Angels Starter Tries To Lock In After Trade Deadline Chaos

For many teams around the league, Los Angeles Angels starter Reid Detmers became “the one who got away” at the trade deadline. The Angels listened to offers for Detmers, but instead they ended up trading fellow starter Jose Soriano as the Halos cleaned house and did a complete roster reset.  

Detmers scuffled in his first start after the deadline against the Baltimore Orioles, but he’s trying to lock in again as he gets ready to face the Texas Rangers tonight. 

The experience of almost being traded wasn’t easy, but Detmers is happey to be back, according to his comments to Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. 

“It was a little bit tough, but I'm happy to be here,” said Detmers, who ranks fourth in the AL with 150 strikeouts. “It is what it is. I knew my name was going to be all over the place, but at the end of the day, nothing happened, so now it’s time to lock in and finish the rest of this year on a good note.”

His phone also took some brutal hits a week ago as the rumors continued to pour in. 

“I didn't really know what happened until all of a sudden my phone just started going crazy,” Detmers said. “People I haven't talked to since I got drafted, trying to find out if that was true or not. Obviously it wasn't true. But my phone was blowing up, and I was just trying to do everything possible just to get away from it.”

Detmers was on an impressive run before the deadline chaos hit, as he had a string of three straight starts with an ERA of just 1.65 that also included 22 strikeouts in 16-1/3 innings. His Baltimore start was different, though, as the whole deadline experience caught up with him. 

“Just kind of felt out of sync,” the left-hander explained. “I had a couple off-days there in between, so I was just trying to find it, and I think I exhausted myself trying to find it.”

Detmers gave up three runs on four hits in four innings, and the Angels elected to go to the bullpen early. They’re starting to do a better job of protecting their starters now that they have nothing to play for, and Detmers could be one of the beneficiaries. 

“He just looked gassed,” said manager Kurt Suzuki. “He was working hard, and we felt like the best option was just to go to the bullpen right there.”