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Angels acquire slugger Jorge Soler from Braves for starting pitcher Griffin Canning

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Angels acquire slugger Jorge Soler from Braves for starting pitcher Griffin Canning
News

News

Angels acquire slugger Jorge Soler from Braves for starting pitcher Griffin Canning

2024-11-01 04:01 Last Updated At:04:50

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — The Los Angeles Angels acquired outfielder and designated hitter Jorge Soler from the Atlanta Braves in a trade for right-hander Griffin Canning on Thursday.

Soler has been a productive power hitter for five teams over the previous 11 major league seasons. The Cuban slugger was the MVP of the 2021 World Series with Atlanta, and he also won a ring with the Chicago Cubs in 2016.

Soler said he wasn't expecting to be traded by the Braves, who acquired him from San Francisco three months ago. He has two years left on the three-year, $42 million contract he signed with the Giants in February.

“I was working out, and I got a call from the GM telling me I was getting traded,” Soler said through an interpreter. “It’s amazing how fast everything happened, but I’m grateful for the Angels for giving me the opportunity.”

The Braves reacquired Soler to provide offense for their injury-depleted lineup on the way to a playoff berth, but he apparently wasn't a long-term fit in Atlanta. Marcell Ozuna is the Braves' designated hitter, while Ronald Acuña Jr. will be back from his torn right knee ligament to play right field in 2025.

While Atlanta offloaded the $26 million still owed to Soler, the Angels were eager to add an established power hitter to their frequently punchless lineup. Soler also developed a solid relationship with Angels manager Ron Washington and third base coach Eric Young when both were coaches for the Braves in 2021.

“It’s somebody that can change a game in one swing of the bat,” Angels general manager Perry Minasian said. “Can go play the outfield if you need him to. Great human being, A-plus clubhouse guy, somebody that our manager has familiarity with. Just felt like it was a really clean fit, really good fit for us and somebody that could help change our lineup.”

Soler is most famous for his World Series MVP performance for Atlanta. After becoming the first player ever to homer as a leadoff hitter in the top half of the first inning of Game 1 in a World Series, he hit a memorable three-run, 446-foot shot that went all the way out of Minute Maid Park in the Braves’ clinching Game 6 victory over the Houston Astros.

Soler led the AL in homers with the Kansas City Royals in 2019, hitting a career-high 48. He made his first All-Star team and hit 36 homers in 2023 with the Miami Marlins, who signed him as a free agent after his World Series heroics for Atlanta.

Soler struggled in his 93-game tenure with the Giants, attributing it to issues with his timing and swing. His production rebounded after he moved to the Braves on July 29, finishing the season with 21 homers, 64 RBIs with a .780 OPS for both teams.

Minasian made the deal with the Braves' Alex Anthopoulos, his longtime boss in Toronto and Atlanta. Minasian said Soler ideally would be a designated hitter but he likely would get playing time as an outfielder while the Angels manage a roster also featuring injury-prone veterans Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon.

Soler was solely a DH for the Giants but has played the corner outfield spots at every other stop in his peripatetic career, even though he isn't considered a strong fielder.

“I have no issue at all wherever they put me,” Soler said.

Canning is an Orange County native and a former second-round draft pick who has been part of the Angels' starting rotation for the past six years when healthy. He won a Gold Glove in 2020 but missed the entire 2022 season with a back injury.

Canning went 6-13 with a 5.19 ERA while making a career-high 32 starts last season for the Angels, who finished with the worst record in franchise history (63-99).

“It's tough,” Minasian said. “It's someone who took the ball every single time last year, in a year where we had a ton of injuries. He's one of the reliable guys that was right there, ready to go. Even when he was struggling, and he had struggles, he did take the ball and give everything he had.”

The Angels added a significant amount of payroll in acquiring Soler, but Minasian said he expects to be aggressive in free agency after Los Angeles collapsed in its first year without Shohei Ohtani.

“This is move No. 1,” he said. “We expect there to be more moves. I expect to improve this club in a lot of different areas.”

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

FILE - Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Griffin Canning throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Aug. 10, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell, File)

FILE - Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Griffin Canning throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Aug. 10, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell, File)

FILE - Atlanta Braves' Jorge Soler celebrates after hitting a home run during the second inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Sept. 21, 2024, in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier, File)

FILE - Atlanta Braves' Jorge Soler celebrates after hitting a home run during the second inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Sept. 21, 2024, in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier, File)

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A high-ranking elected official in Southern California’s Orange County has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery in a far-reaching scheme that misused COVID-19 relief funds that should have been used to feed the elderly.

Andrew Do, a county supervisor who recently resigned his post, entered the plea in federal court in Santa Ana, California, on Thursday under an agreement with federal prosecutors.

Do, 61, apologized to his family and people who depended on him in a statement he read in court.

“I have great sorrow for my actions,” he said.

Authorities said Do took more than half a million dollars in bribes while helping ensure federal COVID-relief funds were channeled to an organization that claimed to be feeding elderly and disabled people. The group, Viet America Society, where Do’s daughter, Rhiannon Do, was listed as an officer, didn’t spend most of the money it received for the meals on providing them, authorities said, adding some of the funds were spent on real estate.

The case comes in a long-running investigation into Viet America Society and as Orange County — which is home to more than 3 million people between Los Angeles and San Diego — filed a civil lawsuit saying the group misused federal funds.

Federal officials said only 15% of more than $9 million funneled to the group went to provide meals. Authorities said the group also received $1 million for a local Vietnam War memorial, which has yet to be completed.

In the investigation, authorities seized more than $2 million. Officials declined to immediately say how the rest of the money received by the group was used.

“This is an ongoing investigation,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer told reporters after Thursday's court hearing. Spitzer said authorities were committed to recovering assets obtained in connection with the scheme and returning misused funds to the federal government.

Andrew Do came to the country as a Vietnamese refugee and grew up in Orange County before attending college and law school. He went on to become a prosecutor and city councilmember and later won a seat on Orange County’s five-person board of supervisors representing a cluster of communities, including surf-friendly Huntington Beach. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 31.

Authorities have said Rhiannon Do is cooperating with the investigation under an agreement with prosecutors and won’t be charged.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer speaks with reporters on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, outside federal court in Santa Ana, Calif., after recently-resigned county supervisor Andrew Do pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery in a corruption probe. (AP Photo/Amy Taxin)

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer speaks with reporters on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, outside federal court in Santa Ana, Calif., after recently-resigned county supervisor Andrew Do pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery in a corruption probe. (AP Photo/Amy Taxin)

CORRECTS NUMBER FILE - U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada, left, OC District Attorney Todd Spitzer, center, and FBI Special Agent Ted Docks, speak at a press conference on Oct. 22, 2024, in Santa Ana, Calif., announcing that O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do agreed to plead guilty to accepting more than $550,000 in bribes and voting in favor of more than $9 million in COVID funds to a charity affiliated with one of his daughters. (Mindy Schauer/The Orange County Register via AP, File)

CORRECTS NUMBER FILE - U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada, left, OC District Attorney Todd Spitzer, center, and FBI Special Agent Ted Docks, speak at a press conference on Oct. 22, 2024, in Santa Ana, Calif., announcing that O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do agreed to plead guilty to accepting more than $550,000 in bribes and voting in favor of more than $9 million in COVID funds to a charity affiliated with one of his daughters. (Mindy Schauer/The Orange County Register via AP, File)

FILE - Supervisor Andrew Do, right, listens to Supervisor Todd Spitzer, left, during questioning of Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas in front of the Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting in Santa Ana on June 27, 2017. (Sam Gangwer/The Orange County Register via AP, File)

FILE - Supervisor Andrew Do, right, listens to Supervisor Todd Spitzer, left, during questioning of Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas in front of the Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting in Santa Ana on June 27, 2017. (Sam Gangwer/The Orange County Register via AP, File)

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