The Angels announced that they have claimed right-hander Nick Robertson off waivers from the Cardinals and left-hander Brock Burke off waivers from the Rangers. Both pitchers had been designated for assignment in recent days. The Halos had two vacancies on their 40-man roster and don’t need to make a corresponding move.
Each pitcher has shown some promise in past seasons but was struggling of late. They both got nudged off their respective roster spots but it makes sense for the Angels to take fliers on them. The Halos are out of contention and can use the remainder of the season to audition players for future roles, and had the open roster spots anyway.
Robertson, 26, pitched for the Dodgers and Red Sox in 2023. He tossed 22 1/3 innings in the majors with an unimpressive 6.04 earned run average but better underlying numbers. He struck out 24.5% of batters faced, gave out walks at an 8.5% clip and got grounders on 47.1% of balls in play. His .397 batting average on balls in play and 57.5% strand rate were both on the unlucky side, which is why he had a 3.88 FIP and 3.76 SIERA. He also had a strong 2.54 ERA in Triple-A last year with a huge 37.5% strikeout rate.
The Cards acquired him as one of the two pieces they got back from Boston in the Tyler O’Neill trade. He missed about a month of this season due to right elbow inflammation and has also been on optional assignment, only throwing 12 1/3 innings for the Cards. In that time, he had a 4.38 ERA, 26.9% strikeout rate and 3.8% walk rate. Oddly, he performed far worse in his 21 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level. He had a 7.48 ERA there, along with a 20.6% strikeout rate and 15.7% walk rate.
It’s not been an outstanding season so St. Louis decided to move on, but the Angels can see if he can find his way in a new environment. Robertson can be optioned for the rest of this year and will still have one option after that. He also currently has less than a year of service time, meaning he still has a ways to go before qualifying for arbitration or free agency.
Burke, 28, had a tremendous 2022 season. He tossed 82 1/3 innings for the Rangers that year with a 1.97 ERA, 27.4% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate. But his numbers backed up a bit last year, as he logged 59 2/3 frames with a 4.37 ERA and diminished 20.8% strikeout rate, though he did lower the walks to a rate of 3.6%.
This year, things have been even worse, which was partially self-induced on Burke’s part. He punched a wall in frustration after a poor outing and suffered a fracture in his right hand. Though it wasn’t his throwing hand, it still kept him on the IL for two months. Around that IL placement, he posted a 9.22 ERA in 13 2/3 innings and also spent about a month on optional assignment.
The results have obviously been trending in a bad direction and the wall-punching reflects poorly on him, but he can still be optioned for the rest of this year if the Angels so choose. He’ll be out of options next year but can be retained via arbitration through 2026.
Welp, that explains the Plesac decision.
Angels got the best player in the 24 draft. Destroying competition
Whatever you say…
When Kamalafan speaks, I listen
How about stats?
Christian Moore.. .545/.579/1.693 – 6 HRs in 35 at bats. Yep, small sample size, but he is a beast. I guess that wooden bat isn’t a problem for him, like the “experts” said it would be.
Great start. Also shows how strong the SEC is.
35 at bats… with that low of a sample size I would just look at talent and not the stats
@kellin looking like he will be called up on Friday. He was mashing in the sec against top level pitching hagen Smith, Paul skenes, and the two way player from Florida to name a few, so it doesn’t surprise me.
@rex I heard rumor he might be, but there’s no real hurry to being him up… Then again, if he doesn’t go “cold” there’s no reason to keep him down there
@kellin he didn’t have a great game today, so we will see. The minor league coaching staff sucks so it’s probably better for his development even if it’s rough.
I dont know how to describe this, but both these dudes have Angels bullpen names.
The Angels are trading Mike Trout?
it makes sense…………………………………………
Great signings! Difference makers! Much rejoicing and World Series chatter in the Woolworth’s coffee shops in downtown Anaheim!
Exactly the type of moves a team with no AAA pitching and plenty of roster holes should make.
The key is to not need to make these moves two years from now.
Every piece of garbage that comes on the market and they gotta buy it.
Nice to see that the Angels are starting to build that Playoff team around O’ Hoppe. The sky is the limit here. LOL
@unclemike when are going to bring out you Matt mervis jersey. It’s funny how you want to talk about the angels development when the cubs are still under .500. You have 5-6 players in the top 100 that haven’t been called up and most of the lineup is hitting worse than logan the bum o’hoppe
They need to eat baseball is not a priority contract.Did you see that double clutch walk towards first base?Turn a sure out into a man on. Throw him out with trash.
Let’s see if Robertson and Burke can turn it around in LA, or if they’re just here for the sunshine and In-N-Out burgers.
The Habit doesn’t get enough love.
respectable burger, if they had a drive-thru it would surely be viewed as a surefire 1b option in californias burger rotation
The Cardinals gave up on Robertson pretty fast. It’s strange how they give tons of rope to some guys and cut the cord quickly with others.
Lots of pitchers in Memphis are struggling, it’s not just Robertson unfortunately. Not sure if it’s just an offense friendly environment but I have a feeling he’s way better than his stats suggest
There is a lot of age on that Ranger ballclub. Pitching is a bunch of geriatrics. Not a whole lot of promising youngsters on that club. Langford has been a major bust for one of the youngsters. I wonder if the coaching staff has screwed up his swing? Its a wonder why Garcia is still on the roster as well as Taveras. Lowe has been a disappointment, and Simien may well be on his decline. Heim has not been the same since his wrist injury in 2023. After winning the WS in 2023 they sure have been a major embarrassment for their fans in 2024. Time to unload a bunch of contracts and bring up some minor league potential. Ownership has to step up!