Yuba City’s Max Stassi traded to Angels
Houston deals the catcher to Los Angeles just before the trade deadline
ANAHEIM – The summer trading season came and went without the Angels adding what they need most: pitching.
General Manager Billy Eppler believes, however, that they still took a small step toward improving the performance of their pitchers by acquiring defensiveminded catcher Max Stassi from the Houston Astros for two unheralded 18-year-old outfielders.
“Max brings a pretty impactful defensive ability, which we value and we feel can help some of our pitchers along,” Eppler said. “He also has some control into the future, too. While we feel it’ll impact our club this year in 2019, we also feel it sets us up in 2020 as well.”
Stassi, 28, has spent parts of seven seasons bouncing between the majors and Triple-a, accruing just 163 games in the big leagues. Stassi is primarily known for his defense. He owns a career .218 average with a .652 OPS in the majors.
Stassi is under control for three seasons after this one, giving the Angels some catching depth. Jonathan Lucroy, who has been the Angels’ top catcher this year, will be a free agent after this season. Kevan Smith is also under control for three more seasons.
Stassi will join the Angels on Friday in Cleveland when they’ll face a roster crunch. The Angels can’t option Stassi, Smith or Lucroy, and they won’t keep three catchers on the roster. Smith missed Tuesday’s game with a toe injury, but Manager Brad Ausmus said before Wednesday’s game that he was improved, and he was available to play.
The Angels’ farm system is thin on catchers. Jack Kruger is the top catching prospect. Kruger, 24, has a .626 OPS this season at Double-a.
In exchange for Stassi, the Angels sent outfielders Rainier Rivas and Raider Uceta to the Astros. Rivas has hit .297 with
an .805 OPS in 61 professional games. Uceta has hit .269 with a .692 OPS in 74 professional games. Neither has played above the rookie level. Neither is ranked among the Angels’ top 30 prospects by MLB Pipeline.
Most Angels fans, however, were certainly hoping to see the team add pitching to a staff that has been ravaged by injuries, ineffectiveness and, tragically, the loss of Tyler Skaggs.
Eppler said the Angels “were pretty aggressive” on pitchers, but many of the ones they pursued ended up staying with their teams.
“The market this year didn’t quite have the supply that I think a lot of us inside the industry and a lot of people who cover the industry felt it was going to have,” Eppler said. “I think with the National League having a lot of teams that can make a case for making a run or potentially getting in the playoffs, I think some of that supply dried up a little bit.”
Because the Angels’ playoff chances for 2019 are slim, they were mostly focused on acquiring pitchers who could help next season and beyond, too. The top controllable starting pitchers who were believed to be available – the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Robbie Ray, the Texas Rangers’ Mike Minor, the New York Mets’ Noah Syndergaard and the Detroit Tigers’ Matt Boyd – all remained with their teams.
Eppler said the Angels were open to moving almost all their top prospects – “Just about every one of them but one,” Eppler said, presumably referring to promising outfielder Jo Adell – but the deals didn’t make sense for the players offered back.
Eppler said the value for a pitcher who might just be under control for this season and next – eight months of baseball – was too much to give up prospects with five or six years of control.