MLB ROUNDUP

Angels acquire Freese in trade with Cardinals

The Sports Xchange

November 22, 2013 at 3:45 pm.

David Freese was traded to the Angels. (Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports)

The Los Angeles Angels acquired third baseman David Freese and relief pitcher Fernando Salas from the St. Louis Cardinals in a trade that sends center fielder Peter Bourjos and outfield prospect Randal Grichuk to the Cardinals, Foxsports.com reported Friday.

Freese hit .293 with 20 home runs for the Cardinals in 2012, which was his third straight season hitting .293 or better. But his batting average slipped to .262 with nine homers in 138 games in 2013.

He was the World Series and National League Championship Series MVP in 2011 when the Cardinals won the World Series.

Bourjos hit .274 with three homers in 55 games with the Angels this past season.

Salas figures to be a middle reliever for the Angels after going 0-3 with a 4.50 ERA in 28 innings for the Cardinals last season.

The 22-year-old Grichuk was the Angels’ first-round pick in 2009. He hit 256 with 22 home runs for the Double-A Arkansas Travelers in 2013.

— Lawyers for New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez said they will publicly release evidence next week related to the star’s suspension appeal, according to the New York Times.

But Rodriguez claimed a victory of sorts with his assessment of the hearings.

“We crushed it,” Rodriguez said, according to ESPNNewYork.com. “They had nothing.”

The release of evidence has been delayed, however. Rodriguez’s defense team said Thursday it would “release all of the evidence” Friday but decided to delay the announcement, though it is not clear why.

— Nearly two months after relieving Rich Dubee of his duties as the Philadelphia Phillies pitching coach, the team named his replacement.

The Phillies announced Thursday that they hired Bob McClure.

McClure, 61, pitched for 19 seasons in the Major Leagues with the Royals, Brewers, Expos, Mets, Angels, Cardinals and Marlins. He was the Kansas City Royals’ pitching coach from 2006 through 2011 and the Boston Red Sox’s pitching coach in 2012.

—Baseball players’ union head Michael Weiner died Thursday at his home in Mansfield Township, N.J., after a 15-month battle with brain cancer.

Weiner, who took over as executive director of the Major League Baseball Players’ Association in 2009, was 51.