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Angels Acquire Oswald Peraza

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The Yankees have traded infielder Oswald Peraza to the Angels in exchange for outfield prospect Wilberson De Pena, as well as international bonus pool money. Both teams have announced the deal. To make room for Peraza, the Angels have designated Kevin Newman for assignment.

Peraza, now 25, signed with the Yankees as an international free agent in 2016, and as he rose through the ranks of their minor league system, he also rose up organizational prospect rankings. Entering the 2022 season, when he made his big league debut, he was a consensus top-100 prospect. He impressed during a cup of coffee that September, hitting .306 with a 145 wRC+, and was once again a top-100 prospect entering 2023. Since then, however, his stock has fallen fast. He has slashed .190/.262/.285 in 429 plate appearances from 2022-25, with seven home runs and nine stolen bases in 145 games. Spending time at second base, third base, and shortstop, he has graded out as an average-to-slightly-above-average defender, but her versatile glove has not been nearly enough to make up for his ineffective bat. His offensive numbers at Triple-A over the past few years have also been less than impressive.

After the Yankees traded for infielders Ryan McMahon and Amed Rosario last week, the clock began to tick on Peraza’s tenure with the club. Their deal to acquire José Caballero today was surely the final nail in the coffin, even though the Peraza trade was technically reported shortly before the Caballero agreement. The Yankees have revamped their infield and bench as part of their efforts to take down the Blue Jays to defend their AL East crown. A floundering former top prospect no longer fit into the picture.

Peraza is a textbook change-of-scenery candidate. The Angels acquire him with four years of team control remaining after 2025, although he is out of options. For now, he will offer them depth off the bench and a potential alternative to the slumping Luis Rengifo. If he impresses, he should be in the mix for the second or third base job next season, with Rengifo and Yoán Moncada set to hit free agency at the end of the year. On the other hand, if he continues to hit as poorly as he did with the Yankees, he’ll soon be staring down the barrel of a DFA.

Meanwhile, De Pena is a textbook example of a lottery-ticket prospect. The 18-year-old has not has not yet had much of a chance to make an impression in his professional career. He signed with the Angels as an international free agent last January and has spent the past two seasons as a corner outfielder in the Dominican Summer League. He has hit .211 with four home runs and five doubles in 31 games this year.

Newman signed with the Angels in the offseason on a one-year, $2.75MM guarantee. While he has never been known for his bat, he hit just well enough to offer some value as a utility infielder for the Pirates, Reds, and Diamondbacks from 2022-24. In 2025, however, he has hit just .202 with only four extra-base hits in 57 games. He has a .481 OPS and -0.7 FanGraphs WAR. Given his poor performance and the not-insignificant amount of money remaining on his contract, he is almost certain to pass through waivers, after which he is likely to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.

Peraza to the Angels was first reported by Jack Curry of the YES Network. Joel Sherman of the New York Post added that the Yankees would receive De Pena and international bonus pool money in return.

Angels Designate Jose Quijada For Assignment

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The Angels designated lefty reliever José Quijada for assignment. That’s a corresponding move for the now official acquisition of relievers Andrew Chafin and Luis García from the Nationals. Lefty Jake Eder, one of two players headed back to Washington, was already on the 40-man roster. The Angels only needed to create one opening as a result.

Quijada’s contract was just selected last week. He made two scoreless appearances, striking out three batters in an inning and third. The 29-year-old southpaw had been designated for assignment at the end of Spring Training. He cleared outright waivers and has spent the majority of the season at Double-A Rocket City. Quijada turned in a 2.73 earned run average through 26 1/3 innings while striking out 37.1% of batters faced at that level. That earned him another brief stint in the big league bullpen, but he’s been pushed off by today’s pair of veterans.

The Angels can technically try to trade Quijada until tomorrow evening. The likelier outcome is that he’ll just go back on outright waivers. He’s playing on a $1.075MM arbitration salary that checks in a little above the MLB minimum. Quijada would need to forfeit that salary to elect free agency, so he’d likely accept another minor league assignment if he clears waivers.

Angels Acquire Andrew Chafin, Luis García

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The Angels have acquired left-hander Andrew Chafin and right-hander Luis García from the Nationals, per announcements from both clubs. The Nats receive left-hander Jake Eder and minor league first baseman Sam Brown in return. The Halos designated left-hander José Quijada for assignment to open a 40-man spot. Eder was on the 40-man, so his departure opened another.

Chafin, 35, started the year with the Tigers on a minor league deal. He opted out of that deal and signed a major league pact with the Nats at the start of May. He was been with the Nats since then, apart from a brief IL stint for a hamstring strain. He has thrown 20 big league innings this year, allowing 2.70 earned runs per nine, though with less impressive metrics under the hood. His 42.1% ground ball rate is around league average but his 20.5% strikeout rate and 13.6% walk rate are both subpar.

His longer track record is more impressive. He has 528 1/3 big league innings with a 3.39 ERA, 25.7% strikeout rate, 10.2% walk rate and 47.8% ground ball rate. As recently as last year with the Tigers and Rangers, he was able to post a 3.51 ERA with a 28.5% strikeout rate, though also a high walk rate of 12.6%.

García, 38, signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers in the offseason. He made that club’s Opening Day roster but was released in early July and landed with the Nats. Between the two clubs, he has a 4.10 ERA, 19.5% strikeout rate, 11.3% walk rate and 54.6% ground ball rate.

Like Chafin, he has a long major league track record. García has thrown 565 1/3 innings in his career with a 4.14 ERA, 21.3% strikeout rate, 10% walk rate and 54.5% ground ball rate. He’s been with the Angels before, having pitched for them in 2019 and the first half of 2024.

Neither pitcher is likely to be a huge difference maker. Both of them were available as free agents during the season. Still, it perhaps suggests the Angels are at least doing a soft buy. The Halos are four games out of a playoff spot, which is a tough spot to be in terms of making a buy/sell decision. But the club generally prefers to go for it when they are close and they haven’t made the playoffs since 2014. Franchise icon Mike Trout is about to turn 34 years old and increasingly injury prone. He’s hitting well this year but mostly limited to designated hitter duties.

It’s somewhat understandable that the club may want to do right by Trout and make an effort to get him back to the postseason for the first time in over a decade. The odds are against them, however. FanGraphs currently gives them just a 5.3% chance of making it in. Baseball Prospectus is even more pessimistic, putting the Halos at 2.4%.

Adding Chafin and García won’t increase those odds very much but the club does have a poor bullpen. Overall, the club’s relievers have a 4.96 ERA, which is better than just three other major league clubs.

It’s also theoretically possible that the Angels are going to flip other players, such as Kenley Jansen or Reid Detmers, with Chafin and García having been brought in to backfill the bullpen with veteran arms. Though the most straightforward read on the Angels right now is that they are looking to make some buy-side moves without really harming themselves in the long run.

Neither Eder nor Brown is a massive price to pay. Eder was once a notable prospect but his stock has fallen in recent years. He underwent Tommy John surgery in August of 2021 and hasn’t really been able to get on track since then. He has 20 1/3 big league innings with a 4.87 ERA, 18.4% strikeout rate and 11.5% walk rate. He has a 6.41 ERA in 229 minor league innings since the start of 2023. The Angels got him in a cash deal earlier this year after he had been designated for assignment by the White Sox.

Brown was a 12th-round pick in 2023, who is about to turn 24 years old. In 92 Double-A games this year, he has a .244/.350/.358 batting line and 117 wRC+. He’s not listed among the club’s top 30 prospects at Baseball America or MLB Pipeline.

It’s a perfectly sensible move for the Nats. Chafin and García were midseason pickups who are impending free agents. It makes sense to cash them in for whatever they can get. There’s no harm in taking fliers on Eder and Brown to see what happens.

For the Angels, they are apparently attempting to bolster the club. Perhaps more moves will follow before tomorrow’s deadline. For now, they haven’t given up anything of significance. In a sense, that won’t really hurt them if they fall short of the playoffs again. On the other hand, they could be passing up an opportunity to add talent to the system.

In the past, they turned down opportunities to sell notable players. Shohei Ohtani was the most notable example. Instead of trading him for a prospect haul in 2023, they held and also added players. They flipped Edgar Quero and Ky Bush for Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López. The club then faded and put Giolito and López on waivers in August. This move doesn’t rise to that level but it’s possible the Angels are yet again betting on a team that’s not quite good enough. They have reportedly drawn trade interest in Taylor Ward and Jo Adell. They could have shopped Jansen, Detmers, Tyler Anderson, Yoán Moncada and others. It seems unlikely that they are taking that path. Time will tell what their full deadline approach is.

Jeff Passan of ESPN reported that García was going to the Angels and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first had Chafin. Passan added that Eder was one of the players going to the Nats in return. Rosenthal then added Brown’s inclusion.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

Jo Adell, Taylor Ward Drawing Trade Interest

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The Angels still haven’t picked a firm lane with the trade deadline just over 48 hours away, but they’re getting “significant” interest in outfielders Jo Adell and Taylor Ward, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Both outfielders are controlled beyond the current season, meaning the Angels would seek a notable return even if they do opt to trade either slugger.

Adell, 26, was the No. 10 overall pick in the 2017 draft. He’s never fully delivered on his longtime top prospect status but is in the midst of a career-best season at the plate, hitting .233/.303/.463 with 21 homers and 14 doubles. He’s in the midst of a roughly weeklong slump but has generally swung the bat well following a rough first month or so. Since May 6, he’s taken 275 plate appearances and turned in a more robust .254/.332/.539 batting line with 19 of his 21 home runs coming in that time. In that stretch of nearly three months, Adell has been 37% better than average at the plate, by measure of wRC+.

The Angels control Adell for another two seasons beyond the current year. He’s earning $2.1MM in his first season of arbitration eligibility, making him highly affordable for any club looking to add some right-handed thump to its outfield mix. He has very similar batting average and on-base percentage marks against righties and lefties alike, but Adell has shown far more power against southpaws. Speculatively speaking, teams like the Reds, Padres and Giants all make varying degrees of sense. The Reds badly need help against lefties and have outfield reps available. The Giants are in a similar boat. The Padres have limited financial resources at their disposal and have gotten no production from left field this season.

Adell has spent the bulk of his time in center field this year, but he’s miscast in that role. The Halos have moved Mike Trout to a right field/designated hitter timeshare alongside Jorge Soler and have Ward entrenched in left, so Adell has given his best effort to hold things down in center. It hasn’t been pretty. Statcast pegs him at six outs below average, while Defensive Runs Saved has graded him even more harshly (-10). In nearly 1500 right field innings across the past four-plus seasons, Statcast grades Adell as a scratch defender, while DRS credits him as a strong defender (+9).

As for the 31-year-old Ward, he’s the more established and more expensive option of the two. He’s controlled one less year, through the end of the 2026 season, and is earning $7.825MM in 2025. Another former first-rounder (No. 25 in 2015), Ward has been a steadily productive corner outfield bat since his 2022 breakout. He’s batting .232/.308/.491 on the season (117 wRC+) but, like Adell, has really turned things on after a sluggish start. Ward hit just .172/.215/.352 through his first 130 plate appearances. His turnaround coincides almost perfectly with that of Adell. In Ward’s past 324 plate appearances (dating back to May 4), he’s broken out with a .258/.346/.552 batting line (144 wRC+).

Ward played plenty of right field earlier in his big league tenure but has been locked in as the Halos’ primary left fielder since 2023. Both DRS and Statcast feel he’s been at least average with the glove each year since ’23, though Statcast grades him a bit more favorably on the whole (combined 9 OAA in that time).

It bears emphasizing that neither Adell nor Ward is a lock to be traded. The Angels are buried by eight games in the AL West but sit a more manageable 4.5 games back in the AL Wild Card hunt — albeit with four teams to leapfrog if they hope to secure a spot. Angels owner Arte Moreno is generally loath to sell — particularly when it comes to players who are controlled for multiple seasons, as both Adell and Ward are.

That said, the Angels are perilously thin on pitching talent and could look at a rotating carousel of four outfielders who are best-suited for corner/DH work (Ward, Adell, Trout, Soler) and opportunistically look to flip Ward or Adell for a younger arm (or arms). Moving Adell would create a gap in center field, but as already outlined, he’s not a strong option there anyhow. The Angels could deal Ward or Taylor for pitching and/or prospects, play the other in left, and still look to backfill center field with a trade for someone like Luis Robert Jr., Harrison Bader or Cedric Mullins (to name just a few options).

The Angels haven’t reached the postseason since 2014 — the longest active drought in the sport. It’s understandable if that gives Moreno and general manager Perry Minasian some extra incentive to make a push for October, even with FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus both placing their playoff odds at under five percent. Moving Adell or Ward doesn’t necessarily need to equate to waving the proverbial white flag on 2025, however. Given the glut of corner options, lack of pitching depth and lack of a true center fielder, there’s a compelling argument that they should deal one of the two even if they’re striving to remain competitive. Angels outfielders rank 29th in the majors in DRS and 27th in OAA, so shuffling up the outfield mix and using some of their corner depth to address the pitching depth could leave them in a better spot when all is said and done.

Angels Place Jorge Soler, Chris Taylor On Injured List

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The Angels announced that both outfielder Jorge Soler and utility man Chris Taylor have been placed on the injured list this evening. Soler is suffering from low back inflammation, and his stint on the shelf is retroactive to July 24. Taylor, meanwhile, is suffering from a left hand fracture that he tells MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger comes with a roughly six-week timetable for return, which should allow him to return at some point in September. Outfielder Gustavo Campero and utility man Scott Kingery were recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake to replace Soler and Taylor on the active roster.

Soler missed two weeks due to back inflammation back in June, and since his return on July 1 he’s hit an impressive .262/.360/.595 in 50 plate appearances. That excellent work at the dish is all the more impressive given that he’s evidently been playing at less than perfect health, given that he was pulled from Wednesday’s game early due to his back and had not played since. It’s not clear exactly how long the Angels expect the slugger to be out, but his production will be sorely missed on a team that’s four games under .500 and 4.5 games out of a Wild Card spot, leaving them in a position where every game counts ahead of the trade deadline next week.

As for Taylor, his broken hand is also a recurrence of a previous injury. He fractured his hand back in June and ended up missing around six weeks due to the issue. He finally returned to action on Monday, but got into just five games before a diving catch in the outfield yesterday caused him to re-fracture his hand, leaving him to start all over again with another six weeks of recovery. Taylor has appeared in just 43 games this year between the Dodgers and Angels, only 15 of which have been with the Halos. He’s posted a decent 87 wRC+ in that sample size and has looked the part of a viable and versatile bench option, but it’s unclear how much of an opportunity he’ll get to impact the club down the stretch at this point, with even a fairly optimistic timeline having him return in the season’s final weeks.

Filling in for Soler and Taylor on the roster are Campero and Kingery. Campero, 27, has been a fill-in outfielder for Anaheim in each of the past two seasons. A .192/.259/.295 hitter across 31 games in his big league career, he’s unlikely to provide much offense for the club but can cover all three outfield spots and even has some experience catching, although he’s converted almost exclusively to work in the outfield at this point. As for Kingery, the utility man appeared in 13 games with the Halos earlier this year. it was his first big league work since 2022, but he hit a paltry .160/.222/.200 in that time and has struggled mightily at Triple-A this year as well. His wRC+ in the Pacific Coast League is a ghastly 69 this year, meaning he’s been 31% worse than average even by the standards of the club’s Salt Lake affiliate. Still, he can offer some speed and versatility off the bench, with 25 steals at Triple-A for the Phillies just last year.

Angels Select José Quijada

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The Angels announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander José Quijada. Fellow lefty Jake Eder has been optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake as the corresponding active roster move. Righty Robert Stephenson has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot.

The Halos did a bullpen game yesterday, with Eder mopping up six innings, throwing 98 pitches in the process. They optioned Jack Kochanowicz prior to the All-Star break and haven’t found a permanent solution for that rotation hole yet. Eder wasn’t going to be available for a few days, so the club will bring in a fresh arm. They have Yusei Kikuchi, José Soriano, Tyler Anderson and Kyle Hendricks to start the next four games but will need to figure out something for Monday’s game. Perhaps some pre-deadline moves will shake up the roster or they will simply recall Kochanowicz. An optional assignment for a pitcher comes with a 15-day minimum. He was optioned on July 11th, so he’ll be eligible to be recalled in a few days.

Quijada, 29, designated for assignment just prior to Opening Day and outrighted to Triple-A Salt Lake. He didn’t pitch anywhere through the middle of May. He was added to the roster of the Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas on May 10th. Per Chris Harris of MiLB.com, he had been on the development list prior to that. He told members of the media today, including Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com, that he changed his diet at the club’s Arizona complex and has lost 30 pounds since spring training.

He has been putting up good numbers in Double-A since joining the Trash Pandas. He has logged 26 1/3 innings, allowing 2.73 earned runs per nine. He struck out a huge 37.1% of batters faced, while his 8.6% walk rate and 42.6% ground ball rate were around average.

Those numbers and the improved conditioning are perhaps encouraging, though getting major league hitters out is obviously different than Double-A opponents. He had a decent run with the Angels in 2021 and 2022, tossing 66 1/3 innings over those two seasons with a 4.21 ERA. His 12.9% walk rate was high but he struck out 32.3% of batters faced. The two subsequent years were mostly wiped out by Tommy John surgery.

He will give the Halos a fresh arm for now but is out of options, so he can’t be easily sent back to the farm. That was part of the reason why he was designated for assignment earlier this year. His service clock is between three and five years, which means he has the right to reject outright assignments but has to forfeit his remaining salary commitments when exercising that right. Since he’s making $1.075MM this year, he naturally accepted. If he were bumped off the roster again, it’s possible the same sequence of events would play out.

As for Stephenson, this shouldn’t impact his timeline. The 60-day count is retroactive to his initial placement on the 15-day IL, which was on May 31st due to right biceps inflammation, though he later said it’s due to a stretched nerve. It’s been almost 60 days already, so he’ll eligible for reinstatement once he’s healthy.

Photo courtesy of Kirby Lee, Imagn Images

Jesse Chavez Announces Retirement

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Right-hander Jesse Chavez announced his retirement on Foul Territory today. He was on the Braves’ roster until recently but was designated for assignment a week ago when that club acquired Dane Dunning. Chavez elected free agency after clearing waivers and has apparently decided to hang up his spikes in recent days.

“I don’t think we’re gonna keep going,” Chavez said. “I think this is it, time to turn the page, focus on the next chapter in life and go help all the young kids, all the stuff that I did so they don’t have to take two steps backwards and take those three steps forward.”

Chavez wraps up his career just shy of his 42nd birthday, which is less than a month away. He had an incredibly unique career in terms of the miles he traveled and jerseys he wore over the years. As detailed by Matt Monagan of MLB.com in 2022, Chavez is the most traded player in history, having been flipped ten times.

He was initially drafted by the Cubs in the 39th round of the 2001 draft but decided to go to college. Then the Rangers took him in the 42nd round the year after and got him to sign. The draft is now only 20 rounds in length but was obviously longer back then.

Prior to making it to the majors, he was traded for the first time, getting sent to the Pirates for Kip Wells in 2006. He made his major league debut with that club in 2008, tossing 15 innings with a 6.60 earned run average. He stuck with the Bucs through 2009 but then before the 2010 season was flipped to the Rays for Akinori Iwamura and then to the Braves for Rafael Soriano. His first stint with Atlanta lasted just a few months, as he was traded to the Royals at the deadline alongside Gregor Blanco and Tim Collins for Rick Ankiel and Kyle Farnsworth.

He stuck with the Royals through the 2011 season before being put on waivers, when the Blue Jays claimed him. In August of 2012, he was traded to the Athletics in exchange for cash considerations.

At the end of the 2012 season, Chavez still hadn’t had a lot of major league success. He had a 5.99 ERA in 177 1/3 innings. The move to Oakland seemed to work out well for him. In 2013, he tossed 57 1/3 relief innings with a 3.92 ERA. He got stretched out for a rotation role and performed well. He logged 303 innings over the 2014 and 2015 seasons with a 3.83 ERA.

Going into 2016, he was traded back to the Blue Jays, with Liam Hendriks sent the other way. That second stint with the Jays lasted just a few months, as he was flipped to the Dodgers for Mike Bolsinger ahead of the 2016 deadline. Both of those clubs kept in him relief and he had a 4.43 ERA that year.

He reached free agency for the first time ahead of the 2017 season and signed a one-year, $5.8MM deal with the Angels. The Halos stretched him back out but the results weren’t great, with a 5.43 ERA through July. He was moved back to the bullpen and had a slightly better 4.94 ERA the rest of the way.

"<strongGoing into 2018, he signed a one-year, $1MM deal to return to the Rangers, the first organization he signed with. That turned out to be one of his best seasons. He was traded the Cubs for Tyler Thomas at the deadline and finished that year with a 2.55 ERA. He got to make his first postseason appearance with the Cubs, tossing a scoreless inning in the Wild Card game against the Rockies, but the Cubs ultimately lost in 13 innings.

He returned to free agency and signed with the Rangers yet again, this time on a two-year deal worth $8MM. That deal didn’t work out quite as well, as he posted a 5.21 ERA over those two seasons.

He had to settle for a minor league deal with Atlanta going into 2021, but he showed he still had something left in the tank. He was able to to throw 33 2/3 innings in the majors that year with a 2.14 ERA. He cracked the postseason roster and tossed 6 1/3 scoreless innings as Atlanta won it all, getting Chavez a World Series ring.

He signed a minor league deal with the Cubs going into 2022 and got a brief stint on their roster before getting flipped back to Atlanta for Sean Newcomb. A few months later, he and Tucker Davidson were flipped to the Angels for Raisel Iglesias.

In the latter years of his career, he always seemed to wind up back in Atlanta. Even after being traded away in August of 2022, he was back in Atlanta via waivers a few weeks later. Via further minor league deals, he ended up tossing 34 2/3 innings in 2023 with a 1.56 ERA and then 63 1/3 innings last year with a 3.13 ERA. This year, his time on the roster has been more limited, with eight innings and eight earned runs allowed.

In the end, Chavez played in 18 seasons for nine different teams, getting traded ten times. He got into 657 games and tossed 1,142 innings with a 4.27 ERA. He had a 51-66 win-loss record, nine saves and 76 holds. Baseball Reference lists his career earnings above $25MM. We at MLB Trade Rumors salute him on his incredibly long and winding career and wish him the best with the next phase of his life. Based on his comments above, it sounds like maybe he’ll turn up in a coaching role in the future.

Photos courtesy of Kelley L Cox, Tim Heitman and Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images

Poll: Who’s The Best Rental Reliever Available?

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Virtually every contender is on the lookout for bullpen help at the deadline, and this summer should be no exception. The Dodgers, Tigers, Phillies, Yankees, Cubs, and Mets have all been connected to the relief market already this summer, and plenty of other clubs will surely be searching for upgrades to their relief corps as well. An unusual quirk of this summer’s trade market, however, is that the majority of the most frequently discussed names are elite arms controllable beyond the 2025 season. Jhoan Duran, Emmanuel Clase, Mason Miller, David Bednar, and Pete Fairbanks are just a handful of the high-end relievers with multiple years of team control who have found themselves in the rumor mill this July.

Many of those big names likely won’t be moved, however, and the ones that do get traded are likely to come with hefty price tags. For teams with less prospect capital to spend or other areas they’ll need to balance upgrading, perhaps adding rental relief help at a lower price could be a more attractive path to take. Who’s the most interesting pending free agent available to help a contender’s bullpen this summer? A look at some of the options:

Danny Coulombe

Coulombe, 35, has long been one of the better left-handed setup men in the game when healthy. With that being said, for the majority of his career the southpaw has carried a hefty platoon split. He’s a career 2.13 ERA arm against same-handed pitching, but righties have managed to post a 4.14 figure against him over the years. That has limited Coulombe’s abilities as a shutdown set-up man over the years, but he’s changed that narrative with the Twins this year. Not only has he posted a microscopic 0.63 ERA in 28 2/3 innings of work, he’s done so with a 1.23 ERA and a 1.93 FIP against right-handed hitters. Those utterly dominant numbers would be welcome in any contender’s bullpen, though Coulombe’s shaky track record against opposite-handed batters and his small sample of work this year could make him less attractive than his rate numbers would otherwise imply.

Ryan Helsley

Helsley was one of the most talked about trade candidates in baseball for much of last offseason, though the Cardinals ultimately opted to hold onto him. Now that the club appears to be signalling that a sell-off could be in the cards this summer, however, Helsley appears more likely to be moved than ever before. The only problem is that he’s currently in the midst of by far his weakest season since his breakout All-Star campaign in 2022. While he posted a sterling 1.83 ERA, 2.35 FIP, and 34.6% strikeout rate across his last three seasons, Helsley’s 2025 hasn’t been nearly that special. His 3.18 ERA in 34 innings of work is still 32% better than league average, but a 3.77 FIP is downright pedestrian thanks in large part to a massive drop in strikeout rate. He’s punching out just 24.8% of his opponents this year, all while walking 9.4% of batters faced. The 30-year-old still offers premium velocity and is clearly an above-average arm with plenty of closing experience, but he’s not quite the slam-dunk superstar he would’ve been this time last year.

Raisel Iglesias

Iglesias isn’t having an amazing season on the whole but is in a strong groove at the moment. He has a 5.12 ERA on the season but most of the damage came earlier in the year. From June 9th until July 18th, he tossed 13 2/3 scoreless innings with a 37.5% strikeout rate and 2.1% walk rate. His most recent outing was a four-run clunker, but that still leaves him with a 2.45 ERA over his past 14 2/3 innings. Though it’s not his best year, he has 235 saves and a 2.99 ERA in his decade-plus career, so he’ll certainly garner interest.

Kenley Jansen

In the midst of his 16th big league season, the 37-year-old Jansen has begun to show his age with declining peripherals (4.24 FIP, 4.43 xFIP) but has generally remained as effective as ever at closing out games when looking at pure results. His 3.28 ERA across 35 2/3 innings of work has been enough to allow him to convert 17 of his 18 save chances, and virtually all of the damage he’s allowed this year was part of a six-run, two-out blow-up back on May 2. He had made eight appearances without surrendering a run prior to that outing, and since then he’s posted a 2.33 ERA and 3.02 FIP across 27 innings of work. It’s hardly reasonable to ignore that meltdown earlier this season entirely, but given Jansen’s Hall of Fame caliber track record and strong performance in every other outing this season, it’s not hard to imagine contending clubs believing he’ll be more valuable than his season-long peripherals might otherwise suggest.

Steven Matz

The 34-year-old Matz stands out from the rest of the rental relief crowd as a hurler with plenty of starting experience who was used as a multi-inning reliever and spot starter as recently as earlier this season. His 3.29 ERA and 2.90 FIP across 52 innings of work this year are certainly impressive on paper, but a closer look at his numbers reveals some reason for pause. Since the start of May, Matz has been used exclusively in short relief and hasn’t exactly taken to the role change well with a 4.82 ERA and 3.73 FIP in 28 innings of work over his last 20 appearances. Perhaps an interested club would look at that improved peripheral and see potential, but it should be noted that Matz carries a massive platoon split this year; while lefties have been held to a .182/.222/.234 against him this year, righties have slashed a much more robust .290/.321/.435. That’s not exactly what you want from a late-inning reliever, but Matz could still provide unique value to clubs as a dominant hurler against lefties who could be stretched out for longer appearances as needed.

Other Options

The aforementioned five names are hardly the only options worth considering. Caleb Ferguson of the Pirates, Seranthony Dominguez of the Orioles, and Jakob Junis of the Guardians are among a number of set-up men in the midst of solid seasons, though none have numbers or track records quite as impressive as the group listed above. Kyle Finnegan of the Nationals has a long track record of success in the ninth inning but didn’t get much interest in free agency this winter and he now has a 4.62 ERA this year. Diamondbacks closer Shelby Miller would have a strong argument as one of the top options on this list if not for a forearm strain suffered early this month that could require surgery, though a return later this year has not yet been ruled out.

Who do MLBTR readers view as the best rental reliever available this summer? Should teams prioritize the strong track records of Helsley, Iglesias and Jansen, or the recent excellence of Coulombe? Or perhaps Matz’s flexibility to be used in multiple roles makes him most attractive of all? Have your say in the poll below:

MLBTR Podcast: David Robertson, Trade Chips For The O’s and A’s, And What The Rangers Could Do

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • What about a Duran Duran trade? Jarren Duran of the Red Sox for Jhoan Durán of the Twins? (29:55)
  • Should the Angels be buying? (37:30)
  • If the Cardinals are sellers, who should be untouchable? (44:50)

Check out our past episodes!

  • Rays’ Ownership, The Phillies Target Bullpen Help, And Bubble Teams – listen here
  • Firings in Washington, Bad Braves, And An AL East Shake-Up – listen here
  • Depleted Mets’ Pitching, The Pirates Are Open For Business, And More! – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images

Poll: Will The Angels Sell This Summer?

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The Angels have been mired in mediocrity for more than a decade now, despite employing both Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani at the peak of their powers in that time. It’s been tough to be an Angels fan for a very long time, but this year has offered the Anaheim faithful at least some hope. The team, while two games under .500, is still at least nominally in the Wild Card race as they sit just four games back of a playoff spot in the expanded postseason field.

It wouldn’t be the first time the club has been aggressive in spite of long postseason odds. They bought aggressively at the 2023 trade deadline, adding a group of players headlined by Lucas Giolito as they fought to make the playoffs during Ohtani’s final year under club control despite Fangraphs giving the club just a 19.5% chance at the postseason on July 31 of that year. The Angels find themselves in a situation with at least some parallels to that season now.

While Trout remains under club control for quite some time, he has a chance to finish this season healthier than he’s been at any point in his thirties and has looked very much like the player he was throughout the 2010s since returning from his latest IL stint at the end of May. In 45 games since being activated, Trout has hit a robust .279/.424/.468 (147 wRC+) and tied Juan Soto for the highest walk rate in all of baseball. His .397 xwOBA this season is the eleventh-highest figure in the sport among qualified hitters, suggesting even better days could be ahead if he can just stay on the field. For a team that hasn’t made the postseason since Trout was 22 years old, any opportunity to get their franchise face and future Hall of Famer onto the sport’s biggest stage is one that the Angels should take seriously.

On the other hand, Trout’s continued health is obviously far from a guarantee. It’s already unknown when he’ll be ready to do more than DH. And after the past half decade, no one should be surprised if another injury were to sideline him down the stretch. What’s more, the Angels are simply not in the same position they found themselves in back in 2023. They’re four games out of a playoff spot entering play today, compared to just half a game out on July 31 of 2023. Only five teams in all of baseball have a lower run differential than Anaheim, which has allowed 61 more runs than it’s scored this year, and Fangraphs gives the Halos just a 4.8% chance of the postseason entering play today.

Perhaps the course of action for the Angels is simply to stand pat. Luis Rengifo is in the midst of a brutal season, leaving the player who would otherwise be their top trade chip unlikely to bring much value to the table. Kyle Hendricks, Yoan Moncada, and other rentals on the club have not done much to position themselves as top-of-the-line trade pieces, meaning closer Kenley Jansen could be the only rental piece on the roster with a substantial market. Trading longer-term pieces like Yusei Kikuchi and Reid Detmers could bring back more value, but would signal a willingness to forgo mid-term competitiveness despite the fact that Trout is already in his age-33 season. That would be something of a shock for Angels ownership to sign off on, given their previous tendencies.

How do MLBTR readers think the Angels will approach this coming deadline? Will they engage in a proper selloff, or could they instead stand pat in hopes of making a postseason run—or perhaps even do some light buying? Have your say in the poll below:

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