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Braves Outright Jose Suarez

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The Braves outrighted lefty José Suarez to Triple-A Gwinnett, relays David O’Brien of The Athletic. Atlanta had designated him for assignment on Monday when they acquired Scott Blewett.

Suarez landed with the Braves a month ago. Atlanta and the Angels agreed on a change-of-scenery swap for Ian Anderson. It didn’t work for either team. Suarez has gone unclaimed on waivers, while Anderson is in limbo after the Halos designated him for assignment last night.

The 27-year-old Suarez made three appearances before the DFA. He managed 7 1/3 innings of three-run ball, but he walked a tightrope to do so. Suarez issued free passes to seven of 30 batters faced while recording only five strikeouts. While he only allowed three hits, more than half the batted balls against him were hit at an exit velocity of at least 95 MPH.

Suarez looked like a capable back-end starter for the Angels between 2021-22. His production has tanked since then, as he carries a 6.56 earned run average over the past three seasons. He lost a good chunk of the ’23 campaign to a shoulder strain, and he spent time in Triple-A last year after being waived by the Halos.

While Suarez could have declined this assignment in favor of free agency, he would have forfeited what remains of his $1.1MM salary to do so. He’ll head to Gwinnett as long relief depth and try to pitch his way back onto the big league roster. He’d become a minor league free agent at season’s end if the Braves don’t call him back up.

Braves Designate José Suarez For Assignment

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The Braves announced that left-hander José Suarez has been designated for assignment. That was the corresponding move to open a 40-man roster spot for righty Scott Blewett, whom they acquired from the Orioles yesterday.

Suarez, 27, was acquired from the Angels just prior to Opening Day. It was a one-for-one swap with righty Ian Anderson going to the Halos. Since then, Suarez has been working as a long reliever for Atlanta, tossing 7 1/3 innings over three appearances.

He has only allowed two earned runs in that time, meaning he’s currently sitting on a 2.45 earned run average for the year, but is probably lucky to be in that position. He has walked more opponents than he has struck out so far, with seven free passes to five punchouts. He’s been spared further damage by a .118 batting average on balls in play and 81.4% strand rate.

It seems Atlanta decided to cut bait before regression caught up with the lefty, so he’s been sent into DFA limbo. That can last as long as a week but the waiver process takes 48 hours, so any potential trade talks would have to take place in the next five days.

Any interest in Suarez would likely be based on his 2021 and 2022 seasons. Over those two campaigns, he logged 207 1/3 innings for the Angels, working both as a starter and reliever. In that time, he had a 3.86 ERA, 21.5% strikeout rate, 7.9% walk rate and 44.5% ground ball rate.

Things haven’t been as great since then. In 2023, he missed a lot of time due to a shoulder strain and posted an 8.29 ERA in 33 2/3 innings. He didn’t get back on track last year, with a 6.02 ERA in 52 1/3 innings.

Suarez is out of options, so any acquiring club would have to keep him on the active roster. If he clears waivers, he would have the right to elect free agency as a player with at least three years of service time. However, since he has less than five years, heading to the open market would mean forfeiting his remaining salary. Prior to being traded to Atlanta, he and the Angels agreed to a $1.1MM salary for this year. If no club grabs him off the wire, he’ll likely accept an outright assignment and provide Atlanta with some non-roster depth.

Photo courtesy of Denis Poroy, Imagn Images

Braves, Angels Swap Ian Anderson, Jose Suarez

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The Braves are poised to acquire left-hander Jose Suarez from the Angels, according to a report from Ari Alexander of KPRC2. According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, right-hander Ian Anderson is headed to Anaheim in exchange for Suarez.

Suarez, 27, signed with the Angels out of Venezuela and made his pro debut back in 2015. He’s spent his entire career in an Angels uniform to this point and first made it to the majors in 2019. The early days of his big league career weren’t exactly inspiring, as he carried a career 7.99 ERA in 83 1/3 innings through the end of the 2020 season with a 9.5% walk rate against a lackluster 18.6% strikeout rate.

Things turned around in a big way for the southpaw come 2021, however, and settled in to become a quality swing man for Anaheim. He pitched 98 1/3 innings that year in the majors split between 14 starts and nine relief appearances, and he was generally impressive by the results in those outings with a 3.75 ERA (119 ERA+) with a 4.12 FIP. That success carried over into the 2022 campaign, where Suarez was utilized as a more traditional back-of-the-rotation starter. He made 20 starts (and two relief appearances) for the Angels at the big league level that year, and pitched solidly enough with a roughly league average 3.96 ERA and a roughly matching 3.91 FIP. After posting successful seasons in back-to-back years, it seemed likely that the Angels would be relying on Suarez to serve as a back-end starter of swingman for years to come.

That’s not how things have transpired, however, as the lefty has been nothing short of disastrous over the past two seasons. In 86 innings of work since the start of the 2023 campaign, Suarez has struggled to a 6.91 ERA in 33 appearances, ten of which were starts. After striking out 21.5% of opponents and walking 7.9% from 2021 to ’22, the past two seasons have seen Suarez’s walk rate balloon to 11.6% while his strikeout rate has ticked down to 20.7%. He also began to give up increasingly dangerous contact, as his barrel rate ballooned from 7.4% in his successful years to 9.7% over the past two seasons. That’s led him to allow 17 homers in those 86 innings of work, more than he surrendered in either 2021 or ’22 despite pitching more innings in both of those seasons.

Suarez even found himself outrighted to the minors for much of last year, though he was added back to the club’s 40-man roster in September and remained there throughout the offseason. Now, however, he’ll head to Atlanta in hopes that a change of scenery can help get his career back on track. For the Angels, the move to part ways with Suarez comes on the heels of a mixed showing in camp where he struggled to a 6.55 ERA but struck out 25.5% of opponents while walking 9.8%. For Atlanta, he’ll offer another left-handed bullpen option who can be deployed in the middle innings, allowing Dylan Lee and Aaron Bummer to be used more exclusively in high leverage situations.

Going the other way is Anderson, another reclamation project without options remaining. The right-hander, 27 in May, received NL Rookie of the Year votes in both the 2020 and 2021 seasons as he pitched to a combined 3.25 ERA with a 24.5% strikeout rate and 3.80 FIP in 30 starts during the regular season before adding an incredible 1.26 ERA in eight postseason starts to his resume over the course of those two years. That performance appeared likely to make Anderson a likely fixture of the Atlanta rotation going forward, but things took a turn for the worse in 2022 when he struggled to a 5.00 ERA (despite a 4.25 FIP) in 22 starts before he eventually went under the knife early in the 2023 campaign, undergoing Tommy John surgery.

Anderson missed the entire 2023 season while rehabbing and made 15 starts in the minor leagues last year as he got back up to speed, though his 3.44 ERA in 68 minor league innings did not lead to a return to the majors. The right-hander appeared likely to be part of the club’s rotation to start the season with Spencer Strider ticketed for the injured list entering camp, but despite a 2.65 ERA in 17 innings this spring Anderson’s camp raised concerns as he walked an eye-popping 18 opponents, or 24% of his total batters faced. With Anderson no longer in the fold, it seems likely the fifth starter job will instead go to AJ Smith-Shawver to open the season. Meanwhile, the Angels seem likely to utilize Anderson in a long relief role, though it’s at least possible he could get a look in the rotation if Reid Detmers begins the season at Triple-A.

Angels Select José Suarez, Move Jo Adell To 60-Day IL

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The Angels have selected the contract of left-handed pitcher José Suarez from Triple-A, the team announced. To make room for Suarez on the active roster, the club optioned right-hander Hans Crouse to Salt Lake. Meanwhile, the Angels opened a spot for Suarez on the 40-man by transferring Jo Adell to the 60-day injured list, marking the end of the outfielder’s season.

Suarez, 26, signed with the Angels as an international free agent just over ten years ago. He has pitched for the big league club in each of the past six seasons. He was a solid contributor in 2021 and ’22, pitching a total of 207 1/3 innings over 45 games (34 starts) with a 3.86 ERA and 4.16 SIERA. However, he lost most of his 2023 season to a shoulder injury, and he was ultimately DFA’d this past June after a poor start to his 2024 campaign. Over 35 1/3 innings, the southpaw gave up 34 runs (32 earned) on 44 hits and 22 walks.

After clearing waivers, Suarez accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A, where he has pitched to an unsightly 6.54 ERA and 5.10 FIP over 11 starts. While his results have been poor, he offers the Angels a much-needed fresh arm for the bullpen. Top prospect Caden Dana only recorded three outs in his second career start on Sunday, and the bullpen was forced to pitch the rest of the game. Crouse, who was recalled yesterday, tossed 1 1/3 innings in that 7-4 loss to the Rangers, walking two and striking out one.

Adell, 25, landed on the 10-day IL over the weekend with a left oblique strain. By moving him to the 60-day IL with just three weeks left to go in the regular season, the Angels have officially ended his 2024 campaign. The former top prospect seemed to be enjoying a long-awaited breakout over the first eight weeks of the season, but he had since fallen back to earth. Over his last 90 games, Adell was batting .190 with a .611 OPS and 70 wRC+. He will be eligible for arbitration for the first time this coming offseason.

Angels Outright José Suarez

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The Angels announced that left-hander José Suarez has been sent outright to Triple-A Salt Lake. That indicates he was passed through waivers unclaimed after being designated for assignment a week ago.

Suarez, 26, has more than three years of major league service time. That gives him the right to reject this outright assignment and elect free agency. However, since he has less than five years of service, choosing the open market would mean forfeiting what remains of his salary.

He qualified for arbitration for the first time after last season and eventually lost a hearing against the club. He is making $925K instead of the $1.3MM that his side filed for. It seems fair to presume he will report to Salt Lake as opposed to walking away from the roughly half a million still coming his way.

That will give the Halos a bit of non-roster pitching depth with some past success. The lefty had good results working as a swingman for the Angels over the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Between the two campaigns, he made 45 appearances, including 34 starts. He tossed 207 1/3 innings in that time, allowing 3.86 earned runs per nine. His 21.5% strikeout rate, 7.9% walk rate and 44.5% ground ball rate were all around league average.

Since then, the results have taken a steep nosedive. He spent much of 2023 on the injured list due to a shoulder strain, posting an 8.29 ERA in 33 2/3 innings. This year, he was healthy and moved to the bullpen, but couldn’t get his numbers in better shape. He threw 35 1/3 innings with an 8.15 ERA before getting bumped off the roster last week. Since he’s out of options, the Angels had to remove him from the 40-man to get him off the active roster.

It’s unclear if the Angels want him to continue working out of the bullpen or get stretched out to start. There would be an argument for the latter, with the club likely to end up making rotation moves in the weeks to come. With a record of 30-46, they are one of the few clubs clearly in seller position as the trade deadline approaches.

Since Suarez was designated for assignment, the rotation already took two big hits with Patrick Sandoval hitting the injured list with a UCL injury and José Soriano due to an abdominal infection. Tyler Anderson and Griffin Canning are logical trade candidates since both are slated for free agency after 2025. Zach Plesac has been inserted into the rotation to cover for those two but has an 8.68 ERA through two starts.

Chase Silseth is currently on a rehab assignment and will be back in the mix soon enough. Reid Detmers could be recalled from his optional assignment, as could Davis Daniel or Kenny Rosenberg. But even with those guys potentially coming back, it’s possible that Suarez may have a role to play on the club down the stretch.

Angels Designate José Suarez, Cole Tucker For Assignment

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The Angels announced that they have reinstated infielder Brandon Drury from the injured list and selected the contract of right-hander Zach Plesac. In corresponding moves, left-hander José Suarez and infielder Cole Tucker have been designated for assignment.

Suarez, 26, had a solid two-year run as a swingman for the Angels. Over the 2021 and 2022 seasons, he made 45 appearances for the club, with 34 of those being starts. He logged 207 1/3 innings, allowing 3.86 earned runs per nine. His 21.5% strikeout rate, 7.9% walk rate and 44.5% ground ball rate were all around league average in that time.

But things have been dire since then. He spent about four months on the injured list last year with a shoulder strain and had an ERA of 8.29 in the 33 2/3 innings he was able to pitch. The Halos clearly hoped for a bounceback, tendering Suarez a contract. The two sides eventually went to a hearing, with the club winning and paying Suarez $925K instead of his requested figure of $1.35MM. He’s avoided the IL this year but the results haven’t improved, as he has an 8.15 ERA in 35 1/3 innings pitched so far this season.

It’s likely not as bad as that seems, as his .375 batting average on balls in play and 57.1% strand rate are both on the unlucky side. But his walk rate has been over 12% this year and last year, which hasn’t helped him. Since he’s out of options, the only way for the Angels to get him off the active roster was to remove him from the 40-man completely.

They will now have one week to try to trade him or pass him through waivers. Perhaps some pitching-needy club with a plan to get him back on track will be intrigued, though his recent struggles will obviously tamp down interest. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would be able to elect free agency since he has more than three years of service time. But since he has less than five years of service, he would forfeit the remainder of his salary by doing so. Given those circumstances, he’s likely to end up sticking with the Angels as non-roster depth.

Tucker, 27, was once a highly-touted prospect with the Pirates but has continually struggled in the major leagues. He signed a minor league deal with the Angels in mid-April and was added to their roster a couple of weeks later. He has since received 57 plate appearances in 25 games but has struck out at a 29.8% rate and produced a meager line of .180/.263/.300. That brings his career output to .213/.266/.316.

The Halos will have a week to figure things out with Tucker as well, but interest is likely to be very low based on his limited production. He has a previous career outright and would be able to elect free agency in the event he’s outrighted again.

When the Angels added him to their roster, Tucker told reporters that he was offered a coaching position by the Mariners but wanted to keep playing. Perhaps he will continue pursuing playing opportunities but it sounds like he will have some fallback plans for whenever he decides to hang up his spikes.

Plesac signed with the Halos in the offseason, a deal with a $1MM guarantee, but later ran him through waivers. He had the right to reject an outright assignment by virtue of having more than three years of service time, but since his service clock is below five, doing so would have meant forfeiting the rest of that money.

He reported to Triple-A and has made 13 starts at that level with a 5.42 ERA, 15.8% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk rate. The Angels announced that José Soriano was scratched from tonight’s start with lower abdominal pain and that Plesac will take the mound instead. Plesac could stick in the rotation but also has a couple of options and can be sent back down to Salt Lake without being exposed to waivers again.

Angels Notes: Wantz, Stephenson, Suarez

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The Angels are stretching reliever Andrew Wantz out as a starter this spring, manager Ron Washington revealed today in chatting with the team’s beat writers (X link via The Athletic’s Sam Blum). The 28-year-old righty has worked almost exclusively as a reliever dating back to the 2021 season, but the Halos feel they need more rotation depth than they have at present, per Washington.

Wantz has been a frequent contributor in the Anaheim bullpen in each of the past three seasons, posting particularly solid results in 2022-23. Over the last two big league campaigns, he’s totaled 89 1/3 frames and worked to a 3.51 ERA, albeit with more dubious underlying numbers.

Wantz sports a roughly average 23.4% strikeout rate in that time but has walked just under 10% of his opponents and averaged 1.2 big flies per nine frames. He’s had some good fortune on balls in play (.232 BABIP), although as an extreme fly-ball pitcher, he’s more apt to carry a lower-than-average mark in that regard. Fielding-independent metrics like FIP (4.32) and SIERA (4.17) feel he’s been solid but perhaps not quite to the extent his ERA would suggest.

While Wantz is no stranger to working multiple innings — he had 11 appearances lasting two innings in 2023 — he’s never pitched more than 2 1/3 innings in a single big league outing. The transition won’t be entirely foreign to him, given he made 18 minor league starts during the 2019 season, but it’s been a good while since he’s been tasked with working in longer stints.

Of course, if the Angels are truly concerned about their rotation depth, there are some rather straightforward ways to address that need. The free agent market is still rife with options, including top names like Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery, in addition to solid mid-rotation/back-end arms like Mike Clevinger and Michael Lorenzen. There are a handful of rebound candidates who could likely be had on low-cost one-year or even minor league deals, including Eric Lauer, Jake Odorizzi and Johnny Cueto (among others).

From a payroll vantage point, the Angels should be able to accommodate just about anyone — even Snell or Montgomery. After opening the 2023 season with a payroll north of $212MM, they’re projected for a $173.4MM mark, per RosterResource. The Angels are also nearly $50MM shy of the first tier of luxury penalization, so they could accommodate either a long-term deal or a short-term, high-AAV deal with multiple opt-out opportunities, depending on the preferences of Snell/Montgomery. Moving further down the free agent pecking order, someone like Lorenzen or Clevinger could be signed without pushing payroll anywhere close to record levels.

Historically speaking, however, Angels owner Arte Moreno has steadfastly refused to commit long-term deals to pitchers. As shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, last year’s three-year, $39MM deal with Tyler Anderson was the first time the Halos inked a free agent pitcher to a multi-year deal since Joe Blanton’s two-year deal in 2012. You’d have to go way back to C.J. Wilson in 2011 to find the last time the Halos went more than three years on a pitcher.

The Angels haven’t eschewed spending entirely, but they’ve once again focused their free agent efforts on the bullpen. That’s been a familiar trend for the Angels in recent years. Already this offseason, they’ve committed a combined a combined $50.6MM to Robert Stephenson, Matt Moore, Adam Cimber, Luis Garcia, Jose Cisnero and Adam Kolarek. Dating back to the 2021-22 offseason, the Angels have given out 13 big league deals to free-agent relievers — including five multi-year pacts (topped by Raisel Iglesias’ four-year, $58MM deal).

It’s been a questionable strategy for them, given the team’s results over the years. And this year’s group is already off to a somewhat dubious start. As Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports, Stephenson — who signed a three-year, $33MM deal this winter — is dealing with shoulder soreness and is behind schedule in camp. The right-hander believes he’ll be able to pitch at some point this spring but might not be ready for Opening Day.

It’s a suboptimal start to his Angels tenure after the team made a weighty three-year investment on the heels of Stephenson’s four-month breakout with the Rays. The hard-throwing righty was long viewed as an interesting prospect and has had flashes of excellence in his big league career. He’d never put together any kind of run like he did with Tampa Bay last year, though.

After being acquired from the Pirates in a trade sending infielder Alika Williams to Pittsburgh, Stephenson snapped off 38 1/3 innings of 2.35 ERA ball with a gaudy 42.9% strikeout rate against just a 5.7% walk rate. Beyond the eye-popping strikeout rate, Stephenson posted a superhuman 28.9% swinging-strike rate (nearly triple the 11.1% league average) and induced chases on pitches off the plate at a stunning 47.2% clip that topped the league-average 31.9% rate by nearly 16 percentage points.

The Angels are surely envisioning Stephenson as a critical part of their high-leverage relief corps, but word of an early shoulder issue that’s slowed his progression is obviously somewhat ominous. To this point, there’s no indication of a serious issue, but given the magnitude of the team’s investment in the righty, it’s understandable if the Halos want to proceed with caution. Stephenson played catch yesterday and felt good after throwing, Fletcher notes.

Stephenson isn’t the only pitcher in camp who’s a bit banged up. Washington also revealed today (via Fletcher) that lefty Jose Suarez hasn’t pitched yet due to a “dead arm” following winter ball. He’s expected to get on the mound at some point this spring and could yet be ready for Opening Day, but that’s not a given.

It’s a tough way to start a pivotal spring for the 26-year-old Suarez. As recently as 2021-22, he looked the part of a controllable fourth starter who could hold a rotation spot in Anaheim for several years. The 2023 season was an unmitigated disaster for the southpaw, however. Shoulder trouble limited him to just 33 2/3 big league innings (plus another 3 1/3 frames of rehab work), and he was shelled for an 8.29 ERA in that time. Suarez served up a massive ten home runs in that small sample (2.67 HR/9), saw his strikeout rate plummet from 22.3% to 17%, and watched his walk rate spike from 7.1% to 12.1%.

A 2024 rebound for Suarez is particularly critical, given that he’s now out of minor league options. If he opens the season on the injured list, that’d actually give the Angels a few weeks to take a look at Suarez in the minors on a rehab assignment, but whenever he’s healthy, he’ll either need to be on the big league roster or else be traded to a team who’ll carry him or exposed to outright waivers.

Moreno: No Plans To Sell Angels, Team Likely To Operate On “Lower” Budget In 2024

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Angels owner Arte Moreno spoke to Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register this week, touching on various topics. Notably, he said that he has no plans to sell the team and that the club’s payroll is going to be lower in 2024.

Moreno announced in August of 2022 that he was planning to explore a sale of the club, but another announcement in January of 2023 indicated he was no longer pursuing that path. While some fans may have hoped he would reconsider, it doesn’t seem that is in his plans.

“I am here long term,” Moreno said to Fletcher this week. “There are some people that came back and some people that knew I had it on the market (in 2022). I basically said it’s not on the market.”

Moreno did leave the door open to being blown away by a crazy offer, suggesting if an interested party offers something “really stupid” he’d have to consider. Outside that scenario, it doesn’t seem like a sale is on the table.

That leaves questions about the long-term plan of certain elements, such as the club’s home ballpark of Angel Stadium. Moreno was hoping to purchase the venue with an eye on developing the area around it into a sort of ballpark village with residential and commercial spaces. That plan seemingly died in May of 2022 when Anaheim City Council voted against it. The process was marred by controversy, with Anaheim mayor Harry Sidhu resigning amid an FBI investigation alleging that he shared insider information with the club in the hope of soliciting campaign contributions. It was just a few months later that Moreno announced he was considering selling the club.

It doesn’t seem like there’s any momentum to revisiting plans for that development project, with Moreno suggesting city officials don’t have “an appetite” for the plan. Anaheim’s current mayor, Ashleigh Aitken, also provided a statement to Fletcher:

“We’re open to looking at the future of baseball and welcome a fresh start in crafting a proposal that is good for Anaheim and our residents. I’m all ears. We know what works, and we’ve seen what didn’t. We welcome a fair proposal. As a city, we’re committed to building on decades of baseball in Anaheim for generations to come.”

With Moreno seemingly not looking to purchase the stadium at the moment, the Angels continue to lease it. That deal runs through 2029 but with three-year options that go through 2038. Moreno demurred when asked how that would play out. “Do you know where you’re going to be in 2038? Do you know how old I am? This year I’ll be 78. That’s a long time.”

Turning to the near future, Moreno addressed the 2024 club and admitted that the club’s plan is to “set the budget lower,” but without providing specifics.

The Angels were willing to spend near the competitive balance tax last year and were even over the line for a time. But as they fell out of contention, they put various veteran players on waivers in order to shed their salaries. They also put Max Stassi on the restricted list as he was away from the club due to a personal matter, which was later revealed by his wife to be the premature birth of their son, which led to various health complications for the child.

In the end, the club successfully ducked under the tax line. Some observers wondered if the club would enter a rebuild with Shohei Ohtani hitting free agency, but general manager Perry Minasian quickly shot down those ideas in November when he plainly stated that they would not rebuild and would actually be aggressive this winter.

The club has indeed been active, though whether they’ve been “aggressive” is up for debate. The Halos have mostly been focused on the bullpen, signing Robert Stephenson, Matt Moore, Luis García, Adam Cimber and José Cisnero. Despite those signings, their payroll is at $173MM and their CBT number at $188MM, per Roster Resource. That puts them almost $50MM below the tax and almost $40MM below last year’s Opening Day payroll of $212MM, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts.

If they were willing to get back to those levels again this year, they would be a viable player for a late-winter splash on one of the top remaining free agents, with Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, Cody Bellinger and Matt Chapman still available. But perhaps that’s less likely if the budget is going to decrease, though it’s not clear how far they intend to drop payroll. Circling back to Ohtani, Moreno confirmed a December report that the Halos were not willing to match the heavily-deferred $700MM deal that Ohtani signed with the Dodgers.

With Ohtani gone, the club is no longer obligated to run a six-man rotation, something they did to limit Ohtani’s workload while serving as a two-way player. Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com reports that the club is planning to use a traditional five-man rotation this year, with Sam Bachman and José Suarez to be stretched out.

Those two figure to be in competition for a spot at the back of the rotation. If everyone is healthy, the front four should be Reid Detmers, Griffin Canning, Patrick Sandoval and Tyler Anderson. That leaves one spot for someone like Bachman, Suarez, Chase Silseth or Zach Plesac.

Suarez, 26, seemed to be breaking out as a viable starter over 2021 and 2022. He pitched around 100 innings in each of those campaigns with his earned run average finishing just a bit below 4.00 both times. But last year was challenging, as he missed significant time due to a left shoulder strain and only tossed 33 2/3 innings with an 8.29 ERA. He’ll look to get back on track with better health this year. He’s out of options and will need to be in the bullpen if he doesn’t win a rotation job, or else be removed from the 40-man roster entirely.

Bachman, 24, was selected ninth overall in 2021 and made his MLB debut last year. He made 11 appearances out of the bullpen in the big leagues, with a 3.18 ERA in those. He landed on the injured list due to shoulder inflammation in July and wasn’t able to make it back after that.

He was a starter on his way up the minor league ladder but has yet to build up a huge workload. He pitched 75 2/3 innings in college in 2019, but then was limited to just 23 2/3 in the 2020 season. In 2021, he tossed 59 2/3 in college and then another 14 1/3 in High-A after his draft selection, getting to 74 on the year. In 2022, he was in Double-A but only logged 43 2/3 innings as back spasms and biceps inflammation slowed him down. Last year, he threw 26 1/3 frames at Double-A before adding another 17 in the minors, combining for 43 1/3.

All told, he’s yet to reach 80 innings in a season and didn’t even get to 45 in either of the past two years. It’s understandable that the club still wants to develop their first-rounder as a starter going forward, given his youth, upside and full slate of options. But it’s likely going to be a long-term project since he’ll have to take gradual steps forward in terms of increasing that workload.

Angels Win Arbitration Case Against José Suarez

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The Angels have won their arbitration case against left-hander José Suarez, per Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The team filed at $925K with the lefty’s camp at $1.35MM, but he will make the lesser figure this year.

Suarez, 26, qualified for arbitration for the first time this offseason. He seemed to be establishing himself as a viable rotation piece over 2021 and 2022. He appeared in 45 games for the Angels in that time, 34 of them starts, logging 207 1/3 innings while allowing 3.86 earned runs per nine. His 21.5% strikeout rate, 7.9% walk rate and 44.5% ground ball rate were all reasonably close to league averages.

But 2023 was undeniably a struggle. He allowed 26 earned runs in 24 1/3 innings to start the season, then landed on the injured list in early May due to a left shoulder strain. He didn’t return until mid-September and made five shorter appearances down the stretch. He had a 4.82 ERA in that brief return but his season-long ERA still finished at 8.29 thanks to his early struggles.

MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for a salary of $1.1MM for 2024. That ended up being roughly the midpoint between the two filings figures, but arbiters have to pick one number or the other and can’t pick midpoints.

Since they opted for the team’s figure, it will result in some small short-term savings for the Halos while reducing the earning power for the southpaw. He is still slated for two more passes through the arbitration system and those future raises will be starting from a lower starting point. He will try to put the injury-marred season behind him and get back on track in 2024.

The Angels’ rotation mix should feature arms like Reid Detmers, Griffin Canning, Patrick Sandoval and Tyler Anderson, while Suarez will be battling for a back-end job with the like of Chase Silseth, Zach Plesac, Sam Bachman and others. Suarez is out of options so he’ll need to either earn a rotation job or be bumped to the bullpen, unless the Angels are willing to remove him from the 40-man roster altogether.

The club still has one more hearing to go, with outfielder Taylor Ward having filed at $4.8MM while the Angels filed at $4.3MM.

Requested Salary Figures For 22 Players Who Didn’t Reach Agreements By Arbitration-Filing Deadline

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Today was the deadline for teams and players eligible for arbitration to exchange salary figures for the 2024 season ahead of possible arbitration hearings. And, as usual, the vast majority of eligible players worked out deals for 2024 (and, in some cases, beyond) before the deadline this afternoon. While these agreements are all listed in MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker, unfinished business remains around the league. 22 players have not yet settled on a salary for the 2024 and are therefore at risk of having their salaries determined by an arbiter. That number is down considerably from last season, when 33 players exchanged figures. Of note, this list does not include Brewers right-hander Devin Williams. While the sides exchanged figures earlier this evening, they managed to avoid arbitration after the deadline had passed.

This year, arbitration hearings will begin on January 29th and run through February 16th, two days after pitchers and catchers are due to report for Spring Training. While there’s nothing stopping teams and players from settling to avoid arbitration between now and their hearing, the majority of clubs employ a “file and trial” approach to arbitration hearings, stopping negotiations prior to the formal exchange of figures in order to put additional pressure on players to agree to a deal early. While this approach generally puts a moratorium on discussion of one-year deals, teams are typically still willing to discuss multi-year pacts beyond today’s deadline.

Below are the 22 players who have yet to reach an agreement regarding their 2024 salaries, as well as the players’ requested salaries and the counteroffers issued by clubs. The league tends to pay close attention to arbitration salaries because outliers can serve as precedent going forward, raising the bar both for individual players and players as a whole in the future. That reality incentivizes teams to strictly stick to a “file and trial” approach in arbitration and risk a tense hearing between club and player rather than bridge even fairly minimal gaps between club and player salary figures.

[RELATED: Arbitration projections from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz]

14 of the league’s 30 clubs have at least one case that has yet to be settled. The Orioles have the most cases that have yet to be settled, with five players on track for a hearing against the club. That being said, it’s worth noting that Baltimore has a massive, 17-player class of arbitration-eligible players, so it’s hardly a surprise that they wound up exchanging figures with an elevated number of players. Toronto first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. submitted the highest salary figure among all players headed for a hearing at $19.9MM, while the Rangers and outfielder Adolis Garcia narrowly top Guerrero and the Blue Jays for the largest gap between figures, with $1.9MM separating Garcia’s request of $6.9MM from the Rangers’ $5MM counteroffer.

The total list, which will be updated as settlements are reached and the results of hearings are made available…

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