Silver

Slugger (2012-16)

Twitter: @MikeTrout

Career stats (through 2016 season): .306/.405/.557, OPS -- .963, hits -- 917, HRs -- 168, RBIs -- 497

2016 Rank: 1

ZiPS Projected 2017 WAR: 6.9

Did you know?

July 1, 2017 Page 28 of 29

Mike Trout has led MLB in the offensive component of WAR in each of the past five seasons, the longest

streak by a player in major league history. Trout is the fifth position player to win two MVPs by age 25 or

younger (Johnny Bench, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Jimmie Foxx).

FROM SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

Nolasco, Angels take aim at Mariners

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Ricky Nolasco will start for the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday against the Seattle

Mariners, and certainly he will feel a lot lighter on the mound.

Nolasco had been carrying around the burden of a losing streak that was getting out of hand. He had

lost seven consecutive starts, and the Angels had lost 10 in a row in games started by Nolasco.

With that weight on his shoulders, he had to face a hot Dodgers club last Monday that had won 10 in a

row. But Nolasco flipped the script, throwing 6 1/3 scoreless innings to end the losing streak.

Before beating the Dodgers, Nolasco's previous win was April 27. Then his troubles began with his next

start, an 8-7 loss that happened to come against the very same Mariners that he'll face Saturday.

Nolasco, though, said his approach will be the same as it was against the Dodgers, and the same as it

was during the losing streak. Essentially, the idea is to block out the noise and focus pitch by pitch.

"You've still got to go out there and make quality pitches and get people out," he told mlb.com. "Had a

'nice' little streak going there, but I've been feeling good during whatever games I've been losing. I just

tried to carry that over and make some pitches."

Nolasco's biggest problem has been giving up the long ball. His 23 home runs allowed is the most in the

American League in his 16 starts. Last year, he gave up 26 homers in 32 starts.

That's not a good sign for the Angels and Nolasco, who has been hit hard by the Mariners' Nos. 3 and 4

hitters Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz.

Cano is hitting .412 (7-for-17) with three homers and Cruz is hitting .333 (7-for-21) with three homers

against Nolasco. Cano hit a homer in Nolasco's last start against Seattle on May 3.

The Mariners will start Sam Gaviglio, who was drafted in 2011 by the St. Louis Cardinals, traded to the

Mariners in 2014 and reached the majors for the first time this season, getting the opportunity because

of injuries in the rotation.

This will be his first start against the Angels, but he has established himself in the Mariners' rotation,

going 3-2 with a 3.38 ERA in nine games (eight starts). Mariners manager Scott Servais, however, doesn't

want to put too much pressure on his 27-year-old rookie.

July 1, 2017 Page 29 of 29

"The expectations haven't changed and they won't," Servais told mlb.com. "Just do your thing and keep

us in ballgames, give us a chance to win, trust your stuff with the sinker and getting the breaking ball

over when he has to.

"I don't think he'll think any differently. I don't want to raise any expectations or want him to do more

than he's done, because he's been fine."

Gaviglio's biggest problem this season seems to be finding his comfort level on the road. His ERA is 5.40

in four road games, compared with 2.00 in five games at Safeco Field.

Brewers trade Nick Franklin to Angels

MILWAUKEE (AP) The Milwaukee Brewers traded utility player Nick Franklin to the Los Angeles Angels

on Friday for a player to be named or cash.

Franklin had been designated for assignment on Tuesday. The Brewers claimed Franklin off waivers from

Tampa Bay in April. He hit .195 in 53 games, mainly as a pinch-hitter.