The Angels are removing right-hander Cody Allen from the closer’s role for the time being, manager Brad Ausmus revealed prior to Wednesday’s tilt with the Yankees (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger). There won’t be a set closer in his place, it seems, as each of Ty Buttrey, Hansel Robles and Luis Garcia could receive looks depending on availability and matchup, Bollinger notes.
Signed to a one-year deal worth $8.25MM this offseason, Allen hoped to bounce back in his new environs following the worst full season of his MLB career in 2018. Allen gave the Indians five straight seasons of sub-3.00 ERA ball with at least 11.3 K/9 from 2013-17 before stumbling in his final season of arbitration; last year, the righty posted a 4.70 ERA with 10.7 K/9, 4.4 BB/9 and a career-high 1.5 HR/9.
The start of the 2019 season hasn’t gone any better. Allen is a nominal 4-for-4 in save opportunities, but he’s yielded five earned runs on six hits and seven walks with nine strikeouts in 8 1/3 innings. The home-run troubles that plagued him last year are all the more pronounced in 2019, as he’s already served up a trio of dingers on the young season. Perhaps more concerning is the fact that Allen’s 92.2 mph average fastball is a full two miles per hour lower than it was in 2017 and three miles slower than it was back in 2014. As one might expect with that type of velocity dip, Allen’s swinging-strike rate has plummeted from 14.9 percent in 2017 to 10.4 percent in 2019.
It remains to be seen whether the change in role can help to get Allen back on track. At 30 years old, it’s not out of the question that he can rediscover some of his lost velocity. It’s also certainly possible that a pitcher with his track record and wipeout curveball can learn to be effective even with reduced life on his heater, though doing so may come with an adjustment period.
Fantasy players asking who’s in line for the bulk of saves won’t have a true answer until we see how Ausmus deploys the other late-inning relievers in his bullpen. But to this point in the season, both Buttrey and Robles have been terrific. Each has struck out at least one third of the hitters he’s faced while walking fewer than eight percent of opponents. Buttrey has paired his outstanding K-BB% with a hefty 56.5 percent ground-ball rate (dwarfing Robles’ 25.0 percent), underscoring the difficulty that opponents have when it comes to elevating his pitches.
Since being acquired from the Red Sox in exchange for Ian Kinsler, Buttrey has a 2.10 ERA and a 33-to-8 K/BB ratio and zero home runs allowed in 25 1/3 innings for the Angels. Robles, since being claimed off waivers from the Mets, has a 3.02 ERA and a 52-to-18 K/BB ratio in 47 2/3 frames. Between the two, Buttrey has induced more swinging strikes and grounders and seems like the more prototypical closer, though it’s possible that Ausmus will err on the side of veteran experience and give the first looks to Robles.
he hasn’t got done his job right.
English?
What?
Me fail English? That’s unpossible.
no, it’s, he hasn’t got his job done right.
No idiot… It’s hasn’t gotten.
Done not good?
Him and Andrew Miller are in the same boat… they were so overused the last 3 seasons it’s no wonder their arms don’t physically fall off. Their best days are well behind them.
You got that right. I remember being stunned at how many 30+ pitch save attempts Tito left Cody in for, rather than pulling him when he struggled to minimize his workload.
I too think he burned up both Miller and Allen.
yep. He used to burn them up in Boston, too. Too much chicken and beer and pitcher abuse.
….and Brian Shaw.
Shaw has rebounded this year.
Francona still burned up his arm.
Disagree. He pitched him to his role, and I would bet you put their innings numbers up against any other set up man or closers and they are equal. And as far as Miller goes he treated him with kid gloves very conscious about how used him on multiple days and multiple innings etc.
I haven’t seen these guys pitch. Who has the best stuff of the three pitchers mentioned? Any “closer mentality” ready to shine?
Miller was pure filth
I like buttrey alot, hopefully he gets the nod as closer
What? No more “He’s our closer” Brad? Maybe he did learn something in Detroit after all.
He learned that if you can’t win with four Cy Young winners in your rotation, you’d better take the money and run until they ask for it back.
Today you’re going to learn that the 4 Cy Young winners happened only in his first year with them, and they made the playoffs. But they still had no bullpen. They lost key pieces and the ones that were left missed significant time. They had pitching depth to speak of. I have yet to hear a real legitimate argument against Ausmus’ managing abilities, because they’re always short sighted complaints about his time with a Tigers organization that was already seeing its window closing fast.
*no pitching depth to speak of
If for any reason your an Angels fan, just watch and see. You will be turning on him in no time. Zero creatively, every pitching move is wrong, and he never gambles.
Hard to blame Ausmus, the team was built to just get by… Not his fault he gets to sweep with a broom that has no bristles, it’s very hard to watch. Plain and simple, these make shift arms on 1 yr. deals is just “a bumpy bridge that makes you sick when you look out the window” I cant wait till we get over it. Plus these dudes need to start hitting like they were built to do.
Easy to blame him for Yesterdays loss. He’s the reason the Angels lost that game. LaStella cannot play second base to save his life. He’s horrible there and it’s obvious Fletcher should play there ever game. It’s easy to get Lastella in this lineup if you wanted his bat,
I can’t blame Ausmus for Bour or Bourjos. I can’t blame him for Upton, Heaney and Skaggs going on the DL.
But he’s made a ton of mistakes and he keeps making them. .
Hansel is so hot right now.
Hansel was busy wondering what bark on a tree was made out of.
what are there to close?
$8.5 million? Wow how many bad contracts can Eppler give out before Arte realizes just because he came from NY and was trained by “ The Genius” Cashman [ BTW hasn’t won anything in 10 years] himself , can this guy? Good thing he got Trout done because he hasn’t done anything to improve that club that a 2nd grader couldn’t of done.
So how many bad contracts other than Cozart has he made? I don’t consider one year contracts all that bad. A lot of these chumps are going to be gone at the end of the year.
Cashman is the most overrated general manager in MLB.
It’s because he’s GM if the Yankees, if he was the Texas Rangers GM nobody would know his name
This is why you don’t overpay today for past performance, especially bullpen arms.
kimbrel please
It will be interesting who will close tonight. Angels are up by 3 in the 7th, no outs and men on first and second, looks like Buttrey is coming in next.
Bases loaded no outs and Ausmus is leaving Garcia in
He walked a run in, now Ausmus is bringing Buttrey in.
A last place team with a .375 winning percentage and an organization with zero direction… At this pace, the Angels very well could be 20 games out by the Allstar Break. Does it really matter who’s closing?
So Shane, your strategy would be to give up now after 25 games of a 162 game season because we are struggling right now. Here’s a suggestion for you: change your name to RaysShane, or TwinsShane, or AstrosShane. They’re all in first place.
He gets removed as closer after two games? He doesn’t allow a run in his first five, struggles for two games (allows three runs on 4 hits) and gets removed? Wow. That place is going to be a mess.
SHOULD HAVE TRADED TROUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Username checks out.
The loss of velocity is certainly part of the problem (or I should say, his inability to locate the fastball rather than just heaving it in), but the major problem is that he’s tipping pitches. If he can’t create a more uniform delivery – I’d be surprised if both the CLE and LAA staffs haven’t worked with him on that – he’ll continue to be hammered.AND give up too many walks.
Soooo glad CLE let him and Miller walk after last year. Allen is at that stage of his career where he needs to make some serious adjustments in order to stay in the back end of the pen.
I heard Ralphy from the Christmas story mistook Frazier for Farkus and beat his a** in the alley. That’s how he really got hurt
dang it wrong thread…fail
Failed in the other thread too, just dumb not funny…
Does a closer matter if you never have a lead going into the 9th?
Bull pens/relievers are volatile today. Just very unpredictable. Seems like that’s how it’s been the last several years. Don’t know if we will see consistently, steady, dependable relievers like Hoffman, Rivera, Eckersley. Some relievers seem to have a shelf life of maybe 3 years now before their stuff starts to decline.