The Angels have inked a pair of former MLB righties to minor-league deals, according to the latest round-up of deals from Baseball America’s Chris Hilburn-Trenkle. Jacob Barnes and Jake Thompson will both be in camp trying to impress the Halos.
Barnes was once seen as a part of the long-term pitching picture in Milwaukee, Barnes is now looking for a bounceback opportunity after a rough 2019 season. Through his first three MLB campaigns, Barnes carried a 3.54 ERA with 153 strikeouts and 62 walks in 147 1/3 innings, all while producing grounders on about half the balls put in play against him.
That’s a pretty appealing overall statistical profile. But Barnes couldn’t keep things going in 2019. He was tagged for 27 earned runs and seven home runs in just 32 2/3 innings, split between the Brewers and Royals. He lost about two ticks of fastball velocity (though still averaged 94 mph) and saw his swinging-strike rate dive from the 13-15% range to 9.3%.
Thompson, who’s still just shy of his 26th birthday, will also be trying to get back on track. The former second-round draft pick washed out with the Phillies and didn’t perform as hoped in 2019 with the KBO’s Lotte Giants, working to a 4.74 ERA in 62 2/3 innings.
We got our Ace boys! I knew Eppler would come through.
Those type of responses are tiresome and boring as of winter of 2019.
You must be a “halo honk” and believe that Eppler has put together a championship caliber rotation. I bet you also thought that Harvey and Cahill were great signings last offseason.
And Orange, you believe this team is not competitive.
Pulling up a fangraphs WAR projections,
NYY, HOUS and LAD are a cut above. BOS is a notch below.
And in a group are: MIN, NYM, TBR, WAS, OAK and Angels. .
Then a step below that Group are the Indians.
All you can see is their won loss record. That’s because you are blind.
And Cahill was a great signing just one year earlier. So were the A’s stupid for signing him?
Zips has angels winning high 80’s games. That means we’re a move away, even at the deadline, or a breakout season or someone stepping up, from being in the playoff picture.
If things go as planed, the Angels are a Heaney away from being a playoff team.
Based on 80IP. Heaney is 11th in swinging strike pct, 19th in strike zone contact pct, and 17th in K-BB pct Those three indicators are very telling in finding good pitchers. Over 130 pitchers are ranked.
He’s got the stuff, he just needs to put it together. Canning isn’t that far behind. And this is with Ohtani only pitching 130 innings.
My prediction is whichever team, the A’s or the Angels, gets more innings from their projected top six starters, that team will finish higher in the standings. Ohtani, Heaney, Canning, Bundy, Teheran and Sandoval vs Montas, Puk, Luzardo, Bassit, Manaea and Fiers.
.
Those type of responses are tiresome and boring as of winter of 2019.
Halo – Nothing is more boring than repeating a boring post.
It was actually beautiful that he wrote the same comment. Your comment was equally cliche and boring. This is a great sign, and anyone pretending this is a failure on Eppler’s part because it’s not an ace is an idiot.
Haha, right? You had to know when Eppler said newly acquired Matt Andriese would compete for a spot in the rotation that there were no aces coming anytime soon. This confirms they’d rather kick around a few old tires as opposed to signing a Keuchel or Ryu.
Tereahn has nearly the exact same career numbers ad Keuchel and Ryu is too much of an injury risk for a team with enough injury risks already.
@HalosPost DING DING DING. You win. I was very disappointed when we know the Angels injury history the past few years and we came back last year with Cahill and Harvey, 2 injury prone players. There is no guarantee that Teheran or Bundy never get injured but it is less likely based on track record. If they can pitch 150+ innings with 4.50 ish ERA, it will be so much better than the past few years.
Isn’t it pretty to think so?
World Series…!!!
hope Thompson can get back on track. i think he still can.
Great depth pieces.
Well, depth pieces for sure
The Two Jakes is one of the worst sequels ever, maybe only The Sting 2 is more odious
Grease 2 all time worst sequel!
Actually i think the ludicrous song and dance number in the bowling alley saves it from that sort of distinction. From song lyrics that suggest getting strikes in bowling gets you laid to the dancers careening across the somehow not slippery bowling lanes, it is a barrel of laughs for at least that 5-10 minutes scene.
I like Cool Rider sung by OC’s own Michelle Phiefer
Me too, I liked that song.
There are many many horrible sequels. I loved The Whole Nine Yards. I couldn’t make it through The Whole Ten Yards.
But there are so many good choices.
You’re right, a lot of people don’t know Michele went to Fountain Valley High School. Born and raised in the OC. And I have to admit, I loved Grease 2. But Macs reference of the Whole 9 v the Whole 10 is top 5 worst sequels in my book. Jurassic Park v Lost World also comes to mind.
Brings up an interesting debate. Do you rank bad sequels for how bad they are as stand alone movies by themselves. Or do you take into consideration how good the first movie is and look at how far off the sequel has fallen?
Aliens 3 is horrible. If a movie makes the previous movie worse, then it’s more than just another bad movie.
In that respect, Aliens 3 is the worst movie of all time.
Howard The Duck gets my vote as WOAT
The Assembly cut of Alien3 is kinda awesome. It’s merely the Theatrical that Fox forced be squeezed out that is garbage.
I’d like to nominate Jaws: the Revenge (Jaws 4) as maybe the worst ever. That’s pure trash that manages to ruin the ones that came before it with psychic abilities. (And it’s not like 3D was any good, so the bar they had to clear was very low going in. They went instead goofy, and ruined the whole franchise)
And Fantom Menace is way up there too, ruining the greatest Scifi franchise ever with Midichlorians, Anakin being space Jesus, and Jedi turning into generic mindless and clutzy action heroes instead of the power-monks we were told they were in the 70s/80s
What I hate is sequels that sell out the original. We are emotionally invested in the struggles of character X in the original, sweating blood as they face trial after trial, triumphing in the end. Then the sequel kills them off in the opening act.. F*** that.
Oceans 12
Caddyshack 2
I think Caddyshack 2 or Rocky 5. But the Rocky franchise had been on a slide. Caddyshack killed a classic in like 90 seconds.
break’n 2 electric bugaboo
Boogaloo
All bad sequels but my vote goes to Major League II or Weekend at Bernie’s II. Two movies that should have never been made.
Two solid signings. Jake was a top 100 prospect at one point, worth a flier
Wouldn’t call them solid – neither of them will make the opening day roster. But they’ll serve as depth.
It is solid when it doesn’t impact your big league payroll whatsoever. Literally only good things can come of this.
Two solid signings. Jake was a top 100 prospect at one point, worth a flier
They are not very good. I doubt either will be added to the major league roster.
They need depth in the minors. Both sides get what they want. An opportunity to pitch again and depth within the organization.
If you were a pitcher, would you want to go to the PCL. I doubt they’ll ever play for the Angels.
I mean Barnes pitched great in the big leagues for 3 seasons and things fell apart last year. They weren’t signed because they will make the team they were signed because they might make the team. That’s good enough when you’re paying them minor league salary.
Bullpen performance can be volatile. I guess we’ll see if 2019 was an outlier or not.
Howard The Duck gets my vote as WOAT
My wife loves that movie and honestly it may be grounds for a quick divorce. Worst is that shes trying to pump it up to our 2 boys. OMG the horror.
I think both have about as good of odds on season ending surgery as they do seeing Anaheim in a (positive) notable way
Thompson has the higher upside to rebound. Both I think just need the right pitching coach. i also wonder if they could work on implementing some deception and rhythm changes in there motion .
LOVE that most of the comments are about the worst movie sequels….LOL
The worst sequel ever is a lot more exciting than these two pitchers.
Honestly, I wake up every day checking MLBTR hoping that I see “Angels trade for [insert name of quality pitcher here]”. A Jon Gray or a Robbie Ray. I think a lot of us feel that the Angel’s are that ONE PIECE away from really doing some damage. The Astros may face serious challenges and the As have been quiet thus far. Eppler is on his last year of his contract and the Halo offense will be a force. Shohei will not start the season as a SP. All the signs are there to go get that one MISSING PIECE of the puzzle. Let’s go!
Already pushed payroll past Artes comfort level, so not a safe bet that it’s going to happen. You wanted a pitcher, you got a 3B. Once again they want you to be so happy you forget about pitching all together, as they themselves seem to do.
If it feels to you like a repeat of the last 10 or so years, you are not alone. But don’t worry, I’m sure doing the same thing will have different results this time. I mean, just look at that 3B!
Eppler is looking for a trade because, yes, Artes never spent more for a roster than the upcoming 2020 season. But yes, Eppler will need to be creative as a guy like Jon Gray is earning $5.6M in 2020. Perhaps a Cozart type guy goes back in return to offset cost (with obvious prospect pkg).
I wish Arte would just trade Adell for Clevinger and be done with this dangling of getting a legit ace in our lineup
So we can watch Adell win ROY while Clevenger spends at least 2 months on the IL? Clevenger is a good pitcher without a doubt. But you don’t trade a top 5 prospect, for a guy with his injury history.
Good signing. Wanted angels to claim Barnes when he was DFA’d by MIL
@angelsfan4life in theory I would agree with you but in this instance I dont see Clevingers recent injuries any more unsettling than Adells. I agree that trading a top 5 prospect has its risks but our FO has missed the ability to sign an ace and there aren’t a whole lot coming available in the next season. Clevinger is a proven talent at the majors level and will put this team in contention immediately while Adell is still an unproven commodity at the Majors level. Either way, I’m hopeful that our Halos have a far better showing this coming season healthwise.
@Sheik_Yerbutay, most Angels fans said the same thing when Clevenger was traded to Cleveland. Well he won’t be very good. So I would not trade Adell for Clevenger. Especially since they want both Adell and Marsh.