The Angels designated Cody Allen for assignment today, recalling righty Taylor Cole in his stead, per Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group (via Twitter).
The DFA represents part-two of a fairly sudden downturn in Cody Allen’s career. Allen owned a 2.67 career ERA through 386 appearances from 2012-2017, notching 122 saves over that span in Cleveland. As the lockdown closer for the pennant-winning Indians, Allen’s consistency at the backend allowed manager Terry Francona to deploy Andrew Miller as a multi-inning, anytime-anywhere fireman and usher in a new era of bullpen dependence.
Last season was a decidedly less successful campaign for Allen as he struggled to a 4.70 ERA in 70 games in his final season in Cleveland. It was the first time he posted an ERA over 3.00 since his rookie season in 2012. He took six losses and blew five saves, but the decreased K-rate (27.7 K%) and increased walk rate (11.4 BB%) pointed to an even more substantial decline.
After inking $8.5MM in guaranteed money from the Angels, Allen walked 17.2% of the batters he faced, a mark in the bottom 1% league wide. He has also given up considerable hard contact (54.5%) as opponents have barreled him up at a 15% clip while getting the ball up in the air more frequently (65.2 FB%). Opponents’ average exit velocity of 94.3 mph ranks Allen ahead of only Reed Garrett (94.7 mph) and Alex Cobb (94.9 mph). Hard hit fly balls have unsurprisingly led to a 20.9 HR/FB%, 3.52 HR/9 and 6.26 ERA.
Allen has incentives in his contract that would have given him his first a many raises at 35 games finished, but with only four saves and 13 games finished, the Angels weren’t at risk of hitting those benchmarks anytime soon. Still, given the picture painted above, it’s hard to argue with the Angels’ decision to cut their losses.
The 30-year-old isn’t likely to be claimed, at which point he has the right to refuse a demotion and become a free agent. He’ll look to catch on somewhere, however, as he has no plans to retire, per Maria Torres of the LA Times (via Twitter). Given his fastball-reliant two-pitch arsenal, Allen will need to develop a new approach to remain viable at the big-league level. His four-seamer has slowed to an average 92.2 mph (from 93.5 mph last year and a career peak 96 mph in 2013), and though he’s become slightly-more invested in his curveball this season, usage rates were not considerably different than his career norms.
As for Cole, the 29-year-old righty owns a career 3.99 ERA across 27 career games, 26 of which have come with the Halos this year and last. He’s been hit hard in the minors this season, however, with a 5.51 ERA and 12.7 hits surrendered per nine innings.
huh didnt expect that, but he really has gone downhill in recent years.
Blame the decreased velo on Chris Perez’ dog, man.
I wonder what Pure Rage is doing these days.
Parking cars…
Or perhaps not working and enjoying the $17mm he made over his baseball career.
Or maybe living his true life calling, parking cars. Don’t judge!
Or his um, contraband. Doobie brothers.
Phillies take a chance on this
NL East Bound
I could definitely see either Philadelphia or Atlanta taking him to try and fix him. Definitely a buy low move the Braves have shown to do in the past.
Right decision now but wrong decision to sign him at that price in the first place.
You’re right, Eppler should have never signed Cody especially after the season he had. last year. Second guessing the Indians Billy? Just found out the reason why the Indians let him go ….
Hindsight is 20/20.
Between Allen, Cahill and Harvey that’s $28M guaranteed for a -1.5 WAR performance so far. Wish I could work for Moreno seems like a easy life.
As an A’s fan, that is music to my ears!
they are on 1 year contracts and for angels they were within reasonable range. if the a’s had any money they would have fixed oco’s sewer system first!
Pujols, Hamilton, Wilson ??
you must have problems understanding the flow of conversation.a’s don’t even have a place to move from that —- hole.
Oh look!
Another nincompoop who thinks Wilson was a bad contract..
Eppler has been better than Dipoto though. Both are bad but Dipoto barely made any good moves while he was at helm. Eppler has found some diamonds in the rough with Brian Goodwin and Tommy La Stella. Dipotos best move was probably acquiring Skaggs for Trumbo, but even then Trumbo went on to have a monster year.
Eppler has been STELLAR. He re built the farm system overnight, got Trout and Ohtani locked up, Got Simmonds for a bag of balls, discovered a better than average bullpen from teh discount bin, added (as you mentioned) Goodwin and La Stella with a additional . team control and missed on a few 1 year risks.. Even losing, Id argue Eppler has proven to be a tip top GM coming into a wrecked (minus Trout) situation.
the team hasn’t even broken .500 in 4 years with epp as a gm. ultimately win is what matters.
So..as you said, Simmonds was acquired for a bag of balls? You can’t possibly be talking about the defensive wiz Simmons that was acquired for a Sean Newcomb that is pitching pretty good, as of late. If that’s what you consider a bag of balls, I laugh with you (not at you) lol..
I think that has a lot to do with the Angels only having one starting pitcher make it through the season without going on the DL. That’s 2016-2019.
I bet no other team has come close.
That above fact has a lot more to do with breaking even than Eppler.
I’m with you. A bag of balls?
Simmons was acquired for a high prospect. who has a 2.59 ERA this year and a lifetime ERA for under 4. That so called bag of balls won 12 games last year is 26 years old and wont be a free agent until 2024.
I really appreciate how he’s not afraid to take risks, even if those moves haven’t paid off. They’re always calculated. Just wish he went after different guys, now….
Bag of Balls isn’t the best term to use, but I trade Newcomb for Simmons and Briceño all day every day. It’s still a slam dunk win for the Angels
Pujols contract kills team chance of compete. Stick with average manager, then bring in bad Ausmus manager puts nail in the coffin.
Andrelton Simmons is far more than just the best defensive shortstop in baseball, he has also hit .286/.330/.405/.735 for the Angels. Outstanding offensive productions for that position. Top 15 on offense. #1 on defense.
Sean Newcomb has been relegated to the bullpen for most of this season and has a 3.60 ERA as a starter in his 4 starts after posting a 4.06 ERA the past 2 seasons.
That is basically a bag of balls for one of the best shortstops in the game.
You guys only complain about the negatives. Where’s the praise for Goodwin, La Stella, Buttrey.. etc. What about praise for the farm coming up and performing? Canning, Suarez, Fletcher, Rengifo. Man, you guys LOVE to cherry pick and criticize.
i have. i really enjoy the angels offense mostly made of players not much was expected of. i have fun watching those ‘younger’ guys who mostly hit singles and doubles unlike some incumbents that swing for fences and connect once in a while but mostly hit into double plays, these guys play the game as they were supposed to be played.
Throw in the surplus value on acquisitions Brian Goodwin, Tommy La Stella, and Ty Buttrey. The new coaches helped Kole become valuable again, and the drafts under Billy have looked really good (Canning already here, Adell knocking at the door).
The Cahill signing looked safe, Harvey was a low-risk, high-reward pick up, and yes Allen seemed questionable at the time. But that was money that they wanted to spend on guys like Corbin, but came up short.
It’s not a good look that $30m of salary looks wasted, but looking holistically it doesn’t affect the future of this ballclub.
harvey wasn’t a low risk. most knew he was done.
One-year contract after showing good stuff in CIN last season. It doesn’t affect future flexibility, and there was reason to believe he could build on his second-half success from last season.
Even if you believed he was done, a 1-year deal is low risk
And Kevin Smith.
Umm your Gm did the same thing this year with Fernando Rodney
How to flush money down the toilet as quick as possible, the 2019 Angels Offseason Story.
That’s not just one story, that’s a series covering multiple seasons.
They signed the best player in the game during the off season ….. Trout! Do people really ignore that was the best signing this off season? Harvey, Cahill, and Allen were/are place holders. 28 million is allot, but for a big market team, which the Angels are, it was reasonable and no long term commitments and they didn’t give up anything. Odds are at least 1 of those 3 would have panned out. Goodwin and La Stella have. They are building from the ground up and they are arguably the only big market team in their division. When the Astros can’t afford to keep their free agents coming up it will be the Angels turn to own the division.
I don’t think the Angels really intended on being in contention this season. I mean, if they get a wild card spot, great, but I don’t think an AL West title was in their sites. With the Harvey & Cahill signings for 1yr, I think Eppler was taking a gamble that one of those guys or both would put up good #’s and if the team was out of contention he could flip one or both for some more prospects before the deadline but that didn’t pan out. Eppler is building this team for the long term, he’s not trying to win a world series this year.
a lot*
2 words.
Finally. Now Harvey and Cahill….
I remember lots of people on this site ripping the Tribe for not retaining Allen and Miller. Looks like those people were wrong. 🙂
Yup, same people ripping them for not keeping Brantley as well, but if/when he comes up lame hobbling with an injury they’d be bashing them for wasting ~$18mil on a guy that can’t stay healthy.
True. But last winter certainly decimated the Tribe’s offense.
Funny how he fell off so quickly. He’s not even that old yet. With how volatile relievers are, it won’t be shocking at all for somebody to bring him in at league min and have him dominate.
Nationals. Take that to the bank.
At least all the pitchers are on 1 year deals.
If you’re going to get burned, at least make it a one year deal.
I couldn’t care less about players failing who sign one year contracts. Donaldson was at 23 million. They don’t hurt the team’s future.
It’s the Pujols, Mathews, Hamilton and Wells contracts that kill you. Last year it was the Corbin, Pollock, Eovaldi, Happ, Miller and Robinson that will hurt the team’s next year and beyond.
The one move I hated was Garcia for Alvarez. They are both not very good, but not having the LH pitcher in the pen changes the way other teams substitute. A perfect example was last nights game. I’d much rather have Alvarez.
All those players you listed as bad contracts play for teams that aren’t dirt cheap with how they go about spening money. So no they wont hurt their teams.
You don’t think the Eovaldi contract hurt the Red Sox? You don’t think giving Donnaldson 23 million hurt the Braves. Riley is a 3rd baseman. They couldn’t afford bullpen help.
You think St. Louis spends a lot of money? I’m not sure how anyone can share your opinion.
The only reason Kimbrel is a cub is because the Zobrist money was freed up because he was on the IL. The Red Sox don’t have a bullpen because they didn’t have the cap room.
Thats your biggest problem right there thinking “cap room” is a thing in baseball
You don’t think it’s a thing? Really? I mean… Really? You don’t think the luxury tax makes teams like the Yankees, Cubs and Red Sox think twice about going over the luxory tax and staying there?
I mean.. Really?
Nope these are all billionares. You can go over the luxury tax and barley have to pay anything that would hurt your bottom dollar. Unless you pull a Pujols and sign a guy for 10 years these contracts dont hurt anyone. Thats just the small market in you telling yourself the luxury tax means anything.
It’s a fact, not speculation, that Disney lost money on the Angels and they won a World Series. I’m wondering how everyone knows that teams are operating in the Black. Do you know something I don’t know? Fans always factor in the value of the team. My house is worth more than it was ten years ago, that doesn’t help me pay for my house.
That said, Kimbrell would have cost the Red Sox 25 million bucks a year. You don’t think the luxury tax had nothing to do with the Red Sox not resigning him?
Signing Donaldson was an awful move. The Braves already had a very capable 3rd baseman in Camargo with Riley waiting in the wings. That was money could have been spent much more effectively.
to be fair to epp, he was ready to sign a lh relief pitcher when arte stopped him.
And who was the LHP you’re referring too
It’s impossible to say anything about Corbin’s deal yet. Agree with the rest though.
Maybe? But what do you think he’d get next year if this was his free agent year? Would you be happy if your team signed him to six years at 80 percent of what he’s getting this year.
Happ is 2 years, 17 mil with an option. Even Budget Hal wouldn’t be hurt by that.
The problem is, he might use it as an excuse and some people would see that as plausible.
The problem isn’t Happ, it’s going over and staying there. For example, from this website.
“If the Sox were to pay Kimbrel a $17.5MM annual salary, the first $4,703,803 of that salary would close the gap between Boston’s current “actual” payroll and the $246MM threshold. As noted above, that’d come with a $1,986,937 luxury hit, coming to a total of $6,690,740. The remaining $12,769,197 would come with a hefty tax of $9,576,898. That’s a total of $11.564MM just in taxes before considering the money the team would actually owe to Kimbrel himself.”
I’m not sure why people think that isn’t an issue for teams like the Yankees, Red Sox and Cubs. They’ll go to the cap, they’ll go over the cap, they don’t want to stay over the cap.
This is a big deal
These are the penalties:
• First time over: 20 percent tax on the overage
• Second time: 30 percent
• Third time: 50 percent
There are also surtaxes:
• Between $20 million and $40 million over the threshold: 12 percent
• $40 million over: 42.5 percent
• Second time $40 million over: 45 percent
Most of the teams want to spend as little as possible. The owners put these restrictions in place to prevent a rogue owner or two from driving up prices for everyone else.
It also gives them an excuse not to spend and, for many, to not even put a competitive team on the field.
The teams have never been more profitable than they are right now.
Yanks have Severino, Hicks and Stanton signed after 2021, Happ isn’t causing him any discomfort, except that he was a poor substitute for a front line starter.
As I said to someone else, Disney lost Money on the Angels, that’s a fact. Moreno says he loses a little money every year. I believe him. I’m not sure how fans know all teams run in the black every year.
Teams always factor in the value of the teams. As I said, my house has gone up in value, it doesn’t help me pay the mortgage. That type of thinking caused the banking crisis.
Disney? Really? You are going back to 2003? Why not bring up CBS selling to Steinbrenner in 1973.
Forget about franchise value, these owners keep finding ways to enrich themselves. They have opened up so many more revenue streams than they had even ten years ago.
BAM, gambling partnerships, limiting draft bonuses, capping fees to the Japanese and Korean baseball leagues for poaching their best players – these owners don’t miss a chance to make more.
Moreno can say whatever he wants, I’d like to see audited financials and partnership returns for all entities.
Since you like 2003 so much, In 2003, the Yanks had Revenues of $238 million, payroll was $176 million
Last year, the Yanks Revenue net of the debt service on the shopping mall in the Bronx was $668 million, payroll this year is $224 million so far.
Revenue increased $430 million (probably more after this year is in the books), Payroll is up $48 million. Hal will pay some luxury tax, but that should be offset by the $17 mil or so they get back from their insurance on Ells.
They had Revenue sharing back then too. The formulas and the teams that get it have changed, but nothing that would lead any rational person to conclude, JA Happ’s potential 2 year, 34 million contract is an issue for a team with these resources and history of profitability.
Because Allen was an Angel, this thread attacks Angel fans. The team I know about are the Angels.
For forty years I have heard how much money the Angels make, and it just isn’t true.
There are two publicly traded teams, the Braves and the Blue Jays, you can look at those and find out how much money they make. There is a reason why they are low payroll teams.
Disney is a publicly traded company. They lost money on the Angels.
Autry couldn’t afford to run the team and had to sell. Disney couldn’t have the red on their balance sheet and had to sell the team.. They also sold the team for less than they put into the team.
Moreno says he loses money, but not a lot, but he says he runs in the red. And based on people being so wrong over decades, I believe him.
Believe what you want. Moreno has a net worth of 3 billion. He can afford to do whatever he wants. If he doesn’t like “losing money”, sell the team.
Guess what happens if he sells the team though? He makes a ton of money.
As for what the Braves and the Blue Jays really make, it’s very difficult unless you understand how they allocate expenses and account for the investment. You can make something profitable seem less so or unprofitable by allocating overhead or charging management fees or creating other devices that change the true financial results of the organization.
Here is the bottom line. MLB is exempt from Antitrust and Minimum Wage regs. Billionaires kill themselves trying to own a franchise. The owners have sole discretion of whom they allow to purchase one of the franchises and run the game with no outside oversight or regulation.
It’s not about prestige anymore or parking some money and growing it relatively risk free and tax deferred through capital gains on increasing franchise value. It’s about buying a printing press that churns out money. Any owner losing money today is a bad businessperson…and these guys are anything but.
You want to believe that some owners over 15 years ago lost money? Maybe, or maybe they lied.
More importantly, the game is radically more lucrative now. Fifteen years ago mlb Revenue was 3.88 billion, 40% of what it is today. Even grossing up for inflation, would only bring it to about 5.4 billion, a little more than half.
.
As a comp, 2018 payroll increased by 1.9 billion from 2003. MLB Revenue
Increased 6.4 billion.
We do know Autry and Disney lost money. We do know that the Yankees and Dodgers did contortion to get under the cap and we do know the Cubs and the Red Sox didn’t bring in RP because of the cap.
But throw logic to the wind if you would like.
Also don’t forget to write Mark Polishuk and tell him he’s full of it for talking about the cap in last nights chat.
I’ll get right on all of that. Check the Orange County Register where it reported Forbes estimates that the Angels were worth 1.8 billion (Arte paid 1/10th of that to buy them) and he had operating income of 25 mil in 2018.
Funny how none of that seems like a bad investment or a repeat of the housing crisis. How Arte spins that into a small loss every year, I don’t know. I must have missed that day in B School.
Forbes estimates of operating income are laughable btw. These teams print money. If they didn’t, you would see ownership groups trying to sell and no one lining up to buy.
Don’t confuse frugality with profitability. The owners simply want more. Ask Gordon Gekko to explain that to you.
What don’t you understand about running in the red?
Again. My house has gone up in value the last ten years, it doesn’t help me pay the mortgage.
I can’t run in the red every year and not worry about it because I can always sell off my assets.
These experts talk about the luxury tax because it is a real thing. How you don’t know that is beyond me.
angel free agent signings have not got the job done. Could have spent the money else were .
I predict the cardinals will sign him. Reunite him with Andrew Miller.
They tried to spend it elsewhere and got shot down
Quick AJ Preller, offer Kinsler for Allen. Equal money, however Kinsler can head back to LAA for this year and next with the hopes of recouping his value.
Padres get Allen with a chance to have him work with Balsley for resurrection.
Both players serve no purpose in their current situations.
Lol Why would the Angels take Kinsler back? They already have Rengifo, fletcher, and La Stella to play 2nd base. Only good thing Kinsler did for the Angels was to het us Buttrey
Didn’t take long for the usual idiotic Padre trade scenario, just odd to see it floated in a thread about a guy getting cut that nobody will claim.
Guess they didn’t want Kinsler….LOL
Kinsler has hit well in May and June. His April was brutal.
Allen to Pittsburgh or La Dodgers they both have pitching coaches that could straighten him out. Change mix or mechanics what ever is wrong
Dodgers need relievers who are currently effective. LA not looking for another Joe Kelly project which clearly isn’t working out.
Seems like Allen is a fastball pitcher who no longer has a good fastball.
His other pitches probably just complemented his main pitch,and he is not getting them over the plate.
Seems like he has more of a problem than one that a coach can help him.
Allen’s decline certainly makes the Indians’ deep thinkers look wise for the acquisition of Brad Hand in July of ’18. But, as I mentioned before, last winter’s transactions certainly decimated the Tribe’s offense.
I still shake my head over the fact CLE did nothing to address their glaring needs in the OF, and I really don’t count the CarGo signing. One thing we’ve seen from this organization is that when they don’t address needs in the winter, they rarely if ever address them in season. Kudos to Chernoff & Co for letting Miller, Allen, and Chisenhall walk, and I look forward to the buyout of Kipnis’ contract the day after the season ends, but there has to be some kind of effort to add some sort of offense.
Do you think the Tribe will trade for Clint Frazier?
The word of a Bauer and Frazier deal has been ongoing and makes a lot of sense for both sides.
Facts. Inexcusable, especially after shedding the Encarnacion contract and not resigning Brantley
Pretty sure the Nats take all the scrapheap guys at this point. Any team with a few injuries could take a flyer on him. If it doesn’t work out, just drop him in a couple weeks.
Well the jays need a closer
I would like to see him with the Only True Los Angeles team ! The Dodgers! He could help our bullpen!
dodgers are transplants. the bridegrooms were n.y. team!
Anaheim is not in Los Angeles it is in Orange County! Dodgers are in Los Angeles
angels are the original l.a. team. nets are not in n.y. city. rays are in st. petersburg.
Los Angels is now part of Mexico. So even LA isn’t LA anymore.
Careful, careful, careful there, macstruts!
I understand. I don’t mean to offend. I was in LA last April, if you visited LA, You’d get the joke, In 1981 I worked in downtown LA,
Ok
Unmmmm the Dodgers were in Los Angeles before the Angels became a major league team!
And the Angels were the PCL Angels long before the Dodgers got there. They have been there since 1903.
I’ve lived in LA for 30 years and I can tell you the Dodger fans seem to think they were born of royalty. They are the Joffrey’s of the baseball universe.
This has Mets written all over it.
Ok
Okay…. and?
you are marrying him?
The ok simply means that I read what macstruts wrote. I have no other comment about it. No disrespect intended by me.
Okie.
So Eppler waste $28 million on 3 has been pitchers and still has a job?? Arte Moreno has lost his mind.
I have a feeling the Sox are gonna trade Colome maybe they can take a chance with Allen. He’s familiar with the Central
Nope
Huge drop off in velocity and missing the zone with 60% of his pitches made this a forgone conclusion. Not sure what happened. Whether it was mechanical or physical, but he can’t seem to turn it around. I doubt he accepts assignment to AAA and will become a FA.