Day: December 27, 2023

Ex-Los Angeles Angels shortstop Andrelton Simmons has announced that he is retiring from Major League Baseball. Jared Tims of TalkinHalos shared this news on X.

Simmons is hanging his baseball shows after an 11-year career in the Majors. He was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the second round of the 2010 MLB Draft. In 2012, he made his MLB debut, appearing in 49 matches.

The shortstop entered the scene in 2013, winning a Gold Glove award and finishing 14th position in National League MVP voting. Simmons won another Gold Glove in 2014 and finished 2015 with the Atlanta Braves. 

In the 2015-16 offseason, Atlanta traded Simmons to the Angels for Erick Aybar, Sean Newcomb and Chris Ellis. The trade was an undeniable victory for the Halos.

Newcomb gathered 4 wins Above Replacement in the six seasons he spent in Atlanta. Aybar stayed as a replacement-level backup infielder during his one season with the Braves. Ellis was sent to St. Louis a year later, where he made his major league debut.

Simmons dominated his first season with the Angels, winning a Gold award and finishing eighth position in the American League MVP voting, the highest of his career. He then had another great year in 2017, winning his fourth and final Gold Glove. In his five years with the Anaheim Ducks, Simmons averaged 4 WAR per season.

After he reached free agency in the 2020 season, Simmons ended his play with the Minnesota Twins in 2021 and the Chicago Cubs in 2022.

Andrelton Simmons was a career .263 hitter with 70 home runs and 444 runs batted in. Simmons was famous for his defense, as one of the premier shortstop defenders during his 11-year career. His best offensive season came with the Angels, as he slashed 281/.328/.394 with 37 home runs and 238 RBIs across his five years with the Ducks.

Related MLB News:

Maldonado accepts 1-year deal with White Sox.

Martin Maldonado and the Chicago White Sox have entered into a one-year deal plus an option, according to a Major League source, confirming the news on MLB.com Tuesday. The club has not yet confirmed the move.

Maldonado spent the last six seasons with Houston after the Astros bought him in a midseason trade from the Angels in 2018. The veteran backstop has a career .207/.282/.349 line with a 72 OPS+ across 13 MLB seasons with the Astros, Angels, Brewers, Cubs and Royals.

Renowned for his impeccable defense and staff wielding ability, Martin became Houston’s top catcher across the last half-decade. Despite a .623 OPS in an Astros uniform, that number dropped to .593 the last three seasons. He was slotted in as Houston’s primary catcher due to his defense and rapport with Astros pitchers. 2023 breakout rookie Yanie Diaz and Veteran catcher Victor Caratini whom the Astros signed to a multi-year contract this offseason will takeover catching duties for Houston in 2024.

Maldonado also worked with manager Pedro Grifol in Kansas City during the 2019 campaign, when Grifol was part of the Royals’ coaching staff. He played alongside Korey Lee in Houston, with Lee bought at the ‘23 Trade Deadline in exchange for reliever Kendall Graveman as one of team’s potential future catchers.

“I got to be around Martín Maldonado, I got to learn from him,” Lee said this past September. “I got to see how he managed a pitching staff at that end. Learned how he communicated with pitchers and it taught me a lot.

“I’m going to carry that further into my career and make it my way, but he taught me how to be a professional catcher over there in Houston. They knew how to win and I want to bring that over to the White Sox.”

This signing is reasonable for Chicago especially with a young pitching staff that has another backstop to pair with Max Stassi, whom the team got from the Atlanta Braves earlier in the month, and Lee. With a possible turnover coming from a White Sox team lead by new general manager Chris Getz who might be tasked with moving frontline starter Dylan Cease, signing a veteran catcher who has been a part of many winning Astros teams is valuable.

Lee, impressed the White Sox with his September work behind the plate, but for his young big league career, Lee is hitting .100 at the plate. Edgar Quero, the team’s 20-year-old switch-hitting catcher ranked No.81 overall by MLB Pipeline, will benefit from working with Maldonado.

Chicago was very interested in Maldonado before they acquired Stassi, but that interest continued for a catcher with 202 plate appearances and 65 matches worth of playoff experience. Maldonado (8,663 ⅔ innings) joins Salvador Perez (10,063 ⅔), J.T. Realmuto (8,923 ⅓), Yasmani Grandal (8,404 ⅔) and Yan Gomes (8,242 ⅔) as the only active backstops with over 8,000 innings caught.

The Carolina Hurricanes recalled Antti Raanta from Chicago of the American Hockey League on Tuesday. 

He was a 6-5-1 with a 3.61 goals-against average, a .854 save percentage and one shutout in 14 games (12 starts) with the Hurricanes before he was reassigned to the AHL on December 17 after clearing waivers. He was 1-0-1 with a 2.90 GAA and .875 save percentage in two matches with Chicago.

Raanta permitted six goals on 30 shots in a 6-5 overtime loss to the Nashville Predators on December 15, his last start for the Hurricanes.

“Obviously, he’s been part of our group for a while and you don’t like to see that,” coach Rod Brind’Amour said of Raanta the day he was sent down. “But obviously his game wasn’t quite there. It’s such an important position. When the goalie is not quite there, it’s glaring. It is what it is, I guess.”

In a similar move, goaltender Yaniv Perets was sent to Norfolk of the ECHL. Perets was called up when Raanta was sent down but did not play a match for Carolina.

Raanta is 133-78-28 with a 2.49 GAA, .915 save percentage and 20 shutouts in 267 matches over 11 NHL seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, Arizona Coyotes and Hurricanes, and 9-9 with a 2.48 GAA, .911 save percentage and one shutout in 24 Stanley Cup Playoff matches.

Pyotr Kochetkov has emerged as Carolina’s No.1 goalie this season with Frederik Andersen having been out since November 2nd because of blood clotting issues.

Kochetkov, who was the starter for 11 of the Hurricanes’ last 14 games, is 7-7-0 with a 2.69 GAA, .894 save percentage and one shutout in 18 games (16 starts).

Carolina (17-13-2) plays at the Nashville Predators on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; BSSO, BSSO), one of the 14 matches scheduled with the NHL resumes play following the three-day holiday break.