Angels Place Cam Bedrosian On DL, Claim Brett Oberholtzer From Phillies

The Angels announced several roster moves this afternoon, including the placement of right-hander Cam Bedrosian on the 15-day disabled list due to flexor tendinitis in the middle finger on his right hand. Additionally, the Angels have claimed left-hander Brett Oberholtzer off waivers from the Phillies and selected the contract of fellow righty A.J. Achter. Oberholtzer will join the Major League club but will not do so today, tweets Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register.

The injury to Bedrosian means that the Angels will now have both closer Huston Street and Bedrosian, their top setup man and interim closer, on the disabled list at the same time. Those injuries and the trade of setup man Joe Smith to the Cubs creates some uncertainty at the back of manager Mike Scioscia’s bullpen. Right-hander Deolis Guerra has had the most impressive season thus far of any of the team’s remaining relievers, but righty Fernando Salas tops him in terms of experience. Bedrosian’s loss is a notable one for the Halos, as he’s quietly delivered one of the best seasons of any reliever in baseball. The 24-year-old has posted a brilliant 1.12 ERA with 11.4 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 and a 49.5 percent ground-ball rate in 40 1/3 innings in his breakout campaign.

As for Oberholtzer, the 27-year-old went from Houston to Philadelphia in last December’s Ken Giles blockbuster, but he was unable to find his footing as a member of the Phils. In 50 1/3 innings this year, Oberholtzer limped to a 4.83 ERA with 6.8 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and a 44.8 percent ground-ball rate. He hasn’t factored into a big league rotation much recently, but Oberholtzer does has 42 Major League starts under his belt. That could be key for an Angels organization that is thin on rotation depth with Andrew Heaney, Nick Tropeano and likely Garrett Richards all slated to miss the 2017 season (or most of it) due to Tommy John surgery. While Oberholtzer certainly isn’t an overpowering arm, he has a 4.09 career ERA in 304 big league innings.

Achter, 27, has a 3.98 ERA in 20 1/3 innings out of the Angels’ bullpen this season but has fanned just nine batters in that time. He has plenty of Triple-A success under his belt though: a 2.90 ERA with a 164-to-64 K/BB ratio in 183 innings. The Halos have designated Achter for assignment and outrighted him twice already this season.