The Angels announced this evening that they have designated right-hander Shaun Anderson. Anderson’s departure would make room for right-hander Caden Dana, who Sam Blum of The Athletic notes is poised to join the club’s bullpen.
Anderson, 30, was a third-round pick by the Red Sox all the way back in 2016 who made his big league debut with the Giants in 2019. He’s pitched parts of six seasons in the majors but has never had much success in doing so. Across 162 innings of work between the Giants, Twins, Orioles, Padres, Blue Jays, Rangers, Marlins, and Angels, the righty has a career 6.11 ERA in the big leagues with a 16.8% strikeout rate and an 8.7% walk rate. He’s also had troubles with the long ball over the years, with 13.5% of his fly balls leaving the yard throughout his career.
It’s a rough profile, though a solid 2023 season in the KBO league where he pitched to a 3.76 ERA across 14 starts for the Kia Tigers offers at least some level of optimism about his ability to get outs at a higher professional level. He also has a 3.86 ERA in 349 1/3 career innings at Triple-A, suggesting he can at least be viable minor league depth for a pitching-needy club. The Angels will have one week to either work out a trade involving Anderson or attempt to pass him through waivers, at which point he would have the option to either accept an outright assignment or test free agency.
As for Dana, the 21-year-old has not yet done much at the big league level across parts of two seasons. He’s posted an 8.78 ERA in 13 1/3 big league innings so far, spread between three starts last year and one multi-inning relief outing earlier this season. Despite those lackluster performances in his brief time in the majors so far, Dana is a consensus top-100 prospect who dominated Double-A pitching last year with a 2.52 ERA across 23 starts (135 2/3 innings of work) with a 27.4% strikeout rate.
It was an extremely impressive showing, though Dana hasn’t been able to keep it up at Triple-A this year. In 38 innings of work across eight starts, he’s posted a 5.21 ERA despite a solid 24.6% strikeout rate. Much of that is surely due to the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League, however, and perhaps getting Dana into a more pitching-friendly environment is why the Angels have decided to work to continue the right-hander’s development at the big league level. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time a top pitching prospect broke into the majors first as a reliever, with Chris Sale’s early years with the White Sox standing out as perhaps the most noteworthy example.
The competitiveness of the big league club may also be a factor in the club’s aggressive promotion of Dana. After all, the club entered the weekend with an eight-game winning streak that had brought them back up to a .500 record, which puts them just 1.5 games out of playoff position in a weak AL Wild Card field. After a playoff drought that has lasted nearly all of Mike Trout’s career, it makes plenty of sense for the Angels to be aggressive in trying to capitalize on that opportunity. That aggressiveness could include pushing Dana to finish his development in the big league bullpen rather than the Triple-A rotation, where he can get reps against big leaguers in a less hostile environment to pitchers while avoiding the need to build up to a full starter’s workload or pitch a third time through the order.
Watched him blow a 6-0 lead last night by giving up 4 runs in the 7th & 8th
Blowing the lead implies they lost the lead, which they didn’t. But yes, he was bad and now the Angels need a fresh arm.
Dana should replace Hendricks in the rotation. Kid has been doing well in AAA.
He actually hasn’t been pitching that great in AAA but I’d definitely prefer him over Hendricks.
You can’t look at just ERA in the PCL. IRS a super offensive league.
He’s striking out over a batter per inning and 2.5 for every guy he walks.
Getting him to sea level with an improved defense should bring that ERA down.
Career 6.00 era and this dude keeps getting more chances… and people think expansion of MLB is a great idea……..
@mercenary. But that mullet is sick. Joking aside he’s been the best of the revolving door they’ve been using, and lasted longer than one appearance.
I’m not sure where the complaint is. Last night’s game was the first time he pitched terribly. A bit surprised considering how they relied in him to get through stuff. What’s Brogdon’s value to the team? He should have been the one cut..
Brogdon can hit 97 and had a good stretch in MLB for 4 seasons from 2021-2023, whereas Anderson has been pretty mid his whole career.
Second time in a week he came in and immediately gave up a bomb.
The one in LA tied the game. Last night’s swing momentum.
He had a 3.12 ERA through his 1st 5 appearances going into last nights game and was asked to take it on the chin when he didn’t have his best stuff because the pen had been overworked. He will be back. Angels need a fresh arm.
Angels were up 6-0 when he came in, so it’s not like he gave up the lead and we won the game.
Who?
Thank you Shaun for your Save last Sunday which included striking out Shohei for the last out.
Sorry Ohtani left you.
Guys face facts
Perry tries to rebuild the bullpen every year. The halos have release or DFA’ed 22 relief pitchers in the last three seasons. They have signed 31 relievers in the past 4 seasons. It’s pretty clear to me that we have a HORRIBLE general manager. All he signs are relievers middle infielder and back ups that can’t hit.
With a developing young core. We have short first catcher and center field set for the next few seasons. Also holding out hope that second is covered. Now if we can find or develop two decent starters and someone hell anyone that can play third. Let’s face it third base has been the black hole for the franchise
The future is bright. Now we need the gm that can bring it all together
Fire Perry!!!!!
Perry has had to reverse ten years of previous leadership decisions of the GM’s and scouting directors after Bill Stoneman and Eddy Bane. He’s not perfect but he has a great work ethic and is trying to build a system that will be a continuous contender once all the pieces are in place. Everything from scouting, player development, and stocking the system with talent. They just built a facility at their spring training camp that will help the players work on their skills.
Hard times make tougher players and GMs. With perseverance, all their efforts hopefully will bring a perennial contender for the next ten years and players that can compete when another player is injured. Atlanta has minor league players fill in every year that sometimes play better than the player they are replacing. I’m sure that’s what the Angels are emulating.
moncada says hello, i’m having a good season. also that nice young core you speak of? perry brought that in too. they had no pitching to begin with so hard to look at number of relievers signed as an adequate demarcator of a GM’s aptitude
Moncada was a great veteran signing. He plays good defense and lis good at making pitchers work. Thats something something the young core can look to emulate
It’s not the GM, it’s the owner. TheGM is only as effective as the owner let’s him be. They shoulda traded Ohtani when they had the chance, but Arte is dillusional. They should move Tyler Ajderson and/or Hendricks at deadline for MORE youth. Will they? Nope. Nope. Arte needs to sell. Rinse/repeat. The saga continues.
Anderson pitched some crucial innings during the Angels winning streak. Hopefully he gets another chance soon. Maybe he will pass waivers and accept an assignment.
Every team’s bullpens are made up of journeyman pitchers. Some of the best bullpens are made up of pitchers that were cast off by other teams. The key is to have the best possible bullpen late in the season when it matters.