The Angels announced a flurry of roster moves a the club selected the contracts of right-handers Reyes Moronta and Jacob Webb. The club also announced that left-hander Aaron Loup had been activated from the 15-day injured list, while righties Andrew Wantz, Jimmy Herget, and Zack Weiss were each optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake. Moronta and Webb will take the 40-man roster spots vacated by Brett Phillips and Ryan Tepera, both of whom were designated for assignment by the club earlier this week.
Moronta, 30, made his big league debut for the Giants in 2017. He would remain a part of the club’s bullpen mix until 2021, when the club outrighted the righty off the roster, leading him to declare free agency. During his time with the Giants, Moronta excelled on the mound, with a 2.65 ERA that was 52% better than league average by ERA+ and 3.44 FIP in 132 1/3 innings of work. Despite the excellent results leading him to be seen a quality late-inning option, the Giants elected to part ways with the right-hander after shoulder surgery, which cost Moronta his entire 2020 season, proved to have sapped his velocity. While he averaged 97.2 mph on his four-seamer in 2019, the pitch’s velocity had dropped more than three ticks to just 93.9 mph when Moronta returned to the mound in 2021.
Following his departure from San Francisco, Reyes spent 2022 as a member of the Dodgers and Diamondbacks organizations, with a 4.30 ERA and 4.41 FIP in 37 2/3 innings of work. Despite the downturn in performance, he secured a minor league deal with the Rangers during the offseason, though the club released him once it was clear he would not make the roster out of camp. That led him to sign a minor league deal with the Angels earlier this month. Now, Moronta join the Halos’ bullpen just ten days after signing with the organization.
Webb, meanwhile, posted a 2.47 ERA over 76 2/3 innings of work as a member of the Braves from 2019-2021, though a 3.99 FIP indicates there was some good luck baked into those excellent top line results. Webb did not appear in the majors last season, posting a 6.06 ERA in 35 2/3 innings during an injury-plagued 2022 campaign. Webb elected free agency during the offseason, eventually signing with the Angels on a minor league deal. While Webb has struggled to a 6.75 ERA in 17 1/3 innings of work so far for Salt Lake this season, the Angels will hope he can get things back on track in the major league bullpen going forward.
The pair of right-handers are joined in the Angels bullpen by Loup, who is returning from the injured list after suffering a hamstring injury earlier this season. Loup signed a two-year, $17MM deal with the Angels ahead of the 2022 season, and delivered a 3.84 ERA with a 3.76 FIP in 58 2/3 innings of work last season. Now in his age-35 season, Loup struggled in nine innings of work this year prior to his injury, posting a 7.00 ERA on nine hits and seven walks (two of which were intentional) against just eight strikeouts. Of course, the veteran lefty came into the 2023 campaign with a career ERA of just 3.15 over his eleven previous seasons in the majors, leaving the Angels with reason for optimism he can turn things around and join Carlos Estevez and Matt Moore as a late-inning option going forward.
The 27-year-old Wantz has performed the best this season of the three righties ticketed for Triple-A, with a 3.32 ERA in 21 2/3 innings so far this season. Herget, 29, has struggled to a 4.38 ERA in 12 1/3 innings so far this season after posting a sterling 2.48 ERA in 69 innings of work for the Angels last season. Weiss, meanwhile, made just two appearances for the Angels prior to his demotion, with three hits, a home run, and a walk against two strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings of work. All three figure to be depth options for the Angels’ bullpen going forward.
Finally
Same old same old! Not enough solid starting pitchers and outside of Moore and Estevez the bullpin is in shambles again! Where would we be if Canning hadn’t come out of nowhere to fill a rotation spot? This roster had so many holes U can’t fill them all in one off season! Unless the Genie in the bottles saves us with these latest call ups the Angels will miss the playoffs for the 9th straight season! Lineup is top five when healthy but the pitching is bottom five!
Hey rotten. Hard to believe how much pushback I get on these threads pointing this out every December, January, February and March.
Heck. I even pointed it out in April and May and took a unexpectedly large amount of pushback.
Perry took over an organization with ZERO tradeable minor leaguers because nobody wanted our kids! A top heavy payroll with 3 guys accounting for over 50% of the spendable dollars and no long term proven starters! Other than Ohtani Sandoval, Detmers and Anderson have only one descent season in the majors! We need some starters and relievers with a proven track record going forward! If Ohtani does leave you can sign three legit pitchers with the money U R savings on Ohtani! It’s a team game and U need 8 to 10 above average players to be able to content year in and year out! If we sign Ohtani for more than 40 million per season we will not have the necessary dollars to have a competitive roster!
It had more top 100 prospects then than it does now.
So no. Not close.
Signing Rendon was obviously a HUGE mistake and Perry had nothing to do with that but our GM when possible makes great trades! Trade of the decade was Marsh who strikes out 40 percent of the time and Syndergaard who had 2 months left on his one year free agent contract for Logan Ohoppe and Micky Moniak!
I’m still annoyed they didn’t resign Alex Cobb.
Yep. Starting pitcher was expected to be a strength, but they are far from that. The bullpen has to go 4-5 innings a night. They really only have 2 dependable arms in the bullpen.as you pointed out.
Even Shohei hasn’t been great on the mound lately. He is calling his own pitches. He seems to be in love his sweeper at the moment. He is throwing it way too much. He allowed 3 homers last game, two of which were against the sweeper. He has a good sweeper but teams seem to be sitting on it now. It would be more effective fi he mixed in his other plus pitches a bit more. He has a complete arsenal and may be better served having the catcher call the pitches, but that’s not going to happen.
Canning has always been good the first time through the order. The 2nd time is where he begins to breakdown. This year is more of the same. The 4th inning is where the flood gate open.
Suarez has started the last 3 years poorly so it shouldn’t be a shock that he started this season off poorly as well.
Silseth has good stuff but just turned 23 a couple of days ago. He is still catching too much of the plate, which he can get away with in the minors, but not at this level.
The bullpen doesn’t have to go four or five innings every night. Nevin chooses to go to the pen and doesn’t let them pitch out of Trouble.
He’s like Reggie Jackson’s character in the naked gun. I must pull the starter, I must pull the starter.
If it worked, that would be one thing, it never works.
The Angels starters are 10th in innings pitched. That’s in spite of quick trigger Nevin.
Whoops.
Can’t really use IP any more. Teams use openers nowadays, which go one or two innings by design. The Angels don’t use an opener or have bullpen days. I would expect them to be fairly high on the IP list.
The Angels starter have been far worse than anticipated. They are currently tied with the Rockies for 21st in quality starts with 12. The Mariners are 4th with 23, Rangers are 5th with 22, the Astros are 7th with 20. You can blame Nevin or you can blame the results. Neither have been good..
It’s a fair point. But the Angels are not that much different than any other team.
The Angels have two reliable relievers. That magnifies everything. Literarily, everything. Nevin, the starters, the defense, and most importantly, wins and loses.
Both Deitmers and Sandoval looked pissed when Nevin pulled them this week from their starts.
“STEEEEEEEE-RIIIIIIIKE!”
That was one funnyass movie.
Two skippers. Similar results. One boss.
I do the math.
Rottenboy, you have “where would we be without Canning”? Hate to break it to you, Canning hasn’t pitched all that good.
As far as “this team has many holes”? I don’t think so. It only has 1 glaring hole, that would be Nevin. We could use another RP or 2 to step up for sure. But that could easily be fixed internally, and or via trade soon when teams turn into sellers. I to believe the SP’s will come around and pitch better, there’s talent there. We good! If we just could lose Nevin on the next road trip and leave him off the plane 😉
They won’t let Canning pitch out of James and in the Baltimore game the Angels made 6 bad plays.
And let’s not even talk about the inherited runners.
My point…with this defense and this pen, it’s hard to tell who is pitching adequately.
We had Canning or nobody to take that rotation spot! Seems to be pitching pretty good tonight shutting out the Redsox through 6 innings! D f bae had let him down big time
We had Canning or nobody to take that rotation spot! Seems to be pitching pretty good tonight shutting out the Redsox through 6 innings! Defense has let him down big time not making the routine plays!
Actually those 3 weren’t really optioned to Salt Lake City… Moronta ate them.
Jimmy Herget optioned to AAA. That sentence just made my day.
Why. Just a day ago Nevin thought he was the go to guy. Of course one batter later both inherited runners scored.
Maybe Perry is sending these guys down to prevent Nevin from making a bad bullpen move.
It’s Perry’s fault this is the garbage Nevin has to work with. Hopefully we neve see Herget or Wantz again. Also, where’s Barrria? He seems to have righted the ship in the bullpen. Doesn’t need to be some multi inning specialist, just have him pitch now and again.
Garbage? The Angels pen is 8th in MLB in ERA and FIP. You will see Herget soon. Whatever the minimum is. Wantz. Probably not. You probably won’t see Webb for more than one appearance. He has been absolutely horrible in AAA and there is really nothing about his game that indicates he will stick longer than that. Especially when Nevin said that the pen was overworked and the reason for the callups was they needed fresh arms.
it seems angels’ staff agrees; barria is starting tomorrow in boston
Kellen – Nevin is horrible. However, this mess called the Angels is Moreno’s fault. He’s an advertising guy who thinks he knows baseball. Moreno is the only common denominator over the last 20 years. He doesn’t let his GM do his job. Minasian has a proven track record of success in Atlanta so if he was left alone, he coulld do the same here. As for Nevin, he’s a stooge who doesn’t push back like Maddon probably did so he’ll quietly keep his job.
These are my opinions and don’t represent any research I’ve done or firsthand knowledge I’ve acquired.
Prov. Moreno gave Minasian a lot of money to spend on non stars. And a ton of money to spend on the bullpen.
I don’t think you can blame this year on Moreno.
I agree moreno spent money this year but he probably told minasian how to spend it. I don’t think he had autonomy to make his own decisions.
We have information to the contrary. Moreno wanted Turner, Minasian chose to spread the money around.
I don’t think you can blameless this on Moreno. And I’d be shocked if Moreno told him what RPs to pick up.
Moreno is a big ticket item GM.
Welp, we need something creative because the Astros have found their groove and are 9-1 in their last 10. This Angels team can’t compete as it is. Maybe it;s as simple as replacing Nevin. I’d like to see Maddon come back but I know you weren’t a fan. But we need a proven manager, not an interim hopeful.
LMFAO. Arte gave Minasian a smattering of money to spend on short term deals that will be over after this year and a couple of low budget moves. Payroll went up a total of $19 million from year end payroll last season and most of that was increases for players that were already on the books or players that had to be replaced. If Moreno was serious about winning he would not have made sure they didn’t go even one cent above the CBT threshold. Either say something that is an actual fact or please STFU. You are making actual Angels fans look bad.
Arte lied about selling the team and then he comes out and tries to say he wanted to sign Turner? Well guess what? He is the owner and if he wanted to sign Turner, he would have at least made him an offer. He has went above his GM’s head and made signings of big stars before. MANY times before. Arte said in that Verducci interview that they didn’t pursue Turner at all. So excuse me if I don’t believe Arte that “he wanted to sign Turner”.
Moreno is the one that will not allow long term contracts for pitchers and that sets the budget. You may have noticed that its BELOW the CBT again. If he wanted Turner he could have signed him and all the others that came aboard. Instead he cheaped out and the team we are watching is the result. Actually, I shouldn’t say we because its pretty obvious you don’t watch.
Nice disclaimer at the end, prov.
Nobody is being fooled by Hergets whufle ball spinner that looks like a beach ball to hitters.
“The bullpen needs fresh arms” is manager code for “these guys have sucked a$$ and we need fresh bodies.” I applaud the FO for making moves on the fly.
For sure on Herget. That slider/sweeper is not moving much at all this season. He should throw batting practice with it, oh wait, he is.
People screamed and yelled on here because Wantz was sent down the first time. The he got called back up and got crushed. Maybe, just maybe, those coaches and FO personnel that made the decision know more about the situation than we do as fans.
Now he is on his way back down. You going to yell and scream again…looking at you Halo.
I have been screaming all season about how bad Wantz is. When I see writers talking about how good he is, I wonder who the ffffk they’re watching. He’s leading the team in inherited runs scored and has all season.
Always rooting for Moronta. He had a terrible injury with Giants, thought he’d never pitch again. When he’s right he’s really good.
Agreed, was thrilled when Lad swooped on him , still root for him as well
It’s a whole new bullpen.
I figured we’d see a huge turnover but these weren’t the names I was expecting: Joyce, Murphy, Torres.
I was expecting to see those 3 too.
Coming into the season I expected Rodriguez to return from the injury and contribute at some point fairly early in the season. Instead we may not see him at all this season.
Estevez has been outstanding so far.
guys like webb loup and devenski were always going to get the first opportunities because mindset is so important in the bullpen and these guys have seen major league seasons before. if they struggle to pitch, they also are not guys who would be kept on the 40 man roster, so they can be dfa’ed to make room for the young guys you mentioned, those of which who separate themselves performance wise. plus, devenski has looked good so far, so the incentive is there to promote the veterans in your minor leagues first.
Nick,
Wantz has gotten absolutely crushed since being called back up from a short 4 day stint in the minors. He has given up 7 runs in 6.1 IP. Something is wrong.
In the pregame, Nevin said Herget would be back quickly, they just just need a fresh arm. Herget has not given up a run in his last 4 appearances, so its not about performance.
Webb hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2021 and his numbers for the Bees are not exactly encouraging. He won’t be in the majors long. I would be surprised if he gets more than 1 appearances.
Moronta started the year in the Mexican leagues after the Rangers cut him in camp, so not expecting much. Hopefully his shoulder is ok, his velocity is back up, and he can give the team some good outings. If he reverts to walking 11% of batters, his stay with the Angels will be short.
Herget may have not given up runs, but he is allowing inherited runs to score. Both he and Wantz are top 15 in this area.
Herget has only come into 1 game with baserunners this month. Detmers left men on 2nd and third and Herget hung an 0-2 curveball and gave up a hit to the corner that drove in those 2 baserunners.
He has entered 5 games with runners on base this season and every time it was 2 runners in scoring position and 4 times with less than 2 outs. Some runs are going to score when there are 2 men in scoring position and less than 2 outs..
He is allowing 64% of inherited runners to score on the season which is above the MLB average, but not anywhere close to the top for relievers. In fact, he ranks 25th among pitchers with enough innings. baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/2023-relieve…
As Nevin said, Herget will be back soon.
Love Herget, don’t get me wrong. His job is to not let those runners score. Only allowed 9 inherited runners to score last season; already at 7 this season. Shouldn’t be hanging 0-2 curveballs; 0-2 shouldn’t even be in the zone.
He threw what was called. Watch the video. He just hung it. It happens.
Last season he entered the game with runners in scoring position 4 out of the 19 times there were runners on base at all. Only once were there two runners in scoring position. He entered the game to start an inning (or the game) in 30 of 49 appearances. So no one on base. In 16 games he pitched a 2nd inning, so no baserunners when he entered the game for the 2nd inning he pitched. Hard to allow inherited baserunners to score when there are none.
This season there were 2 runners in scoring position all 5 times he entered with runners on base. He has pitched in 12 games. .He is being used in different situations this season.
You are comparing apples and oranges.
The Angels will be aggressively exploring their AA and AAA bullpen options over the next 8+ weeks leading up to the trade deadline. Provided they are still in contention at that point, they will add a couple of arms from outside the organization. With few trades completed in May and June, this is the GM playbook ahead of the deadline.
Yes, but the question will be is it too late at that point? And why didn’t they add two more arms to this pen in the off season like we all knew they needed? Can you imagine where they’d be without the last second signing of Moore? Two relievers and and a starter is what they needed and it is what they still need to make sure they make the playoffs.
@angels I agree. I was watching the Trash Pandas today. Ben Joyce pitched 2 innings and that is something he has only done once all year. He doesn’t pitch back to back games, so they may be trying to get him to throw more innings. Torres was awful again today.
Adell also hit two home runs today giving him 17 for the season. He is still striking out a lot. Ward is the type of player that envisions the pitch before stepping in the batter’s box. People were concerned about his approach with the time clock, so far he doesn’t seem to have made the adjustments. He is swinging a lot at the first pitch. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Adell soon. It may not be the best move, but Angels are running out of options to generate a winner.
Adell is a one trick pony with the long ball in AAA. His strike outs and his defense hurt him and no part of his game ever translates to the majors. If he gets promoted again it will be a desperation move.
His defense was fine the last four month of last year and by all reports his defense is fine this year.
And the only thing he’d not doing well is striking out. He needs to drop that by 6 strikeout every 100 ABs. That’s not exactly a tall order.
That may be so, but is Adell capable of posting something better than the 71 OPS+ that Taylor Ward is currently posting? I believe so. He leads the PCL in HRs. If the Angels are exploring every option, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Angels try to find an upgrade.
The Angels have plenty of power, but there is always room for more. Tony Two Bags is Tony one bag, only 5 extra base hits and the season is a quarter over. On the plus side and more importantly, he is getting on base with a OBP over 400.. Urshela lost 10 pounds this offseason thinking he was going to play SS for the Angels. He hasnt played much SS and he seemed to lose all power with that weight loss, only 6 extra base hits, 5 doubles and 1 HR.
Even if Adell’s defense has tightened up, he needs to carry that over to the majors consistently. I still think he needs to spend the year in Salt Lake before he’s called up again. Spring Training 2024 is where he can display his improvements and earn a job.
He did carry it over. The last four months of the year he had an outs above average of +1. That’s one out better than average.
As I’ve been saying, this team will go as far as the pen will take them. So far it’s taken them from about ten games over 500 to 1 game over 500.
Anyone who can strand a runner is a welcome addition. So which one of these guys can strand a runner?
Perry and Nevin need to be held accountable. If the Angels win, their job is secure, if they don’t…. This pen was another in a long line of unforced errors.
Halo I keep ask in the chats, which one will be fired first. Perry or Nevin. Of course that question never gets answered lol
Well, Perry can fire Nevin.
Perry’s job is on the line, if Perry doesn’t fire Nevin and hire a manager who can turn this team around, they’ll both be fired within days of each other. Right after Ohtani signs with another team.
I can’t believe Nevin doubled up on the sacrifice (Thaiss and Walsh) with yet another player who can’t bunt.
I did not read a single response on twitter who thought that was a smart move. Yet there are a few Nevin apologist here.
Well he needs to hurry up with that firing
You got that right AF4life, with Nevin, this teams ceiling is maybe the last playoff spot at best. Without Nevin, it could be as high as A.L. west champs.
I mean EASILY! You could pin 4 or 5 loses on Nevin already. That would be an ok full season number for a manager, but we’re just over 1/4 of the season in. Terrible!
I’ll never forget watching the game where Jacob Webb hit Kevin Pillar in the face. It seems like he’s never really been the same since that happened.
Just reading…. Perry bullpen approach of hope and pray once again is being put into pray.
One of these years it’s going to work.
These moves feel very desperate. Trying to find lightning in a bottle. Maybe this buys them some time for Murphy and Bachman and Joyce who are all destined to be in that pen this year?
They are all pitching poorly at AA.
GET RID OF LOUP!!!!!!
This looks like a short-term move.
Webb is terrible. He is not getting much time in the majors. He might not even get more than one relief appearance.
Moronta is going to walk a half dozen batters in his first 5-6 innings pitched and be DFA. He already walked one in just 2/3 of an inning tonight. If it’s my dime, I am spending that on the guy that is wild but throws 102+ mph rather than the guy that throws 95 and is wild.
Herget is going to be down the minimum. After a rough start to the season, he has looked good in May.
Wantz may be the only long-term casualty of these moves. Because he has both been rocked in May and leads the team in inherited runner scored, unless there is an injury, he is not getting another shot at the Angels bullpen any time soon.
Why put “meanwhile” in the middle of the sentence when you can just start the sentence with it? Also, maybe learn a new word so you’re not repeating that one so much.
You want perfect grammar from a FREE website? Start your own.
Just because a website doesn’t charge for its content, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t adhere to high journalistic standards. Think about all the newspaper stories you can read online for free.
So Barria pitches a 1 run shutout through 5 with 6 Ks and no walks.. Nevin takes him out and replaces him with Loup who promply surrenders an earned run to blow Barria’s win. It’s like Nevin doesnt have a thought of his own and he is just following someone else’s script. Barria has a 1.61 ERA and Loup has a 7 ERA. Why did Nevin think that was a good move?
Barria has not pitched more than 3 innings in a game this season and was 20 pitches beyond what he had thrown in any of those games. So they were just supposed to let him continue until he hurt his arm?
A PITCHER win means nothing. A TEAM win does and at the end of the game there is a W for the Angels there
I may disagree with bringing Loup into a close game, but it was time to sit Barria for the rest of the game. The team is going to need him down the stretch and rather have him healthy and still pitching than keep in a game in May until he blew out his arm..
No one wants to see Loup in a close game. I am just happy to get a win in a close game when I know Barria couldn’t throw deep into a game. With Moore and Estevez being unavailable since the pitched 3 of the last 4 days, I wasn’t sure how we would pull it out, but Devenski and Silseth made it work.
Barria did great. Nice to see.
Both the radio and the television broadcast were saying Barria was scheduled to go 4 innings and bonus if he could get through 5. After 5 everyone in the dugout was high diving him.
Loup was brought in by design to face the first three batters because 2 of the 3 were left handed. The problem is that the Mets Loup is long gone and the Angels Loup throws 90 mph puss balls.
There’s a chance Loup goes the way of Tepera if he keeps this up. The Angels can find another LHP who doesn’t throw 90 mph puss balls.
Mickey!
Micketty Micketty MickMickMick!
Third HR leading off a game. The guy’s in ANIMAL mode!
RP walks a PH to start the inning.
THAT’S relief pitching!
Double play!
THAT’S relief pitching!
Miketty Miketty Mike Mike Mike!
BALLGAME!
Angels win!
I thought this was going to be a nice relaxing game. Nevin would have none of that.
That’s twice Moranta has sucked and twice Devenski saved our butts.