The Los Angeles Angels went bargain shopping in free agency and brought in several pitchers that hadn't had recent MLB success.
The Los Angeles Angels find themselves at the bottom of the league standings yet again with nine days remaining before the Aug. 3 trade deadline, clearing the way for the team to be sellers.
After a somewhat promising 11-10 start early in the season, it looked like the Angels could possibly hang around the wild card in what is a terrible American League, Los Angeles fell off a cliff by mid-April.
The offense that was hitting for a lot of power stopped producing, and the pitching staff that was exceeding expectations fell back down to earth despite left-hander Reid Detmers and José Soriano being two of the top starting pitchers on the trade market.
Los Angeles being where they are now makes total sense when you rewind to the offseason. In free agency, the Angels spent just $20.6 million on external free agents and most of the additions were pitchers deemed “reclamation projects.”
Right-handed reliever Kirby Yates is 0-5 and has blown half of his save opportunities but carries a 3.80 ERA and 1.06 WHIP through 27 games, making him the most productive pitcher from the crop.
Left-hander Drew Pomeranz and right-hander Jordan Romano were both designated for assignment and picked up by other teams but haven’t found success. Pomeranz had a 5.01 ERA and 1.59 WHIP in 23.1 innings while Romano had a 10.13 ERA with a 2.13 WHIP through eight innings.
Although Pomeranz and Romano were let go from the team, perhaps nobody has had a tougher year than right-hander Alek Manoah. He worked pitched in three games for the Angels during May and put up a 9.82 ERA and 2.18 WHIP in 7.1 innings.
Los Angeles sent him back to Triple-A Salt Lake and his numbers there are almost two-times as bad – in 10 starts, Manoah is 1-6 with a 15.06 ERA and 2.81 WHIP over 31.2 innings.
Manoah was outstanding in his first two seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays, finishing eighth in American League Rookie of the Year voting and becoming an All-Star in his second season. In 2022, Manoah nearly pitched 200 innings and struck out 180 batters while going 16-7 with a 2.24 ERA and 0.99 WHIP.
He looked like a future star at just 24-years-old, but control issues and injuries have derailed his career.
At just 28, a career that looked promising five years ago appears to be coming to a brutal end if he can’t figure something out by year’s end, if he even makes it that far.
