The Angels have signed left-handed reliever Ryan Buchter to a minor league contract and invited him to Major League camp this spring, tweets Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. He’s represented by The L. Warner Companies.
Buchter, who turned 33 earlier this week, is making the rounds in California, as he’s also spent time with the Athletics and Padres organizations in the past few seasons. The late-blooming southpaw didn’t even make his big league debut until he was 27 and didn’t pitch a full campaign in the Majors until his age-28 season. However, Buchter has now racked up 214 innings in the big leagues and never posted a single-season ERA higher than last year’s 2.98 mark. He boasts a career 2.86 ERA with a 4.01 FIP, 9.9 K/9, 4.0 BB/9 and 1.1 HR/9.
It may be surprising to some that a pitcher with those run-prevention number was non-tendered and subsequently relegated to a non-roster invite after camp had opened. But Buchter’s effectiveness has waned a bit in recent years. His control in 2019 was the worst of his career, and while he was effective against both left- and right-handed hitters earlier in his big league tenure, right-handers clobbered Buchter at a .274/.420/.484 clip last year. Given the implementation of the new three-batter minimum, some clubs were surely skeptical of his ability to retire right-handed opponents.
That said, Buchter is an eminently reasonable flier for the Halos to take. The base salary he’ll receive upon making the big league roster won’t be particularly substantial, and if he performs well the Angels will have the opportunity to control him through the 2021 season via arbitration. Buchter even has a pair of minor league option years remaining, which would give the Angels all the more flexibility should he land a spot on the team.
Klentak cmon. local guy.
Why would he go somewhere he’d be like 5th on the depth chart for LHRP
Good pickup, with the injuries to the relievers already. Good depth piece.
Ridiculous that he has to settle for a minors deal
If you saw him pitch last year, you’d know why
Did everyone forget that relievers can allow runners to score and it doesn’t go on their ERA? Buchter is the king of that.
Agreed
If you like full counts, you will love Bucky.
Full counts, walks, and blown leads are his specialties…
On paper Butcher looks good, but we’ll see in practice if he can get outs. Very low risk signing. Eppler’s specialty.
The Angels bringing on players to pitch at… I mean to the Astros in the first series.
Breaking: Angels sign Jered Weaver to a 1 day contract… That’s all he will need.
Retire as an angel
Was surprised when he was in the market for so long. I figured he’d get at least a one year, low base big league deal.
I like this.
I know its been a few years since he pitched for the Pads but he was a stud. Have him talk to Balsley and iron out some flaws. The guy was nails for the Padres
Don’t worry, you have Pomeranz now!
He’s an OK pitcher, but no reason for an MLB deal with the three batter minimum now in place.
Yeah, if he comes in to face a lefty with 2 outs he better get the job done.
Low risk high reward. The Angel’s are loaded with right handed relief pitchers. It’s a good pick up
Low risk high reward. The Angel’s are loaded with right handed relief pitchers. It’s a good pick up
This is a causally of the new rules in place. Peripherals don’t look good and combine that with over 900 ops vs righties and he was expendable, having to settle for minor league deal after posting era under 3. Not gonna be much use unless he’s facing a lefty heavy lineup. Good minor league depth and the Angels in desperate need of a lefty so not a bad signing.
A’s can’t keep their players so go ahead and take advantage. I’m surprised it’s just a minor league deal. Could be one of the more valuable low risk signings this season.
We cut him because of the new three batter minimum, he can’t get righties out, and he was awful at stranding runners. Good LOOGYs are about to become just bad relievers.