The Angels made a move to bolster their infield depth on Thursday, acquiring Gordon Beckham from the Chicago White Sox for a player to be named later or cash.
Angels acquire Gordon Beckham from White Sox for PTBNL or cash
Jonathan Daniel
The Halos enter play on Thursday with the best record in baseball at 75-50, but with starting pitcher Garrett Richards now out for the season, the team’s most immediate need is pitching.
"Between now and Sept. 1, we’ll try to be as open as we can be. And after Sept. 1 hopefully what we’re missing in Garrett Richards we’re able to somewhat make up for in volume and depth," Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto told reporters on Friday, per Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com.
But first came the acquisition of Beckham, who figures to provide depth at second and third at least, behind Howie Kendrick and David Freese.
Beckham was the eighth overall pick in the 2008 draft, and by the next year was starting at the hot corner on the south side of Chicago. Beckham has been a fixture at second base for the last five seasons in Chicago but has never been able to live up to the promise of his rookie campaign.
At age 22 in 2009, Beckham hit .270/.347/.460 in 103 games, but hasn’t had a slugging percentage above .378 nor an OPS above .695 since. In 2014, Beckham, now 27, is suffering through his worst year, hitting just .221/.263/.336 with 24 doubles and seven home runs in 101 games.
But even that represents an upgrade over John McDonald, currently the only reserve infielder on the Angels' active roster capable of playing multiple positions. The 39-year-old McDonald is hitting .149/.237/.164 in 74 games.
Beckham is making $4.175 million in 2014, so with 39 days left in the regular season the Angels are on the hook for roughly $890,000. The infielder has one more season of arbitration eligibility before he can be a free agent.
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