The Angels are exhibiting curiosity in free brokers Amed Rosario and Enrique Hernández as they proceed their seek for infield depth, writes Jon Heyman of the New York Submit. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal tied the Halos to Hernández final month. They hadn’t been immediately linked to Rosario earlier than this level.
Rosario is coming off a pedestrian season cut up between the Guardians and Dodgers. The fitting-handed center infielder hit .263/.305/.378 with six homers and 15 steals by way of 545 mixed plate appearances. His energy manufacturing ticked up a bit after the commerce because the Dodgers extra continuously leveraged him towards lefty pitching. His .256/.301/.408 slash in 48 video games was nonetheless a bit under common, although. Los Angeles left him off their playoff roster.
The previous prime prospect had posted roughly common numbers for Cleveland over the previous two seasons. A sturdy fixture within the lineup at shortstop, he mixed for a .282/.316/.406 slash between 2021-22. Rosario has at all times been an aggressive hitter who doesn’t hit for a lot energy. His plus contact expertise have contributed to 3 seasons batting above .280, giving him a good offensive ground.
The place Rosario matches defensively is an even bigger query. Public metrics have by no means seemed kindly on his glove. His grades had been particularly poor within the first half of final season. Statcast and Defensive Runs Saved rated him between 11 and 16 runs worse than a mean shortstop in fewer than 800 innings with the Guardians. The Dodgers used him extra continuously at second base, his first MLB motion on the correct facet of the infield, down the stretch.
Regardless of the mediocre platform yr, Rosario is likely one of the higher center infielders out there in a skinny free agent class. He drew some curiosity from the Blue Jays and Pink Sox early within the winter earlier than these groups added different righty-hitting infielders (Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Vaughn Grissom, respectively).
Extra lately, Rosario was amongst a handful of shortstop potentialities tied to the Marlins. Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald wrote this morning that Miami has proven extra important curiosity in Rosario and Gio Urshela than they’ve in different reported candidates like Tim Anderson, Nick Ahmed and Adalberto Mondesi.
Whereas Miami has a path to on a regular basis reps at shortstop, the Halos would possible view Rosario as multi-positional insurance coverage. The Halos have second-year participant Zach Neto penciled in at shortstop. Anthony Rendon, Brandon Drury and Luis Rengifo may cut up time between second and third base. Rendon hasn’t reached 60 begins on the sizzling nook in a season since 2019. Rengifo is a fringe defender who underwent season-ending biceps surgical procedure final September. The Halos haven’t changed Urshela, who served as a righty-hitting versatile infielder earlier than a pelvis fracture final season.
Proprietor Arte Moreno mentioned this week that he didn’t anticipate matching final yr’s spending stage. A run at Rosario ought to nonetheless be properly inside vary financially. The 28-year-old is taking a look at a one- or two-year contract. Roster Useful resource calculates the membership’s projected payroll round $173MM. They opened final season with roughly $212MM in participant commitments.