Angels notes: No beef with Astros, Julio Teheran progressing

The Astros are in town, and just this week saw Alex Bregman was buzzed by Joe Kelly and the Dodgers. The reaction to Kelly’s eight-game suspension drew ire around the league from several players as being too harsh, even those who didn’t lose to Houston in the postseason in 2017, but the Angels insist this is not their fight.

“I spoke to [the players] during the first spring training that we’re just going to play baseball this year, and that’s all I want us to do,” manager Joe Maddon said on a conference call Friday. “I don’t want us to be an enforcer. I’m hoping we just go out there and play.”

Angels reliever Cam Bedrosian agreed.

“I don’t think that’s really something that we discussed or thought about. We’ve seen a little bit of what’s happened so far, and of course, the situation kind of sucked, but it’s over now. We got to play baseball. We got to move on,” Bedrosian said. “I think getting a win is much better than anything else you do.”

Pitching update

Julio Teheran threw his three innings in a simulated game at the Angels alternate training site in Long Beach on Thursday. Maddon said the game results weren’t good but his velocity was ticking up as the game went along. The plan for now is to have Teheran throw another simulated game next week in Long Beach before activating him from the injured list, but that’s not set in stone.

“Who knows?” Maddon said. “Things change, and maybe all of a sudden there’s a need and you grab somebody sooner than you would like to, especially under the climate that we’re existing in right now.”