The Angels have agreed to a minor league contract with right-handed reliever Evan Marshall, tweets James Fegan of The Athletic. Marshall himself suggested on Twitter last night that he’d signed with the Halos. He’s represented by ISE Baseball.
Marshall, 33 next month, missed the 2022 season recovering from 2021 Tommy John surgery. He enjoyed an excellent run with the White Sox from 2019-20, logging a combined 2.45 ERA with a 23.5% strikeout rate, 10.3% walk rate and 52.3% ground-ball rate in 73 1/3 frames out of the Chicago bullpen. His numbers took a sharp downturn in 2021, however, as Marshall was tagged for a 5.60 ERA in 27 1/3 frames before landing on the injured list and ultimately undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Marshall’s Tommy John procedure came in November 2021, so he should be largely recovered from the procedure. He’ll still need to build up to game readiness after remaining unsigned through the bulk of spring training. An assignment to Triple-A Salt Lake would make sense, speculatively speaking.
In the short-term, there’s not a lot of immediate opportunity in the Anaheim bullpen. The Halos are slated to carry a trio of out-of-options bullpen arms — Jaime Barria, Jose Quijada, Tucker Davidson — and the bulk of their other options are veterans on guaranteed deals who cannot be optioned (Carlos Estevez, Ryan Tepera, Aaron Loup, Matt Moore). Right-handers Jimmy Herget and Andrew Wantz are the only Angels relievers who can be optioned to the minors without first passing through waivers, but they’re both also coming off strong 2022 seasons at the big league level.
Of course, injuries and rough starts to the season are inevitable for any group of pitchers. Either could create an opportunity for Marshall or another veteran who’s with the Angels on a minor league contract. That’s a group that currently includes names like Chris Devenski, Jonathan Holder, Cesar Valdez and Jacob Webb, among others. If Marshall can successfully get back to his pre-Tommy John 2019-20 form, he’d presumably be among the first names up when an opportunity presents itself.
Interesting and good possible signing. Seems to me like a low risk move that can turn into a quality arm if he can return to health and be productive. And he chose a team he has a chance to actually have a shot to join this season. Good job Perry on building our depth this off-season. But can he pitch? Looks like he can!
Another minor league lottery ticket. No harm.
I like it.
You guys have liked this approach for years, and it’s failed for years.
Zero risk. That’s why I like it. The burden is on the player in these deals. He has good pre-TJ numbers.
Of course there is risk. Every pitcher that pitches an inning is risk. How do you guys not see that yet?
Specifically, what is the risk to the Angels by signing this guy?
What kind of risk was Elvis Peguero? How many games did he cost us?
These pitchers are a lot more likely to lose games than win games.
But maybe this guy, unlike all the other guys, has talent. But that has been Perry’s M.O.
You didn’t answer my question about this guy. What risk have the Angels incurred by signing him?
I didn’t answer your question? He comes up and stinks. How does that not answer you question?
My point is as we sit here today typing these stupid comments, there is no risk to the Angels. Every player is a risk if they stink, not just these signings.
Stupid comments? I’ve been right for years and they are stupid comments?
Pitchers who don’t have plus stuff tend to lose a lot more games than they win.
Halo – I’m not here to argue with you. Don’t be so fixated. I wasn’t referring to your comments as stupid. I was referring to commenting in general as stupid when there is so much serious stuff going on around us. Don’t be defensive…it wasn’t aimed at you.
This guy being signed to a minor league contract is zero risk for the Angels as we sit here today. Let’s see how he does. If he can serve as depth, great. If he can actually make the roster and be effective long term, great. If he stinks, no big loss.
“I’ve been right for years…” Pride’s a killer.
Prov.. I’m frustrated. This team can be so good. Yes, there is an issue at shortstop. But Eck can play defense, and it doesn’t look like they are going to play Rengifo there.
But this pen?!? We are so outclassed by the Ms and by the Astros. And if the Angels make the playoffs, unless they get reinforcements, and I don’t mean trading our minor league talent for them, we are not going to make a playoff run. .
We shouldn’t have to be in this position… again. And somehow, holding Perry accountable seems to upset some people. It’s his bullpen.
Prov: Halo is a low quality commenter. He cant accept the gross mismanagement of his team, which is easily the most underperforming franchise in baseball. They cant even complete a franchise sale. They cant draft. They cant develop, and with their fat payroll, they cant win. He is an expert on running everyone else’s franchise.
Arguing with stupidity is futile at times.
Who is Eck? You mean Fletch?
Halo – I agree with you. We have both been frustrated together for years now. 2023 is looking like the best chance we’ve had in a while. Hopefully it works because I’d love to keep Ohtani.
This is a weird thing to get worked up about. Marshall might not even be in the top 20 of the organizational bullpen depth chart, and the Angels have to sign a lot of minor league deals because they don’t like putting their prospects in the PCL. At best, Marshall is lights out in AAA and gets a call-up and pitches some low-leverage innings in Anaheim. It’s not like he’s gonna be the closer unless something goes unfathomably wrong, at which point the season is already in the toilet
Sorry.. Of course I mean Fletch.
Clepto – Halo is fine. He has good baseball knowledge. We don’t always agree, but no two people always agree. Don’t make it personal.
Fletcher fan. It’s upsetting because they keep doing stuff like this. And guys like this get people out in AAA, then come up here and cost the Angels a couple of games, then get released.
Are people’s memories really this short?
I keep noting the history. If you keep ignoring the history, it will keep repeating itself.
Clepto is a troll. Trolls don’t bother me.
The Mute button is your friend.
I believe most Angel fans have a favorable view of Perry. An interesting point was brought during yesterday’s broadcast. The Angels were dead last in organizational winning percentage when Perry took over. This is the combined winning percentage of all minor league affiliates. The next year they jump to #23 and now they are currently #8. From dead last to #8 in 2 years. This is the first time the Angels have had a organizational winning percentage over .500 since 2014. This speaks volumes to drafts and the changes made internally to the drafts and changes made to scouting dept and the developmental team. The Angel are headed definitely headed in the right direction.
If you believe the only difference between the Ms and Angels last year was solely due to the bullpen than you are mistaken. The Angels literally had Matt Duffy batting cleanup on opening day last year. The M’s had a bullpen WAR of 4.1 and the Angels had 1.7. If you swap the Angels bullpen with the Mariners bullpen, maybe you win 76 games instead of 73 games. The Mariners just traded one of their best bullpen pieces in Erik Swanson, he accounted for 1.7 WAR of that 4.1 WAR. for Seattle last year.
If you watched any of the spring training games, you can tell there is far more talent than the Angels have had in a long time.
This might be the stupidest comment of the year. Its completely devoid of any factual relevance.
These guys are paid to market the team.
They didn’t mention is that it got better before Perry started drafting. I guess they completely glossed over the 2019 and 2020 drafts.
I’m saying the a huge difference between the Ms and the Angels this year is the pen. Except for the pen, I like our team better.
What are you talking about Bart? Be specific.
I was referring to cleptos post. Its trolling at its laziest.
Clepto is a troll. I have him on mute. 🙂
I don’t have an issue with being challenged, but Clepto is beyond dealing with.
Your concern affects every team. Every team churns through the back of the bullpen and sometimes they lose games because of it. Sometimes they sign Jimmy Herget and get a useful reliever. It’s called running a baseball team.
Your argument entirely depends on the premise that Marshall will definitely get handed a bullpen spot in the middle of the year. It’s really dumb to pan a minor league signing just because a couple MiLFAs sucked in the past. There’s a reason those guys didn’t get big league deals, and you fail to realize that a vast majority of those were only called up out of sheer necessity and a DFA was an expected end to their time in Anaheim.
There are 7 pitchers on the 40 man roster slated to start the year in AAA, plus Joyce, Torres, Murphy, and the other minor league signees who have a better MLB track record than Marshall in Webb and Devenski. The most likely outcome is that Marshall spends the year in Salt Lake and never gets called up. He’s so far down the depth chart that it’s not worth getting worked up over
I don’t know anything about Marshall other than his peripherals don’t look very good.
I do know that Angels have been trying this for over a decade and it never works,.
I don’t have any confidence this team knows what it is doing. Based on past results, they don’t,
And I’m not panning a minor league signing. I’m panning these types of signings, where the player doesn’t have good stuff, gets promoted, costs the Angels games, and then gets released.
Unless a guy has good stuff, it’s not going to work out. And I wont know he has good stuff, until I get some readings on him… But again.. based on past results, the Angels don’t seem to have a clue.
This is a minor league contract on a player that has had success in the major leagues. It is important to realize there are minor league rosters that needed to be rounded out. The better your rosters are when someone goes down, the more options you have. Let him get some innings and see how he does. If he doesn’t perform well, he won’t be called up.
most angels fans support anyone. last season was the first in years many stayed away despite continued substandard playing quality. maybe many could not survive pandemic.
Goggle. I understand. But there is risk.
And, the Angels have not shown the ability to make moves like this work.
Let’s bring this back up again at the end of the year. But there is the very real possibility he gets promoted, stinks, and costs the Angels a game or two.
If the Angels were good doing stuff like this, the risk would be worth it. But they haven’t been.
I don’t know why what I’m saying is so controversial.
Huh?
Prove, was that huh to me?
If so, it should be obvious to every Angel fan that the Angels are signing these pitcher year after year, many pitch for the big club, and they stink.
If they Angels are very very lucky, they stink quickly and they just get rid of them.
No, Halo, that was to aragon. I have no idea what he said as usual.
Nobody has a good track record of making these moves work. And the Angels actually have made some of these work here and there throughout their entire history, like any other organization. Just as multiple people have already explained to you with way more information and depth in their arguments than you have, this move is to fill a spot at AAA because the Angels prefer to finish their prospects’ development at AA because of the more neutral altitude. Plus, the Angels traded a bunch of pitching pitching prospects for Renfroe and Urshela, so spots need to be filled. There is no guarantee this pitcher even makes the roster at any point in the season. He could very likely opt out. Every team makes these moves. It is pointless to complain about them. And, quite frankly, you’re not impressing anyone here. Every baseball forum I’ve ever been to schools fans who whine about minor league signings. In most cases, it’s a sign of a casual fan wearing die hard clothes.
If you are relying on guys like this to be your MLB starters, that is a risk. But minor league deals for AAA depth is the opposite of a risk. Not stacking your minor leagues with guys like this is the risk.
If you lose 5 MLB relievers, who do you want them to call up? Who do you want them to call up in September?
I keep going to the past to explain why it’s a risk.
How many games did these RP who signed minor league contracts and were called up cost the Angels last year? Five? At least five.
So you believe that teams should solely rely on internal prospects for minor league depth and should forgo minor league signings altogether? Am I incorrect in my interpretation of your position?
Some of the best values every year are from minor league signings. A beautiful thing about baseball is how often players either have bounce-back seasons or they develop into productive players late in their careers. MLBTR used to even do posts highlighting these mlbtraderumors.com/2021/05/best-minor-league-deals…
What were the Angels other options in the minors last year that you think would have produced better than the players who came up and failed? Are there not risks in calling them up as well? Risk that they will perform poorly or their development will be harmed by being called up too soon. Everything in life has risk of some sort
I believe a team should do a much better job at building and adding bullpen pieces than the Angels.
They’ve been terrible at it for a decade. Why do you have trust that this will be any different?
I object to trying the same thing over and over and over again and expecting different results.
I think that’s where we differ. Trust. My has been worn out.
Since the Angels don’t appear to know what they are doing, there is risk. That risk has show itself many many times over the last few years.
I love it. Keep em coming
How about the Angels add talent and forget about the mud on the wall approach. The Angels have two RP with pitching plus stuff above 100. Herget is at 103. More is 101.
The Ms have four above 105. And Dipoto added all four in less than a year.
It’s Perry’s pen, and I hope he’s held accountable one way or another.
It’s not really Perry’s pen- because of Angry Arte’s interference and incompetence. Most dysfunctional team in MLB, when payroll and ‘off the field issues’ are factored.
I doubt Moreno is responsible for some of these imbecilic bullpen moves. Guerra and Claudio anyone?
Halo11- You sound like broken record. Everytime Perry makes a move you criticize him for not making a good bullpen move. And other people keep telling you the Angels have some good young arms in the minors. Please stop your narrative. It makes all of Angel fans look bad.
Of course I sound like a broken record. It’s a broken system.
If someone like me can easily tell there is an issue, if every objective baseball person can tell it’s an issue, you have to wonder why this GM doesn’t realize it’s a problem. Estevez? That’s their big solution? Hoping he only sucks because he pitches in Colorado is not much of a solution.
Seattle doesn’t have the Angel’s talent, yet because of their bullpen vs our bullpen, were chasing them.
It’s a BFD.
Halo11- There really is no risk here in signing him. He has a good track record and he will be without a roster spot. Even the risk as you describe it is more with later roster moves and then how he is used. More options are a good thing and this one has a high higher than average ceiling.
Tim. I don’t know what kind of stuff he has. So my opinion is still forming, however, lets say he has mediocre stuff, which is good enough to get out AAA batters.
That’s likely not going to be good enough to get out Major League batters, so they Angels bring him up, and he costs the Angels a couple of games.
That kind of risk happens to the Angels every year. If he has mediocre stuff, there is a lot of risk.
Are people’s memories this short?
At least there’s logic to these signings now. Dude was good, he got hurt, he should be healthy now.
For years Eppler brought in the same high velocity/no control guys over and over again and produced nothing.
High velocity guys does necessarily equal stuff. Estevez is a high velocity guy, and doesn’t have above average stuff.
Fangraphs has a nice Stuff Plus section under Pitch Modeling. Look at the RPs with stuff?
Based on 30IP, our best RP ranks 89th., Our next best is 126th. That’s a huge disadvantage that shows up more than 155 five times a year.
@Halo I think your data is mixed up. I think you keep saying stuff, but think you may be referring to pitching+. A 100 is average, Estevez has 104 Stuff+, which is above average in terms of stuff. He has a Pitching+ of 98, which would be below average. Pitching+ factors both Stuff+ and Location+.
If you saw San Blum’s article, the Angels have been telling Estevez to pitch up to throw his fastball up in the zone. It’s been a disaster so far. He has 10 walks in 3.2 innings.
Location matters. He has a fastball he cannot locate, he throws it over 70 percent of the time, and has no secondary pitches. It’s not all about velocity.
It’s why his pitching plus is 98. And why Herget with no fastball is 103.
Estevez is not going to be good with stuff plus of 98. Hopefully that will improve, but hoping it will improve is not a good bet.
Again, It is 104 for Stuff+ and 98 for Pitching+. Believe me I understand your sentiment, Estevez has been the biggest disappointment for me this ST. Along with Adell and Brett Phillips. At this point, I don’t even think Estevez should break camp.
I just think there is way more to be excited about as Angel fans. They have a legitimate rotation for the first time in a long time. A lot of it can been attributed to player development. Ohtani and Sandoval have spent the past 2 winters at driveline. Tucker Davidson and Detmers went this off season and the results are almost immediate. The Angels have genuinely committed to improving pitching. They have ties to Driveline with Bill Hezel and Connor Hinchliffe, former throwing coach at Driveline and current pitching analyst for the Angels.
Davidson changed his grip on his slider similar to Shohei’s grip. He has looked great this spring. I know it is only spring, but so far so good. Tepera is also using this new slider.
The biggest jump in expectactions has to be Detmers. Detmers pitches have touched 97 on some pitches. He is averaging around 95. He is attacking the zone and not wasting pitches like last year. I look for him to go much deeper in games this season and see him being a major breakout candidate. I get excited to see him pitch now and he has not disappointed. He looks the part of a front line starter. Don’t be surprised if he wins 15 games this year.
Silseth added a cutter and Canning has had an uptick in velo. Both are viable major league options but those two are likely to start out on the Bees this year.
There is so much to be excited about. SO MUCH!!!! And neither one of us is happy with the pen.
Since the pen has been a huge focus of mine for the better part of a decade, I’m likely more frustrated than most, but we should all agree with the above paragraph. Right?
Other than health, which I really don’t concern myself with, there were two things I was concerned about. Rengifo at short and this pen.
Other than that, This is a very good team.
Almost unbelievable that they didn’t trade Ohtani last season. If they had traded him during last season, and even more so before last season, they could have gotten 3-5 great prospects. Instead, he will leave and they will get nothing. Chump organization, chump team. And they owe Mike Trout (fragile guy and a physical wreck and now with a permanent and mostly untested back injury-shell of the player he used to be and shamefully publicly sided against the team with the Pujols situation) absolutely nothing other than the $300 million in further salary that he will be paid. Trout is now worth less than the lowest rated prospect in baseball in terms of trade value, because it would be insane for any team to take on the remainder of his contract, even if he were given away for nothing. Albatross contract.
D tier bait. Too obvious. You gotta add some modicum of truth if you want to get a bunch of angry responses lol
The fact that there are no angry responses means that the message boarders agree. Everything in that statement is true:
Ohtani definitely should have been traded mid season last year at the latest- Anaheim was going nowhere and they could have bid for his services once he reached free agency with the team he should have been traded to
Ohtani WILL leave and they won’t get anything when he does
Permanent, mostly untested back issue
Physical wreck in general, shell of the player he used to be
On-field performance has dropped off big time (no more SB, no more consistent defense, etc)
Shamefully sided against the team in public regarding the pujols situation
It would be crazy to give him an 8 year, $300 million contract at this point- he’s therefore worth less than the lowest rated prospect in baseball in terms of a trade because it would be so dumb to give him what he is still owed at this point. Only way it could be sensible is if the Angels covered a significant portion of the remaining money on the contract.
Trout turns 32 this season and has averaged around a ‘whopping’ 4 WAR per year for the past 3 years (and that factors his pace of play in 2020). He’s an absolute shell of the player he used to be as well as a physical wreck and his contract is garbage now. He’s now basically a fragile, DH type of player with no running game whatsoever anymore- pitchers barely even have to pay attention to him when he is on 1st base and his running game has been nothing since the end of the 2018 season. To go along with questionable defense in CF.
1. The fact that the only person who liked the comment was yourself indicates otherwise
2. You think trading a franchise cornerstone is much less complex than it really is. We don’t know what teams were offering, and no team aside met the criteria of having the pieces necessary for the trade + being competitive in both 22 and 23 + not being the Dodgers
3. Trout put up a 178 OPS+ last year (176 for his career) and provided somewhere between $10M and $15M in surplus value based on his WAR calculations. Just look at baseballtradevalues.com for a rough estimate of Trout’s actual value. You’re profoundly stupid if you think nobody would even trade a DSL flier for Trout
Don’t care about the likes from message boarders.
They could have gotten something good for Ohtani, even if it wasn’t what they were hoping for. Now they will get *nothing* when he leaves, which is dramatically worse.
The trajectory for Trout has been bad since 2019. Around 5 WAR pace in 2020 (and that assumes he would have played a full season, which is unlikely considering how fragile he is), missed 125 games in 2021, permanent and mostly untested back injury beginning last year. It would be ‘profoundly stupid’ for a team to give the soon to be 32 year old broken down and performance declining fragile Trout an 8 year, $300 million contract (what he is still owed by Anaheim), therefore he is worth less on the trade market than the lowest rated prospect in baseball unless Anaheim covered a significant portion of his remaining contract. It’s an albatross contract at this point.
By the way, tied for the lowest BA of his career last year, posted the lowest OBP of his career last year, and his strikeout rate was tied for the highest of his career last year (and his strikeout rate has been increasing in recent years in general). The only aspect of his game that isn’t in decline is the HR power. 2012-2018 Trout is never coming back- not even close and he will post less than 5 WAR this season.
Trout had a 178 OPS+. He was 4th in baseball in wRC+
You people are insane.
Last year was the first year since 2019 of anything even close to superstar level production from Trout, and he was still around 40% worse than 2012-2018. He’s now late middle age by MLB standards and he’s not getting any more durable and his permanent back injury is still mostly untested and can still prove to be career devastating. The major declines in his durability and production can’t be denied.
Obviously you are not counting 2020. Top ten in wRC+. Hardly enough time for cream to rise. :Luke Voit led the league in HR.
Out for out in 2021 he was the best hitter in baseball, but I totally get why you discount it.
So basically you are skipping one year, the year he got hurt, and saying he wasn’t a great.
You people are nuts.
But I tell you what, if he gets hurt again, he won’t play enough to be considered great. Just like 2021.
He played at a 5 WAR pace in 2020, which included awful defense, the lowest BA of his career, the 2nd lowest OBP of his career, and the complete end to his running game. He can be counted on for 3-5 WAR of actual production.
He played at a 7.5 WAR pace.
53 games, 2.5 fWAR. He missed a few games because his wife had a kid.
And outs above average, he was 0. And if DWAR was as accurate as Out Above Average, it would have been more than 7.5.
As I said.. People are nuts.
3-4 WAR average of actual production for the next 3 years, assuming his permanent back injury doesn’t devastate his career. He has posted more than 2 WAR once since 2019, he’s about to be 32, he’s a 1 dimensional player, he’s fragile. For anyone to argue that his prime lasted beyond 2019 (really 2018) at the latest is insane.
And 2020 is accounted for. He wasn’t a superstar in 2020. Roughly a 5 WAR pace to go along with the lowest BA of his career, 2nd lowest OBP, complete end to his running game, and awful defense. And he probably would have been injured sometime around mid season anyway. A lot of delusion about Trout ‘still being in his prime’.
2.5 War in 53 Games means 5 WAR.
I get it now. You are stupid.
Baseball reference says 1.8 WAR in 53 games. And of course the BA, OBP, SB are the same no matter what site you look at. Even if you were to use the 2.5 WAR number, there’s still the assumption he would have played the entire season, something he hasn’t done since 2016 (!). So even using the 2.5 number, it’s still more likely than not that he would have ended up with less than 6 WAR. But throw around all the personal attacks you want to; you’re nothing.
You are counting 2020 and 2019 as a full year..
I get it… You are not very bright.
Hey, Joe Dimagio had an average WAR of just over two from his age 27 to 29 seasons.
As I said, you are not bright.
I never counted 2019 as a full year. He was a superstar in 2019- his last superstar season and the last year he was a league leader in any category- but it was not a full season. It’s was also a notable season because that’s when the performance decline really became noticeable. He wasn’t good at either SB or defense in 2019 and it was the 1st year that he showed weakness in both categories at the same time.
You are looking at baseball reference in a small sample size, which doesn’t accurately reflect defense.
Man, you’re a genius.
He’s getting older, but he’s the best player on Team USA right now. or haven’t you noticed.
It was 1/3rd of a season- it’s not like it’s a 20 game sample size. He’s still a good to very good player, so it’s not surprising that he is doing well in the gimmicky tournament. I’m no longer responding to any post from you that includes lame and boring personal attacks. Maybe you can be more civil, maybe you can’t be. Up to you and it’s not important which direction you choose to take. If you were to respond with another stupid personal attack, it would almost be a relief because then I would definitely just wash my hands of you.
wRC+ the last three years.
1st Judge at 176. 2nd Trout 2 at 174
wRC+ last four years.
1st Trout 175, 2nd Judge 168.
If you are saying that you don’t trust Trout to say healthy… Fine. But as far as regressing quickly, you are crazy.
If the Angels were advertised as an investment opportunity, it would be “limited downside, unlimited upside”. They never pan out.
He was good with the White Sox and then he tore his UCL. If he’s healthy he could be a sleeper for you. I wondered what happened to him.
Me too. He was the Sox most effective arm in the bullpen. He put fires time and time again. Another stupid move by Hahn. He should have at least given him a chance before dumping him. I hope he returns to pre-tj form and kicks the Sox’ butts
Good signing with no risk. He was good prior to the injury. He won’t be that good his first year back from TJ, but he can build back up in AAA.
A good depth signing. If he’s right a good set up man.
Only one team wins it all every year and there are too many variables at play to know with certainty if your team will be that team. Sometimes you need a little luck or for the ball to bounce your way. I agree with this signing and with some luck it pans out. I can’t be as negative as some of you on here when I see efforts being made to improve the team and some of the young pitching talent that’s coming up. I looked at the match ups yesterday and noticed something different from prior years. The Angels had no injured players to report. That alone has me optimistic.