The Angels announced this afternoon that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Shaun Anderson. In a corresponding move, right-hander Victor Mederos was designated for assignment.
Anderson, 31, is entering what will be his 7th season as a big leaguer. A third-round pick by the Red Sox in 2016, he didn’t make his big league debut until 2019, at which point he was a member of the Giants after being part of the return for the Eduardo Nunez trade. Anderson came up to the majors as a swing man and struggled somewhat, with a lackluster 5.44 ERA in 96 innings of work. He moved to the bullpen full-time after that, and while he pitched to a solid 3.52 ERA in 18 appearances during the abbreviated 2020 season, questionable peripherals left his role uncertain headed into 2021.
Ultimately, Anderson didn’t even make it onto the Giants roster that year. He was traded to the Twins in the LaMonte Wade Jr. deal and spent the rest of the year riding the waiver wire. Ultimately, he split time between the Twins, Orioles, and Padres during the 2021 campaign and pitched to a rough 8.49 ERA across 23 1/3 innings during that rollercoaster year. He’s pitched just 28 2/3 innings total at the big league level since then, splitting time between the Jays, Rangers, Angels, and Marlins to post a 9.42 ERA across 14 outings.
The right-hander doesn’t have the most exciting profile as a big leaguer, to say the least. His career 6.39 ERA in 163 1/3 innings of work is certainly lackluster, and a 4.35 ERA at the Triple-A level for his career doesn’t offer much reason for further excitement. A 14-game stint in the KBO did yield some interesting results, as he pitched to a 3.76 ERA in 14 starts, but that was three years ago now and it’s hard to see that as indicative of future stateside success at this point. Still, he could help contribute to an Angels pitching staff that will need help covering innings with Grayson Rodriguez, Alek Manoah, Kirby Yates, Robert Stephenson, and Ben Joyce all opening the season on the injured list.
Making room for Anderson on the 40-man roster is Mederos. A sixth-round pick by the Angels back in 2022, the club wasted no time in promoting him to the majors, allowing him to make his big league debut the following year. Despite his quick rise to the big leagues, Mederos was never quite able to stick at the level. He has just 25 1/3 innings across 12 appearances in the show, and during that time he’s looked completely over-matched with an 8.52 ERA and a 6.95 FIP. A career 3.96 ERA in 20 career starts at the Triple-A level offers a bit more room for optimism about his long-term prospects, and Mederos won’t turn 25 until June. That wasn’t enough to save his roster spot with the Angels, but perhaps another club will be intrigued enough by his profile to take him on as a more of a long-term project. If Mederos passes through waivers unclaimed, the Angels will have the opportunity to outright him to the minor leagues as non-roster depth for their pitching staff.
Shuffling the deck chairs.
As far as the pen…Maybe. But the Angels seem to have changed their offensive approach. If they can continue to make pitchers work, they could have a more than capable offense.
The pen and defense are issues. The starting pitching is not as bad as many think.
It’s March. If you can’t have a little optimism in March, what’s the point?
Love the new approach. Wrote about it Saturday.
The defense and lack of pitching depth are brutal. Hopefully Sandlin and Joyce can help the former.
I’m optimistic the Angels will find a couple useful bullpen pieces and one solid starter (Klassen) this year. Just waiting for those developments
Somehow they are 2-1 right now might be a good time to take a picture of their record because I have a feeling it won’t stay this good.
once grayson or manoah are healthy yes he will be gone. johnson or jack K to the pen. mederos is in his final option year, and it wouldve been more than challenging for him to put himself in position to make the team next year. but if he gets claimed ill be sad to see him go
Manoah was horrible in the Cactus League even when he was supposedly healthy.
Rodriguez will be a nice boost.
And I think Klassen comes up at some point this year and has some success.
Why when he will get DFA tomorrow? After he gives up 5+ runs without recording an out?
The Angels are on pace to win 108 games. With a few key trade deadline additions (Ohtani, Judge, Skenes, Skubal), they could push for 115+ and the WS. Maybe I was all wrong about Arte.
Not just another halo victory.
Today, just another halo victory
Remember the two thousand oh 2
And here we go.
Bullpen gives up 11 runs…. proceeds to callup this guy who seems to give up a Homer every game… bet he plays today
1.Ten runs. Detmers allowed the first before he was pulled.
2.Errors by players allowed innings to be extended. Urena didn’t acquire a single point to his ERA score.
3. Urena isn’t ready and was given too much trust.
4 Surprisingly, the team almost came back.
Angels’ (Pitches Entering Orbit) in the Outfield
Errors and making mistakes were big contributors in Houston’s comeback win
This is premature. Perhaps just to have a fresh arm but the other reasoning I think is just lip service. That inning unraveled because Urena made a fundamental defensive mistake, and O’Hoppe got overzealous on that nubber and should’ve stayed at the plate so Urena could flip it to him. That was just one of this innings full of weird plays where the ball finds a hole, rolls into the perfect spot between fielders, and then you get a bunch of unearned runs.
This guy was by far one of the worst hurlers the Angels used last year. His fast balls have no movement. He got lit up in triple A as well
Why they resign him I will never understand. You’re telling me there is not some other gas can we can bring up than this guy? A pitching machine will give up less home runs.
And it doesn’t matter about errors or anything like that the fact of the matter is the bullpen came in with a lead and proceeded to give it away because. Player still have to get on base despite the errors.
The key number so far Is 33. That is how many strikeouts Angels hitters have combined. That is 11 per game and a pace of 1782 That is 155 more than last year and would crush the all time major league record by 128. You can’t score runs without putting the ball in play
To me, that’s the biggest glaring hole on this roster that has been completely overlooked by the Moron
Shout out to Soranio, Kikuchi for the quality starts
Terrible move. Wouldn’t be surprised if Mederos has some sort of shoulder issue still from last year. He was 7-5 3.39 ERA in a hitters league last year. Called him up for his first start on 3 days rest. Angels doing what Angels do best.
At 24 I would think he’s more valuable than Anderson at this point. Why not just bring someone up already on the 40 man.
WOW, A Sunday and 6 teams not playing. Welcome to MLB 2026.
They left out that Urena was optioned to Salt Lake City to make room for Anderson on the 26 man roster.
Good. He needs another year in the minors. He was called up too soon. Not sure how his command issues weren’t a red flag. Guess that’s typical Angels.
That’s what happens when you sing a bunch of dog crap and throw it at the wall and see what sticks
@soccer_ref. I’ll sing you a song. If you can spell sign right maybe it will happen one day.