The Angels and right-hander Dakota Hudson have agreed to a minor league deal, per Aram Leighton of Just Baseball (X link). The righty will presumably receive an invite to big league spring training as well.
Hudson, 30, is coming off a rough season. He signed a one-year deal with the Rockies with a $1.5MM guarantee but wasn’t able to give the club much in return for that investment. He made 18 starts and threw 89 innings but allowed 6.17 earned runs per nine. He struck out just 12.1% of batters faced, giving out walks at a higher rate of 12.4%. His 52.3% ground ball rate was typically strong for him but it wasn’t enough for him to cling to a job even in the injury-marred Colorado rotation.
In July, Hudson was designated for assignment and sent through waivers unclaimed. He was later added back to the roster in August but quickly wound up on the injured list due to elbow inflammation and finished the season there. He was outrighted off the roster again in October and elected free agency.
Once upon a time, Hudson seemed like a solid rotation option for the Cardinals. Over the 2019 and 2020 seasons, he tossed 213 2/3 innings with a 3.24 ERA, 18.4% strikeout rate, 11.1% walk rate and 56.9% ground ball rate. But Tommy John surgery wiped out most of his 2021 season and he hasn’t been able to bounce back since. His 221 innings in the 2022-23 seasons resulted in a 4.64 ERA with his strikeout rate falling to 12.9%. His 52.5% ground ball in that time was still above league average but a drop from his own previous track record.
For the Angels, rotation depth has been an ongoing issue for years. 2024 was no exception, as the club’s starters posted a collective 4.97 ERA, which was better than only the Marlins and Rockies. They subtracted from their group by sending Griffin Canning to Atlanta in the Jorge Soler deal. Patrick Sandoval was also non-tendered after requiring elbow surgery in the summer.
This offseason, they have signed Yusei Kikuchi and Kyle Hendricks, adding to a group that also includes José Soriano and Tyler Anderson. The roster also features Reid Detmers, Chase Silseth, Caden Dana, Sam Aldegheri, Jack Kochanowicz and others but Hudson will give them a bit of non-roster depth and try to get back on track after a few challenging years.
What a huge move for the angels.
What other washed up old pitcher will they sign next?
Relax. It’s a minor deal. Plus 30 isn’t old.
@rex
Im relaxed.
Also, 30 is old to me.
Didn’t Hudson say he was retiring after this season? Maybe I’m thinking of another Hudson.
yeah, Daniel Hudson from the Dodgers.
Femboy – “Also, 30 is old to me.”
You’re not increasing your credibility by saying that.
I love how people rush to make the first comment on how bad a signing it is. They want to see if they can ignite some feud.
nice try …………
@Angels
cope.
youre the one coping, ill bet no soto adames or anything for you. i hope your team makes some depth signings like this, so when guys get hurt you wont have to pull from aa!
@Femboy
Aren’t we all just coping?
Best of luck with you non-witty humor.
As long as it’s a MiLB deal and not taking up a 40-man roster spot, then fine. Minor league depth.
Perfect spot for Hudson to sign. If he can rebound, there’s an obvious path to playing time this year.
I really hope the Angels fully develop Dana and Klassen rather than rushing them into another futile MLB season.
All pitchers have a rough time in Denver. He’ll at least have better stats in Anaheim.
the Angels signed the most clearly and obviously cooked arm on the market? no way.
yes, I know it’s an MiLB deal, and yes I know how depth works. but what does best case scenario look like here? a couple ground balls and a few homers, 5.50 ERA?
He had a 3.72 ERA on the road last year, away from Coors Field. He’s probably not as bad as his numbers looked last year. Not saying he’s a Cy Young candidate or anything, but he’s entirely reasonable as a depth option.
the upside is enough groundballs to get his ERA under 5. that is not even what we’d normally refer to as ‘upside’.
I understand the home park was problematic but as a groundball guy that limits homers, ignoring half his performance from last season doesn’t seem prudent. some guys can get a pass for Coors performance, but I don’t think it applies to him.
Finally, the move that puts the Angels over the traveling All-Star team who buys everyone known as the Tax Dodgers.
Not only do they get HUDSON, they also get REX !!
I appreciate the Angels willingness to refurbish, it’s much better they’re doing it than my favorite team.
The ART of dealing worthless talent .. we are so screwed does this organization never learn?
Great signing
Shouldn’t he be good at getting 3 outs every few days
Look how good Strickland was last year
Great name Dakota Hudson
Thats what you want on your team, players with cool names
Oil can boyd
The Angels are once again scraping the bottom of the barrel with their pitcher signings, while the Rendon signing and the last Trout extension continue to screw over their finances.
They will never swim in the deep waters with the big boys, like the two NY teams, Dodgers, Red Sox… Perry will always be a dumpster diver. As long as people continue to show up to watch this AAA team play, they’ll keep doing nothing to improve.
to be fair, the dodgers bullpen were almost all reclamation projects, same with braves and partially red sox. Its true that ownership is incompetnet, but for bullpen arms reclamation of once great elbows and shoulders seems to work better than paying market for arms.
But the Dodgers have competent on field staff to develop and/or rehabilitate pitchers. The Angels have no such talent in their organization.
@Low IQ
That remains to be seen. They have a new pitching coach staff who has advocated and gotten a lot of training upgrades out of Moreno.
I’m not saying things are better, but I’m also willing to let things play out to see if the new folks running it can improve things.
He still has some good upside. He could even potentially be a good pen piece. I like it, A good get for a team like the Angels. May have a good trade chip at the deadline if he can somewhat figure it back out.
And there’s your opening day starter.
Low IQ Angels Management
Your mother doesn’t like you making comments before you take your medicine now be a good boy and listen to your mother or no cartoons tonight
Johnny, how could you not, based on your screen name, bring up cartoons? Much like that idiotic show, your attempt as humor is about as pathetic as your knowledge of baseball. But thanks for your enlightening addition to the conversation.
Strangely, this is the first Angels move of the winter that actually looks like an Angels move…
Hudson is a guy who moved through the Cardinals’ system with Jack Flaherty. He always has the “bad underlying stats” label, but he pitched well until his last year in St. Louis. I think he was devalued in St. Louis because he isn’t a high octane arm, but the right pitching coach might make something out of him. Good luck in Anaheim!