The Angels have elected not to tender contracts to five players, as Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reported on Twitter and the club has since announced. Former closer Hansel Robles is the biggest name of the bunch.
Beyond Robles, the Halos dropped a bevy of other hurlers. Southpaw Hoby Milner joins righties Justin Anderson, Matt Andriese, and Keynan Middleton on their way out the door. (Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times had the first word on Middleton.)
The 30-year-old Robles had provided the Angels with a lot of good innings since arriving in the middle of the 2019 season, but things fell apart in 2020. In his 18 appearances, Robles surrendered 19 earned runs while carrying a 20:10 K/BB ratio and coughing up four long balls.
Middleton, 27, also closed out some games for the Angels earlier in his career. He once seemed like a potential bullpen stalwart, but injuries limited him quite a bit in recent seasons. In the just-completed campaign, he showed that he still has the physical capability of throwing a high-velo, high-spin heater but gave up seven earned runs in a dozen innings of work.
Both Milner and Andriese had their share of opportunities this past season, but didn’t deliver the desired results. The former has still not reached arbitration eligibility, while the latter had projected to earn a reasonably substantial salary. Anderson underwent Tommy John surgery in the middle of the 2020 campaign, so this move came as little surprise.
Angels arbitration class was almost all bullpen guys, and they used it as an opportunity to restart their bullpen and save money. Not shocking with how bad it’s been. This started with Cam Bedrosian’s release a few weeks ago. When that happened I figured it would be a bullpen bloodbath.
The way our bullpen pitched last year, they deserve to be non-tendered.
The Angels need to get two quality RPs. People are saying starting pitching… I say fine, but adding a starter gets this team no where is it doesn’t add two dependable Bullpen arms.
Angels need more than 2 quality guys. They need 4 quality guys and 1 needs to be a shutdown guy. I know spending on bullpen is risky but man, DiPoto and Eppler’s inability to build a decent bullpen has been infuriating. Not all pens can be built with waiver wire guys. It isn’t working, try another tactic. Spend money there.
Totally agree with all you guys. I’ve been saying there’s no way they can get Bauer with their budget AND they need a shut-down bullpen. Not blowing saves is half the battle after last year. Eppler not addressing the BP and signing long-shot SPs was not good strategy.
cjb, not really.
If you have two dependable arms that you can use in the 8th and 9th everyone gets better. The Angels have plenty of arms that can pitch the 6th and the 7th. They have enough guys to pitch two innings, they don’t have two guys who can pitch the last two innings.
And notice how the one season they made the playoffs in the last decade was when Dipoto finally gave in and spent money on the bullpen by acquiring Jason Grilli and Huston Street mid season. That allowed them to win those 3-2 ballgames down the stretch when that offense wasn’t blowing teams out.
the Angels released Bedrosian and has now cleaned house in the bullpen ? good start
Can’t disagree with any of these decisions
Wow….well looks like we will have a new bullpen next season. Will we will be holding try outs at a local high school or CSUF soon? I can try to make some calls or recruit. Let me know (smh)
Are you mad at these moves? We are ridding ourselves of the bullpen that has been causing headaches. Be happy there’s change. It can only get better at this point
Noe Ramirez should of been on this list
Noe has literally been the only consistently reliable bullpen guy for the last three years.
Lol you obviously haven’t watched Noe enough if at all. He pitches in the most non stress innings. He can’t throw over 86mph. He is terrible, he should have been non tendered
Now is pretty consistent and cheap. Perfect guy for lower leverage spots.
CJB, I agree with you about Ramirez. If the Angels can get two guys to pitch the 8th and 9th. Ramirez can be part of the mix to pitch the 6th and 7th.
Under a more normal year I could see keeping Robles around and gambling $4 million on a bounceback.
But this isn’t a normal year and Minasian has helped build solid bullpens in Atlanta. So time for a new crew.
All good non-tenders.
Hansel Robles is complete garbage. He will get another crack somewhere because he has stuff but no control with it.
The only thing I will miss is his Undertaker entrance
Does the horse go too?
But he has excellent spin rate according to Eppler.(Lol) His control was completely lacking like you had mentioned.
Hope Reds pick him up, a change of scenery and new coach could rebuild his career, he has the stuff and full arsenal of pitches
He had a new coach and manager in 2020. He only got worse. Good luck.
Yes but Reds have Derek Johnson and The Boddy system and he fits the mold for spin and velocity, he has the makings of an excellent comeback player
the same bullpen was lights out in ’19 till they were run down by the lack of innings from the rotation. let’s see how it goes in ’21.
The Angels Bullpen last year was good in what way? They started good? They were sure awful for most of 2019 and they were awful last year.
Actually I remember specifically during that last series against the Dodgers in 2019 right before they started collapsing, the Dodgers announcers said the Angels had the best 7-9 bullpen ERA in MLB up to that point. And that workload was a factor. 2020 was a different animal because key arms just had bad years. And yes, during the Freeway Series, I switch back and forth between the Angels and Dodgers broadcasts. Lol
I think the larger samples size outweighs the “worn out” arguments. I was with you last summer but after this year, the sample size says they are what they are.
Phillies need Keynan
Key is the one guy I think they’ll regret. First year back from TJ and had no control. Second year back is usually when they figure things out. I think Key will be a stud somewhere.
Robles was one of the more obvious non-tender candidates.
Surprised that Andriese got shown the door after a pretty strong 2020, but his upside is pretty limited.
Still think Middleton could end up as a decent middle reliever if he can regain his stuff.
Andriese and Middleton would be the only guys worth keeping. Ramirez staying…smh. Key most talented and 1st season back from TJ.
There are going to be so many pitching reclamation projects on the market after this non-tender list is finalized. Robles can certainly rebound from an awful year; he was excellent in his full 2019 season. If he can revert back to his 2018-2019 form, some team is going to get a steal by signing him to a one year prove it deal. Same with Rodon out of Chicago. Would like to see both of them end up in Boston.
Good job for the Angels. They save some money, and they will be able to spend on the bullpen this off-season. There are a ton of really great bullpen pieces available right now, so I think the Angels could really build a playoff team this year.
Thank you Dan :)
I like the Angels. They are my American League team. It’s sad though how they have utterly wasted Mike Trout’s career, so I hope they can atone for that by building a good team this year.
Still have Mayers, Felix, Buttrey, Noe.
Newcomer from the Padres Gerardo Reyes will be in the mix.
Fringe guys Keller, Quijada plus old holdovers like Bard, Peters still hanging around.
So, yeah, Perry will have to get busy.
Bedrosian was the first great move this winter…he stinks. This is a great follow-up to the start of a BP rebuild. None of those guys could keep inherited runners from scoring. Good decisions so far in my opinion.