The Cubs won 73 of the 114 games they were the moneyline favorite last season, achieving a success rate of 64%. In contrast, the Angels won 18 of the 38 games they were the moneyline favorite, translating to a 47.4% success rate.
Neither has made a great first impression. Rodriguez has allowed seven runs with a 7:6 strikeout-to-walk ratio through eight innings. He has at least had encouraging velocity, averaging 95 mph on his fastball. He's a wild card after missing the past season and a half to shoulder issues.
The six-foot-two right-hander's three pitch mix - a mid-high 90's fastball, an electric changeup that many called the best in the draft, and an upper 80's slider - gives him one of the highest floors of any pitcher in last year's draft class. However, there is some reliever risk to his projection, as he was not consistently stretched out as a starting pitcher in college.
The 36-year-old Suter is a throwback in many ways - a soft-tossing, rubber-armed lefty who relies more on command and soft contact while often pitching multiple innings per outing. Last year's 87.3 mph was the second-highest average velocity he's posted on his four-seamer in any of his 10 big league seasons. His 89.1 mph average sinker was a career-high. Obviously, Suter isn't going to blow any hitters away with power stuff.
Candelario, 32, will enter camp looking to find a roster spot ahead of what would be his 11th big league season. Signed by the Cubs out of the Dominican Republic as an amateur, he made his pro debut back in 2011 and made it to the majors for a five-game cup of coffee during Chicago's World Series-winning 2016 campaign. He once again got into a smattering of games in an up-and-down bench role with the club in 2017.
The Angels have signed outfielder to a minor league contract, The Athletic's Will Sammon reports. Siri will be invited to the Halos' big league spring camp, according to the New York Post's Jon Heyman, and he'll earn $1.6MM if he makes Los Angeles' 26-man roster. Siri has opt-out dates at the end of Spring Training and on June 1 if the Angels haven't already selected his contract, as per Ari Alexander of 7 News. More to come....
The Angels agreed to re-sign third baseman Yoan Moncada to a one-year deal last week, but that deal still has yet to be made official. It's unclear what's caused the delay, as other clubs with agreements signed at a similar time have officially announced those deals. Regardless, an announcement figures to happen in the near future given that spring training is just around the corner.
Castro just turned 31 a few weeks ago, but the well-traveled right-hander has already pitched for seven teams across parts of 11 major league seasons. Because he debuted as a 20-year-old and has managed to stick in the majors for the bulk of the past decade, he's just three days from reaching nine full years of major league service time.
The Athletics are hiring Barry Enright as pitching coordinator and director of pitching in their player development department, reports Sam Blum of The Athletic. Enright has spent the past couple seasons as pitching coach of the Angels. A former reliever who pitched parts of four seasons in the big leagues, Enright moved into coaching in 2019. He began as a minor league coach in the Arizona system before getting an MLB job as assistant pitching coach going into 2022.
Madrigal spent the entire 2025 season on the injured list. He'd signed a $1.35MM free agent deal with the Mets to compete for a utility job. Madrigal broke his left shoulder when he stumbled while fielding a ground ball during Spring Training. He underwent surgery and was immediately ruled out for the year. The Mets dropped him from the roster at the beginning of the offseason.
Walton has appeared in six of the last seven MLB seasons, though 49 of his 72 games in the Show came in 2021-22 with the Mariners and Giants. After signing a minors deal with the Mets last offseason, Walton was traded to the Phillies in July, and continued to toil away on the farm until his contact was selected to Philadelphia's active roster in September.
Saucedo, 32, made his big league debut as a member of the Blue Jays back in 2021 but got the majority of his work over the years with the Mariners after Seattle picked him up off waivers prior to the 2023 season. Saucedo proved to be a viable middle relief arm for the Mariners across two seasons, pitching to a 3.54 ERA in 86 1/3 innings of work with a 21.7% strikeout rate against a walk rate of 11.0%.
As the Cardinals continue to pursue trades of their veterans, the Angels have emerged as a potential destination for Nolan Arenado. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic connected the third baseman to the Halos last week, and colleagues Will Sammon and Katie Woo echoed the sentiment this week. Two potential roadblocks existed for an Arenado deal, one for each side, though the Angels have cleared up their end.
Scott heads to Orange County after four seasons as the lead pitching coach with the Rockies. He'd previously spent two years as Colorado's bullpen coach and had been in the organization dating back to 2009. The 57-year-old's time in professional baseball began with the Angels. He signed as an undrafted free agent with the franchise in 1990 and made 16 relief appearances for the '93 team. That wound up being his only MLB action amidst a decade-long minor league career.
I had a wonderful time being in Anaheim, playing in Anaheim, getting to know the guys and getting to play next to Hall of Fame players too. I'm just very thankful for that time period, and it's something I'll cherish for the rest of my life.
The Halos were known to be seeking at least two starting pitchers this winter, and while Rodriguez technically counts toward that end, he's coming off a season lost to injury and hasn't pitched in a big league game since July 2024. He's said to be healthy now, but even if that's the case, the Angels can't simply pencil him in for 30 starts next year.
In recent news, MLB insider Jon Morosi indicated that the Los Angeles Angels are willing to listen to trade offers for two of their top sluggers. Those two intriguing players happen to be outfielders Taylor Ward and Jo Adell. For an organization that already hadn't had a sniff of the postseason for over a decade, it is quite surprising that they would want to deal two of their best offensive players while leaving their face of the franchise Mike Trout all alone to fight for the team.
The Angels' managerial search has earned plenty of headlines in recent weeks after the team decided neither Ron Washington nor Ray Montgomery would return in 2026. Albert Pujols seemed to be next in line, but the sides couldn't come to terms on a contract. Torii Hunter was seen as the fallback if Pujols didn't work out, but he was also removed from consideration. Suzuki was announced as the new skipper on Tuesday.
Baseball is extremely hard and extraordinarily rich in ways for things to go wrong, and firing a manager when things go wrong is the simplest way for an organization to signal to fans that it is addressing those things. It doesn't work, really, because managers only do so much, and are generally not the reason why bad baseball teams are bad.
