March 19: The Angels have officially announced Tepera’s signing. As a result of the signing, however, Kyle Tyler has been designated for assignment. Tyler, 25, tossed 12 1/3 innings for the Angels in 2021 over five games with a 2.92 ERA. The former 20th-round draft pick logged a 3.66 ERA over 86 innings in Triple-A, mostly pitching out of the rotation.
March 17: The Angels continue to bolster the relief unit, agreeing to terms with Ryan Tepera on a two-year, $14MM deal. It’s the second notable free agent pickup of the day for the Halos, who agreed to terms with Archie Bradley this morning. Tepera is a client of All Bases Covered Sports Management.
Tepera was one of the top relievers remaining on the market. He’d been a capable but mostly nondescript middle innings option for a few seasons in Toronto, but the right-hander has taken his game to new heights since signing with the Cubs in advance of the 2020 season. Tepera worked 20 2/3 innings over 21 appearances during the shortened campaign, posting a 3.92 ERA. That run prevention was mostly in line with his career track record, but he saw a massive uptick in swinging strikes and punchouts.
The Sam Houston State product struck out 34.8% of batters faced in 2020, nearly ten points higher than his previous career-best mark. Among the 141 relievers with 20+ frames that season, Tepera ranked 15th in strikeout percentage, but he was even more effective on a pitch-by-pitch basis. He generated whiffs on an incredible 19.5% of his offerings, a mark that trailed only those of Devin Williams, Tanner Rainey and Edwin Díaz among that same group. Tepera’s results were overshadowed a bit by the accidental MVP vote he received at the end of the year, but he legitimately had an excellent showing for Chicago.
That improvement came in a small sample, however, and it didn’t seem teams around the league completely bought into his new form. Tepera’s fastball continued to sit in its customary 93 MPH range, and while he did lean more liberally on his excellent cutter-slider, the market didn’t reflect that he’d made significant strides. Tepera re-signed with the Cubs on a one-year, $800K guarantee in February.
He mostly doubled down on his new form over a larger body of work last year. Tepera made 43 appearances and worked 43 1/3 innings of 2.91 ERA ball with the Cubs, striking out 30.3% of opponents while cutting his walk rate from 13.5% to 7.3%. As part of their trade deadline teardown, the North Siders flipped him to their crosstown rivals for prospect Bailey Horn, and Tepera continued to excel. He pitched to a 2.50 ERA in 18 innings with the White Sox, fanning 32% of batters faced with a 9.3% walk rate. His 16.3% swinging strike rate was again amongst the league’s best, checking in ninth out of 138 relievers to work 50+ innings.
At 34 years old, Tepera was always a long shot to land a deal that exceeded two years. Yet his back-to-back seasons of strong performance earned him a multi-year pact at a $7MM annual rate. If evenly distributed over the two seasons, that’ll push the Angels’ projected payroll to around $186MM, in the estimation of Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. That nudges ahead of last year’s $181MM franchise-record Opening Day expenditure. Their luxury tax ledger will jump to around $202MM — still well shy of this year’s $230MM base threshold.
Los Angeles has invested heavily in the bullpen this winter. They re-signed closer Raisel Iglesias to a four-year contract and have added each of Bradley, Tepera and southpaw Aaron Loup via free agency. They’ll join in-house options like Mike Mayers and Austin Warren as late-game possibilities for manager Joe Maddon.
Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic was first to report the Angels and Tepera were working on a deal. Jon Heyman of the MLB Network reported an agreement had been reached. MLBTR’s Steve Adams was first to report it was a two-year, $14MM pact.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
I agree.
After a draft of drafting nothing but pitchers, we have an off season where we signed pretty much nothing but pitchers.
Can we finally say that we have a GM that gets it?
Yes, but don’t tell Halo11.
He didn’t get it last year. I can only go by the data at hand.
I’m glad he made these moves, I give him credit, not Arte, But It took him a long time to get here.
Come on Halo. Minasian didn’t suddenly wake up. He’s known for his ability to build a pitching staff. My guess is he and Moreno were figuring each other out last year and he wasn’t able to do what he does best. We don’t know because we weren’t there. All we have is speculation. But you can’t keep saying that Mnasian doesn’t or didn’t get it. His track record says otherwise.
Don’t go into your speech about Claudio, et al. Enjoy what he is doing now, today.
It seems like most Angel fans woke up in the last year.
Someone competent would not have added Claudio and Guerra. I hope he woke up.
Why are we still harping about Claudio? He is not the reason we didnt make the playoffs. I don’t care if you replace Claudio with Mariano Rivera, we weren.t making the playoffs last year. Maybe we win 80 games instead of 77. Who cares? Focus on the good. Ohtani won a MVP, so hey we won something.
Not an Angels fan, but finally, they’re adding a quality arm
Why do I bring him up? Contrast. The moves of last year to this year have nothing in common.
What’s changed? Is it possible he saw how a bad bullpen could ruin a team? Did he ever experience that in Atlanta?
Something here changed. The Angels have NEVER acquired three good RPs in one off season and last year Perry built the pen like he didn’t know what he was doing.
Missing the playoffs after making sensible additions is not the same as missing the playoffs after making bad additions. Perry’s additions were bad last year.
I didn’t see Claudio as the disaster he would become. I was enamored with his lower HR rate than Noe’s and figured it would work out. I was wrong.
Last year Perry didn’t make any bold moves, particularly trades. As a result he got to see what we have in Sandoval, Suarez, Warren, Wantz, and a couple others.
Some good, some bad. But he actually knew what we had this year as opposed to last year. And he’s making much better additions.
Fine. You do you. Talk about Claudio and Guerra and how the lead to the downfall of last season.
The rest of us Angel fans will be over here giddy with excitement for the upcoming season because we just signed Bradley and Tepera..
Stop it, please. You sound so dogmatic. Last year the GM signed the best his limited budget would allow, and players willing to come to a team the whole baseball world was not ready to win anything. No one chooses to sign low end players if they are given the approval to sign elite players.
Last off-season I took a lot of heat for saying Perry’s bullpen additions sucked. Now one poster is pretending he didn’t make those moves last year.
He made some really bad moves last year. I’m glad he’s not making similar moves this year.
What a stupid comment. Really dumb. He signed Claudio and Guerra WAY TOO EARLY. You don’t sign players like that so early.
I wrote that many many times. If we would have just waited, he could have had a much better pen for a similar amount of money.,
Now you are blaming it on Moreno.
carla, wrong. even at the end of the season he had appx.$18-21 mil to spend. some said the dollars were for deadline additions. with the team they had last year it was clear from day 1 they would not make it.
@JJ But you have to look at the good additions last year from Perry. as well. Alex Cobb and Iglesias. You can’t just focus on the bad moves. and say he trash GM. If he had a mixed bad on a limited budget, OK. It is not like it made any moves that handcuffed the team for the foreseeable future.
Mr. Angel. Cob was expensive. We’ll see if it works out.
I’ll even give our GM props for Iglesias the shortstop. It was a good try; it just didn’t work out.
Last year was a mixed bad.
Quintana was a horrible signing, I said so at the time.
Claudio and Guerro were horrible signings, I said so at the time.
My complaint has always been the bullpen. Last year he seemed totally out of his element, you can’t blame that on anyone but him.
This year he’s done the exact opposite, and I only credit him.
You can’t ignore either. Somehow people are trying.
I understand what you are saying and where you are coming from. You’re a good guy, and you’re passionate– but you’re also stubborn. Everything you cite as unproductive signings is true, but what you don’t seem to accept is that he had to fill out the roster and his options were extremely limited– both in the money he had to spend and the players that were available. He was not dumpster diving by choice– he had no choice. This year he has more money to work with, more options, and the team looks more well rounded so players are willing to consider coming over.
What you’re saying is just dumb. I mean really dumb. You are the GM and you have the money to sign Correia or Story, but you’d opt to sign an Iglesias instead? Of course not. You have the money to sign Robbie Ray or Gausman, so why wouldn’t you? You think Perry opted to not sign them because he loves #5 starters more? You really believe that last year this GM was really excited to sign Claudio? Claudio was his man! The man that Perry thought changed everything and put the Angels in the playoffs? You think Perry signed Quintana thinking he’d win 20 games– instead of signing a big time arm? It’s preposterous logic. GMs will spend every dime they can on the best players available. Last year Perry picked off Iglesias as their closer because it was a salary dump the Angels could afford. He also signed Watson and Cishek the day they were released, one day before the season started– does that sound like a guy with plenty of money to spend? The whole roster was fill-ins. Pujols is gone now and so is his contract, and that money is allowing the GM to add better quality players– period. Being a better team also attracts better free agents. Not everyone wanted to play for the Angels last year.
We seen the same Quintana type signing under Eppler just under a different name like Cahill. I get Claudio deal wasnt good, but it was relative low cost for 1 year. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter. Injuries cost the Angels the season, not Claudio. You have to let it go sometimes.. Give people a 2nd chance. I am sure the reasoning that you are particularly hard on Perry in his first year and you gave Eppler a pass for so many years.
Trout has had some horrible ABs. But he has a long track record of success.
My point is last year was a mixed bag. Where he really failed is the bullpen.
This year, I wish we had a shortstop, but I’m really happy with what he’s done with the pen.
Unlike some people, I’m not ignoring the good or the bad. Unlike some people, I.m not blaming Moreno for his bad moves.
I would love to ask him what has changed? Last year he reacted far too early, made some obvious unforced errors and missed out on some great late opportunities.
This year, he locked up his closer, got a good late inning arm. And waited on some buying opportunities and pounced.
Why the different approach. Why am I the only one asking that question.? Best case scenario, he’s a quick learner. Worst case scenario, he doesn’t understand he did anything differently.
Perry just read my post yesterday on reasoning why I would rather have 3 quality bullpen arms rather than a $43M year ace like Scherzer.
He read it and acted on it this morning. I’m sure of it.
@ Mr. Angel: Now that’s funny!!!
carlafong, I can’t agree that his options were limited last year with regard to the bullpen. Last year’s relief free agent crop was pretty good, and not just for expensive late-inning guys. There were plenty of pitchers who would have significantly improved the Angels bullpen who wouldn’t have broken the budget, and I can’t believe the Angels were unable to sign any of them. The only reasonable conclusion is that Perry actually thought he had a good bullpen until spring training proved him wrong, and he had to go out on the last weekend of the spring and add Cishek and Watson.
Neither Guerra or Quintana were bad signings. Great to lean on? No. But they were both established pitchers with success going into 2021. Quintana was a top 30 starting pitcher in mlb according to FIP in 2019, and while he was hurt most of 2020, he showed the same or better in 10 innings, and health didn’t prove to be the issue in 2021. Guerra had a 3.44 ERA across 2019-2020. Just because you were a naysayer and happened to guess right doesn’t make them bad signings.
Cishek was also very good last year. It’s also worth pointing out that without injuries to our rotation our bullpen would have fared much better. Suarez was great out of the pen.
Those moves probably would’ve worked out better if Bundy and Quintana didn’t completely tank. It didn’t help that they lost Sandoval, Canning, and CRod to season ending injuries. The bullpen was going to be taxed no matter what. Remember the days when Bill Stoneman signed guys like JC Romero, Esteban Yan, and Justin Speier? None of them panned out, but they had Shields and KRod stopping opposing teams in their tracks at the back end with a rotation that could give lots of innings every year. Take all that away and signings like Claudio and Guerra stand out more as failures. Those additions were not the problem. Misanian inherited a mess just like Billy Eppler inherited when he took over.
I said at the time they were bad signings, I said why they were bad signings then, and it now should be obvious why they were bad signings.
A broken clock’s right twice a day.
Halo 11 You do realize it is hard to win when two of your three best players missed most of the season in Trout and Rendon? How is that the GM’s fault?
I’m not sure what they have to do with other? If you are saying the bad signings were meaningless because the Angels were not going to win with Trout, Ohtani and Rendon only on the field together a handful of games, I would agree.
But they were still bad signings. I don’t consider Jose Iglesias a bad signing, it just didn’t work out.
The Angels are lucky to have Minasian as their GM…I tried to let you guys know you all were getting an excellent baseball mind, and a great man in general.
I hope he’s able to turn it around in LA, but I have faith if anyone can do it, it is Minasian!!
He botched the pen last year. He had a great day today. And the Angels still don’t have a shortstop.
Angels making acquiring pitching a priority. Count me in as amazed!
Damn. Hoped he’d make his way back to the Cubs.
Angels are getting a good one here. Not an Angels fan but I like this signing for them.
Less is more I guess. Ride the bullpen early and often looks to be the model in 2022
Finally a good pitching sign by LA. Only took 7 years
V cool
@Halo11 –
We all got the same article. Just making sure you know you haven’t died & gone to heaven.
I haven’t died, but I’ve gone to heaven.
If you are a poster on MLBTR at all & you are not happy for Halo11 right now, you have a heart of pure ice, man.
I’m not quite sure what’s happening but I’m happy for him.
That’s because your heart is not made of ice.
O MY GOD!!!!! Agent P gets it.
Wow… Four Bullets and a plethora of good arms? In just one day I have a higher opinion of Perry.
I wonder if the people who hate Arte are now going to say some nice things about him.
Find a shortstop. 🙂
Don’t need to find a SS I’m already here
Fletcher can barely start at second base.
He was one of the worst hitters in the major leagues the last three months of the year. No one can play defense well enough to overcome that, and he didn’t, and he can’t.
96th percentile OAA last season read it and weep big guy
Go look at outs above average. Notice what he can’t do.
But I’m impressed you went there. It shows me something.
He had 1.5 bad months, before that he’s about a league average hitter and a very well above average secondbaseman.. I’m completely fine w fletcher there for the next X years
His value is his defense. His skills do not translate to short.
If I recall correctly, David Fletcher also lead the league in hits for quite awhile, so you and I are not going to agree on this point.
Fletcher can cover short. Was a really good one in college.
Which would mean we need a second baseman of the caliber that deserves to start on a good team.
Fletcher is bad going to his glove side. Not average, bad. And he doesn’t have the arm to make plays in the hole.
He’s very good and coming in. At second, he’s very good at going up the middle, but it’s not a long throw.
I’m not sure why anyone thinks he will be a good shortstop. And he’s not much of a hitter.
So.. no.
Look up David Eckstein. A lot of what you say is true of him as well, but I guess you can say he did well enough in 2002. . I believe Fletcher would be a better SS than Eckstein.
I don’t need to look up Eck, I knew him well and Angel fans hated him at short.
Also, the statcast data isn’t there. Eck was non-tendered, and Flecher isn’t the hitter Eckstein was.
You’re wrong there. They are very similar hitters Eckstein was a crowd favorite.
To be clear I’d rather have Fletcher at 2nd, but out of the current options, he is the best one.
Eck took walks and could get on base.
I’m not comfortable with Fletch at short Because he doesn’t have the arm, what he does well, going to his right, he won’t do well at short. And what he does poorly, going to his left., will be magnified.
I think it’s a terrible idea.
Well lets hope it doesn’t come to that. Hopefully, Perry has one more rabbit in the hat. I have less hope for the other options st SS.
I’m really perplexed why you think Fletcher is a bad shortstop. He has a career 3 DRS saved there. He has -1 OAA on balls in the hole for his career, and I would argue that has more to do with range than arm strength. I don’t know where you find arm strength data but considering he’s made Machado/Arenado-like throws on the other side of the 3B bag I would say his arm plays fine at SS. He has a great arm. Regardless, assuming he doesn’t get considerably worse than his career numbers at SS to this point, he would be roughly average or better and certainly an upgrade over Iglesias last year. Not to mention while he may be a former SS, there’s surely some acclimation that can come from playing there everyday at the big league level as opposed to getting tossed out there every now and again.
Then we need to find a second basemen.
We have like 500 MIFs right now battling it out, Semien was a huge overpay and I’m glad we didn’t get him, we just need league average.
I’ve been saying all offseason that the Angels needed to add three good relievers, so adding four makes me a very happy camper. If Perry can add an actual starting shortstop, I will be even happier.
my dream come true for the angels! now get a starting shortstop and don’t let lorenzen start!
Something nice about Arte? The man has made two billion just in the increased value of the franchise. He signs a couple of relievers and he’s a prince? He’s going to make another billion on his stadium land deal. Please, Arte is not a being benevolent.
That’s a nice chunk of change and a good signing for the Angels.
Angels suddenly have a very nice pen. Some good additions.
Uh, excuse me, but that’s *2020 MVP Candidate* Ryan Tepera to you, thanks very much.
Remember when people were calling Hoyer a dumpster diver for signing him? Look at my boy now with 14 mil
They weren’t calling him “dumpster diver”. He was “trash heapin Hoyer” and Theo was labeled “dumpster divin Theo”
Same shizz bro
He has some good stats I don’t remember him at all..
Glad they’re strengthening their BP since their rotation is still a question mark.
Its more unproven than bad though. If Detmers and Suarez take any movement forward its actually pretty. good
Sho, Thor, Sando, Lorenzen, Suarez, Detmers, Canning/Barria
We also have Ty Buttery coming back so this pen could be elite
Buttery – nah, he’s toast.
I hope Buttery makes a comeback.
Minus the two months he was depressed and quit, he was a legit closer.
LOL Buttery. Now I want popcorn.
Buttrey was mentally toast. He’ll be the first to admit that. He wasn’t physically injured.
He’s had a nice mental break.
I have no idea what he is right now as a baseball player, but he’s in a far better mental state that he was the last year we saw him.
Canning is already seriously injured. They still need a proven starter to eat innings and a middle infielder.
I don’t know why people sleep so hard on Barria. If season started today I would have hin in the rotation, ahead of Lorenzen. I’ve never seen a player more jerked around in their career, especially considering he had one of the best years an angels starter has had in years as a 21 year old rookie in 2018, and the next year they start him in AAA so Cahill, Harvey and Stratton could have rotation spots.
I think Barria has the ability to be a back of the rotation starter, but I don’t think he really has the stuff to be better than that. I would like to see him get a legitimate shot, but I’m not sure he’ll get it.
I’m with you on this. I like Barria in the rotation and Lorenzen out of the pen. But I think the difference will be minor
Noahpm, I couldn’t agree more regarding Barria. He’s been yanked around every year since his debut in 2018. Make him your SP6, give him consistent starts and get out of his way… he can do this.
Canning is already on the 60-day, bro. About a week ago, give or take.
The 60 DL is meaningless to start the year. He could be ready three weeks into the season. It could be something that lingers, and he misses the entire season.
Very solid pickup, was hoping we would bring him back…
Three multiyear deals for pitchers in Anaheim this offseason after not signing once since Joe Blanton
Was a perfect fit for the Mets the way he dominates lefties.
Angels throwing alot of money around for a ball club that will end up .500 at best
A couple days ago, without these signings, Percota had them making the playoffs and Fangraphs had the Angels as the last team out.
Why do you trolls come on threads about other teams and diss those teams? There is something wrong with people who do that.
Playoffs?! Hahahahahahahahahaha
Thank you Mr. Troll.
Since you are such a pro, what website do you work for that is as respected as Fangraphs or Percota.
Part of the problem, Halo, is that your guys, for a variety of reasons, consistently underperform.
It’s become an identity, one that trolls can identify with.
That said, I would have been glad to see the Jays bring back either of Loup or Tepera. You’ve got two good ones there!
Fangraphs pegged the Angels odds at 38% heading into the week. Not great, but pretty viable.
Since then, the A’s have gotten notably worse and the Angels have gotten notably better. At least enough to get us to 50/50, I’d bet.
Lots of questions to be answered. Will Marsh and/or Adell take steps forward? Will Sandoval and/or Suarez pitch like they did last year? Is Thor back?
I don’t know. But is is March and I like this squad a lot better than any we’ve rolled out there in years.
I would never go to a Texas Ranger thread and tell them they didn’t have a chance.
People who do that have issues.
Yes, the Angels have had issues, but most fans have hope.
Astros Mariners > the rest of the Division
You can have that opinion. But I would never go a thread about the Ms and mock them for haven’t made the playoffs since 2001.
Why are you such a puss?
Astros are legitimate favorites to win the division.
There’s enough youth and unknowns about the Mariners and Angels that you can either see upside and a good team or unproven players who will fail.
We’ll probably get a mix of both.
should be a fun summer.
Larry Bernandez, Certified Internet Tough Guy
I’m printing the business cards for you
I think it’s “Pecota”.
This seems like a pretty solid roster to me.
Until they have to actually play against other squads
They have an elite offense, solid pen and a much improved rotation. They could win that division.
* the could finish third in the division. There, fixed it for ya
Gonna mute you now. You seem pretty worhless.
They were arguably a healthy Trout and Rendon away from being in contention last year. From that roster, they’ve added significant pitching talent.
There is no honest reason to say their *best* case scenario is .500. It is certainly a possible outcome if they get more bad breaks and injuries. But it is certain not the best possible outcome.
You’re kidding, right? They had the worst pitching in the league last year, but you think if Trout and Rendon were healthy we make the playoffs? You need to have higher standards and look at what the competition is doing. Please look at the Dodgers and how they run their organization– we need to do the same.
Their rotation last year was 16th in WAR and 17th in xFIP. That’s, like, almost by definition “average.” Certainly not “worst.” Their bullpen was what was awful, and that is what they’ve improved the most.
And yes, I do happen to think that a team who probably lost between 10-15 WAR by losing their two best hitters would have *contended* for a playoff spot they finished 15 games out of, especially since they effectively punted the day they were eliminated and only padded that margin of defeat.
I didn’t say they’d have won it all. I said they would have contended. But feel free to completely make up another stat to refute that.
Well at least the Pear is building a nice bullpen
The fat jokes are so wack even for the trolls.
Uh oh, this convo is going pear-shaped.
For real, it’s always always objectively ugly bros going hard on the thicc boys.
Yay it’s always a little head scratching when a man is Internet ragging another guys weight.
i now love you, minasian, for this! finally!
Wow. I’m trying to not get excited here, but let’s see.
Bradley, Warren, Tepera, Loup, Iglesias has the look of a good bullpen. Add in a couple guys like Buttrey and Meyers for lower leverage spots. Some kids in the minors I think can contribute soon.
This is not the Eppler era Angels.
The Angels haven’t started the season with this kind of pen since the days of Scott Shields.
Go look at the first two months of every season. Look who was getting saves and blowing saves. The names were changing daily.
at the least, bullpen looks like that of a championship bound team. just add a shortstop and the angels are the team to beat in the west.
i know perry has been largely panned, but he has spent smart money this offseason. iglesias, bradley, loup, and tepera plus buttrey and chris rodriguez coming back from injury shapes up pretty nicely on paper, and fletch seems plenty capable of SS if duffy is their plan this year at 2B
Expect Rodriguez to miss most if not all of the year.
Perry getting some work done today. These signings make a lot of sense. Now I am really excited about the season.
If this were the 3 Amigos, I would say we have a “plethora” of relief pitchers now.
Warren can be the set up man for Mayers can be the set up man for Bradley who can set up Loup who can set up Tepera who sets up Iglesias to close. 3-4 inning starters.
Hey! Props to Steve for breaking the news, this is the biggest news I recall him ever breaking.
Love these pen additions. Still need a SP and SS. Lorenzen and Duffy may not cut it.
I believe Lorenzon will end up back in the bullpen.
The Angels appear content with a Andrew Velazquez Tyler Wade platoon at SS
Except neither can play shortstop.
Valazquez played 20 games at short last year and was -4 in outs above average.
That’s horrific.
Wade started 14 games and was -2, which is pretty darn bad in such a small sample size.
That’s Rengifo bad. How is anyone confident they can play short.
I agree. Maybe the Story market gets low enough to pull the trigger?
Matt Duffy can play SS as well if that helps…
Looks like if we enter the 6th inning with the lead, we got the game in the bag. And with Trout and Rendon healthy now, it looks like there will be a lot of wins this year. I’m pretty excited now.
I’m liking these bullpen moves!
Kudos to Minasian in locking up 2 gems for the bullpen today. Really surprised Tepera was still on the market this late. He’s as solid as they come. Now the only real question left interns of relievers is where does Kenley Jansen land? I still say TOR makes the most sense.
We don’t need a high priced shortstop at all. Between Wade, Duffy and Fletch we got 2nd and SS covered. The rest of our lineup is so good the last this we need is to spend big money on an offensive shortstop. If they do anything else, they should get one more solid SP. Keep spending on pitching Minasian, you’re doing good!
None of these guys can play short.
That’s OK when you are talking about a firstbaseman, not OK when you are talking about a shortstop.
All three can play short.
Just because they haven’t been mostly used at shortstop during their fairly brief careers so far doesn’t mean they can’t handle the position well. We’re fine at short.
The data doesn’t back up your claim.
The data shows they can’t play short. Since few here have seen them play, I’m not sure how anyone can dispute the data.
The data says they CAN play short. It also says they don’t play it WELL.
You’re both right.
Fletcher has the quickest release I have ever seen. I would prefer him at 2B, but he can handle SS, if necessary. That said, if Story’s market craters, maybe the Angels can sign him. I gave up on Tepera after Archie signed and Perry proved me wrong. I’m hoping Perry proves me wrong again and signs Story.
Schofield did. That Chet Lemon play was unbelievable. But Schofield also had a stronger arm.
Fletcher’s quick release is not going to help him enough. If this happens, he’s going to go from one of the best defensive second baseman, to one of the worst defensive shortstops.
Angels could probably get Dick Schofield pretty cheap today…
If that’s my choice, a Dick Schofield who qualifies for AARP, or Fletcher, I chose Fletcher.
That’s “ageism” sir. Okay then, how about Gary DiSarcina or Kevin Stocker? You can even get Bobby Rose to play 2B if Fletcher plays SS
Kevin Stocker, I’m impressed. I think Bobby Rose’s wife died in an auto accident and he was never the same person.
Gotta be honest, I didn’t see Arte putting up this much money. Archie + Tepera is a great one-two punch signing. I feel better about the 2022 strategy. Bravo.
That’s MVP caliber Ryan Tepera to you
Just need the starting rotation to get more than 15 outs a night. As good as this BP looks on paper, there’s no way they can be asked to get 12 outs a game. They’ll be toast by July, again.
That looks to be the magic formula early on for the Angels. If the starters can give them quality starts through 6 innings, then the bullpen can take over. That was the formula for 2002 where a rotation headed by Washburn and Appier could actually win a World Series.
I’m not saying this team is a WS contender, but these bullpen moves definitely make them better and can take some stress off the starters (and each other).
I like some of the Angels moves this offseason, particularly adding strength and depth into the pen.
Well done…with him and Archie that makes the pen better by notching down each guy behind Iglesias. Things are looking better each day. Good job on the pitching upgrades Perry
Angels should move someone for Ahmed Rosario. Then we’d be set.
Minasian is known for building Atlanta’s WS winning pitching staff, specifically the BP. He’s showing what he can do this off season with the Angels. I think he’s exactly what we needed as a GM. He’s not perfect, but he is focused on the right priority.
Really, he’s responsible for Atlanta.
Claudio and Guerra. And last year.
But OK.
After signing Archie this morning, I wrote off Tepera and Perry proved me wrong. Thank you, Perry. You have built one heck of a BP. And have some young arms ready to contribute later this year and next year.
I continue to believe we will look back in a few years and say Perry is among the better GMs in the game. It’s clear he is a very sharp guy and appears to have Arte’s confidence.
I hope you are right. Perry totally botched last year. You can’t blame Moreno. Moreno proved he was willing to spend.
I can’t explain how any GM could have made those moves last year. But these three signings are a great start.
I love you, Halo, and I say this with all due respect, but you need to move on, dude.
You can say that, but come-on, Perry Built the Atlanta Braves pen?
Seriously? I mean… Seriously?
Why not… Perry built the World Series winning Braves.
I never said anything about ATLs BP. But I know Perry built the Angels ’22 BP and has more young, cost controlled arms ready to contribute in the near future.
I’m far from a Perry apologist, but Perry had more to do with the Braves WS than you might think.
“Angels GM Perry Minasian’s fingerprints all over current success of Atlanta Braves”
http://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2021-10-28/angels-gm-perry-minasians-fingerprints-all-over-current-success-of-atlanta-braves
Why’d the Sox get Kelly when they could have had Tepera for less?
Now this is starting to look like a legit bullpen.
Who cares about a SS when we are finally getting pitching!!!
I don’t recall this many Angels fans on the board before.. nice to see ya’ll come out of the woodworks after some good news..
It’s obviously one dude with 4 accounts
Hey, an actual smart move by them. Amazing.
7 million a year for Tepera for two years. Former Jays are getting nice deals. For the Angels I don’t personally like it. I don’t trust Tepera enough to give him 7 million a year. Not at all.
and whoever you are i don’t like you. but thanks!
2/$12mm was the MLBTR prediction. You’re probably the only person worried about the AAV.
He wouldn’t have signed if Joe was the manager in Chicago in 2020-21 when he played there.
Hey Perry,
SS Correa and SS Story are still available!!!
Sign one of them and scrap the “below replacement level SS-by-committee” thing you got going on.
~ Every Angel Fan
I would have been content with Andrelton Simmons or Jonathan Villar.
Why are comments closed on the Bauer post?
Controversial discussions aren’t allowed?
What is the fear?
Was hoping the Cardinals would have signed him but they would never have spent fourteen mil on him. Not in their DNA.
This and the Bradley signing should go a long way for building MLB proven BP depth for the Angels. Like how their 26 man roster is shaping up.
Loved watching him in Toronto. LAA fans will be happy.
That’s what they also said about Justin Speier.
Bauer wasn’t found guilty of any crimes, what’s the hold up? Moral standards? Please, MLB has been exploiting Central America for decades. There is no moral argument here for MLB
I can’t comment on the other thread, so I’ll do it here…..
Bauer should sue MLB.
At this point the Dodgers are literally paying him for nothing once the season starts so either suspend him and watch him rain hell on MLB or just eat the money they are inevitably going to have to pay him and release him and let him try his luck elsewhere
Tepera has some solid stuff. I had thoughts he could get a team to sign him for the top role with this 2021. Not to be though. This is a solid signing by the Angels and addresses the quality depth necessary to win games. A+ move.
Very nice! And very solid BP. I believe that makes only 1 spot up for grabs in Spring for the Pen. Nice job Perry.
The rotation is still suspect; huge upside but questions all around… I like the idea of focusing on the bullpen for protection. Either “Thor’s back”/Ohtani stays healthy/Sandoval stays consistent/Detmers lives up to hype and we have ourselves the NEW AL West Champions …. Or Anaheim fans are gonna be hoping the deficit every game is close enough for their lineup and bullpen to pull out a win.
Of course the rotation is suspect, what’s amazing is so are the Dodgers. I say this because most rotations are suspect.
I don’t know if the Angels are going to get enough pitching. Because of the health issues, my guess is the bullpen and offense will have to carry the load. But, if these stay healthy, this could be one of the better staffs. But you could say that for half the teams.
Angels are almost there. Good 1st half then go and get a stud for playoff run
why the kid is sent down? there are worse guys to get rid of.
Yeah, like five of our utility guys. These roster spots have value. I don’t like the construction of the Angels 40 man roster, they are wasting a lot of spots.
The silver lining is I don’t think Canning is hurt that badly, I think the Angels needed the room.
What’s the word on kenley? One of the better, best?, relievers on the market and not a peep all winter
He signed with Atlanta Yesterday.
Looking at the Angels transaction list on their site, 19 of the 42 transactions involved acquiring a pitcher since the lock out ended. Minasian is quietly doing what he does. Time will tell if they are good acquisitions, but it’s depth nonetheless.