Now SF Giants teammates, Joc Pederson, Ross Stripling recall time they (almost) became Angels
When Ross Stripling packed his bags for spring training three years ago, he had no idea which team’s complex he would be visiting when his plane touched down. A.J. Pollock, who was already in the desert, hosted Joc Pederson but wasn’t sure if it was his teammate taking swings in his batting cage.
“It was madness,” Stripling admitted.
“It was weird, for sure,” Pederson said. “It was awful. It was a blunder.”
“I remember Joc came over to hit,” Pollock recalled, “and I was trying to figure out if he was on our team or not.”
Reunited three years later in San Francisco, the former Dodgers in the Giants clubhouse were reminded of what happened at Angel Stadium this week. Or nearly did, but didn’t. That was a trade that was, and then wasn’t.
Pederson and Stripling thought they were Angels for five days in February 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic shook the world. Details of the blockbuster deal that brought Mookie Betts to Los Angeles had leaked, and a side deal was supposed to send the now-Giants to the Angels in exchange for Luis Rengifo and prospects.
“I was at Chipotle and (Bob) Nightengale tweeted Stripling is in the trade,” Stripling explained. “When I first read it, I thought I was going to Boston.” No, Joc and Stripling are going to the Angels for Rengifo, it was quickly decided. It lasted about four days where I didn’t get any answers, my agent didn’t know anything, and (Dodgers president Andrew) Friedman called me once a day, just saying, “Look, man, we’re trying to get it done.” I could tell he wasn’t sure.”
According to multiple reports, the hold-up was due to Brusdar Graterol’s medicals. The Giants are familiar with his work out of the Dodgers’ bullpen, but he was originally scheduled to go to Boston as part of the trade. Arte Moreno, the Angels’ owner, later admitted that he canceled the trade due to “impatience… (and) other things.”
Meanwhile, Pederson and Stripling looked for answers. They discovered few.
“Joc’s a nervous body, for sure,” Stripling observed. “He was calling me a lot. We were certainly nervous. It’s funny because we were texting each other while in that bucket. Our wives were probably texting each other. We were definitely stressed. The unknown is frightening.”
According to Stripling, the phone calls went something like this:
— What do you hear?
— I can’t hear anything.
— Did Friedman call you?
— He’s calling me, but he’s not saying much.
— He’s doing the same thing to me. What do you think will happen?
— I don’t know, I’ve never been through anything like this before!
“What am I supposed to do,” Stripling asked, “call up Arte Moreno like, hey bro, what’s going on here?”
Even Pederson, a well-known information trader, was kept in the dark.
“Joc’s on top of everything,” Pollock said. “He’s got some sources.”
“Joc usually knows more than me,” Stripling observed. “He’ll try to pry.”
Pederson blamed the shambles on “fake news.”
“It’s tough,” Pederson admitted. “Everyone wants to be the first to report something. There is no accountability or anything. A lot of false information from verified sources spreads, making it extremely difficult for players and putting them in really bad positions. Stripling was in the same boat, stuck in limbo.”
Stripling said he received a call from Friedman telling him the deal was dead as he boarded his flight to Arizona. Stripling stated that at that point, Friedman offered to look for a different destination for him if he felt uncomfortable reporting to a team that had just tried to trade him.
Stripling, like Pederson, had only known the Dodgers organization. He turned down Friedman’s offer, but he admitted that “the writing was on the wall.” He was traded to Toronto at the trade deadline, where he spent two and a half seasons before signing with the Giants this winter.
“I remember when I saw them in spring training the first day, just joking around with them, messing around,” said reliever Scott Alexander, one of five current Giants who were teammates on the 2020 Dodgers. “I think I saw Strip, and I was like, I thought we traded you.”
What else have Stripling, Pederson, Alexander, Pollock (and Alex Wood) in common? Farhan Zaidi purchased them all twice. Seven members of that 2020 championship team (including Jake McGee and Matt Beaty) have since passed through San Francisco.
“The band’s back together,” Stripling announced. “I’m still getting tweets about it all the time.” “I’m still not sure what happened.”
Pederson quickly summarized the situation.
“For a lot of people,” Pederson said, “it was a s—storm.”
