The Angels announced tonight that they have optioned struggling left-hander Reid Detmers to Triple-A Salt Lake following tonight’s loss to the Mariners. No corresponding move to replace Detmers on the active roster was announced. [UPDATE: Right-hander Ben Joyce was called up from Triple-A today to take Detmers’ spot, the team announced.]
The move comes on the heels of a difficult start for Detmers against Seattle this evening, where he surrendered five runs on four hits and four walks while striking out three in 3 2/3 innings of work. Tonight’s blowup start is the eighth consecutive difficult start for Detmers, who entered tonight with a brutal 8.59 ERA across 36 2/3 innings of work in his last seven appearances. During that time, the lefty has struck out just 21.5% of batters faced, a significant step down from the 26.1% figure he posted during his 2023 campaign. Perhaps more disconcertingly, Detmers allowed a whopping nine home runs over those seven starts, lifting his home run/fly ball rate this year to a hefty 13.2%.
Given the lefty’s deep struggles over the course of nearly two months of work, it’s hardly a surprise that the Halos would option him to the minors in hopes he can right the ship. After all, the lefty is only in his age-24 season and has flashed the upside of a potential front-end starter at points in his career, including when he punched out a whopping 34.9% of batters faced in his first four starts this season while posting a 1.19 ERA and 1.54 FIP in 22 2/3 innings of work. That inconsistency has been a hallmark of Detmers’s performances since the Angels selected him tenth overall in the 2020 draft. Of the lefty’s 70 career starts in the majors, he’s posted a game score of 60 or higher in 23 of them while posting a game score below 40 in 20 of them. That frustrating combination of clunkers and gems has left Detmers with the career numbers of a slightly below-average major league pitcher (4.60 ERA, 93 ERA+, 4.13 FIP) for his career despite his obvious talent.
Detmers’ demotion could have implications on the lefty’s service time if he spends most of the remainder of the 2024 campaign in the minor leagues. The lefty entered the 2024 season with two years and 64 days worth of service time and has currently accrued 65 days worth of service time to this point in the season. Players accrue 172 days worth of service time across a full season in the majors, meaning Detmers will need to spend at least 43 more days on the major league roster or injured list this season in order to finish the year with three years of service time. If he spends less than 43 days in the big leagues throughout the rest of the 2024 season, the lefty’s first opportunity to reach free agency will be pushed back from after the 2027 campaign until after the 2028 campaign. Fortunately for Detmers, manager Ron Washington told reporters (including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register) after the game that his move to the minors isn’t expected to be a “permanent” one.
“The whole idea is we just want to get him in an environment where it’s not results that you’re going to be worrying about, and find your stuff,” Washington said, as relayed by Fletcher. “This is not something that’s going to be permanent… We just feel like he needs to be in an environment where he can refind who he is.”
While the lefty attempts to work his way back onto the big league roster in Anaheim, the Angels will need to find a fifth starter to complement their current rotation mix of Tyler Anderson, Patrick Sandoval, Griffin Canning, and Jose Soriano. Right-hander Zach Plesac is the hurler with the most big league experience the Angels have available in the minors, but he’s not on the club’s 40-man roster and has struggled to a 6.52 ERA in eleven starts at the Triple-A level this year. That could leave the Angels to turn to lefty Kenny Rosenberg, who sports a 3.92 ERA and 4.16 FIP in 43 2/3 innings of work at the big league level since he made his debut in 2022 and sports a 3.86 ERA in eleven starts at Triple-A this season.
Another option, as noted by Fletcher, could be injured right-hander Chase Silseth. Silseth posted a 3.96 ERA in sixteen appearances swinging between the rotation and bullpen for the Angels last year but was shelved after just two starts this season due to a bout of elbow inflammation. Since then, however, he’s begun a rehab assignment that saw him throw three innings during his first rehab start yesterday. While Silseth will surely need more time rehabbing in the minors before he’s ready to start in the majors, Fletcher points out that the Angels could postpone their fifth starter decision for nearly two weeks thanks to upcoming days off on June 6 and June 10.
It’s probably for the best.
Yes it is for a few starts, but if they hold him out till late August, to get that Xtra year. Forget about resigning him. He gone!
“He gone”…With the way he’s been pitching it’s no great loss to lose him. I’m sure the Angels have much bigger fish to fry.
ronny and (more importantly) perry in contract years, he’ll be up whenever he has solved whatever they think his ailment is. for better or worse. hopefully davis picks up a start
That grand slam by J.P. was hit so hard it sent him to the minors
Angels need to option their entire roster.
Can we option Arte and Perry?
“Arte and Perry”..Maybe just Arte; it might be nice to see what an Angel’s GM could do without Arte Moreno looking over his shoulder and always sticking his beak in. Sooner or later, the Angels will have to take the training wheels off at least one of their GMs.
No, Perry is pretty worthless too. People have a misconception that Arte is behind every single move the GM makes, but he’s only involved in the major moves (ie, Hamilton, Pujols, Rendon, Vernon Wells, etc.)
orange – I’ve argued this for a while now. While Moreno may not be involved personally with every small move, he is the person who hands Minasian the budget. Minasian can only spend what Moreno gives him and has to make it work, just like every GM before him. With guys like Hamilton, Pujols, et al, I believe Moreno is more personally involved in those types of contracts because he has to release more money to sign them. I believe Minasian does what he can with the budgetary constraints placed upon him.
“People have a misconception that Arte…involved in the major moves”….If the Angels hadn’t had so many other failed GMs(besides Minasian)the last 12+ years, that might make more sense. And even if you’re correct, the “major moves”(plus poor drafts) like Wells, Rendon, Pujols and Josh Hamilton have been what’s left this franchise swinging in the wind and swimming in the waters of incompetence and irrelevance.
So in other words Arte is behind the moves that have crippled the organization. Got it.
Not sure who that is in response to nukeg, but indirectly, yes he is. For example if your boss tells you to buy decorations for the company Christmas party and gives you a $100 budget, he’s not telling you what decorations to buy. He’s just not giving you enough money to put together a decent party. Kinda the same concept.
And if you are referring specifically to those bloated failed contracts, I believe as do others that he is directly responsible for those contracts.
Prov356 – Correct. And there are teams that have much smaller budgets than Perry… look at teams like TB and KC, heck even Oakland was relatively competitive for a while with young players and smart, low-cost veteran pickups. Perry has more financial flexibility than those clubs and hasn’t done squat. It’s been a combination of bad drafts, terrible big signings, bad-mediocre smaller signings, and poor trades. While the buck stops with Arte, Perry (including ex-GMs) and the front office and scouting dept and trainers have all been lousy!
@aragon can we release saurez
Whopping.
That sounds like a small farming village in the UK
I don’t care what people are saying about Jo Adell’s “breakout” season, or how “hard he’s been working on defense and improved” like Gubiza or Minasian would like us to believe.
He sucks on any ball hit to the corner. Whether it’s overrunning and misjudging fly balls like he did against the Yankees, or he’s way too slow in getting the ball back in on the bouncers and gives up way too many triples, like he did against the Yankees.
there are flashes though, but yes he is mind numbingly inconsistent everywhere still.
Adell actually IS improving. The numbers prove it.
baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/jo-adell-6661…
It’s hard to be patient, I get it, but Jo’s talent is top shelf, and in a year the Halos aren’t going anywhere, Wash might as well let Adell get 500 reps and see what happens.
This move was long overdue. Also overdue, releasing Suarez. And Schanuel needs time in the minors too and Paris back to AA.
It takes a Trout-level prospect to overcome the Angels incompetence.
Sell the team, Arte!
Detmers just scratches the surface of who needs to go. The entire rotation is AAA level at best. The bullpen the same. Rengifo is the only player who is sustaining a good season despite everything else going on around him. This team has no winning culture. They seem complacent. The fact that Suarez is still on the roster is proof. He came in the other night with bases loaded and they all scored on his very first pitch. Why is Detmers gone and Suarez still has a job? The team strategy makes no sense.
He has a decent FIP. Not spectacular, but good. I’m sure he’ll be back soon
Half this roster should be in the minor leagues.
Being an Angels fan is exhausting.
This is hard. A third of this current roster should be in AAA, and a third should be traded, but I don’t think Perry is the guy who can get the most for the third that should be traded.
This franchise is a mess. Fire the GM. Get in a GM that knows what he’s doing, before the trades and the draft.
And less urgent, but even more necessary, Moreno needs to sell the team.
The bleeding wound needs to be addressed, Perry; and the cancer that is crippling this organization needs to be eradicated, Moreno.
And even after this post, some posters with reading comprehension issues will say I’m a shill for Moreno.
I’m still trying to figure out the Raisel Iglesias trade to the Braves.
And not trading Shohei at the deadline for the Rays top prospects (although that is probably Arte talking, but still).
And giving up 2 top prospects for Giolito.
The hit/miss rate on FA’s hasn’t been great either.
The Royals turned it around in one winter with good evaluations and smart moves. So could the Angels with the right leadership.
@johnnyangel it was a money dump who’s better noe ramirez or tucker Davidson. Was it stupid to sign and trade him 4 months later completely. But they got a steal and traded him for a turd
I want the Mariners to trade for Taylor Ward, but I doubt he gets traded within the division.
Not really if you have realistic expectation of the team.
Only 11 games back, and they haven’t done anything yet. On 2-27 2024 I dreamnt the movie title “Remember the titans” my interpretation is, that Washington has united the team, and they will win the 2024 World Series.
Angels are very lucky this year, as the division is weak.
I don’t think even the greatest manager of all time could rally the angels to a championship
Hey fansSincethe80s, What was an unrealistic expectation? That Trout and Rendon would play 120 games? That a bullpen of Soriano, Moore and Stephenson would be much better, that Drury would have another quality year, that Schanuel wouldn’t completely suck, that Neto and O’Hoppe would take a step forward?
I don’t think those were unrealistic expectations.
Sure they are.
You created expectations based on what you wanted to happen and not the reality of what the team that was putting together. It was obvious that this was a transition year and team be worse as a team but that fans should pay attention to the growth of individual players.
It’s your fault for having expectation of health for any player. Baseball has a way of breaking players in strange ways. Drury may perform when they are healthy and on the field.
Schanuel is less than 12 month from playing amateur ball, it appears you set your expectations to high.
Neto has been slightly below average offensively while being slightly better than average on defense Not bad for a kid who was in amateur ball 18 months ago.
OHoppe is in his 1st full year and has a ops+ of 105 besides being streaky he has held his own.
As someone who claims to be an angels fan since forever, none of this should be new to you because the Autreys used to this every year.
Another season, another cry for pitching. I would love to NOT see one cent spent for any new any position players for the 2025 season. Drop every available penny on 2 quality starters and 2 quality closers. Personally, I am fine with the defensive roster, but pitching is a sore topic yet again.
Cubs need to grab him up. Hell Every team should try. Ace level stuff is in there for sure.
Gibe Rosenberg a real look.
Fans since 80. I don’t think those were unrealistic expectations, but if you do, who am I to disagree.
Firing joe Maddon was the biggest mistake by Perry.