Twins send Colombian Gio Urshela to Angels

Los Angeles Angels acquired veteran infielder gio urshela from the Minnesota Twins on Friday, a move that helps the team’s desire to add more major league-quality depth to its roster. The Twins traded for 19-year-old starting pitcher Alejandro Hidalgo.

Urshela’s primary position is third base, where the Angels have the often-injured Anthony Rendon signed for four more years for $152 million.

Urshela provides additional coverage there and can also help out at first base and, to a lesser extent, the middle infield positions. The Angels were also drawn to Urshela’s contact-heavy offensive approach, after leading the Major Leagues in strikeouts last season.

“We see this player as an everyday player who can move around, play a lot of different places,” Angels general manager Perry Minasian said, adding that the team could experiment with Urshela in the outfield during spring training camp. spring.

“I think last year we saw there were certain moments where it was a challenge. We had multiple infield injuries and we didn’t necessarily love the options we offered on a daily basis. This just adds to that combination. He’s another quality player “, he added.

Urshela, scheduled to become a free agent after the 2023 season, spent three years with the New York Yankees from 2019-21, during which he hit .292/.335/.480 with 41 home runs and 63 doubles in 291 games. . He moved to the Twins along with catcher Gary Sanchez in the March swap he sent to Josh Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa to the Bronx, then hit .285/.338/.429 with 13 home runs and 27 doubles, contributing 2.4 FanGraphs wins over replacement.

The Angels, currently for sale by owner Arte Moreno, are still searching for their first postseason berth since 2014 and won’t get there without more quality talent on their 40-man roster.

They received legendary seasons from the two-way player shohei ohtani in the past two years, but they had trouble absorbing prolonged injuries to Rendon and Mike Troutthe latter of which has been limited to 155 games in the past two years.

The Angels recently signed the starting pitcher Tyler Anderson on a three-year, $39 million contract, but they still have needs across their entire roster, primarily at shortstop, in the outfield and throughout their pitching staff.

“We’re not finished by any means,” Minasian said. “There’s still work to be done. We need to improve the outfield, we know that. We need to improve the infield, we know. The pitching staff, adding to that would be a good thing. I’ll continue to talk to free agents, explore trade markets, see what happens”.