The Angels have claimed righty Blake Wood off waivers from the Reds, per a club announcement. Right-hander Matt Shoemaker was shifted to the 60-day DL to make way for the acquisition.
Wood had been designated recently by Cincinnati after a pair of dreadful outings. But he certainly has a big arm and some track record of success in the majors.
The Halos will hope that Wood becomes the team’s latest reclamation success — perhaps helping to make up for the absence of David Hernandez, who was dealt away at the deadline. Since, the Angels have managed to climb into the thick of the AL Wild Card race.
Wood, 32, carried a 3.69 ERA until he was lit up on August 11th. Now, just two weeks later, that figure has ballooned all the way to 5.65. But he does still have solid-enough peripherals, with 9.7 K/9 against 4.6 BB/9 along with a 53.6% groundball rate, and still works in the 97 mph range with his heater.
If Wood can prove his worth in Los Angeles, the club may also consider retaining him for the future. He’s earning $1.275MM this year and can be tendered arbitration once more this fall.
Happy for him. He signed a ball for me way back when he was with the Royals and was a really nice dude. Glad he is getting another opportunity.
He maybe Gandhi, but he still sucks.
Angels desperately need arms. Makes sense
Angels must of forgot pitchers don’t hit in the AL.
No doubt! I concur with your post billwood23.
X2
Considering the Angles push for a WC spot, and staff needs, this looks like a good move
After all the injuries he can soak up some innings. Hey, the last time they claimed a relievers named Blake on waivers it worked out pretty nicely.
Good pickup by the Angels. Wood always got a hard time from Reds fans, but had good peripherals for much of the year. Three really bad outings in the past two weeks changed that, though. He walked a bunch of guys and gave up a bunch of hits, but also got a good number of strikeouts, and gave up relatively few homeruns despite pitching in Great American Ballpark. He throws hard.
He wasn’t going to be tendered a contract by the Reds, who didn’t want to pay an arbitration raise, but he’d be a fairly cheap and reliable option for the Angels in 2018.
He’s horrible
Lately. He’s a legit MLB pitcher that can bring it.
Legit MLB pitchers don’t have career 1.502 WHIP. Somehow this year is even worse.
How is 29 walks in 57 innings good peripherals??!! What has MLB Baseball come too?? What’s with all the walks in pitching in general??? Wow!
We sure miss David Hernandez!!