5:50pm: The Angels have now announced all the moves listed below, as well as the fact that right-hander Justin Garza has been designated for assignment as the move to open up a second spot on the 40-man roster. The 29-year-old Garza posted a 4.71 ERA in 21 games with Cleveland in 2021 but hasn’t made it back to the big leagues since. The Angels signed him to a split contract over the winter and he has a 4.32 ERA through six Triple-A appearances so far this year.
5:30pm: Bollinger adds (Twitter links) that right-hander Jimmy Herget was optioned as the corresponding move for Warren, and that catcher Logan O’Hoppe has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to his shoulder injury. Chad Wallach was selected to take O’Hoppe’s spot, but he wasn’t on the 40-man and will need a corresponding move.
The optioning of Herget comes as a surprise as he registered a 2.48 ERA last year and got himself some high-leverage work, racking up nine saves and six holds. However, he’s struggled to a 6.23 ERA so far this season, with his strikeout rate dropping to 13.2% after being at 23.7% last year.
The club still doesn’t know the severity of the shoulder issue that has been plaguing O’Hoppe of late, but he’ll sit for a week-plus while they figure it out. Wallach is a 31-year-old with 90 games of major league experience scattered over the past six seasons. He’s hit .198/.265/.296 in that time but has a good reputation for his defense and game calling.
5:20pm: The Angels have added right-hander Austin Warren to their 40-man roster, reports Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com (Twitter links). The club already has a vacancy on their 40-man due to outrighting infielder David Fletcher earlier this week, though a corresponding move will be required to get Warren onto the active roster.
Warren, 27, was selected by the Angels in the sixth round of the 2018 draft and has spent his entire career with the organization to this point. He was selected to the big league roster in 2021 and has 30 games of major league experience thus far. He has a 3.47 ERA in 36 1/3 innings, striking out 18.8% of his opponents, walking just 6.5% of them and getting grounders on 45.9% of balls in play.
Back in January, Warren was designated for assignment when the club signed Brett Phillips, ultimately clearing waivers and sticking with the organization. He started the year at Triple-A and tossed seven scoreless innings over five appearances before getting brought back to the big leagues today. He’ll give a fresh arm to an Angels bullpen that has seen a decent amount of work this week. Shohei Ohtani’s start on Monday was interrupted by a rain delay when he had only thrown two innings and he didn’t return after the game resumed. Then José Suarez lasted just 3 1/3 innings on Tuesday. Griffin Canning got to 5 1/3 frames on Wednesday but Patrick Sandoval tallied just four innings yesterday.
Warren still has a couple of options remaining, which means he can be easily sent back down to the minors the next time the Halos need to make a bullpen swap.
Tepera?
He’s on the dl, loup should’ve been the first to go.
I have more faith in Austin Warren than in Herget.
Than you haven’t been paying attention. Warren is only good when the game is not on the line.
This… (Points finger for emphasis), this is the move you’ve been waiting for!
Since all bullpen runs are not created equal, the Angels pen is 18th in win probability added.
Ryan Tepera is dead last on the Angels in WPA. Replacing him can’t possibly produce worse results.
I agree, but he’s already on the IL. Herget option or Loup DFA coming?
Herget sent down
Funny how our best reliever last year is the first one sent down.
The Angels are .500, which is a bit surprising considering that they are not really excelling at anything.
The team only seems to score runs in the first 3 innings and then nothing for the rest of the game. The Angels are hitting .220 with runners in scoring position, which is #27 out of 30. The entire infield, 1B, 2B, 3B, and the SS position, are all below average at this point.
The Angels are 24th in errors and fielding percentage. The Angels blew a game making 3 errors and come back the next day and lose due to 2 catcher’s interference calls in the same inning. It is hard to keep opposing teams off the board if you give them 5 or 6 outs in a inning.
The Angels are 13th in ERA for starting pitchers. However, if you remove Ohtani, the Angels rotation have an ERA of 5.30, which would put them 23rd in baseball.
The bullpen are 7th in bullpen ERA. The underlying factors are also positive, 4th in HR/9 at 0.48. 9th in BB/9 at 3.15. Even with Hergets, Loup, and Tepera’s struggles, the bullpen has been one of the better parts of the team.
I am not going to get super excited about results thus far. It is hard to judge people based on 5 or 6 innings pitched. The Angels have played some teams that can score a lot of run especially in their ballparks in the Red Sox and Yankees. The Angels won’t be the only team that makes that road trip that has bad results..
They are now home and play the Royals and A’s. These are the teams that the Angels need to have success against. The starters have to be better against these teams. The team has to score runs more consistently.
You didn’t mention Ward sucks. And you don’t get to remove aces from teams.
I wouldn’t be worried too much about their fielding percentage. And their average with RISP should regress back to the mean as the season goes on.
No, but I understand that an ace can only start once every 5 starts. Point was Ohtani is doing his part, the rest of the rotation isn’t.
Removing a player that is a statistical anomaly compared to the rest of the team is done quite often in sports.
I agree. Too small of a sample size and for the most part, unsustainable when good or bad.
I worry about Ward. I worry about second base. First base and Naturally catcher.
Several players are struggling, not just ward, though Ward is a key piece to the offense and it can be argued that his lack of production in the lead off spot is a key factor for the teams offensive woes. We need a lot more out of that spot than what we are getting if we want to compete.
I basically liked your post, and I don’t mean to nit pick. We have an ace that is pitching like an ace and I still really like Canning, Detmers and Sandoval. I don’t think any less of Detmers today than two weeks ago, and Canning looks really good.
As far as the other points you made, I agree, the Angels have some issues.
He just left put Ward. He’s be3n a pretty big problem and he doe#nt look good.
Especially since he has only had 2 bad outings. He has options and the pen has been overused, so they need a fresh arm.
Sandoval, Detmers, and Canning have combined for a 3.80 ERA over 9 starts. Those 3 are also giving the team a chance to win. The defense behind them has not helped in that regard. The defense has contributed 2 unearned to each of their ledgers. Anderson and Suarez have gotten lit up. Right now they are the problem with the starting pitching.
Everything I’ve seen regarding Neto is a positive. The Angels should look to extending him…while they still can at a reasonable price. He’s for real.
That’s what you took away from all that? Really?
Good grief.
Why not both?
Loup and Herget round out the bottom three.
WPA for RPs seems like a pretty darn good stat.
A much better stat than bullpen ERA for sure
I just started looking at it. The Angels had a great pen the first part of the 20th century. They ranked 2nd from 2002 to 2009.
From 2015 to now, they rank 22nd.
The proof is in the pudding. I’m going to lean on that till something else comes along. The Angels pen is 13th.
U get rid of Loup and Tepara and the bullpen improves dramatically! If those two guys weren’t signed for 16 million combined for this season they would have designated both of them for assignment! Loup has been horrible his entire time as an Angel… He for sure shouldn’t be pitching in any high leverage situations! A mop up man at this point!
The problem with trying to find the right combination early in the year is that it’s easy to throw away five or so games trying to find that right combination.
Tepera, Loup and Herget have pretty much accomplished that all by themselves.
5th in ERA, 6th in FIP. 4th in ERA-. A good bullpen.
It hasn’t been. It’s been good when there is wiggle room, it’s been bad when there hasn’t been. WPA seems like a really good bullpen stat. ERA does not.
The Angels bullpen has been good. The stats back that up.
WPA is useless for individual relievers. It requires 150 inning pitched to start to be close to accurate. That is why no one mentions it at all for individual pitchers, let alone relievers. The Angels bullpen has thrown 76 innings total this season, so it doesn’t apply for the team either. You really need to learn about sample size and margin for error in statistics.
If you are going to use WPA at all, use WPA/LI. It factors out the leverage of the situation. But only use it to talk about how a team’s SEASON has gone. Not a handful of games by an individual pitcher.
You have mentioned Stuff+ as a stat you like before. Guess what, the Angels bullpen is ranked 4th.
The bullpen has cost the Angels at least five games. The facts, not the stats, back that up.
5th in ERA, 6th in FIP. 4th in ERA-. We have a good bullpen. That has not been the issue with the Angels.
People like Fletcher, Lamb, Rendon, and Ward underperforming at the plate and Suarez and Anderson getting lit up is the problem.
The fact that you think the pen has been good tells me everything I need to know about your baseball acumen.
I want to hear how good the Angels bullpen has been again. This has a great chance of being the 7th game they have blown.
Wantz is a great example why ERA is misleading. He’s now allowed 6 of 8 inherited runners to score. WPA is much more accurate.
The pen is just a revolving door. They need to get some consistency in order for us to compete. A true or proven closer and not a mix of possible options seems like what we are missing. And man…sad to see O’Hoppe hurt and missing games. This kid seems to be the answer behind the plate that us Halo fans have been praying for. Hope it isn’t severe. Was surprised he didn’t get some time off after that 1st incident in Boston. Shows how desperate we are and not trusting Thaiss. Where are you Stassi?
Angels management status quo
They keep making the same mistakes every year and expect different results.
If the past is any indicator the angels will be cagey about releasing O’ Hoppe’s diagnosis. I don’t know if it’s protocol to check him out thoroughly but it was obvious he was in discomfort even when catching just after the initial injury in Boston so I don’t know if they should’ve played him there. But I don’t know the pro baseball protocol on that.
If there is enough swelling that they can’t get a good indication of how bad the injury is after this long, the injury is bad. .
I remember when it was first reported that Ohtani had a blister on his throwing hand and he eventually needed Tommy John surgery. Moreno is very cagey about telling the truth because it effects his bottom line.
Angels need to keep Wallach and cut Thaiss. Chad is the best signal caller on the Angels and whatever offense he brings is a bonus. That’s is a mess offensively and not good behind the plate
For whatever reason Ward is swinging at non strikes this season! His plate desipline is horrible! Needs to swing at strikes only and take his walks!
We can all agree Shohei was showtime last night.
Fist Bump
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