The Angels have signed left-hander Alex Claudio to a one-year deal worth $1.125MM, the club announced. Claudio hit the open market after he was non-tendered by the Brewers earlier this month.
Between this signing and the Angels’ acquisition of Raisel Iglesias, the bullpen has been an early focus for newly-hired general manager Perry Minasian. Left-handed relief was a particular need for the team, and that need that now been addressed with Claudio, who has held left-handed batters to a minuscule .202/.246/.310 slash line over 487 plate appearances during his career.
Claudio, who turns 29 next month, is a groundball specialist who doesn’t miss a lot of bats, as evidenced by his career 60.6% grounder rate and 6.27 K/9. Something of a lefty specialist over his career, Claudio adjusted reasonably well to the three-batter rule last season, as he limited righty batters to a .268/.348/.390 slash line. The increased exposure to right-handed hitters could explain why Claudio’s grounder rate dropped to only 46.6% over 19 innings last season, though that could also just be an anomaly of the 2020 season’s small sample size.
Lacking the big velocity or strikeout totals of most relievers, Claudio was non-tendered by Milwaukee in each of the last two offseasons (he was projected to earn between $2MM-$2.3MM in arbitration this winter), despite some pretty solid numbers throughout his career. Over 311 2/3 innings for the Rangers and Brewers since the start of the 2014 season, Claudio has a 3.44 ERA, and he has also been one of the sport’s most durable relievers in recent years. Claudio amassed 213 innings over 219 appearances in 2017-19, including a league-high 83 games pitched in 2019.
Perry making moves
A pitcher with a decent track record and on the cheap. Nice move by the Angels. It’s what they need most to be successful (pitching).
Can he pitch?
Heck yes left-handed Specialist!
Perry Building a bullpen
Good depth option at that price. Even if he is the just the 6th or 7th man in the bullpen.
If he puts up close to his career averages & he’s your “6th or 7th man in the bullpen” your GM has assembled one helluva pen for your squad.
I guess you gotta be concerned a little bit that the Brewers let him go. So there’s that.
But I can easily see a guy like him getting some big-ish outs in the playoffs. Good signing*. Angels getting off to a good start. I like both their bullpen adds.
*yes. yes “he can pitch though”
Brewers also let him go last offseason and then resigned him. So them letting him go has no impact on evaluating the pitcher…
Brewers released him last season to sign him to a deal for less money than arbitration would award. Tried it again 2020, and Angels made the deal instead. Would have received $2M to $2.5M in arb, signs with Angels for $1.125M
Keep in mind, many MLB teams are looking for ways to cut expenses.
No longer at his peak from a few years back, but remains a decent bullpen arm.
Honestly, I’d’ve gladly taken either or both of the relievers the Angels picked up for the Yankees pen.
Good to see someone in MLB is making some moves. I’m already pretty much over all the “excitement” generated by the big Matt Bowman addition.
Not a minor league deal? Ugh. He’s cheap, but they let go of some RPs who are better.
Some could return. Lots of arms out there to construct a bullpen. Claudio gives you a durable arm with a different look than other relievers. Could be a solid option depending on how they reconstruct the overall pen.
The pen needed a LHP. Of the 4 non-tendered, only one was a LHP. And that was … … Hoby Milner … … . Yeah, I had to Google him as well. I like this move, not much downside.
I get the lefty need, but his peripherals, ERA, WHIP, and K/9 have not been good. I care more about his roster spot and opportunity cost of someone else than the money.
He’s Better than Middleton.
Any time you can get a bullpen arm like this on the cheap, especially one with his numbers, there’s no reason to complain.
Let me put this in a different way and maybe people will see it more clearly.
If the Angels sign Anthony Desclafani for 2 million dollars, would that be a good move?
It’s a good deal, but it’s probably not a good move.
That means the Angels expected opening day staff would be.
Bundy
Canning
Heaney
Othani
Barria
Desclafani
In order for it to be a good move, they’d have to add yet another starting pitcher.
In order for Claudio to be a good move, the Angels have to add a 7th and 8th inning BP guy. I don’t think the Angels are going to do that now.
Pena and Mayers are the 7th and 8th inning guys. Maybe they could find better pieces, but it’s not bad. Depth is bullpen priority. Quality is the SP priority
Why? We are still $35 million under CBT and we need a catcher, 1-2 bullpen pieces, and a starter. Bauer is not going to be an Angel, so the starter we get is not going to cost $30 million.
“Pena and Mayers are the 7th and 8th inning guys.”
Thank you for making my point.
Maybe Arte is willing to go over the CBT for Bauer.Hes always said he do it for the right player.
How do you view Mayers? His new cutter worked very well last year and had positive reviews across the board.
Of course the market is still littered with names like Melancon and O’day who have proven track records. Justin Wilson as well.
It seems like you’re making quite a number of assumptions, @halo. I guess we’ll see. You certainly know your squad & your clubs ins & outs far better than I do.
I’d be taking as just one more piece added to your pitching staff/bullpen. I certainly could have the wrong number there. But as a point of reference, I would have been happy to see the Yanks sign him. He’s far better than the Lyons & Avilons we’ve been treated to the last couple years, man.
Ducky.
Not really. The Angels only have so many roster spot. Only so many 40 man roster spots. They are both valuable.
This tells me the Angels are not going to go out and get a 7th inning guy. I’m still hoping the Angels go out and get an 8th inning guy.
The biggest problem with the Angels is their bullpen, and it’s been that way for a decade. It looks to me like they are going to trial and error this thing and play musical chairs until a couple RPs step up. It’s what they have always done and it doesn’t work.
Halo11 – “This tells me the Angels are not going to go out and get a 7th inning guy.”
Why does this signing tell you that? I respect your analysis but I don’t see why you are coming to the conclusions you have reached about this signing.
Because 40 man roster spots are limited. They already needs at least 1 BP guy, 1SP and they should be looking into a catcher. That’s at least three. You want to make it four? Good. So do I. I wouldn’t even mind five.
Look at their 40 man roster and figure out the guys they are going to have to drop.
Such a pitcher is not someone you add in December. Roster Spots are too valuable.
I’d much rather add other pieces. I’m not sure how I’m the only who sees this causes an issue.
I think you answered you own question.
We’re not as familiar with your 40 man as you are.
Maybe you guys are significantly deeper than I’d imagined? Hey, the Yanks could easily jettison four guys – no problem – & they’re only at 39 at the moment. That seems like an awfully tight roster for a team that was unable to even make the expanded postseason. Is there a chance you are overvaluing some of those players?
Again, I’ll defer to you about your club. It just seems from my point of view the Angels probably have a number of players on the margins & elsewhere that could be upgraded rather issue free.
But I looked at their roster & there’s a few guys I don’t really know anything about. So I can’t say for sure, or even try to name names.
Ya know?
But if they’re really so tight that this enforces Claudio as being a key set up guy then your point is indeed hard to argue with. I guess this is when the whole, “gotta see how the rest of the off-season plays out” comes in.
But when you have to cut four or five spots, because you have four or five openings to fill, that’s a lot.
Left Handed Relief Specialist, who only get LH out, (RH 933 OPS in 2018, 826 in 2019) usually solidify their job in March, not December.
Halo11 – So I get now that it refers to remaining roster spots, which are valuable. But there are guys on it who could be traded for needed pieces too, right…like Rengifo, Barreto and others if the right trade materializes? They obviously become a wash on the 40 man. So I suppose that’s why I don’t share your concern about this guy. Plus, other than issues with righties, his numbers look pretty good. Calloway can work on that with him and maybe make some adjustments.
A ground ball pitcher with our infield defense will thrive. That’s my optimistic point of view.
If they go out and add two more BPs arms, I fine with it. But, this suggests to me they wont. Sorry for being redundant, this is not a spot you fill in December. They have higher expectations than I have.
I don’t think he’s all of a sudden going to start getting RH out (305/356/442) lifetime. He’s likely to be getting worse, not better.
I hope I’m wrong, I just don’t think I am.
The 40 man roster currently sits at 36 and has such luminaries as Dillon Peters and Jose Quijada on it.
There’s no roster crunch here at all. Just panic by a poster.
And actually, that’s the best rebuttal so far.
HaloHeaven. do you think the Angels are going to add a 7th and 8th inning guy?
Do you think he’s going to be valuable doing anything other than facing a single LHB at the end of an inning or mop up?.. Again ((305/356/442) lifetime against LHB.
If the Angels add a 7th and 8th inning guy, I’m wrong. And if they don’t, I’m right.
@halo-
I guess I’m getting a little lost.
Are you saying that this would have been a good move in March but because it’s December it’s not?
Dunno.
He might not even be available in March. My guess is he’d actually be long gone.
Seems like he’s a solid bullpen add no matter when a team signs him. Lol…man, you can stop trying to get it through my thick head. I just don’t seem to be able to grasp it today.
Happens.
I’m not always the fastest boat in the fleet, man.
I’d be happy if the Yankees had signed him on say November 30th even, or whatever. Especially at just a hair over a million bucks. I think it’s a pretty good deal.
Based on the posts here, it appears that people think he’s better than he is.
He’s a very limited RP. He gets left handers out very well, RH hit him very well. There are few situations where a team can reliably insert him.
If the Angels think he’s the last man on the pitching staff, and they are going to go out and bring in a 7th and 8th inning guy and use him as the last man on the staff, I don’t have a problem with it.
But the last guy on the staff usually is the guy that makes the club out of spring training, so that leads me to believe they think he’s better than the last man on the staff.
This is the left handed specialist spot in the Angel’s 40 man roster. Recently the Angel’s have undermined this bullpen piece, but I would argue it’s been to their detriment. I dont think this a bad move.
If they use him as a Mop up guy and a left handed relief specialist, I don’t have a problem. He doesn’t get RH batters out.
We’ll see if I’m wrong. We’ll see if the Angel add two more bullpen arms. I’ll start with Bradley. And then add someone more reliable than who we have now.
If they do that, I’m happy.
I guess what I’m hearing is that you don’t have a very high opinion of him (“mop up guy”) but you don’t exactly hate him.
Uh?
And that you want the Angels to sign a couple more quality relievers. I can totally understand that.
For years the Yankees have carried a LH specialist. Tyler Lyons, Luis Avilon have been the “best” of the lot. And, they’ve actually been crummy against same hand hitters. So when I saw that the Brewers non-tendered him he was a guy I immediately thought of for that (limited yet not unimportant) role.
I hope California keeps adding to their pen. Tell ya though…had the Yanks added Claudio & Iglesias I’d be feeling pretty damn smug about our bullpen, man.
Angels 40 man was at 35 before this signing, so this puts them at 36. Still four empty spots to fill before they have to worry about making room for someone else. Believe me, there are guys on the 40 man they could get rid of before Alex Claudio.
SocalBall, HaloHeaven made a good point. They have 36 men protected. So dropping people off the 40 isn’t that big of a concern.
If he’s only going to face one LHB, I have a high opinion of him. If he’s going to face a RHB I have a low opinion of him.
This isn’t 2019 when you could carry an RP who will only face one batter.
There are not a lot of places when you can insert him on the mound.
Angels have plenty of options in House for the 7th inning. One more solid back-end type RP would be ideal thou to solidify the pen.
@Halo11 –
A niche role is not w/out value, though. Look. I’m a pretty dedicated waterfowl hunter. As such, I’ve put together a “fleet” of 7 different watercraft. It’s kind of a decent analogy for a bullpen.
One of my kayaks is a peddle kayak. It gets very little run. But for those 2,3,4 or however many times I use it every autumn it’s the perfect solution & I’m glad I have access to it.
“There are not a lot of places you can insert him on the mound.” I don’t really agree with that. Man, the Yanks carried a dedicated lefty specialist last year (he sucked, btw – Luis Avilon) so apparently they felt it was still a viable use of a spot in the pen.
It also doesn’t have to be for a sole batter, either. Perhaps there are a couple lefties in a row. Certainly happens. Or a LH hitter followed by a couple RH hitters known to pound the ball into the ground. Did you see his GB rate? I didn’t really even try & I was able to come up with plausible scenarios, uh.
I do think it’s ironic that a Yankee fan is tasked with talking down an Angel fan in regards to “I wanted them to sign a better/more expensive player”. Claudio is a nice piece. Especially if you have designs on putting together a deep bullpen. Also, from what the other Angels fans are saying you have absolutely no roster crunch to worry about. I did find that hard to believe. Lots of teams that had a lot of talent & won a lot of games last season could have used him on their respective teams.
“Angels have plenty of options in House for the 7th inning.”
And that has been the mantra for the last ten+ years. Name current Angel RP that has been good back to back years.
Right now as it stands, the Angels are going to trial and error the 7th and 8th innings.
Ducky, I really appreciate your posts.
I don’t think there are a lot of places you can insert a guy where RH batters hit him at 305/356/452 clip. You have to bring him in with two outs to face one batter. And you better hope they don’t pinch hit and he gets that first guy out.
As for your other boats, the Angels do not have a single RP that has been good in both 2019 and 2020.
So it’s great to have a lot of boats, but you need a lot of boats that are sea worthy.
I hope the Angels realize Claudio’s value more than the fans on this board. They Angels need an 8th inning guy. And they need to hope they guess right on their seventh inning guy. But why would anyone expect them to get it right after so many failures?
By the way Ducky, I looked up how many outs he got in high leverage situations last year….. two.
The Brewers knew who they had. In those high leverage situations, opposing hitters batted 500 off him.
Last year with men on base”
314/400/571
RISP
318/444/682
I can’t think of a lot of spots to use him.
Thanks, @halo11@ & backatcha.
“…but you need a lot of boats that are sea worthy”.
Yeah, there is definitely that.
I guess two high leverage outs are still two high leverage outs? But…yeah. That does underwhelm, doesn’t it?
Yanks do have 3 pretty good to elite relievers & a couple others that are in that slightly above average category. So I guess my perspective is in regards to where he’d fit in our pen, specifically. Which would be…6th?, probably (hopefully?) 7th when the off-season ends. In a specialized role like that I absolutely like him.
Anything more than that could certainly become problematic, uh.
Guess my thinking is/was that if you pick & choose your spots with him a team could get a few big-ish outs from him.
Ducky,
If you pick and choose your spots. 🙂
The problem with the Angels is they do not have a single reliever who was good in both 2019 and 2020. Claudio hasn’t been good since 2017.
So right now every reliever the Angels put in is a coin flip. It would be nice if they addressed the bullpen differently this year than in years past, but so far they really haven’t.
At least Iglesias has a history of being good and 2019 can be looked at as an outlier. In 2019, Iglesias had 14 outings that had negative results.
However, everyone else has more of a history of being bad than good.
Yeah.
Outta curiosity, I checked out the Angels staff. Man…it appears I’m not breaking any kind of news to you here, but…that’s some pretty rugged stuff at the moment.
One of the reasons I’m a proponent of the Yankees reassembling a “Super Bullpen” is because that’s one of the two real strengths of this group of free agent players.
What I’m getting at, is that the Angels can/should take advantage of this part of the market themselves.
It looks like a total outlay of ~ 10-12 mil could net a couple really nice pen additions. There are still oodles of of good relief options available.
Now you and are of like minds.
Claudio doesn’t bother me. But bringing in a limited RP who should be the last man on the staff, who hasn’t been good in years, prior to solving their 8th and 7th inning issues, doesn’t fill me with confidence.
I’m surprised others do not share my concern.
Spend 10 to 14 million and get what projects to be a really good pen. Start with Bradley. With out staff, we need a really good pen. Not a flip of the coin pen.
Claudio does not address any of this teams issues.
Ummm…I sorta want Bradley on the Yanks. He was my deadline target this year, man. As soon as Holder was non-tendered I resurrected the dream. Love to see Petit slide into Cessa’s spot as that multi-inning guy.
And then…well…how about a lefty?
Honestly though, there are plenty of those guys to go around. A bunch of proven MLB relievers that’ll all probably get something in the 3-6 mil per year range.
Really good year to be a team looking to rebuild, restock, or reinforce their bullpen.
When you have the Yanks pen, adding pieces is good.
When you have the Angels pen, pieces without building blocks are meaningless. Claudio is barely a piece.
Note about the Bucky Dent Game. I got stood up at lunch and went home and caught the tail end of that game. I don’t remember that much about the girl that stood me up, but I remember that game.
Yeah, that’s probably not an unfair assessment.
I don’t ever really make too many assumptions about other teams. For one, I don’t have near the scope of knowledge about MLB as a whole than a lot of the fellas here do. Also, I don’t really enjoy speaking poorly about another squad.
I might poke some fun at Mets fans now & again? But it’s not really my deal, or whatever. I know everyone has a right to fan their own way but I really can’t understand a Yankee fan having a screen name of “LolMets” or whatever. As a fan base they’re just so insecure that I just can’t help myself from poking at it sometimes.
And, all the red sox fans on the board are pretty decent dudes.
My grandfather made my mother let my brother & I stay home & watch the game. He also took me to the Chambliss game! Man…pandemonium.
Ya know, that’s just another example of how no matter what, baseball has always been there for some of us, man.
I agree that signing Claudio to a major league contract at this point in the off-season suggests that Minasian likes Claudio a lot more than you do, and is not expecting him to be battling for the last spot in the bullpen. But it’s an inexpensive signing that only brings the 40-man roster up to 36. I fail to see why that would mean that Minasian is not going to try to acquire a 7th and/or 8th inning reliever.
As pointed out, the 40 man roster is not an issue. I stand corrected.
Lets just hope they need a reliable 7th and 8th inning guy. Right now we have coin flips. And I hope most of us agree we NEED a dependable 8th inning guy. And it would be nice if the 7th inning wasn’t a trial by fire spot. I’d like to add a guy who has a better than 50-50 chance of being successful.
Middleton, Andriese, and Anderson. Only Middleton has better stuff, but he since the Tommy John he has not showed much.
Iglesias, Claudio, and Faria are a better group and its still early in the offseason. I like what Perry is doing so far.
Not a bad move for Anaheim. Claudio gives up a lot of hits and doesn’t miss many bats but he tends to keep the ball in the yard and can escape innings with multiple runners on base.
He’s one of the few guys left in the MLB that can pitch 80+ times a season. The list is definitely shrinking because of all the rest analytics. One of them, Brad Ziegler, retired a couple years ago
This doesn’t fill me with confidence.
The Angels need at least one more bullpen arm which they can depend on. The team can’t spend two months figuring out who is reliable and who is not. They try that EVERY year and they throw away multiple games until they can figure it out.
This is a team that can’t throw away any games let alone multiple games. This team has to hit the floor running and knowing the dependable bullpen arms is huge part of that.
Relax, Perry has spent 1 million dollars on this guy. Released several a few weeks ago. I expect him to sign a few more cheap 1 year deals (maybe brand hand?) Gotta start somewhere
B R A N D H A N D
Do you follow the Angels? Every year they try to band-aid the pen and every year they throw away a half dozen games figuring out who they can go to in high leverage situations. Last year it cost them the post season.
I’m very concerned they are going to do it again. If you are an Angel fan, you should be concerned as well.
You did see the Raisel Iglesias pickup, right?
I hate homer fans too, but if we start the season with just Iglesias and this guy as our new pieces then yeah I agree with you.
Dude, it’s December 16th. Breathe.
They signed a lefty specialist. Just because it’s not the big piece doesn’t mean it’s not a piece they needed. More than anything, I’m very happy that Perry is addressing the bullpen right out of the gate. Other pieces remain, but it’s so early.
Breathe man. It’s ok.
,how do you know this is the end of pen upgrade? relax!
I agree with Halo11fan. Although I have a lot of confidence in the new front office especially after what he contributed to with pitching in ATL.
Vizion. They do this every year. EVERY Year. Since this is a trend, I wont relax until they address this issue.
Where are they going to use this guy? RH batters hit him at an OPS of 798, and that’s lifetime, that’s not likely to get better.
Who are the Angels going to go to in the 7th or 8th innings?
He takes up another spot and is only effective against LH batters and can’t be used in situations that the Angels need to address.
The Angels are throwing mud on a wall and hoping it sticks. The fact that they even signed this guy should scare Angel fans.
OCSportsGeek
Where are they going to use him. RH batters hit him at an 800 OPS clip. You can’t bring him into the game to start an inning.
He’s incredibly limited and he takes up a spot. It’s a spot the Angels can’t afford to just toss away.
The Angels need a 8th inning guy and since this guy doesn’t get RH batters out, I can’t see this guy fitting any role.
Picking up Iglesias and Claudio is way different. They are actual key pieces that will be in their designated roles, not lottery picks. This a way different approach than both Dipoto and Eppler, who just threw it against the wall to see what sticks. And it’s the correct one.
-Ryan,
Since Claudio doesn’t get out RH batters, what designated role can you use him to fulfill?
Correction. Dipoto and eppler did it EVERY YEAR. Perry hasn’t had a chance. Relax.
Bullpens need some variety too, something eppler never figured out. He just got flame throwers with high spin rates. Nice to have a change of pace reliever.
Again, where do you bring him in the game? You better hope he gets out that one guy and there is no pinch hitter available, because you don’t want him facing the next RH hitter in the lineup.
The fact that the Angels signed the last man on their pitching staff in December doesn’t fill me with confidence.
It’s Dec 16. Jesus! They announce a signing and the reaction is like they are done or something. They better add another RP …they better do this …they better do that. He’s an improvement over the 4 RP they dropped. So there’s that!!
Lmao some of ya need to chill.
Exactly, it’s December 16th and the Angels added the very last piece to their bullpen.
If they think he’s the guy you think he is the Angels are in trouble.
Theres situational lefty requirements, even with the mandatory three batter rule, as he can close out an inning.
With his high ground ball rate, send him against lefties with 1 out and a runner on first.
He’s also the 2 outs facing a L batter role. Just because he’s not Scot Shields v2.0 doesn’t mean he’s not a key piece. We still need the other roles also, but this is a step.
The whole market has been slow to develop, and we’ve already got an everyday SS, CL and a LOOGY.
I think thats a great start, provided its just a start. Let’s evaluate the whole offseason work by the new GM before villifying and calling it OMG SAME THING AS ALWAYS….
thats all I’m saying.
OC Sports Geek.
Right, he’s the last guy in the pen.
I’ll feel better when the Angels get their 8th inning guy and I’ll relax when they get their 7th inning guy.
Unless they get those guys, he’s not the last guy in the pen. and if he’s not the last guy, then I don’t like the move. And this tells me they are likely not going to spend for their 7th inning guy.
No team gets their last guy in the pen in December. I’m surprised more people don’t see this.
It always looks the same in the offseason. What are you expecting? 15m on Hand, Hendrick and Colome and no SPs or Catchers? Give these boys a chance.
bk,
What this move indicates to me is the Angels believe their 7th inning guy, or God forbid, their 8th inning guy is already on their staff.
Because they didn’t sign Claudio to be the last man on their staff, this seems pretty obvious to me.
This is why eppler failed and why you would fail as a gm. It doesn’t matter when you sign the last man in your bullpen. What matters is having the depth. I don’t care when they get him. It’s only 1 M and it won’t preclude them from signing someone else if they think it’s necessary.
Mr Meyers would like a word with you.
Eppler kept putting together a bullpen when the back end was discovered by trial and error.
That is EXACTLY what I’m wish the Angels would try to avoid.
Right now it appears the Angels think their 7th inning man is already on their staff. That bad. And it’s worse if the Angels think their 8th inning guy is on their staff.
That’s is the exact opposite of Eppler
But what Eppler would do is depend on people like Mike Meyers, and he’d roll snake eyes every single year.,
He’s a left-handed bullpen specialist left-handed batters were barely batting 200 against him And holding right handed hitters to 268 batting average not too shabby plus we have the new three batters rule
Exactly. Lefty/Righty/Lefty with one or more outs is perfectly fine. A switch hitter who prefers to hit lefty.
The Angels infield defense should be spectacular. Him feeding ground balls to it should improve his numbers.
Plus his HR/9 ratio is 0.7. so when he does give up hits, they don’t leave the yard. Giving up singles isn’t the end of the world.
Halo11 – “The fact that the Angels signed the last man on their pitching staff in December doesn’t fill me with confidence.”
Again, what does the “last man on their pitching staff” mean?
Its December 16th. Let’s let it play out. Maybe we will get someone like Brand Hand lol
First piece, last piece who cares?!
The first piece of the bullpen was Iglesias, a solid closer.
They still have a few decent RP from last year and the guys they’ve signed SO FAR are better than those they dropped.
I doubt Perry is done, however if you’re waiting for a Liam Hendriks or Brad Hand or even Archie Bradley to be the missing BP piece you’ll be disappointed. 1) those guys will want $$$$ 2) they will want the closer role not some co-closer role. 3) Angels have in-house arms to fill out the RP.
Back to Claudio…career slashes etc.
Vs LHB .202/.246/.310
Vs RHB .268/.348/.390
Era+ 135
Fip 3.70
WHIP 1.27
What he did last year over a handful of innings is irrelevant. Over his career he cannot get RHB out.
As far as the Angel have dependable 8th inning guys.. Who? Who has done it back to back years let alone has consistently done it.
That’s the problem. There is no back end of the bullpen consistency. You can’t depend on anyone.
what I’m hearing is “what he did last year is irrelevant, and what he did early in his career is irrelevant because they don’t support my [wrong] opinion. You can’t say what he did in the past is irrelevant because it was a long time ago, and then say we have to ignore his most recent stats too. LOL.
google.com/amp/s/halohangout.com/2020/12/16/la-ang… It’s really not all that hard to figure out why Perry signed this guy. You gotta dig deeper that the convential baseball numbers. Analytics play a big part, Angels are taking a gamble on a guy who could potentially pay some useful dividends. 1 million is not going to break the Angels either.
However you look at it, he doesn’t get RHB out. However you look at, he should be the last man on the staff and only used in very special circumstances.
The Angels NEED a Mr. 7th and 8th innings. They better not think Claudio is better than he is.
Iglesias
Mr. Eight Inning
Mr. Seventh Inning
Mayers (1 good year)
Buttrey(Horrible last year)
Pena(has never had an ERA under 4)
Claudio (hasn’t had an ERA under 4 since 2017)
Exactly…Relax! The dude has a era+ of 135, xlnt ground ball rates etc.
What he did in 2017 and before is not relevant. We are not getting that pitcher. What is relevant is is 800 OPS+ against RH batters, and that’s including his first four years.
Where are you going bring him in? It’s a simple question.
People are telling me to relax and not addressing any of my points.
key point address above, btw. Thats when we bring him in. Also. . . is a piece. I just don’t understand how angry you seem to be.
Thats all I think most of us are saying…
Dude, its ok not to love it, but….the jump from signing a cheap LOOGY to a low-risk deal to OMG SAME APPROACH AS ALWAYS…its not a 1,2,3, JUMP progression here, homie!
OC Don’t confuse angry for concerned. As a last man in the pen, he’s fine. Good signing. A little expensive, but good signing.
But people are talking about him like he’s not the last man in the pen. The Angels absolutely need an 8th inning guy. The Angels would be smart to get a 7th inning guy.
And if they don’t get both of those guys, then he’s more than the last man in the pen and no one pays over a million dollars to get the last man in the pen in December.
This signing tells me they are not getting their seventh inning guy.
I agree, they should sign one more guy who can close if an injury pops up because depth is what this team has lacked for years. But saying Meyers can’t be an 8th inning guy is ignoring the facts. Last season he changed up his pitch mix and was flat out dominant. I’d feel comfortable going into next season with him penciled in as a high leverage reliever.
Again, I think they need another solidly above average bullpen arm too. But this move does not preclude that from happening …
Halo11 – “In order for Claudio to be a good move, the Angels have to add a 7th and 8th inning BP guy. I don’t think the Angels are going to do that now.”
I am missing the point of your argument. Why would they not continue to add BP pieces just because they signed this guy?
Claudio, in my mind, serves a specific purpose. He’s a ground ball pitcher with one of the best defensive infields playing behind him. Now we add other BP pieces to compliment his skill set.
“I’m very concerned they are going to do it again. If you are an Angel fan, you should be concerned as well.”
I’m an Angels fan and I’m not concerned at all. Manasian is known in Atlanta for building their BP. Let’s see what he does from here.
Prov36. It seems weird to me the Angels would lock a spot on their 40 man roster for the last man in their bullpen. It really should seem weird to everyone. How many spots do they have? That’s a spot that someone earns out of spring training… not in December.
When is the last time even two out the Angels three 7th, 8th, and 9th inning pitchers remained in place up to June 1st? A decade?
I’m confused why I’m the only one who sees this. The Angels are not going after a 7th inning arm. Which they need. Right now I’m not even sure they are going after a 8th inning arm.
It sounds like you found A stat that supports your views and are just honing in on it to support your case-
This is often the problem with stats, we see what we want and dont want to support a view we already have made beforehand
Similar to how politicians work I suppose – People are making OTHER points…you just want them to hone in on yours only….seems the boards not taking the bait here
OPS+ against RH is a cherry picked stat for a LH reliever?
Really? Seriously… Really? And that’s lifetime, he’s not likely to get better.
Yes it is. You’ve found one stat that supports your view and that’s the only stat you’ll spout.
How about his hard hit rate being among the best in baseball? How his HR/9 rate is among the lowest of all relievers on the market? How about how his ground ball rate should feed a great infield defense? His low walk rate?
Nope, you’ve overlooked or intentionally bypassed all of those numbers in order to scream the one number that supports your view. that’s called cherry picking.
The Angels replaced Noe with a better, left handed Noe. They both throw upper 80s, they both make a million a year or so. This one gives up HR’s at half the rate of Noe and gets more ground balls. And you’re panicking.
He was better last year, and you’re the one saying to throw out his early numbers because he’s not that pitcher any more. Make up your mind, Halo
Halo11 – “It seems weird to me the Angels would lock a spot on their 40 man roster for the last man in their bullpen.”
I don’t understand what you mean by the term “last man in their bullpen”. That is perhaps what is making me not see your point.
Yea, just read Halo Heavens first paragraph- That was my point-
Yes your stat IS real….anything else tho?
Prov.
Claudio gets hit by RHs at a 800 OPS clip. So, he’s basically the guy you put out there to face one LH batter.
Only on rare occasions can you use him to start an inning. He’s there to get one left-hander out, and god help you if he doesn’t.
That’s the last man in a bullpen or the mop up man that can be shuttled to AAA and back. Either way, it’s not a roster spot you lock down in December.
People are betting he’s going to get better. That’s not a good bet.
I will say I support your right to be critical of your own team tho Halo 11
Thats at least half the battle of being able to have honest views here when it comes to your team- That is admirable today when most fans are just blind homers.
Ok bases loaded one out. Opponents have L-R-L handed batters coming up. He prob gets your dp. If only one out then intentional walk the righty get the lefty. Inning over (smiley face).
He probably gets a DP? because the RH who follows him bats over 300.
I hope to God he’s not used in that situation. He’s pretty much the last pitcher you want facing a RH batter with the bases loaded.
He’s very good at getting LH batters out. He’s very bad at getting RH batters out.
Since we now have a three batter minimum. There are not a lot of places you can use him.
Meyers and Buttrey are the 7th-8th inning setup guys capable of closing if needed.
How about a trade for Josh Hader , Hader buttrey Iglesias will b nasty
So you want to play trial and error going with guys who haven’t put together two good seasons in a row. Who are both hit and miss?
How many times does that have to blow up in the Angels faces before you realize that’s not a good plan?
Last year the Brewers realized Claudio wasn’t very good, that’s why he was almost never used in high leverage situations. Let’s hope the Angels realize they got the last man on their staff. Fans don’t seem to realize that yet.
I don’t mind it really that much. I mean relievers are so volatile I cringe at paying big money for them (excluding closers for the most part). Are you old enough to remember the early 2000s angel teams? That very same philosophy that doesn’t give you much confidence basically won them a world championship. Nobody could have picked those guys out of a police lineup. I mean, what’s a Ben Weber? Lol. With this lineup, they should be able experiment a little and the offense should pick them up. And money saved from moves like this, keeps signing Bauer a real possibility.
We got our closer in Iglesias. We can depend on him. He won’t be throwing away games. Claudio is a middle reliever that can be counted on to eat 60 + innings. We need that. Its still not even Christmas and there are the most relievers I have ever seen on the FA market. Have a glass of wine and relax. Perry seems to be doing a good job. Now if we get to February and we don’t have a starter signed then I would say its time to worry.
Claudio is not a middle reliever. He’s a LOOGY and a mop up man.
RH hit him very hard.
Every team is looking for a left-handed specialist to get left handed bats out his role won’t be a mop up guy
So you’re not even going to give the new front office a chance to fix what the old front office wouldn’t?
Chicken little won’t acknowledge the new front office. Because “EVERY year” is a better panic argument…
cjb…
As if the Angels haven’t had a perennial problem solving pitching needs EVERY year…for years and years? I think Halo’s got an argument on THAT point at least.
Replaces Noe’s spot in the pen. Angels have had a strange lack of leftys in the pen so it’s nice to at least have a lefty in the last pen spot.
They should’ve never traded Jose Alvarez for Luis Garcia. That trade made no sense at all.
Agreed. I think we were all puzzled. Eppler was trying to be cute with all the sabermetrics and just wanted a guy with a high k/9 rate and threw hard. However not hard to find these days, weird to trade your only lefty.
Billy tried hard to reinvent the construction of a bullpen for cheap. It’s to bad he failed at that.
I wonder, will lefthanded specialists have more or less effectiveness with the 3 batter minimum? If so, how? (Beyond the obvious.)
It’s really not that much of a difference, you might only have to face 1 guy if there’s 2 outs. A lot of times teams will leave lefty’s in for 3 batters anyways when there’s left, right, left coming up. I like the rule though, some managers will use 3 pitchers in the past for that, which got tiresome.
Since the AL West seems to have an affinity for current and former Ranger late-inning relief pieces, perhaps Rangers should visit with Astros about Leclerc/Guzman /Acosta for Abreu.
For that price, I’ll take that deal. Good move
Exactly. No risk, decent reward potential.
“Ground ball specialist.”
I’m sure that Brewers infield over the past few years hasn’t helped him. In Anaheim with Rendon and Iglesias on the left side, I’m sure that will help him out a lot.
Good signing. I just tumbled across mlb’s baseball savant. Pretty cool. Shows his average exit velocity/ hard hit rate was at a career best the last two years even though his era is up.
Honestly, I like him because he throws really slow for a major leaguer and still gets guys out.
Build a great infield defense and build to it. I’m a fan of guys who get soft contact. They also get quick outs
It sure looks like Perry has done his homework and making good moves in his first month as a GM. He already has 3 solid upgrades. He needs to make a big splash and sign 2 starters and this team can make the playoffs.
They could’ve made it with 1 solid starter (not named Teheran or Sandoval) and 1/2 the blown saves in 2020.
Brewers liked him but he was a victim of lots of young arms in the Milwaukee pen. That made him expendable as well as Knebel. Knebel may end up being the bigger regret.
Dang, he’s only 29. Feels like he left Texas forever ago. Good pitcher, and a good add on to that developing pen.
perry is making good moves. have to wait for the rotation upgrades.
Love this move. If it ends up not working out, it’s palatable money.
No signing will ever please every fan. Someone will always find a problem with it. For example, I would have been upset had we spent $300m on Gerrit Cole. That being said, I think the logic to support this signing is the fact that we arguably have one of the best defensive infields in baseball. A ground ball pitcher can only benefit Let’s see what comes next from Manasian.
Good sign for the money- This guy has a rubber arm and will do anything you ask of him
Good time to take the dog for a walk tho when he comes in, he looks so hittable live it makes you wanna grab a bat yourself (at least as a Rh hitter like myself) – The arm angle and funky delivery throws batters off quite a bit tho for the stuff
Not a Loogy tho, hes more of a bulk swingman type of pitcher – What he lacks in stuff I think he makes up for in a lil moxy
Perry Perry Sauce
They need to sign Yadier Molina to handle the pitching staff.
Agreed better than Kurt Suzuki, rather have yadi
I hope I’m wrong but, I don’t trust this is an improvement in our bullpen.
I’m betting you’re wrong. It’s not a sexy signing, but an useful one. Its like an utility player signing, not exciting but needed.
Swing.
Claudio hasn’t been good in years. Last year he got two outs in high leverage situations. In those situations teams hit 500 against him with a 600 OBP.
He’s barely useful.
My son is 15 years old, plays d1, but still, he throws harder then Claudio. So there is that concern. Claudio is there for deception.
Truthfully I love Iglesias/Iglesias moves but this guy is a knuckleballer with no knuckleball. Watched him in Texas, no faith in his ability. Low leverage guy to say the least. Smoke and Mirrors! You can swing and miss twice then hit a bp fastball 450 ft.