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Astros Acquire Trey Cabbage From Angels

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The Angels announced that they have traded infielder/outfielder Trey Cabbage, who was recently designated for assignment, to the Astros. In exchange, the Angels will receive minor league right-hander Carlos Espinosa. The Astros designated right-hander Declan Cronin for assignment to open a roster spot for Cabbage, per Ari Alexander of KPRC 2.

Cabbage, 27 in May, made his major league debut with the Angels last year, making 56 plate appearances in 22 games. He hit just .208/.232/.321 in that time, pairing a 3.6% walk rate with a 46.4% strikeout rate.

But his minor league results have naturally been much better. In 107 Triple-A games, he hit 30 home runs last year. His 30% strikeout rate was still on the high side but his 9.5% walk rate was strong. Even in the hitter-friendly environs of the Pacific Coast League, his .306/.379/.596 batting line still led to a wRC+ of 128. On top of that, he stole 32 bases in 35 attempts while lining up at first base and all three outfield spots.

“If we could somehow get a left-handed bat, preferably an outfielder with some speed, that type of package we’ll pounce on it.” Those were the words of Astros general manager Dana Brown last week, after the club signed Josh Hader. Cabbage doesn’t have any major league success yet but he ticks those boxes for Houston, as he does indeed hit from the left side.

The Astros have lefties Yordan Álvarez and Kyle Tucker set for regular action, but the rest of their lineup skews right-handed. That includes outfielders Chas McCormick and Jake Meyers, as well as depth option Corey Julks and utility player Mauricio Dubón. If Cabbage can have his major league offense make progress towards what he’s done in the minors, he could be a nice complement to the club’s current roster. He still has two options and doesn’t need to be on the active roster right away.

In order to add Cabbage to the organization, the Astros have removed Cronin from their 40-man. The 26-year-old was just claimed off waivers from the White Sox a few weeks ago. Similar to Cabbage, he just made his major league debut in 2023 with uninspiring results. He tossed 11 innings for the Sox, allowing 11 earned runs in that time.

But also like Cabbage, his work in the minors was more impressive. He tossed 51 2/3 Triple-A innings last year, allowing 3.83 earned runs per nine. His 18.7% strikeout rate was subpar but his 54.5% ground ball rate was very strong. That’s been a hallmark of his career, as he’s kept more than half of balls in play on the ground at every level of the minor leagues and in that brief major league debut as well.

The Astros will now have a week to trade Cronin or pass him through waivers. He still has a full slate of options and limited service time, which could help him appeal to a club in search of some bullpen depth and roster flexibility.

As for the Angels, they nudged Cabbage off their roster a few days ago when they signed Matt Moore, but they were able to salvage some value from him by sending him across the division in exchange for Espinosa. The 22-year-old Cuban has limited experience in affiliated ball, having only played in the Complex League and Single-A. He has thrown 84 1/3 innings at those levels with a 3.74 ERA, 27% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate.

Eric Longenhagen and Tess Taruskin of FanGraphs gave Espinosa a brief mention on last year’s list of Houston’s top prospects. They noted that the righty was throwing in the mid-90s, while also featuring a slider and a changeup.

Angels Sign Aaron Hicks To One-Year Deal

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The Angels announced the signing of veteran outfielder Aaron Hicks on a major league deal. Left-hander Kolton Ingram was designated for assignment in a corresponding 40-man roster move. Hicks, a CAA client, previously signed a contract extension with the Yankees, a deal that runs through 2025. The Yanks released him last year and are still on the hook for what’s left, meaning the Angels will only owe the prorated $740K league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Yankees pay.

Hicks, 34, had a strong run with the Yankees earlier in his career, performing as an all-around player in the Bronx. From 2017 to 2020, he drew walks in 15.1% of his plate appearances while only striking out at a 20.5% clip. He hit 60 home runs in 338 games, leading to a .247/.362/.457 batting line and a 123 wRC+. He also stole 26 bases and served as the club’s primary center fielder.

It was midway through that stretch, going into 2019, that the Yanks bought into Hicks and signed him to an extension. He was just one year away from free agency at the time but agreed to a seven-year, $70MM pact that was supposed to keep him in the Bronx through 2025. He had already agreed to a $6MM salary for 2019 so the deal added six years and $64MM of new money. That was a relative rarity for the club, as shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker. Since February of 2014, that’s one of just three extensions given out by the Yanks, the other two being for Luis Severino and Aroldis Chapman.

Health became an issue in the early parts of that contract. In 2019, he went on the injured list due to a left lower back strain and then again due to a right flexor strain, only playing 59 games that year. In 2020, the pandemic shortened the season to 60 games, with Hicks playing in 54 of them. Then in 2021, a left wrist injury limited him to just 32 contests and poor performance when on the field. The shortened season obviously wasn’t his fault but he nonetheless found himself having been unable to log a normal amount of playing time in three straight seasons.

He was finally able to stay healthy in 2022, getting into 130 contests for the Yanks that year. But he hit just eight home runs in that time and his .216/.330/.313 slash line led to a wRC+ of just 91. He told Dan Martin of The New York Post in September of 2022 that he tried to come back from wrist surgery lean and athletic to stay healthy but that it backfired by sapping his power. His struggles continued in the early parts of the 2023 season, leading the Yankees to release him in May, despite the contract still having another two full guaranteed years.

The Orioles took a shot on Hicks, a move with no real financial risk since the Yanks were stuck holding the bag. Hicks bounced back in Baltimore, hitting seven home runs in 65 games, leading to a .275/.381/.425 slash line and 129 wRC+. He also stole six bases and helped the O’s by slotting into each of the three outfield positions.

That’s still a fairly small sample size of success after more than two years of struggles, but it’s sensible for the Angels to take the risk that he could perform well in the coming season. Hicks is still set to make a salary of $9.5MM both this year and next, then there’s a $1MM buyout on a 2026 club option, but the Yanks will be paying the majority of that. The Halos will only have to pay the prorated portion of the $740K league minimum for any time that Hicks spends on their roster.

For Hicks, money would not have been a factor in signing this deal since his salary is already set. It’s possible that he was attracted to playing his home games in Southern California, as he was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Long Beach. Beyond that, the Angels are at least going to attempt fielding a competitive team this year and could perhaps offer Hicks some decent playing time.

The club’s outfield mix prior to signing Hicks consisted of Mike Trout, Taylor Ward, Mickey Moniak and Jo Adell. Trout is obviously one of the most talented players in the game but durability has started to become a bit of a concern. Thanks to some nagging injuries and the shortened 2020 season, he hasn’t played 120 games in a campaign since 2019. Adding a player capable of playing some center field like Hicks could perhaps help Trout stay healthy as he goes into a season in which he will turn 33 years old.

Ward has only once played 100 games in a season, which was in 2022. Last year, he was limited to 97 contests, his season ending on a scary incident when he was hit in the face by a pitch from Alek Manoah. Moniak seemed to have something of a breakout last year, hitting 14 home runs in 85 games. But he’s likely due for some regression when considering his 2.8% walk rate, 35% strikeout rate and .397 batting average on balls in play. Adell has similar walk and strikeout rates across the past four seasons without the semi-encouraging power surge to go with. Considering that mix, there should be plenty of playing time available to Hicks. The designated hitter slot is also open now that Shohei Ohtani has signed with the Dodgers.

It’s possible that this move bodes particularly poorly for Adell. He has received part-time action in each of the past four campaigns but has hit just .214/.259/.366 while striking out at a 35.4% clip and walking in only 4.8% of his plate appearances. Though he was a 10th overall selection back in 2017, he is now out of options and doesn’t have a clear path to playing time.

As for Ingram, the 27-year-old lefty just made his major league debut last year. He made five appearances for the Angels, allowing five earned runs in 5 1/3 innings. He split the rest of the year between Double-A and Triple-A, tossing 61 innings with a 2.95 ERA and 30.2% strikeout rate, but a 13.3% walk rate. The major league work didn’t go well and the control issues aren’t new for him, but the minor league strikeouts are intriguing and he still has a couple of options remaining. The Angels will now have a week to trade him or try to pass him through waivers.

Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register first reported the Angels were signing Hicks.

Cardinals Claim Alfonso Rivas, Designate Moises Gomez For Assignment

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The Cardinals announced Monday that they’ve claimed first baseman/outfielder Alfonso Rivas off waivers from the Angels. In a corresponding move, outfielder Moises Gomez was designated for assignment.

Rivas has seen MLB time in each of the past three seasons, splitting those years between the Cubs, Padres and Pirates. The 27-year-old hit well in a tiny sample of 49 plate appearances during his 2021 MLB debut with the Cubs but carries a more tepid .233/.316/.342 slash in 410 trips to the plate over the two previous seasons.

That said, Rivas has a minor league option remaining and an excellent track record at the game’s top minor league level. He’s a career .313/.424/.492 hitter in parts of four Triple-A seasons and has drawn a walk in a massive 15.1% of his plate appearances there. He’s more of a gap hitter than true power bat, evidenced by his 40 doubles and 15 long balls in 637 career plate appearances in Triple-A. He’s primarily been a first baseman in his career, but Rivas does have 342 innings in left field and 75 innings in right field between his time in the big leagues and minors combined. He’ll compete for a job as a left-handed bat off manager Oli Marmol’s bench this spring.

As for the 25-year-old Gomez, he looked to be on the cusp of slugging his way to the big leagues a couple years back but has been dogged by consistent contact issues and saw his numbers decline in Triple-A this year. In 2022, Gomez split the season between Double-A and Triple-A, belting 39 home runs while posting a massive .294/.371/.624 slash line. That power output was accompanied by a staggering 34.7% strikeout rate, however, and things only got worse in his second go-around at the Triple-A level. He still mashed 30 homers this past season but did so with a diminished .232/.293/.457 line and an only slightly improved 31.7% strikeout rate.

The right-handed-hitting Gomez still has two minor league options remaining and is clearly bursting with raw power, but scouting reports have long been down on his glove, speed and particularly his hit tool. FanGraphs and Baseball America both credited Gomez with 70-grade raw power (on the 20-80 scale) as recently as last offseason, but BA put a 40 on his hit tool while FanGraphs was even more bearish and pegged him at a 30.

A club looking for some right-handed pop to stash in the upper minors could well take a flier on the power, but Gomez will need to significantly scale back the strikeouts and/or improve defensively if he’s to carve out a big league role. The Cardinals have a week to trade him or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.

Angels Designate Trey Cabbage For Assignment

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The Angels announced that first baseman/outfielder Trey Cabbage has been designated for assignment.  The transaction creates a 40-man roster spot for Matt Moore, whose one-year, $9MM deal is now official.

Cabbage was a fourth-round pick for the Twins in the 2015 draft, and he was a member of the Angels organization for the last two seasons after signing as a minor league free agent.  He didn’t show much at the plate over his first five pro seasons, but after sitting out 2020 due to the canceled minor league season, Cabbage’s bat suddenly caught fire.  A .283/.377/.574 slash line over 414 Double-A plate appearances was followed up by a .306/.379/.596 slash line in 474 PA at the Triple-A level, and it resulted in Cabbage getting a look on the Angels’ active roster this past season.

Despite only a .553 OPS over 56 PA in the Show, Cabbage at least finally made the big leagues, debuting slightly after his 26th birthday.  He might now find himself on the move to another team in the event of a waiver claim or if the Halos opt to simply release him after the DFA period, though one would imagine Los Angeles might just hang onto a player who has performed so well against minor league pitching.  Cabbage’s age could be a slight caveat to his numbers, though his performance can’t even be chalked up just to the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, given how Cabbage’s breakout started when he was still in Minnesota’s farm system.

After getting some time as a third baseman and shortstop earlier in his career, Cabbage has settled into a first base/corner outfield role.  His DFA could indicate that the Angels simply prefer other options at those positions — Nolan Schanuel is penciled in for regular first base duty and Brandon Drury can also play the position, while Miguel Sano and Hunter Dozier were recently signed to minors contracts.  The corner outfield picture is also pretty crowded, and could be even more crowded if Mike Trout is moved to left field in order to both help keep him healthy and to improve the defense with a more glove-focused center fielder.

MLBTR Podcast: The Broadcasting Landscape, Josh Hader and the Relief Market

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Does J.D. Martinez make sense for the Angels? (24:30)
  • With the Mets in rebuild/retooling mode and the Mariners in need of another infield bat (and a surplus of controllable young arms), is there a trade there? (27:55)
  • How odd is it that we are this late in January and have several players likely to get multi-year deals? (31:55)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Angels Interested In Joey Votto

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The Angels are one of the clubs with interest in free agent Joey Votto, per Jon Heyman of The New York Post.

Votto, 40, is a free agent for the first time in his career after spending parts of 17 seasons with the Reds. His performance was excellent in many of those years but he’s coming off some recent struggles. He has been dealing with a significant shoulder injury that required surgery in 2022, with the effects lingering into 2023. He hit just .204/.317/.394 over those two seasons, production that translates to a wRC+ of 95, or 5% worse than league average.

But he has been among the best hitters in the game in the past and was in good form as recently as 2021. He hit 36 home runs that year and drew walks in 14.4% of his plate appearances. His .266/.375/.563 slash line during that season led to a wRC+ of 140, or 40% better than league average. He also received strong grades for his glovework at first base, helping him produce 3.8 wins above replacement in the eyes of FanGraphs and 3.7 WAR per the calculations of Baseball Reference.

Perhaps it may be asking too much for a club to expect Votto to get back to that kind of production as he is now 40 years old, but if he’s able to get beyond the shoulder issues and produce at a level beyond the past two seasons, he could still be a useful contributor. His hometown Blue Jays have also been connected to him in rumors this offseason but a return to Cincinnati seems to be off the table.

With only three weeks until pitchers and catcher report to Spring Training, the Angels have question marks both at first base and designated hitter. The DH spot has been utilized primarily by Shohei Ohtani in recent years, though he has now moved across town to the Dodgers. At first base, Nolan Schanuel was rushed up to the majors to take over the position last year. He was only just drafted in July and made a handful of minor league appearances before making his debut in the big leagues.

Remarkably, he managed to carry himself well despite the short track record of professional experience. In his first 132 plate appearances, he showed Votto-esque discipline, drawing walks at a 15.2% clip while striking out only 14.4% of the time. He only hit one home run, giving him a hunched batting line of .275/.402/.330, though that was still good for a wRC+ of 112. Despite that solid debut, Schanuel has just 51 games of professional experience and just 29 in the majors. For a club like the Angels with plans on contending this year, it’s a risk to be relying on him.

The club would be wise to get some insurance in case he experiences a swoon or the league figures out a way to attack him. Brandon Drury is on the roster and could play some first, but he also may be needed at second base or third base. Anthony Rendon is the on-paper option at the hot corner but he hasn’t played as many as 60 games in a season since 2019, meaning Drury may be needed over there. Miguel Sanó was recently added into the first base mix via minor league deal, though he sat out the 2023 season and had a rough injury-marred season the year before. Hunter Dozier was also signed to a minors pact but his only two above-average seasons at the plate were the juiced ball season of 2019 and the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign.

Bolstering the first base mix makes plenty of sense, especially with the designated hitter spot open for extra at-bats in the event Schanuel is justifying a regular role. The first base market has recently started to move, with Sanó, Rhys Hoskins, Joey Gallo and Trey Mancini all signing in the past few days. Cody Bellinger is capable of playing some first base and still out there, though will be primarily considered an outfielder and is in a different stratosphere than the other available free agents.

Brandon Belt, Garrett Cooper and Carlos Santana are some of the other guys out there with Votto. Justin Turner isn’t likely to be counted on for everyday action in the field but can play the infield a bit while mostly DHing. The open market also features names like J.D. Martinez, Joc Pederson and Jorge Soler, who could be used as primary designated hitters with varying degrees of outfield playability. The Halos have been connected to big bats like Bellinger and Martinez in this offseason.

The Angels should have plenty of payroll space available, assuming they are willing to get close to the competitive balance tax line again, as they did last year. Roster Resource currently pegs their CBT number at $187MM, which is $50MM below this year’s base threshold of $237MM. Replacing an elite bat like Ohtani’s won’t be easy but they should have resources available to make upgrades to the current lineup in some form or another.

Angels To Sign Matt Moore

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The Angels are in agreement with reliever Matt Moore on a $9MM contract, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (X link). Moore, a client of Apex Baseball, will sign with the Halos for a second straight offseason. He inked a one-year, $7.55MM deal with the Angels last winter.

The first run in Anaheim was a good one for the now 34-year-old Moore, who’s enjoying a nice second act of his career since moving to the bullpen. In 44 innings with the Angels during the 2023 season, the veteran southpaw notched an excellent 2.66 earned run average. Moore logged a strong 28% strikeout rate against a lower-than-average 6.9% walk rate.

The Halos wound up waiving Moore in August, but not due to his performance. Rather, the Angels made a last-ditch effort to get under the luxury tax threshold with a mass waiver purge just weeks after an aggressive, win-now trade deadline. Moore, Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, Hunter Renfroe, Randal Grichuk, Dominic Leone and Tyler Anderson all wound up on waivers in hopes that another club would take their contracts (not all were claimed).

Moore was quickly snapped up by the Guardians as they made their own last-minute push, claiming Giolito in addition to Moore. His stint with Cleveland only lasted 4 2/3 innings, as the Guards waived Moore themselves to save some cash after they, too, fell out of postseason contention. The Marlins scooped Moore up and enjoyed four shutout innings for him down the stretch.

Overall, Moore finished out a bizarre 2023 season with a 2.56 ERA, 27.5% strikeout rate and vastly improved 6.9% walk rate in 52 2/3 innings between the three teams. That marked Moore’s second consecutive year of productive pitching following a move to the bullpen. He turned in a 1.95 ERA for the Rangers in 2022 after signing a minor league deal. When combining the two seasons, Moore touts a 2.20 ERA with five saves, 36 holds, a 27.4% strikeout rate and 10.3% walk rate in 126 2/3 innings.

It’s a strong second act for the southpaw, who’d struggled as a starter for the few seasons preceding his bullpen move. It has clearly impressed Halos GM Perry Minasian and his staff, who have added him on a notable one-year pact in consecutive years. That’s in line with a broad willingness to attack the relief corps on free agency.

Los Angeles has signed five relievers this winter. Their first three acquisitions — Luis Garcia, Adam Kolarek and Adam Cimber — were fairly modest one-year deals. In recent days, they’ve been more aggressive. The Angels finalized a three-year, $33MM pact with Robert Stephenson this afternoon. Moore adds a lefty option to a relief group that otherwise figures to lean heavily on righties Carlos Estevez, Stephenson, Garcia, Ben Joyce and Jose Soriano.

The Angels are now up to roughly $172MM in payroll commitments for the upcoming season, as calculated by Roster Resource. That’s still well shy of last year’s $212MM Opening Day mark. Minasian and his staff very likely aren’t finished. They’ve been tied to various possibilities in both the lineup and the starting rotation. There’s still opportunity for the Angels to continue adding in the next few weeks.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Angels, Miguel Sanó In Agreement On Minor League Deal

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The Angels and slugger Miguel Sanó are in agreement on a minor league deal, reports Enrique Rojas of ESPN. The deal for the Octagon client includes an invite to major league camp.

Sanó, 31 in May, has long had tremendous power but has also dealt with huge strikeout issues and health problems. From 2015 to 2019, he launched 118 home runs in 2,051 plate appearances for the Twins. He was punched out in 36.3% of those trips to the plate but also drew walks at a 12% clip. His .245/.338/.498 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 121. That included a huge 2019 that saw him launch 34 long balls. That was the “juiced ball” season but it’s not as though that power came out of nowhere, with Sanó having hit 25 or more homers twice before.

The Twins signed him to a three-year, $30MM extension going into 2020, with a club option for 2023. From there, his production dipped. Over 2020 and 2021, he still hit 43 home runs in those two seasons, with one of them being shortened to just 60 games, but his strikeouts and on-base numbers went in the wrong direction. He was punched out at a 37% rate in that time while batting .218/.303/.470. That was still above average, 109 wRC+, but below his previous levels. In 2022, knee injuries limited him to just 20 games and a dismal line of .083/.211/.133.

After that injury-marred season, the Twins decided to let him go, opting for a $3MM buyout instead of a $14MM salary. He held workouts for interested teams but ultimately didn’t sign anywhere for the 2023 season. Recently, he’s been playing for Estrellas Orientales in the Dominican Winter League and appears to be healthy. In 107 plate appearances there, he has struck out 30 times but also drawn 14 walks and launched a couple of homers, leading to a .225/.346/.405 slash line.

Sanó was primarily a corner infielder during his time with the Twins but was never highly rated on defense. The Angels have an open designated hitter spot, with Shohei Ohtani having been there in recent years. First base and third base also have some question marks. Anthony Rendon is the club’s third baseman on paper but he hasn’t played 60 games in a season since 2019 due to the pandemic and injuries. Nolan Schanuel could be their first baseman but he was just drafted last summer and only has 51 games of professional experience.

There’s no risk for the Angels in bringing Sanó to Spring Training, allowing them to get an up-close look at his health and performance. If he can bounce back into his previous slugging form, it would be a huge win for them. If not, he’s not even guaranteed a roster spot and could be quickly jettisoned even if added. For Sanó, it’s a chance to show his health and abilities to the Angels but also to other clubs around the league who will surely be watching.

Angels Designate Alfonso Rivas For Assignment

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The Angels have officially announced their previously-reported deal with right-hander Robert Stephenson. First baseman/outfielder Alfonso Rivas has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register.

Rivas, 27, has never appeared in a game as an Angel, having just been claimed off waivers a month ago. Over the past three years, he has been given 459 plate appearances in the majors between the Cubs, Padres and Pirates. He struck out in 30.3% of those and produced a batting line of .243/.324/.349, leading to a wRC+ of 90.

The production at Triple-A has been far more impressive. In 499 trips to the plate at that level over the past three years, he’s hit 14 home runs and paired a 15.6% walk rate with a 21.1% strikeout rate. His combined slash line of .307/.423/.483 translates to a wRC+ of 137. Defensively, he’s been mostly at first base but has also seen some time in the outfield corners.

Since the season ended, he’s been on the waiver carousel. He was claimed off waivers by the Guardians and then the Angels and may end up changing teams yet again. The Halos will now have one week to trade him or pass him through waivers. Despite the tepid major league production, the work in the minors is likely strong enough for him to get a shot with another club. He still has one option remaining and won’t even need to be guaranteed an active roster spot by a club that acquires him.

Angels Sign Robert Stephenson To Three-Year Contract

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The Angels announced the signing of reliever Robert Stephenson to a three-year contract on Tuesday afternoon. Stephenson, a client of Apex Baseball, is reportedly guaranteed $33MM. There’s also a conditional team option for the 2027 campaign based on Stephenson’s elbow health. If the pitcher suffers an elbow ligament injury that causes him to miss 130 consecutive days, the Halos would have a $2.5MM option on his services for a fourth season. He will otherwise make $11MM annually over the next three years.

Stephenson, 31 next month, was the top remaining free agent reliever once Josh Hader came off the board. Within a couple hours of Hader agreeing to a five-year, $95MM pact with the Astros, Stephenson decided to join him in the AL West.

A three-year guarantee for Stephenson would have seemed outlandish six months ago. Until last summer, he looked like a volatile middle innings arm. A former first-round pick and highly-regarded prospect with the Reds, Stephenson struggled early in his career as a starter. He moved to relief full-time in 2019 and had an up-and-down trajectory.

The 6’3″ righty turned in a sub-4.00 ERA in 2019 and ’21 before a rough 2022 campaign. He split the year between the Rockies and Pirates, allowing a 5.43 ERA through 58 innings. Stephenson opened last season with 14 innings of nine-run ball in Pittsburgh.

An early June trade sending him to the Rays for infielder Alika Williams didn’t result in a ton of fanfare. It wound up being one of the more adept rental acquisitions of the summer, though, one that completely changed his fortunes in free agency.

Stephenson was arguably the most dominant pitcher in the majors for the season’s final four months. During his time in Tampa Bay, he worked to a 2.35 ERA across 38 1/3 innings. He punched out a laughable 42.9% of hitters while walking fewer than 6% of batters faced. Among relievers with 30+ innings after June 1, only Félix Bautista, Aroldis Chapman and Pete Fairbanks punched hitters out at a higher rate.

Even that doesn’t capture how overpowering he was on a pitch-for-pitch basis. Opponents whiffed more often than they made contact. Hitters put the bat on the ball on 49.3% of their swings against Stephenson in Tampa Bay. That wasn’t simply the best mark in MLB. It was almost 10 percentage points lower than anyone else over that stretch. Chapman, against whom batters made contact on 59% of their swings, was second.

It’s not hard to pinpoint a reason for that excellence. Before he went to Tampa Bay, he paired a near-97 MPH four-seam fastball with a mid-80s slider. With the Rays, he leaned mostly on an upper-80s breaking ball that Statcast classifies as a cutter. Opponents couldn’t do anything with that pitch. They swung through it nearly three-fifths of the time and hit .101 in 79 at-bats. By the season’s final month, he was using the pitch at a near-75% clip.

Whether Stephenson adopted the cutter from scratch or just found a way to add a couple ticks of velocity to his former slider isn’t clear. In any event, it’s a pitch he’ll surely lean on frequently in Orange County. The Angels can’t expect him to maintain quite the level he showed in Tampa Bay — that’d be a tough ask for anyone — but they’re surely anticipating him stepping in as a quality high-leverage arm.

That’s not without risk. Stellar as Stephenson’s finish was, his time in Tampa Bay comprised fewer than 40 innings. From his 2019 bullpen transfer through his stint in Pittsburgh, he tallied a 4.53 ERA in 192 2/3 frames between three teams. Some of that can be attributed to playing in hitter-friendly home venues in Cincinnati and Colorado, but he clearly wouldn’t have been a candidate for a three-year pact had he not finished the way he did. His 26.9% strikeout rate over those four-plus seasons was a solid but hardly elite number.

It’s the first significant acquisition of the offseason for the Halos. While Stephenson is their fourth bullpen pickup overall, the other three signings were modest one-year investments. Luis García landed a $4.75MM deal, while Adam Cimber inked a $1.65MM pact after being non-tendered by Toronto. Adam Kolarek, who signed for $900K, was already outrighted off the 40-man roster.

Stephenson will work in the late innings. He doesn’t have any closing experience, so the Halos could elect to leave last year’s key bullpen pickup, Carlos Estévez, in the ninth inning. The pair of righties should take the bulk of the most important work late in games. García and Cimber will occupy middle relief roles, while Ben Joyce and José Soriano could hold setup jobs.

It’s a high-octane group built around some of the hardest throwers in the sport. Joyce averaged nearly 101 MPH on his heater and famously was clocked as high as 105 MPH in college. Estévez and García sit north of 97 MPH on average. Soriano and Stephenson have upper 90s velocity in their back pocket as well, even if both lean more frequently on their breaking stuff.

New manager Ron Washington should appreciate the stable of power arsenals at his disposal, although the Halos likely need to add another left-hander to the mix. That could put the finishing touch on the bullpen, yet there’s still plenty of work for GM Perry Minasian and his front office.

The Halos haven’t made any acquisitions on the offensive side to compensate for Shohei Ohtani’s departure. That’s also true in the rotation. They’ve looked for ways to add a top-end starter. In addition to scouring the trade market, the Halos have reportedly shown interest in defending NL Cy Young winner Blake Snell.

There should still be plenty of payroll room at their disposal. Roster Resource projected the 2024 player payroll around $153MM before the Stephenson signing. Evenly distributing his salaries pushes that around $164MM. The Halos opened last season with a payroll at roughly $212MM, as calculated by Cot’s Baseball Contracts. They’ll still be almost $50MM shy of that mark. They’re also nowhere near next year’s $237MM base luxury tax threshold. Stephenson’s $11MM average annual value will push the Angels’ projected CBT number to roughly $179MM.

The contract comes in just below MLBTR’s prediction of four years and $36MM. It’s in line with the going rate for high-leverage relievers with some inconsistency in their career track record, as shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker. Stephenson’s deal generally aligns with those signed by Taylor Rogers (three years, $33MM), Rafael Montero (three years, $34.5MM), Joe Jiménez (three years, $26.5MM), former Angel Reynaldo López (three years, $30MM) and Jordan Hicks (four years, $44MM) over the last two offseasons.

@Jolly_Olive first reported the Angels and Stephenson had agreed to a three-year deal exceeding $30MM with a 2027 option. Sam Blum of the Athletic reported the $33MM guarantee. Jeff Passan of ESPN reported the $2.5MM conditional option based on Stephenson’s arm health. The Associated Press reported the 130-inning provision and the evenly distributed salaries.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

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