That didn’t take long… Yesterday, the Braves sent DH/OF Jorge Soler, who can still hit some, to the Angels for pitcher Griffin Canning. Soler is reaching that age where he might not hit (he always has, he just hasn’t been consistent about being really good), which is in keeping with a 60-year history of the Angels picking up aging sluggers. Canning might be the more interesting one. He becomes a free agent at the end of the 2025 season. He pitched better in 2023, but still made all 31 starts in 2024. I can see keeping him around another year (if you are willing to go the arbitration route with him, if needed) and enjoy having some depth in the rotation but use him as a swing man instead. Two days of long relief each week – two or maybe three innings, especially if trailing – and you might get 110 – 125 innings of value. Canning sure gives up his share of homers, though. Someone needs to teach him to keep the ball down.

Side note: Soler needs 145 hits to get to 1000. He’s only done that in a year once. The Angels should be able to keep him in the lineup enough to get close, one would think, but it might be 2026 before he does it. It’d be a shame if he didn’t make it.

As for my research, I’m still not done with 1899 Cleveland Spider George Bristow – whose real name was George Howlett. (I just need to finish it and stop dawdling…) I recently knocked out an essay on a forgotten speedster named Barney Graham and catcher Daniel Sullivan and I am assembling two books.

Here is Today in Baseball History!