The Angels have been in the market for an outfield bat for a while now and they finally landed some help tonight by acquiring Shane Victorino from the Red Sox for infielder Josh Rutledge. Alex Speier of the Boston Globe writes that the Red Sox will also cover $3.8 million of the roughly $4.9 million remaining on Victorino’s contract.
Hamstring and calf injuries have limited Victorino to just 33 games this season and he hasn’t been all that productive when healthy, putting up a .245/.324/.298 batting line over 106 plate appearances. Still, Angels left fielders have combined to hit just .212/.277/.312 so far this season, most of it coming from Matt Joyce, so I guess you can call this an upgrade. The 34-year-old Victorino is due to become a free agent this winter.
Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports hears that the Angels view Victorino as a fourth outfielder, so this doesn’t necessarily rule them out from acquiring another outfielder. The Angels have been linked to Jay Bruce of the Reds and Ben Zobrist of the Athletics in recent days.
Rutledge was acquired from the Rockies over the winter, but he has spent the entire 2015 season in Triple-A. The 26-year-old has an 83 OPS+ over 947 plate appearances in the majors and has experience at both middle infield spots and third base.
