The Angels have designated reliever Sam Selman for assignment, tweets Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. The move clears space on the 40-man roster for Raisel Iglesias, whose four-year agreement has been made official.
Selman came over from the Giants at this past summer’s trade deadline, part of a three-player package for Tony Watson. The southpaw worked 17 innings of 6.35 ERA ball down the stretch. His 14.3% strikeout percentage and 8.5% swinging strike rate in that time were both far worse than average.
Over parts of three seasons, the 31-year-old has tallied 54 2/3 frames across 59 outings. He owns a 4.77 ERA with slightly worse than average strikeout and walk rates (22% and 11.4%, respectively). Selman, who owns a much better 3.23 ERA over parts of five Triple-A seasons, has one minor league option year remaining.
Great move. That kid was horrible
if this is our great move then it’s going to be another long year. I’m picturing Trout on the phone with his agent and saying get me out of here. Moreno is pushing the guy too far.
carla – So far we have acquired Syndergaard, Loup, Lorenzen, Wade, and Iglesias. We have also ditched some dead weight in Yan, Guerra, Wong, Gosselin, and others. So Selman isn’t the only move.
Too bad. I was hoping he’d get a shot in spring training. I would have DFA’d Herget instead.
Why? Herget is younger and better.
Because Selman has proven that he can be serviceable plus he’s a lefty. Herget is 28 and has bounced around different organizations—he’s got little to no upside.
His turn is coming– assuming they actually add a pitcher.
The Angels should add a shortstop and another RP. There should be plenty of time to drop another couple players.
Is there time to DFA Lorenzen or do we have to wait until July/Aug for that? Lol
I think Lorenzen will be a serviceable RP. But they need better.
One of my red flags is back to back bad years.
What about pitching? Are you good going into the season with basically the same staff that finished at the bottom of the league?
Once again Christmas missed us.
I wanted 2 of the bigger name starting pitchers, we got 1.
I wanted 3 relievers (2 set up men and a closer), we got 1 set up and a closer.
I wanted a shortstop, we got a utility guy.
Still better than nothing and better than in recent years so at least there’s that.
@Carl We are not entering the same the season with the same rotation. Bundy, Heaney, and Quintana and all gone. I am not sure if Canning will be in the starting rotation either. The Angels starters were better once those guys were no longer part of the rotation. Those are all 5+ ERA pitchers. I believe Ohtani, Syndergaard, Sandoval, and Suarez are all capable of putting up sub 4 ERAs.
I believe this years team ERA will be much better than last years.
To be clear, this is what we’ve added so far, or not added.
Syndergaard replaced Cobb, but Syndergaard has not pitched in two years and we don’t know if he can throw a breaking ball.
We added two pieces to the bullpen in Loup and Lorenzen. They told Lorenzen he can tryout as a starter, but he has an injury history and no record as a starter– so he most likely winds up in the pen.
We traded for a bench piece in Tyler Wade who otherwise was being released by the Yankees.
We have not added a shortstop, or a 4th outfielder and will be relying on two rookies in the outfield. Can it change with a couple of trades– yes. But this is where we are at currently, while Seattle is vastly improved, and so is Texas, and Oakland will be Oakland, and Houston will replace Correia, or resign him, and they’ve already replaced Greinke with Verlander. So far this is essentially the same team, and same inept pitching staff… but we are in on every pitcher available?
I dont understand the Alex Cobb situation. He said multiple times he wanted to stay with the Angels but the Angels were not interested. I guess they didnt think he could repeat last year’s performance. No one expected Cobb to pitch as well as he did, but even his performance was drowned out by how bad the rest of the rotation was. As they say “Removing the turds gives you a cleaner toilet bowl”. That may very well be the case when looking at last years rotation compared to this year’s rotation.
I see the Angels being linked to Kris Bryant now. If they do that then they obviously are trading Marsh or Adell to the Reds.
Also, I don’t necessarily share your opinion in that the Mariners are vastly improved. They won 90 games last year. We will see how many games they win this year. Here’s a prediction, Robbie Ray will not win the Cy Young award next year.
Carl. No I’m not. I would have added a different starter than Lorenzen.
But it is what it is and I’ll be pleasantly surprised if they add an RP, SS and starting pitcher.
I don’t want Lorenzen in the rotation, but I believe that’s the plan. I also believe the plan is to get Canning, Detmers or Barria in the starting rotation.
That means no more ready to go starting pitching.
Mr Angels. The Angels have to add a shortstop. They must realize the need to add one more RP who is likely to be good.
Then I think they are done.
Then they have to hope their starting pitching holds. But unlike last year, if they do that, they are just relying on hope and not both a hope and a prayer.
@Halo I don’t see them signing another bullpen arm. If Lorenzen does not work out as a starter, they are not paying him $7M this year to not be the 7th inning guy. If he does work out at a starter, they will use Warren and Mayers. The Angels whiffed on signing any of the big name SP free agents. They can always add a starter since only 4 spots are set, Syndergaard, Ohtani, Sandoval, and Suarez. There are not a lot of great options available at this point, Rodon, Kershaw, and Boyd probably the best available unless going to the trade market.
I am the 0.1% that believes Lorenzen has a chance to be starter. He is not typical bullpen guy. He comes equipped with a 5 pitch mix. His battering average and slugging pct against are good. He was in the top 3% in exit velocity against 2 and 3 years ago, which is great considering he tops out at 100 mph. He keeps the ball in the yard and induces around 50% ground balls for his career. Then there is the X factor of him leaving GABP and returning to his home town. I believe he has a chance to be much better than most Angel fans anticipate.
I hope they do sign a SS, but I don’t know what the Angels are thinking. They may be planning to use Wade as the everyday SS since his numbers and OBP were improved when getting a chance to play more. I hope he is just an insurance plan, but I don;t know at this point.
The Angels better not depend on Mayers or Warren. They are not likely to be good. Each one is a coin flip and that’s not enough. The 7th inning is a guy you count on and those two don’t have the track record.
And a Loup is not the 8th inning guy, he’s the late inning matchup guy and they need another late inning guy.
And you are right about Lorenzen not being the setup guy. They need someone better.
Loup isn’t a matchup guy. He gets out both left handers and right handers.
Beside, there are no more matchup guys anymore since there is a 3 batter minimum rule. I believe he will pitch predominately the 8th inning with the Angels..
There are no guarantee guys in the bullpen. The Angels are not going to spend another 7-8 million when they just spent 58 million on Iglesias, and 17 million Loup. I believe the Angels feel Loup and Iglesias will be solid. They have a lot of options and probably feel they can find one option. Just by adding Loup to the bullpen, it will make a big difference in bullpen ERA.
He’s the late inning matchup guy to pitcher the 7th or the 8th depending on the matchups. They are not going to hand him the 8th.
There are never any guarantees, which is why in always write, Likely, Coin Flip, Upside, and fodder. Lorenzen is fodder in the rotation and just South of a coin flip in the pen,
I feel pretty good about Lorenzen then. The guys you claim are good/upside like Heaney and Canning are actually fodder. Guys that you claim are bad like Alex Cobb seem to do alright.. Should mean good things for Lorenzen
probably coming back in minors.
Worth a MiLB deal somewhere.
I don’t even know who that is. We need to can the dead weight.
My kingdom for a true starter– WTF? Look at Houston’s rotation, then go look at Oakland’s, and then take a peak at the Mariners… where do the Angels place? That’s right, just ahead of Texas. Why not sign Suzuki, and then trade Adell in a package for Castillo? And if they were truly in the running for all these premium arms why did they get shut out? Syndergaard for one year is the big move? The man hasn’t pitched in two years?
…and the substantive news about the Angels acquiring meaningful players has come to a screeching halt. I believe our winter is over.
…….and just when we think it’s over, we wake up one morning next week to the news that Arte Moreno orders the GM in the signing of yet another position player (Correa) to a 10 year-$345 million deal. Arte is so predictable with his meddlings.
The only thing Moreno is more resistant to than spending money on pitchers is spending over his personal salary cap of about 175m. He’s already at 185m. We are going into the season with the team we have in my opinion.