{"id":431335,"date":"2026-01-25T01:13:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T01:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/431335\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T01:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T01:13:08","slug":"angels-keep-ignoring-a-sneaky-free-agent-who-fits-their-outfield-perfectly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/431335\/","title":{"rendered":"Angels keep ignoring a sneaky free agent who fits their outfield perfectly"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5g\">The Los Angeles Angels have made various additions and subtractions to their outfield this winter. <a href=\"https:\/\/halohangout.com\/angels-theft-of-grayson-rodriguez-looks-even-better-after-taylor-ward-orioles-deal-01kefdqshb1y\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Angels traded Taylor Ward to the Baltimore Orioles<\/a> in order to bolster their rotation, and then swung a three-team trade with the Cincinnati Reds and Tampa Bay Rays that brought <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/angels-reds-rays-three-way-trade\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Josh Lowe to Los Angeles<\/a>. But something is still missing. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5j\">The Angels&#8217; outfield is heavy on right-handed hitters \u2014 which one of the biggest reasons they acquired Lowe from the Rays. Sure, LA took a flier on former San Francisco Giants&#8217; draft pick Wade Meckler, but he&#8217;s got just 56 Major League at-bats under his best. The Halos need at least one more left-handed swinger to help balance out the lineup.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5m\">Longtime Major League veteran Mike Tauchman could be an inexpensive, yet perfect, solution for the Angels&#8217; problems. Tauchman spent last season with the Chicago White Sox while hitting .263\/.356\/.400 across 335 at-bats and posted an OPS+ above 100 for the third consecutive season.<\/p>\n<p>Mike Tauchman could help bring balance to the Angels outfield<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5s\">Tauchman&#8217;s Illinois&#8217; roots may keep him on the South Side \u2014 if the White Sox are interested in a reunion \u2014 but his best chance to gather meaningful playing time might be in Anaheim. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5v\">While he&#8217;s certainly not a burner on the base paths, Tauchman plays average defense, draws plenty of walks, and rarely chases pitches outside the strike zone. There&#8217;s really no difference between his lefty\/ righty splits, meaning the Angels wouldn&#8217;t necessarily have to use him as a platoon outfielder only.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5y\">LA&#8217;s outfield is a bit of jumbled mess at the moment. Jorge Soler is essentially a DH-only option, and while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/fantasy\/baseball\/news\/angels-mike-trout-working-to-return-to-outfield\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Mike Trout is making every effort to return to the outfield in 2026<\/a>, his injury history is too difficult to ignore. <a href=\"https:\/\/halohangout.com\/for-angels-fans-the-jo-adell-breakout-is-the-most-enjoyable-outcome-of-2025\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jo Adell is a below-average fielder<\/a>, and Lowe brings a left-handed stick, but his lefty\/ righty splits (.181\/.240\/.264 vs. LHP) suggest he can&#8217;t swing it against southpaws.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"61\">Tauchman might require a little more than a minor league deal, but signing him to a free agent contract isn&#8217;t going to break the bank. This is low-risk\/ high-reward move that Angels GM Perry Minasian should make right now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Angels have made various additions and subtractions to their outfield this winter. The Angels traded&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-431335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}