The Angels have signed reliever Hunter Strickland to a minor league deal, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Strickland has spent parts of the past two seasons with the club. The right-hander is a client of All Bases Covered Sports Management.
The 37-year-old Strickland has pitched for seven different MLB squads since 2019, but the Angels have been his most consistent home. He first came to the organization in a 2021 trade from the Rays. That stint only lasted a few weeks, but Strickland returned to the club on a more permanent basis in 2024. He logged a career-high 73 1/3 innings with the Angels that season.
The veteran righty opened the 2025 campaign in the Rangers organization, but ultimately found his way back to the Angels on a minor league deal. Strickland was promoted in May and appeared in 19 games at the big-league level. He posted a 3.27 ERA over 22 innings, but went down with a shoulder injury in July and missed the rest of the year.
Strickland debuted with the Giants in 2014. He became a fixture in the San Francisco bullpen the following season. Strickland notched a sub-3.00 across 226 innings in his five years in the organization. He capped off his time in San Francisco with a career-best 14 saves in 2018, though that season included a lengthy IL stint due to a broken hand. Strickland suffered the injury after punching a door following a blown save.
The Angels have stacked older relievers with closing experience this offseason. The club has added Kirby Yates, Jordan Romano, and Drew Pomeranz over the winter. Brent Suter was also recently brought in to add a left-handed look in middle relief. Strickland doesn’t have a clear path to the big-league roster, but he’s had a knack for finding his way into an Angels uniform.
Photo courtesy of Gary A. Vasquez, Imagn Images
When he puts on a Halo uniform he plays above expectations and saves the bullpen. Solid signing!
Its crazy he isn’t getting signed to a 2-3 million one year contract. The dude really has been solid for the team.. but, at the same time, they’d have to DFA someone, and I dont know if that would make sense..
him and carson fulmer are the gems of our pitching development pipeline
Carson Fulmer… COME ON DOWN.
You’re the next contestant on The Bargain Basement Show, where the prices are low, the expectations are lower, you’re host
Ivan P. Freely
A hodgepodge make shift mix bullpen comprised mostly of 1 year deals. Angels continue to show zero ability to develop talent particularly on the pitching side.
I don’t mind Strickland since he has been decent, but you are throwing a bunch of pieces together and hoping for chemistry. Let’s let the manager with no experience figure it out and hope for the best.
So management cuts the payout to 8M per on Rendon over the next 5 years. That saved 29M this year plus we are 25M below last years payroll. Combined we are 54M below last year’s total payroll! This team needs to sign at least one or two more starters! If Galin is too rich for our blood then at least look at Zack Littell!
I just had a feeling that was coming.
Next… Tyler Anderson or Luis Rengifo?
Maybe Dave Chalk or Frank Tanana
Rudy Meoli or Bruce Bochte
Hey?
Chuck Finley and Jack Howell.
Shawn Wooten and Benji Gal
Junior Felix and Bobby Rose with Shawn Boskie as a swingman
Boy howdy!
🤣
I don’t mind these deals in February.
I’m not as crazy about them in December because they typically sign with the assumption there is a good chance they will make the team.
The off-season moves have been impressive in rebuilding up the Angels AAA minor league team with over the hill veterans.
Hopefully, we can compete for a minors playoff spot.
Angels stockpiling vintage arms in hopes they can sell a few at the deadline?
No, because they hope they can compete. (It’s hopeless).
@mike156. It’s going to be like last year 3-4 games out of the last playoff spot, and the bottom will fall out.
Does anyone remember the epic Strickland vs Bryce Harper at bats in the 2014 play-offs? Strickland was a cocky rookie who threw 100+mph and nearly hit Harper in the head a couple of times and appeared to be ready for a brawl with Harper after every pitch. Harper hit 3 bombs of Strickland that series, which the Giants won and went on to win their 3rd World Series vs the Royals.
I wonder if they ever made up? Doubt it.
@willmer I remember Strickland hitting Harper in SF three years later starting a brawl. Two memorable moments from that were Buster’s non-reaction to Harper’s mound charge and Jeff Smardzija (another bonehead) rushing in and inadvertently taking out his teammate Michael Morse, effectively ending Morse’s career. youtu.be/0XevCEYU2K0?si=CDzgJrqOh87DTqr7
That was a brawl! Good clip!
Love it. Strickland good. Hell, I’m good
The Annual Hunter Strickland Homecoming
Hunter Strickland is back on a minor league deal, and honestly who’s surprised. This is the most Angels tradition‑of‑all‑traditions move. Every spring, like clockwork, we bring back a bullpen arm who already knows the drill, knows the chaos, and knows exactly where the coffee machine is in Tempe. It’s muscle memory at this point.
Strickland walking into camp is basically baseball’s version of Welcome back, buddy your locker’s right where you left it.
And look, at this stage, I’m not even grading the move. I’m just trying to figure out what time Arte’s picnic starts and what kind of spread he’s rolling out.
Cold cuts
Potato salad
Maybe a surprise tray of Costco cookies if he’s feeling generous
Oh Boy Oh Boy!
Hey man, those Costco dessert trays (and cakes) are pretty damn good!
I’m guessing the price to run the party is like $300?
Halos.
My god, thier seemingly 80 man roster is almost full now with minor league signings
Edit – didn’t mean to respond to Mark66 specifically.
As I mentioned in another thread, their bullpen NRI’s are an intriguing and not-awful bunch:
Sandlin
Saucedo*
Huge human Ort
Castro
Huge human Perdomo*
Strickland
40-man
Stephenson
Pomeranz*
Yates
Romano
Suter*
Silseth
Zeferjahn/Fermin
Starter refugees
Jack K
Klassen
Ryan Johnson
Aldegheri*
Bullpens are volatile and built using the “hot hand”.
It’s possible – possible? – a guy like Maddux can work this wild bunch into a workable bullpen.
@johnnyangel. Besides the expensive free agents in Texas he turned alot of schmo’s into Joe’s. Im guessing that’s the strategy why they seem to be trying to slide pitchers or anyone in the minors. Strickland might not have a opt out. At the end of day we will see the triple a depth, but it’s better than the angels claiming dumpster fire that had the era grow from 6.00 to 24.00 and get released the next day
Bad penny keeps turning up!
Just messing with Hunter.
I don’t care if the bullpen is percival. Goose Gossage. Dennis Eckersley Lee smith Trevor Hoffmann. Ect ect ect.
THIS TEAM HAS THE WORST OFFENSE IN BASEBALL. Over 1600 strikeouts a team batting average of .227 brought nobody in to help that can hit and traded 37 home runs out of the lineup.
If they give up three runs. Game set match
Bryce Harper’s best buddy is still truckin’…
Classic headcase and questionable locker room presence but man I did love to see him pitch in 2014. If you ever wanted to know how his teammates felt about his attitude, watch the Harper fight and how Buster barely even got up for it like “oh god not this guy again”
@dan. Harper was a d canoe. He had multiple run it’s with teammates or the opposing team. He has definitely calmed down, but it was more of he got the message.
I don’t know what the money situation is with the Angels. I think Minasian has done a great job putting together a coaching staff, and roster this offseason (Solid A). Everyone is an expert, but we don’t know what really is going on. If I had to guess, I’d say he was told. “This being the last year of your contract. Here are the limits that you can work with. You can hire a manager and coaching staff on only a one year contract. You have to get creative and lower payroll, oh and no long term contracts”.
This team’s young core players all feel that they have something to prove. Let’s hope that they turn the corner this year. Hopefully they are able to figure it out as a team, and stay healthy!
Great job building a 100 loss roster????
What would you do if you were the GM under these circumstances?