The Angels have signed outfielder Magneuris Sierra and right-hander Kyle Barraclough to minor league contracts, according to Baseball America’s Chris Hilburn-Trenkle. Both players are eligible to be signed during the lockout since they entered the offseason as minor league free agents.
A veteran of five MLB seasons, 2021 saw Sierra receive his most playing time as a major leaguer, as he made 225 plate appearances over 123 games with the Marlins. However, Sierra hit only .230/.281/.268, which roughly matched his slash line over his 315 previous career PA with St. Louis and Miami from 2017-20.
Though consistent hitting was hard to come by even in the minors for Sierra, he was still a well-regarded prospect based on his defensive ability alone, with Baseball Prospectus ranking him as the 56th-best minor leaguer in the game prior to the 2018 season. Sierra came to the Marlins as part of the four-player prospect package the Cardinals sent to the Marlins for Marcell Ozuna back in the 2017-18 offseason, and while he did indeed show some solid glovework at all three outfield positions in his limited big league playing time, the Marlins outrighted him off their 40-man roster at the end of the 2021 campaign.
Sierra will now get an opportunity to earn a backup outfield job in Anaheim, or at least serve as minor league outfield depth at the Angels’ Triple-A affiliate. Sierra will be joined by a former Marlins teammate in Barraclough, as the two were both on Miami’s roster in 2018 — which was also essentially Barraclough’s last effective year as a big league reliever. The righty had a very solid 3.21 ERA and 29.8% strikeout rate over 218 2/3 innings from 2015-18 working out of Miami’s bullpen, if with the warning sign of a 14.3% walk rate.
Since the Marlins traded Barraclough to the Nationals in October 2018, however, he has managed only a 5.59 ERA over 46 2/3 frames, thanks in large part to a big spike in home runs allowed. The past three seasons have been Barraclough pitch at the big league level with the Nats, Giants, and Twins, and he also was briefly a member of the Yankees and Padres organizations on minor league deals. With the Angels in constant need of pitching help, there would seemingly be a path for Barraclough to win a job in their bullpen if he can show some improvement during Spring Training.
Without a doubt, the best player named Magneuris I’ve ever seen.
Angels 2022 version of Juan Lagares. However if Sierra sees anywhere close to the playing time Lagares did it’s going to be a long season in Anaheim
My thoughts exactly on Sierra.
Barraclough has some upside–Steamer has some very bullish projections on him, probably because he’s always been able to strike batters out–but his velocity since 2018 is 3 ticks down from his peak in 2016 and his groundball rates have plummeted in that same period. His savant page from 2016-2018 is a thing of beauty though, lots of potential to hopefully be unlocked.
He likes to nibble around the edge of the zone, hence the bad walk rate. His key will simply be to keep the ball down and away and hit his spots. His statcast heat maps show that he’s left his off-speed pitches up a bit more in recent years, which does not bode well if you want to elicit soft contact like Barraclough did so well earlier in his career. Will be interesting to see if he can contribute
True, if that happens then they will be in big trouble, but I don5 think it will happen.
Bear Claw! I forgot that guy even existed. He probably sucks so much because he won’t lay off the doughnuts.
Sierra is a camp body and minors depth. Dude can cover some ground, too bad he can’t hit.
Barraclough signs where he sees a crack of an opportunity. Not surprised a guy gave up a lot of bombs with the highly juiced baseballs of 2019. But to keep serving them up is problematic.
Every now and then something clicks for a guy, though, so you have to take these low risk deals.
Hey, an Angels article…woohoo.
Right?, Angels didn’t sign anyone till recently. Without the lockout would they have still been so quite on the minor free agents?
Mmmmmmmmmmm, bear claw.
Good luck to both of them
Finally some difference makers. Print those Angels 2022 World Series tickets baby!!! Ohhhh yeah!
Sierra will keep getting minors deals due to his speed and glove. Teams look at him at best a Jerrod Dyson and at worst Terrance Gore. Either way he’ll still find a job somewhere playing ball until mid 30s. Which is better than me poorly day trading out of mum’d basement and driving hookers around by lyft at night.
Sounds like you’re living the dream, brother.
What city do you live in? Sign me up
Defensive glove for Upton and Adel late inning.RP depth waiting at AAA.Not the best news,but news non the less on 2 game situations of weakness.