You probably don’t know his name, even if you’re a hardcore fan of the Los Angeles Angels. That’s because one of the Halos' newest signees, pitcher Jose Urenas, just tied a record by playing for his fifth team this season.
It’s not a record to which many players aspire, but so goes the life of a baseball journeyman. Urenas’s previous stops this year include the New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays and the Minnesota Twins, so at least he’s been mostly making the rounds with contenders who still have something at stake. The Angels don’t, of course, but Urenas would rather be back in LA than done playing for the year.
He’s made other stops along the way, too. Urenas’s list of minor league cities includes Syracuse, New York and St. Paul, Minnesota, so he probably knows more about airline itineraries than some of the counter agents who check him in.
His fellow record holders are Mike Baumann and Oliver Drake. Drake did this multi-team dance in 2018, with Baumann tying the mark last year. Urenas also had the option of taking a Triple-A assignment this year, according to Sam Blum of The Athletic, but the idea is to make the 40-man roster even if his chances of sticking around aren’t good.
That’s probably the case with the Angels. They’ve been on the wrong end of some serious blowouts lately, which means guys like the 33-year old Urenas end up doing mop-up duty as a low-leverage arm.
There’s a variation on this particular record that’s more familiar to fans of certain select teams, but it's still on the bizarre side. Switch-hitting infielder Livan Soto was designated for assignment (DFA) twice by the Angels and twice by the Baltimore Orioles before suffering the same fate courtesy of the Cincinnati Reds.
Reliever Casey Lawrence has been DFA’d six times—five by the Seattle Mariners and once more by the Blue Jays. (Maybe they wanted to give him a shot at breaking Soto's record?) Being in this kind of shuttle scenario reduces the odds that a guy like Casey will get claimed, so he keeps his local traveling shoes handy.
To make things worse, Urenas has kids and he lives in Orlando. Who knows how many times he’s found himself staring at the ceiling from a hotel bed with no idea what city he’s in, and interim Angels manager Ray Montgomery definitely feels for his new hurler.
“It’s extremely difficult,” Montgomery said. “I’ve never been in that position—to bounce through so many teams. It’s a positive-negative. You’re good enough to continue to get chances but, in the same breath, don’t fit with whatever team you’re with.”