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AL West Notes: Blanco, Scherzer, Soriano

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The Astros have been using a six-man rotation for the last couple of weeks, in order to both ease Justin Verlander’s return from the 15-day injured list and to help manage the innings of Ronel Blanco and Spencer Arrighetti.  With the team preparing to move back to the traditional five-man staff, GM Dana Brown said on his weekend radio show (hat tip to The Athletic’s Chandler Rome) that Blanco will probably be the pitcher moved into relief work.  The right-hander had a 4.98 ERA in his last seven starts and 34 1/3 prior to today’s start, when he looked sharp in tossing five shutout innings in the Astros’ 7-2 win over the Royals.

Blanco’s unexpected emergence has been a revelation for a Houston team hit hard by rotation injuries earlier this season.  He threw a no-hitter against the Blue Jays in his very first start of 2024, setting the tone for a year that has seen him post a 3.03 ERA over 148 1/3 innings.  The concern is that Blanco has already topped his previous high of 125 1/3 innings across the majors and minors in 2023, and Houston naturally wants to keep him fresh for the playoffs.  The Astros’ rotation has been so dominant in recent weeks that they can afford to lose Blanco’s production, and there’s plenty of upside to using Blanco as a bullpen weapon down the stretch and into October.

More items from around the AL West….

  • It has been over a month since Max Scherzer last pitched, as he was dealing with right shoulder fatigue and then had a Double-A rehab start on August 23 canceled for unspecified reasons.  Scherzer discussed the situation with MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry and other reporters this weekend, saying he was hampered by a nerve problem in his triceps area, but it wasn’t actual nerve damage, as tests revealed.  A change to Scherzer’s throwing motion might’ve “solved this,” as “there was something mechanically going on with my elbow and elbow retraction that was making that radial nerve of my tricep get irritated,” Scherzer said.  “Yesterday, I got on the mound to do a full bullpen and no issue….Structurally, I’m fine.  Strength, I’m fine.  I don’t have an injury here.  This was just a nerve irritation.”  Scherzer is now hopeful that he’ll be able to properly resume his rehab program within the week, and he believes he’ll return to the Rangers rotation before the season is over.
  • Jose Soriano was placed on the 15-day injured list on August 17, but he won’t be activated when first eligible.  It isn’t yet clear if Soriano will return at all in 2024, as Angels GM Perry Minasian told the media (including MLB.com) that the team is considering shutting Soriano down.  The right-hander was sent to the IL due to arm fatigue, which isn’t unexpected given that Soriano has thrown a career-high 113 innings this season.  His previous high was 82 1/3 innings in the minors in 2019, before two separate Tommy John surgeries put Soriano on the shelf for almost three full years.  He made his big league debut as a reliever in 2023 and moved into the rotation this season, posting a very respectable 3.42 ERA across his 113 frames.  With some solid results already in the books, the Angels might opt to just let Soriano get a head start on his 2025 preparations rather than ramp him back up for another outing or two this season.

Angels Recall Reid Detmers, Considering Six-Man Rotation

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The Angels have recalled left-hander Reid Detmers to the major league roster to fill one of the spots created by today’s roster expansion, as first reporter by Russell Dorsey of Yahoo Sports.

Detmers, 25, hasn’t pitched in the majors since early June after being optioned to Triple-A following a brutal start to the season that saw him post a 6.14 ERA and 4.40 FIP in his first 12 starts of the season. The lefty has worked to a lackluster 5.54 ERA in 14 starts at the Triple-A level since then, but has shown signs of life recently with a 1.29 ERA and an eye-popping 36.3% strikeout rate in 21 innings of work across his last three starts. That trio of dominant performances was evidently enough for the club to decide to return him to the majors for the stretch run in hopes he can re-establish himself as a quality big league rotation arm ahead of the 2025 campaign.

From a service time perspective, Detmers’s demotion lasting most of the year has allowed the Angels to lock in an additional year of team control over the southpaw, who now won’t become a free agent until after the 2028 season has concluded. Prior to this season, the tenth-overall pick in the 2020 draft had already made 58 starts in the big leagues across three seasons but had accrued just over two years of service time. He’s currently set to accrue just over three months of service time this year, a figure that will put him just under the 172-day threshold to earn a full service year even after factoring in the 64 days toward his third year of service he entered the campaign with.

With the left-hander now back in the majors, the Angels have six healthy rotation arms in the fold as Detmers joins veterans Tyler Anderson and Griffin Canning as well as youngsters Caden Dana, Jack Kochanowicz, and Samuel Aldegheri. Detmers, Dana, Kochanowicz, and Aldegheri all would make sense to retain as the Halos evaluate their young talent ahead of a 2025 season that could see any number of them pitching in the Opening Day rotation, while Tyler Anderson’s status as the club’s veteran workhorse with a 3.55 ERA in 162 1/3 innings of work this year makes him all but guaranteed to remain in the rotation down the stretch.

It’s fair to wonder if those realities indicate that right-hander Griffin Canning is running out of time as a member of the club’s rotation, particularly given his lackluster 5.19 ERA and 5.17 FIP in 144 innings of work this year. With that being said, however, Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com noted yesterday that the club is considering utilizing a six-man rotation down the stretch instead of bumping any of their current starters out of the rotation to accommodate Detmers. The Halos famously used a six-man rotation regularly from 2021 to 2023 to accommodate the needs of two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani, but the club indicated this winter after Ohtani departed for the Dodgers that they intended to return to a traditional five-man rotation now that they weren’t accommodating the needs of a generational talent.

Despite that reluctance, it could make some sense for the Angels to utilize a six-man rotation down the stretch. After all, it would allow them to work in some extra rest for arms like those of Anderson and Canning that have taken on fairly heavy workloads this year without kicking them to the bullpen, and it could provide flexibility for the club as they look to evaluate their young arms ahead of the 2025 campaign. Most importantly, today’s expansion of rosters from 26 to 28 players means the club has an extra pitcher to work with, so a six-man rotation wouldn’t require the club to play a man short in the bullpen.

Angels Designate Johnny Cueto For Assignment

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The Angels announced they’ve designated Johnny Cueto for assignment. Los Angeles also placed reliever Carson Fulmer on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to August 27) with elbow inflammation. The moves create active roster spots for the previously reported promotions of Caden Dana and Samuel Aldegheri. The Halos transferred José Marte to the 60-day IL to clear the second 40-man spot.

Los Angeles called Cueto up last week. They gave him two starts, in which he surrendered nine runs over 11 1/3 innings. Cueto struck out six, walked three and gave up four home runs. He managed a quality start against the Royals in his team debut (three ER in 6 1/3 frames) before the Tigers tagged him for six runs on Tuesday.

The Angels then decided to take their first look at Dana and Aldegheri, two of the top pitching prospects in the organization. That’s a better use of the final month of a lost season than continuing to turn to a 38-year-old impending free agent. Cueto’s tenure with the Halos certainly wasn’t the most memorable, but it did mark his 17th straight year logging some amount of MLB action. Los Angeles will place Cueto on waivers in the next few days. He’ll almost certainly clear and become a free agent.

As for the injured players, Fulmer told the Halos beat that he’s headed for an MRI (X link via Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com). The 30-year-old righty expressed confidence there’s nothing structurally awry. Marte has been on the injured list for a few weeks with a viral infection. Manager Ron Washington told reporters earlier in the week that the righty experienced shoulder soreness once he resumed a throwing program (link via Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register). The severity of the injury isn’t clear, but his season is over.

Angels To Promote Caden Dana, Samuel Aldegheri

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The Angels announced that pitching prospect Caden Dana is scheduled to start Sunday’s game against the Mariners. The club will need to make corresponding moves to get him onto both the active and 40-man rosters. Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reported the news on on X prior to the official announcement. The club will also promote left-hander Samuel Aldegheri, per Jeff Passan of ESPN on X, with Aldegheri expected to pitch Friday. Like Dana, Aldegheri is not on the 40-man roster and the club will have to make corresponding moves for him.

Dana, now 20, went to Don Bosco Preparatory High School in Ramsey, New Jersey. Baseball America ranked him as the #76 player available in the 2022 draft. Even though he had not yet turned 19 years old at the time, BA noted that his fastball was already hitting the mid-90s. They suggested he could be off the board in the first two rounds but he lingered unsigned far later than that due to signability concerns related to his commitment to Kentucky.

The Angels eventually took him in the 11th round, 328th overall. They gave him a signing bonus of $1,497,500, which was a record for a player taken after the 10th round, per MLB.com. They were able to do so by giving below-slot deals to other players they drafted, saving some of their allotted bonus pool.

Dana made a brief professional debut in the months following that draft selection but got a more proper debut in 2023. He made 14 starts last year between Single-A and High-A, tossing 68 1/3 innings while allowing 3.56 earned runs per nine. His 10.7% walk rate was a bit on the high side but he also struck out 31.7% of batters faced. Here in 2024, he has 23 Double-A starts, throwing 135 2/3 innings with a 2.52 ERA, 27.4% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate.

Those strong results have vaulted him onto top prospect lists. BA currently has him in the #92 spot overall while MLB Pipeline has him 74th. FanGraphs lists him just outside the top 100. All outlets lists his slider as his best secondary pitch, followed by his curveball and then his changeup. Now the Halos will launch him up to the big leagues, skipping over the Triple-A level entirely.

The Angels have arguably been the most aggressive club in terms of promoting prospects in recent years and this is yet another data point in favor of that assessment. The first-round and third-round picks in 2022 were shortstop Zach Neto and right-hander Ben Joyce, both of whom were promoted to the big leagues by May of 2023. Last year’s top pick was first baseman Nolan Schanuel, who was in the bigs just over a month later. Reid Detmers and Chase Silseth were also called up the year after their draft selection. The gap from draft to debut is slightly wider with Dana, but he was selected out of high school, whereas all those other were taken out of college.

It’s also an aggressive promotion with Aldegheri, a 22-year-old, though his path to the majors far been far less traditional. He was born and raised in Verona, Italy and Matt Gelb of The Athletic profiled his unusual path to the majors back in the spring.

The Phillies signed him as part of their 2019 international class, giving him a bonus of $210K. Since then, he has continued to put up strong numbers and put himself on the prospect map, and the Angels liked him enough to acquire him in the deadline trade that sent Carlos Estévez the other way.

Between the two clubs, Aldegheri has made 19 starts this year between High-A and Double-A. He has thrown 95 1/3 innings with a 3.59 ERA, 33.5% strikeout rate and 10.3% walk rate. He’s not as highly regarded as Dana but has raised his stock. BA currently lists him #6 in the Angels’ system, noting that his fastball sits in the low 90s but has cutting and riding action. He complements it with a slider, curveball and changeup. FanGraphs provided a similar profile in putting him at #5 in the system, while MLB Pipeline has him in the #8 slot.

The Angels are out of contention this year and will use the final few weeks of the season to get a look at a couple of pitchers they hope will be a part of their future pitching staffs, which could perhaps impact their offseason. Next year’s rotation projects to include Tyler Anderson and Griffin Canning, though both are slated for free agency after 2025. Youngsters like Detmers, Silseth, Jack Kochanowicz, José Soriano and others should be in the mix. Patrick Sandoval underwent UCL surgery this summer but could be a factor by late 2025.

Dana and Aldegheri will be able to get their feet wet at the major league level but neither will exhaust rookie status this year. There are less than 45 days remaining in the schedule and the club will surely not allow them to pitch 50 innings. By keeping them in the rookie bucket going into 2025, the club will be able to have prospect promotion incentives on the table.

To combat service time manipulation, the collective bargaining agreement provides incentives for clubs to promote their top prospects. If a player has less than 60 days of service time and is on two of three top 100 lists at BA, ESPN or MLB Pipeline, the are PPI-eligible if they are promoted early enough in a season to get a full service year. If the player goes on to win Rookie of the Year, or finish in the top three in MVP or Cy Young voting during their pre-arbitration years, the club gets an extra draft pick just after the first round.

That will be more of a factor with Dana, who is already on two of those three lists, though it’s at least theoretically possible for Aldegheri to sneak on, especially if he pitches well in the next few weeks. There’s also the theoretical possibility that he spends all of 2025 on optional assignment and is still a rookie going into 2026.

That will be a secondary concern. The main goal for the Angels is getting their pitchers acclimated to the big leagues and seeing how their stuff plays against major league hitters. The club’s lack of starting pitching has been an ongoing concern, partially due to a lack of development but also due to a lack of spending. Other than Anderson, the club hasn’t signed a free agent starting pitcher to a multi-year deal since Joe Blanton’s two-year pact in 2012. If Dana or Aldegheri, or both, can turn into viable big league starters, it could be a big boost to the club in the years to come.

As mentioned, it also continues a pattern of aggressive promotions. That made a lot of sense when the club had both Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani on the roster, as it appeared they were trying to explore all avenues to put a winning team around that duo when they had the chance. Ohtani is now gone but perhaps the club is still trying to make the most of the Trout era. He has missed significant time in recent years due to injuries and is now 33 years old, but he is under contract through 2030. Perhaps this is a sign the club still wants to take a shot at contending before Trout gets even older, though that may also depend on how the young players perform, how the offseason plays out, and other factors.

MLBTR Podcast: Scott Servais, Perry Minasian, The Orioles’ Rotation, And Joey Votto

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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 Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • In my opinion, Max Fried’s 2024 has cost him $100MM+ due to injury and some weirdly shaky games/random innings. Do you agree and does this make him more/less likely to re-sign with the Braves? (41:40)
  • Appears Justin Verlander will not hit the 140 innings pitched needed for his $35MM vesting option for 2025, making him a free agent at the end of the season. What kind of market can we expect for Verlander? What teams interested, salary, contract length. (50:20)

Check out our past episodes!

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

Angels Place Matt Moore On Injured List, Select Ryan Miller

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The Angels announced Tuesday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Ryan Miller from Triple-A Salt Lake. In a pair of corresponding moves, the Halos placed lefty Matt Moore on the 15-day injured list and transferred Mike Trout from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL.

Moore exited his most recent appearance due to an elbow issue. The Angels have not yet commented on the severity of the issue, nor did they even list a specific injury in their formal announcement of today’s transaction. It’s been a tough year for the 35-year-old veteran, who’s worked to a 5.03 ERA as his strikeout rate, walk rate and velocity have all trended in the wrong direction.

From 2022-23, Moore sat 94 mph with his heater and pitched to a 2.20 ERA in 126 2/3 innings, striking out 27.4% of his opponents against a 10.2% walk rate (including a career-best 6.9% walk rate last year). In 2024, however, his average fastball has dipped to 93 mph, and Moore has set down just 19.5% of his opponents on strikes while issuing free passes to 12.4% of batters faced — the second-worst mark of his big league career.

Miller, 28, will be making his big league debut more than six years after being selected by the Diamondbacks in the sixth round of the 2018 draft. He joined the Angels via the minor league phase of last year’s Rule 5 Draft and has pitched quite well. In 62 1/3 innings, he’s worked to a 2.45 ERA with a strong 24.6% strikeout rate against an excellent 5.6% walk rate. Miller has kept the ball on the ground at a 40.9% clip that’s not far below league average and yielded only 1.01 homers per nine frames pitched.

Marlins Claim Mike Baumann

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The Marlins announced that right-hander Mike Baumann has been claimed off waivers.  The Angels designated Baumann for assignment earlier this week.

The claim puts Baumann in position for a unique piece of baseball history, as he could join Oliver Drake as the only players to ever play for five different teams over the course of a single season.  Baumann has a 5.24 ERA over 44 2/3 innings split over stints with the Angels (9 1/3 IP), Giants (two-thirds of an inning), Mariners (16 1/3 IP), and Orioles (18 1/3 IP), and just one appearance with Miami would allow Baumann to get a piece of Drake’s record.

A third-round pick for the Orioles in the 2017 draft, Baumann had spent his entire career in Baltimore’s organization before he was designated for assignment in May, thus sparking his busy summer of transactions.  This is the first time Baumann has left DFA limbo via waiver claim this season, as his first three designations were resolved by trades.  Baumann is out of minor league options, which is why he has been perpetually DFA’ed rather than simply optioned to the minors.

Baumann is a hard thrower with mid-90s velocity, and he had a 3.46 ERA over 64 2/3 relief innings for the Orioles in 2023.  Between this resume and some good minor league numbers (including high strikeout totals), it’s easy to see why various teams have had interest in Baumann, even if he has struggled since leaving Baltimore.  The Marlins are both rebuilding and have been hit hard by pitching injuries this season, so Baumann should have a decent chance at getting some innings and perhaps finally staying put on a roster.

Angels Designate Mike Baumann For Assignment

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The Angels announced that they have selected the contract of righty reliever Ryan Zeferjahn. In a corresponding roster move, fellow reliever Mike Baumann has been designated for assignment.

Baumann has ridden the DFA carousel throughout the season. The righty is out of options, so teams need to continue taking him off the 40-man roster if they nudge him out of the bullpen. No club has successfully gotten Baumann through waivers. He has gone from the Orioles to the Mariners, Giants and Halos via DFA resolutions throughout the year.

The 28-year-old hasn’t pitched especially well at any of those stops. He owns a cumulative 5.24 ERA through 44 2/3 innings. The Jacksonville product’s 19.5% strikeout percentage, 10.2% walk rate and 1.61 home runs per nine are all subpar. A few teams have nevertheless been intrigued by his still above-average velocity (96.4 MPH on the fastball) and last year’s decent results. He’s a season removed from a 3.76 ERA across 64 2/3 innings with Baltimore.

Baumann will land back on waivers in the next couple days. Any claiming team would need to keep him in the MLB bullpen. He surpassed the two-year service threshold this season and will play on a pre-arbitration salary for another year.

Zeferjahn, a University of Kansas product, steps into the vacated bullpen spot. The 6’5″ righty is a former third-round pick of the Red Sox. Command issues quickly pushed him to the bullpen, where Zeferjahn has shown strikeout stuff. He has fanned more than 28% of opponents in his five-year minor league career. That’s up to nearly 31% this season between the top two minor league levels. Zeferjahn carries a 3.33 earned run average across 46 innings on the season.

The Angels acquired him as part of a four-player return for reliever Luis García at the deadline. Three of them — Zeferjahn, outfielder Matthew Lugo and first baseman Niko Kavadas — were in the high minors at the time. Kavadas debuted last week. Los Angeles would have needed to add Zeferjahn to the 40-man this offseason to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. They’ll give him his first big league opportunity a few weeks earlier than that as he tries to carve out a middle relief role going into next season.

Angels Sign Perry Minasian To Two-Year Extension

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The Angels are opting for continuity atop the front office. The Halos announced on Thursday that they’ve signed general manager Perry Minasian to an extension that runs through the 2026 season. There’s reportedly a club option for ’27.

“Over the last four years, Perry and his baseball operations staff have begun to lay the foundation for a bright future of Angels baseball,” owner Arte Moreno said in a release. “We have been impressed by the steps Perry has taken to infuse our major league team with young and exciting talent while also revamping our player development process. We believe this extension will allow him to continue the vision of building sustainable success throughout the Angels organization and deliver a championship for our fans.”

Minasian is also quoted in the press release: “I am incredibly thankful to Arte and Carole Moreno for their continued trust and support,” he says. “I would also like to thank [Angels president] John Carpino for the tremendous working relationship we have developed over the last four years and I look forward to continuing our plans of bringing the Angels back to being a consistent championship contender.”

Minasian was named the general manager of the Angels in November of 2020, following the firing of Billy Eppler. He had previously worked as a scout for Toronto and assistant general manager for Atlanta and was able to secure a four-year pact in his new gig with the Halos. This is the final season of that deal but the club is satisfied enough with his performance to keep him around.

That might seem a little strange, as things haven’t been going especially well for the Angels. Despite having two superstars on the roster in Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout in recent years, the club hasn’t had a winning season since 2015, hasn’t made the playoffs since 2014 and hasn’t won a playoff game since 2009. They are 54-73 this year, ahead of only the White Sox in the American League standings.

It’s a matter of debate as to how much blame Minasian can take for that, as it doesn’t appear as though he’s been given a lot of rope to work with in building around those guys. Looking at MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, the club hasn’t been a huge spender since he was brought aboard. The four-year, $58MM deal they gave to Raisel Iglesias has been the biggest deal of his tenure, both in terms of years and guarantee. They already had big contracts on the books for Trout, Anthony Rendon, Albert Pujols and others when he came aboard, and seemingly didn’t want to add much more to that. Moreno plainly stated that he was paring back payroll going into 2024.

The franchise has seemingly had a mandate against significant investments in starting pitching, something that seems to come from ownership since it predates Minasian’s tenure.  Since a five-year, $77.5MM deal for C.J. Wilson late in 2011, things have been kept fairly modest. Joe Blanton got a two-year, $15MM deal at the end of 2012 and then it took a decade for the club to give out another multi-year deal for a starter. At the end of 2022, Tyler Anderson got a three-year, $39MM deal, still fairly modest in terms of rotation investments.

Minasian and his front office have seemingly tried to get around these limitations by drafting players they could fasttrack to the majors, which they have actually had a bit of success with. Zach Neto was the club’s first-round pick in 2022 and Nolan Schanuel in 2023. Both players were up in the majors by last year and having good results. Chase Silseth, taken in the 11th-round in 2021, was pitching in the majors by 2022. Ben Joyce, taken in the third round in 2022, was in the big leagues last year and could now be the club’s closer. Christian Moore, just taken 8th overall last month, is already thriving in Double-A.

That’s not to say that there’s nothing to criticize in Anaheim. Due to rushing all their prospects to the majors, the club’s farm system is generally considered one of the worst in the league. Baseball America recently put them dead last, FanGraphs and ESPN have them in the bottom as well, while MLB Pipeline has them 29th, ahead of only the Astros. The major league roster is obviously lacking, given their poor results lately. There’s actually an argument that they have one of the worst long-term outlooks of the 30 clubs in the league.

But there is some controllable talent on the roster alongside Trout, with guys like Neto, Schanuel, Taylor Ward, Jo Adell, Logan O’Hoppe and others all slated to stick around through 2026 or longer. They could have made some of those players available this summer and kicked off a notable rebuild but didn’t do it. It’s not known whether that was a front office decision or something that came from ownership. The light spending in recent years means that the future payroll is starting to clear up. Despite having two massive contracts on the books between Trout and Rendon, RosterResource has the club’s guarantees at $109MM next year and $89MM in 2026. By 2027, Rendon, Anderson and Robert Stephenson will all be off the books, leaving Trout as the club’s only significant investment.

Moreno has clearly placed some constraints on Minasian but is evidently pleased with the way he has worked within them, so he’ll keep him around for another couple of years to see how things progress.

Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register was first to report the Angels and Minasian had agreed to a multi-year extension. Roger Lodge of Three Point Media first reported the ’27 option year.

Angels Select Johnny Cueto

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August 21: The Angels have now made it official, selecting Cueto to the roster. Righty Hans Crouse was optioned in a corresponding move. The club also announced that José Cisnero, who was designated for assignment on the weekend, has been released.

August 20: The Angels are set to select the contract of right-hander Johnny Cueto from Triple-A Salt Lake, reports Hector Gomez of Z101 Deportes in the Dominican Republic. The Halos don’t have a starter announced for tomorrow’s game, so it seems the plan will be for the veteran Cueto to come up and take the ball. He’s not on the 40-man roster, but the Angels have a vacancy there after releasing veteran infielder Luis Guillorme over the weekend.

Cueto, 38, has pitched in Triple-A with the Rangers and Angels this season, finding a good bit more success with the latter than with the former. He’s made four starts in Salt Lake and held opponents to eight earned runs on 27 hits and five walks with 15 strikeouts through 23 1/3 frames. That comes out to a 3.09 ERA and sharp 5% walk rate — albeit against a sub-par 14.9% strikeout rate. When including his minor league work with Texas this season, Cueto has a 4.76 ERA in 64 1/3 innings. He’ll be on six days rest for tomorrow’s game, with his most recent outing having come on Aug. 14.

Assuming Cueto indeed gets the nod for the Angels, this will be the 17th consecutive season in which the two-time All-Star and 2015 World Series champion has pitched in the majors. He spent the 2023 campaign with the Marlins but struggled to a 6.02 ERA through 10 starts in a season that was wrecked by a biceps injury. As recently as 2022, the right-hander pitched 158 1/3 innings of 3.35 ERA ball with the White Sox, showing similar K-BB rates (15.7% and 5.1%) to the ones he’s logged in Triple-A this year.

Overall, Cueto has piled up 2245 big league innings and recorded a tidy 3.50 ERA along the way. He’s won 144 games against 111 losses, punched out 1851 big league opponents and appeared in a total of 368 major league games. Cueto is currently tied with Floyd Bannister and Doc White for 196th in games started at the MLB level, and he’ll jump into a tie with Ron Darling, Scott Erickson and Vern Law for 193rd if and when he takes the ball tomorrow.

The Angels recently placed Jose Soriano on the injured list due to arm fatigue and lost Patrick Sandoval to UCL surgery earlier this season. They’ve been using journeyman Carson Fulmer and rookie Jack Kochanowicz in the rotation alongside Tyler Anderson and Griffin Canning recently. Cueto will give them a veteran option to join that group, though it’s possible the Angels will want to take a look at homegrown arms like Reid Detmers or Sam Bachman down the stretch. Both have had their struggles since being optioned to Triple-A, but both pitchers also pitched excellently in their most recent outings.

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