The Los Angeles Angels were listening to trade offers for left-handed starter Reid Detmers at the trade deadline, but interim GM John Mozeliak opted to keep him.
The Los Angeles Angels had one of the biggest fire sales out of any team at this year’s trade deadline but held on to arguably their best trade asset.
Angels left-handed starter Reid Detmers received tons of interest from contenders around the league seeking frontline starting pitching and was even rumored to be traded to the Chicago Cubs (for five minutes before it was debunked).
The asking price from interim general manager John Mozeliak was understandably high given the years of team control, but more importantly, Detmers has pitched like one of the top strikeout specialists in all of Major League Baseball.
Detmers in ninth in strikeouts with 174 and is projected to end his season with 209 for his first career 200-strikeout season while boasting a 3.54 ERA and 1.07 WHIP through 27 starts (155 innings).
Shockingly, Detmers had just two strikeouts over six innings of work in his last outing against the Philadelphia Phillies, but he regularly strikes out around six batters per game and has multiple starts with 10 or more punchouts.
The 27-year-old has been on a great run, especially since the All-Star break. In eight starts dating back to July 17, Detmers has a 1.55 ERA with 51 strikeouts to just nine walks over 46.1 innings pitched. At a time when ace pitching is so sought after, the Angels have one in Detmers.
There’s no guarantee that Detmers won’t be moved in the offseason, but it was made clear that the Angels didn’t feel the need to move all of their best trade chips in one sitting.
The haul that Los Angeles could get for Detmers makes it extremely enticing to deal him despite how painful it would be to lose a starter like him, but he’d be a great building block for the future of the organization that is finally set on rebuilding properly.
Detmers is 13th in strikeouts per nine (10.1) while exceling at limiting home runs and walks, traits of a dominant ace. He’s 16th in win probability added (2.03) for pitchers and is also one of the most clutch pitchers, ranking 22nd in that advanced metric according to FanGraphs.
The Angels have one of the best starters in the league and would be wise to hold on to him beyond this season, but it depends on what the franchise would value more: two years of control or multiple top 100 prospects to continue rebuilding the mediocre farm system.
His next start is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 4 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
