The Angels have announced the acquisition of righty Felix Pena from the Cubs. Los Angeles designated southpaw Jason Gurka for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot.
Pena, a 27-year-old from the Dominican Republic, had made 36 MLB appearances over the past two seasons. He carries a 4.98 ERA in the majors, with 10.4 K/9 against 4.4 BB/9. Nine opposing long balls have accounted for quite a bit of the damage against him.
For Los Angeles, this is an opportunity to take a shot on a hurler that has at times shown signs of more. He had generally produced quality results in the minors as a starter before moving to the pen and of late has boosted his strikeout numbers. Pena carries a promising 12.7% swinging-strike in the majors.
As for Gurka, he’ll have an opportunity to test the open market if he’s not claimed. He made it up to the majors briefly late this year, but spent the bulk of the season at Triple-A. Gurka was rather impressive overall, spinning 50 2/3 innings of 3.20 ERA ball with 9.9 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9 at the highest level of the minors, but he has failed to receive extended MLB looks in the past despite quality minor-league numbers.
Good luck, Felix.
Blah…lost him for a guy who’s not any better.
Los Angeles continues to be a pieced together scrap yard rather than a grown unit.
they may be scraps but the results of norris hernandez petit and bridwell show that they can turn into a grown unit with a big FA signing
Pena always looked like he was one adjustment away from being a lockdown reliever. He has great stuff. His command is off. If the right guy tells him the right thing he could very well be the steal we talk about next year.
You misphrased it, “it’s an island of misfit toys”
I think you meant to say that about Oakland
What did the Cubs receive in return? PTBNL? Cash? Cases of pop for a year?
The satisfaction in knowing some other team was willing to give a 40man spot to him.
A trout autographed baseball
What he said
No return? Maybe an early Christmas prezzie from the Cubs.
PasswordIsPassword PasswordIsPassword’s password is Password password Password passwords passwords. Meat.
Sounds like a Dan duquette special. He’s their MO, a guy with decent minor league numbers that projects as a AAAA guy.
27 is the magic number! make or break!
haha
Sucks to see him go. He’s got a lot of potential And a nice big piece of hardware to flash.