The Los Angeles Angels signed yet another reliever coming off a subpar season due to injuries, as former Los Angeles Dodgers right hander Kirby Yates inked a reported one-year deal with the team. The report came from Thomas Harrigan of of MLB.com, with terms not disclosed.
The signing could signal a possible competition for closer that will likely also feature fellow signee Jordan Romano as the Angels continue to reconfigure their bullpen after a disastrous last two months of the season.
According to Steve Adams of MLBTradeRumours.com, the Angels are also hoping to get a full workload from Robert Stephenson, who is in the final year of his three-year, $33 million deal, and the Halos have also singed reliever Drew Pomeranz to a one-year deal.
Yates is 38, and he didn’t have a good year last year. He signed a one-year, $2 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers last year, but he made multiple trips to the injured list. His regular season ERA was 5.23, and Yates didn’t appear in the playoffs, either.
Some of his underlying metrics remain strong, however. Yates had a 29.1 percent strikeout rate and a 35.3 percent whiff rate, with both numbers being strong for a pitcher headed into his age-39 campaign.
Yates has had plenty of success in the recent past, too. In 2024 he was dominant with the Texas Rangers, as he posted 33 saves to go with 85 strikeouts and a 1.17 ERA. Numbers like that worth making him a flyer for the Angels, and Yates is also only a year removed from Tommy John surgery.
If he does fall short of his goals, Yates will have had a remarkable career. He’s a native of Hawaii, and he went undrafted out of Yavapai College in Prescott, Ariz. after spending much of his college careee rehabilitating from his first Tommy John surgery back in 2006.
Yates didn’t make his debut until he was 27, and he found a home down the coast with the San Diego Padres. He made his first All Start team in 2019 at the age of 32, when he led MLB with 41 saves.
After that came three injury-riddled seasons, but Yates rebounded with the Atlanta Braves in 2023 before regaining his All-Star form with the Rangers in 2024. This deal also reunites him with former Texas Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux, who worked with Yates during his last All-Star season.