The Angels have been granted a fourth minor league option over both right-hander Jaime Barria and lefty Dillon Peters, tweets Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. Both were among a group of players waiting for an arbiter to rule on how the truncated length of the 2020 season determined their eligibility for a fourth option.
Teams can be granted a fourth option over players who have fewer than five “full” seasons but have exhausted all three of their original minor league options. The league’s rules stipulate that 90 or more days on an active big league or minor league roster — but not time on the injured list — constitutes a “full” season. In the wake of last year’s shortened schedule and 67-day season, there was some uncertainty as to whether several players were out of options or whether their teams would be granted a fourth.
In the case of the Angels, the additional options are welcome news — particularly with regard to Barria. The Halos certainly would’ve carried the 24-year-old righty on the Opening Day roster rather than expose him to waivers, but they’ll now have the flexibility to option him back and forth in 2021 without exposing him to waivers.
At present, they’ll open the season with Dylan Bundy, Andrew Heaney, Jose Quintana, Griffin Canning, Alex Cobb and Shohei Ohtani in a six-man rotation. There was no immediate starting job for Barria, and had he been out of options, he’d have likely been put into a long relief role in the ’pen to begin the year. The team can now keep him stretched out as a starter at their alternate site and (when the season begins) in Triple-A, upgrading their depth. For an Angels club that has been routinely decimated by injury in recent seasons, that extra flexibility and depth could prove vital.
Peters’ situation differs a bit, given that he was outrighted from the 40-man roster after clearing waivers over the winter. His option will only come into play if the Angels select him back to the 40-man roster, although the fact that he now has an extra option probably makes it likelier for him to be considered for such a move.
Barria sandwiched a rough 2019 season between strong showings in 2018 and 2020. On the whole, he’s pitched 244 1/3 innings of 4.46 ERA ball in the Majors, striking out a below-average 19.3 percent of opponents but also delivering a low 8.0 percent walk rate. He’s likely a back-of-the-rotation type starter, making him a nice depth option for the 2021 season and perhaps setting him up for a larger role in 2022 and beyond. Bundy, Heaney, Quintana and Cobb are all free agents at season’s end.
This is pretty big news for the Angels. Barria now moves to AAA where he can serve as starting depth. Meaning there’s both a little more rotation depth and an opportunity for a more traditional bullpen arm to make the bullpen.
Sucks for him, obviously, but this is much better for the Angels.
It’s huge news for the Angels.
It’s a roster spot and Barria can start every five games at AAA.
There is no way Barria is not going to get Major League starts this year.
Exactly.
Uh, oh. This is a little off-topic but it looks like Trevor Bauer, Gerrit Cole, Charlie Morton and likely many other MLB pitchers might face some serious regression next season. MLB is trying to stop pitchers from doctoring baseballs. I don’t know how MLBTR hasn’t written about this yet but they should. Here’s the ESPN article:
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/31127060/mlb-memo-warns-teams-crackdown-use-foreign-substances-baseballs
Thanks for posting.
What’s scary is 4 of the 6 starting pitchers for the Angels are free agents next year. Good thing Moreno has deep pockets.
Not scary at all.
No one really cares about Cobb and Quintana. If Bundy and Heaney are both good, that bodes REALLY well for 2021. If one is good, the Angels can concentrate on signing that one.
It’s not a big deal at all.
Halo11 – How do you think Heaney is looking so far? He didn’t look very good yesterday. He needs to shift into another gear from what I’ve see this Spring.
Heaney is not looking good. He’s not looking bad, but he’s not looking good either.
This is the first time ever I don’t think I’m going to draft him in my fantasy leagues at his draft position.
Heaney needs to learn another pitch or even a variation of his present pitches; grip? He always seems to sit on the fence of getting the out in a count or giving up a hit and or a big inning.
Quintana and his 0.00 ERA?
I like Quintana. If he was our B side addition I’d be stoked.
Really hoping we extend Bundy. Detmers can replace Heaney. But the next couple of drafts need to be heavy on college arms.
Barria is much better than cobb so idk why Cobb was needed. Makes little sense in my opinion. I’m still waiting for resolution on the callaway situation….
I agree. Imo, Jaime Barria still could be a solid #3. I’m hoping he’s not the next decent starter who gets misplaced and misused as a bullpen guy. It’s hard to prove that you belong when you’re not given a real chance/opportunity in the first place.
Cobb seems to have worked out some issues. He may well be the serviceable #3/#4 option for Angels.
He might be he might not be. But I’m fine with Cobb getting his chance with Barria waiting in AAA.
If they knew in December that Barria had options, having a ‘disposable: starter was actually a smart move.
Barria’s better than both Cobb and Quintana.. Hell his career FIP even with his 2019 is on par with Heaney’s and he’s had two out of his last 3 seasons have been better than any season Canning’s had… So sad this guy continues to get jerked around, they’re truly ruining him. Cobb should be in the pen and Barria should be the 6th starter. We have plenty of depth, Peña can start too and Peters would be our 9th starter in AAA.
The Cobb acquisition is puzzling. My only way to justify it is depth. If we have Barria on the MLB roster there’s no decent arm in AAA to fill in for injury.
Even that justification has the gigantic hole in it of the Angels not knowing that’s how it would work out when the Cobb deal was made.
Peters? If Barria’s on the roster we’d have 8 starters on the team – Barria and Peña in the pen. Peters is fine as your ninth guy. Don’t know why we’d need more than that. Barria’s better than Cobb and Quintana, his career FIP is on par with Heaney’s and 2 out of his 3 seasons have been better than any season Canning’s had… It’s truly sad.
First successful young starter the angels had in years and they jerk him around ever since, including 2019 which was an aberration caused by 2 bad starts and the biggest jerk around job of the century so Matt Harvey, Chris Stratton and Trevor Cahill could have rotation spots…
The Nats just keep having fourth options rubbed in their faces. I mean it does suck for Barria since he’s pretty much destined for the minors now.
Please sign Greene!!!!!
Do I think he’s great? No, but having another late inning option is a necessity for this team.
Teams are going to need 7-9 SP to get thru the season. Barria is a solid SP7 option. I don’t want to see anyone get hurt, but I hope he gets an opportunity to make 15-18 starts. Off-season trades and FA signings aside, Barria will be the Angels SP4 or 5 next year.
Barria, Detmers, and Rodriguez will all start in AAA. I really hope the Angels go after a bullpen arm over putting any of those three in the bullpen.
I also think two of those three will be starters next season.