Angels acquire Grichuk, Cron from Rockies

The Anaheim Angels have acquired outfielder Randal Grichuk and first baseman C.J. Cron from the Colorado Rockies, per multiple reports. The Rockies are receiving minor league pitchers Mason Albright and Jake Madden in the deal.

This is kind of amusing to me because Grichuk and Cron were both first round picks of the Angels originally, Grichuk in 2009 (one pick ahead of Mike Trout) and Cron in 2011. They’ve both bounced around in recent years, and each will be a free agent at the end of the season.

Cron hasn’t hit much this year. Grichuk has hit more in 2023 than he has in recent years, though he has also missed time. The Angels are looking to fill holes, though, particularly with Taylor Ward landing in the injured list with broken face bones after being hit by a pitch on Saturday. And they didn’t give up much in this deal.

The Angels are currently five games back of the Rangers in the A.L. West, and are still on the outside of the Wild Card race, but they’ve committed to going for it in what could be Shohei Ohtani’s final season with the team.