The Blue Jays are active in their hunt for pitching and have shown interest in Angels closer Raisel Iglesias, reports Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.
The fact that the Blue Jays are interested in Iglesias is not surprising. For one thing, they are known to be on the hunt for bullpen upgrades, having already been connected to relievers such as Michael Fulmer and acquiring Zach Pop and Anthony Bass earlier today. The team’s relievers as a whole have been middling this year, with a 3.89 ERA that’s 15th in the majors, a 4.20 FIP that’s 25th, 3.96 xFIP that’s 15th and a 3.64 SIERA that’s also 15th. For a team with postseason aspirations, there’s certainly room for improvement there.
Iglesias is also a fairly logical hurler for them to covet, as he’s been one of the best closers in baseball over the past six years. Since the start of the 2017 season, he has 150 saves, trailing only Kenley Jansen and Edwin Diaz in that timeframe. In that same window, Iglesias has a 2.99 ERA, 32% strikeout rate and 7.1% walk rate.
However, it would be surprising to see the Angels consider a move, given that they just signed him to a four-year, $58MM deal about eight months ago. Still, with a 43-59 record and a lost season, perhaps the Angels would consider shedding some payroll by subtracting from their bullpen.
I’d love to be rid of his contract. I like Iggy but we have far greater needs than a closer right now.
They looked at Thor and now Iggy. Send both for prospects could be what the Angels want. Halos eat some salary. Could be interesting
100%, Id give um RI for free today if they payed the whole tab
Same. He’s scheduled for $16 million per year for the next three years and bullpen help is the one area I’m confident the farm can provide.
Cover Thor’s salary for the rest of the year, send over Iggy, and get whatever you can. It won’t be much, but it will help next year.
@HalosHeavenJJ, precisely what I was thinking.
agreed. Angels probably have to throw in about $18 mil ($6/yr), but consider Iggy bounces back as he has shown.
Yea
I’ve been disappointed in just about every contract Arte has handed out recently
While not huge contracts I just didn’t see the need for the Stassi Fletch ext’s ….like why now? Why not let um put a little more sample size up beforehand?
Paying Rps 8 figures is a thing of the past Imo, (let along 16) They’d do great getting outta this today and found a great partner in Toronto who has a little bread to spend the next 3 years….Just wished they engaged before the earlier Groshans trade. They stack up well and Groshans qoulda been a great fit in Ana
Yikes
The article indicates it would be surprising since they signed him to a contract but getting rid of his contract makes perfect sense for a team going nowhere. Iglesias is a little older and hasn’t been as effective this season. $14.5 mil/yr is also pricey for a relief pitcher.
And the contract was backloaded so his real hit is $16 million per year for the next three.
Angels need so much more than a closer.
Please get rid of him. He’s been terrible recently.
OMG yes. This would give me razor thin hope Perry knows what he’s doing. Iglesias’ most effective pitch this season has been his puss ball. Really throws the hitters off. Until it doesn’t.
Thor and Iglesias package might make sense. Would Angels be kicking in $ for prospects or just dumping the most amount of salary to re-up Ohtani in the future?
They badly need prospects. Eat some money. That would then mean Tepera closes because eating his and Loups contract may be too much right now
Probably the latter. Arte is fairly shortsighted with regards to prospects.
Artie is fricken blind . Worst owner in BB. We need to rebuild quickly . Magic bullet is ohtani. Use it!!
Groshans would have been nice for Angels…Im sure with enough back scratching they coulda had him in some sorta deal…too late now
I would imagine the return would be minimal for Iglesias
If Halos threw in money, that could change. I add Thor because they need SP and that could help compete the package
A closer is a luxury the Angels don’t need. His contract is bad for the club.
Romano is having a better year than Iglesias and deserves to remain in the closer role. Would the Jays use Iglesias as a setup man?
Yes
Or 7th
Or 6th
Although I don’t love iglasias another winning move for the future AL champions
If Perry can pull this off, I’d be thrilled. But, seriously, the Angels never should have handed Iglesias a contract for that much money and that many years.
I’m not holding my breath for a good return.
You forgot how dominant he was
Career years at age 31 freak me out.
Taken from Bleacher Report: “One of only five pitchers with 100 strikeouts as a reliever, Iglesias converted 34 of 39 save chances after joining the Angels in an offseason trade. He had a 2.57 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, and 103 strikeouts in 70 innings, and his 13.2 K/9 and 37.7 percent strikeout rate were both career highs.”
The Angels made him the second highest paid closer in baseball. That’s crazy, and he, IMO, wasn’t worth that price tag.
The Angels love doing that. Upton…..Rendon…..Pujols…….and they keep getting worse.
That’s Arte. He equates winning headlines in the offseason as “winning”. The rest of the baseball world, meanwhile, is looking to better their teams by avoiding these types of contracts.
Get him and Thor, stripling goes back to the pen and makes things look a lot better. Maybe throw in Kikuchi to sweeten the deal
Interesting idea on Kikuchi. He’s scheduled to make $10 million each of the next two seasons. That is less than the $16 million for 3 on Iglesias.
And he might be a back end of the rotation option back in the AL West. And with a six man rotation if we keep Ohtani, he’d be needed less often.
Not saying I’d be printing playoff tickets, but you might be onto something.
I wouldn’t send Stripling back to the pen unless they do go and get a pair of good starters. Stripling has looked solid as a starter and he deserves the role. If anyone deserves to be demoted to the pen it’s Kikuchi, or even better, sent somewhere in a salary dump.
amen
As long as he would be okay setting up Romano sure. We can pay the whole tab or grab him and flip him for whatever.
Then again I’m still sour for holding off on what the Cardinals offered for Donaldson a few years ago. Ryu is basically done in Tor, can’t we go for a controllable lefty pitcher instead?
Has anyone watched him pitch this year? He’s been completely ineffective in save and non save situation. His numbers are misleading.
Remind me again, how this makes the Blue Jays more competitive? I guess they’re taking the route of, we can’t afford SP so we’ll just get as many RP as we can and hope they get us through the playoffs.
Get something for him and trade him.
I’d love it.
I’d love to see them move Iglesias for some future potential. Maybe Biggio and a pitching prospect or two.
Biggio is controllable for a few more years and is a good defender around the infield.
i dunno if the jays trade biggio. like you said he’s got a lot of utility and can play the corners as well. there isn’t anyone on the roster to can fill that utility role esp down the stretch when injuries become a greater concern.
They have several prospects that are middle infielders which makes him a little more expendable. He hasn’t quite lived up to the expectations, yet.
Unless is comes with 1. Little prospect Capital, 2. salary relief, and 3. the understanding that he’s a set up man I hope not.
SELL SELL SELL!!!
Thor, Iglesias, toss in Adell move them now.
Thor – Getting anything better than the 2nd round pick the Angels lost/comp pick the Mets gained for signing Thor is a wash or win.
Iglesias: I was a fan of resigning him with the belief 2022/23 was a playoff team (until May 15 or so this was looking true) now just trade him for best prospect(s) possible.
Adell: I’ve seen enough…I include him in any deal to try and improve the prospect return.
Well, MLBTR announced Marsh to the Phillies. So there’s one.
Wouldn’t mind for the Dodgers to kick the tires on a deal for Iglesias and Syndergaard. With the salary relief the Angels are truly coveting, the return might be very palatable for the Dodgers to cover
Give ‘em back Kikuchi to hang out with Showtime , evens out the $ for Iggy
God no please no to Iglesias.
This speaks to the Angels dumping salary for a run at Shohei, but HTF can you keep Shohei with a supporting cast of bench players? This was supposed to be a playoff team and most of the year Andrew Velasquez and Luis Rengifo have been their defense up the middle. Good Lord.