The Los Angeles Angels optioned young reliever Walbert Urena back to Triple-A Salt Lake after they saw the best- and worst-case scenarios for Urena during their initial series against the Houston Astros.
The move includes the Angels selecting the contract of right-hander Shaun Anderson to join the roster, while right-hander Victor Mederos was designated for assignment to make room for Anderson.
The supposed reason for this was to “protect” the bullpen, which Suzuki now knows after a weekend of managing the Angels is even more paper thin than he initially suspected.
“We needed to get some length in the bullpen to protect us,” manager Kurt Suzuki said in a piece written by Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. “He’s gonna go down, and we’ll get him back in the rotation. We all see the stuff. But for a younger player, the game can get fast a little bit. And I love the guy, he's such a hard worker, great teammate. He's got such a bright future. So I'm excited for him to go down and get into a groove.”
That may be true, but Suzuki didn’t exactly treat Urena well when he was with the team. Urena was brilliant in his first appearance, but on Saturday against Houston he was left in far too long after the pitcher lost the strike zone and had an incredibly bad inning and should have been removed far earlier than he actually was. The manager played a key role in what happened, but Suzuki didn't talk about that part.
“At the end of the day, in the major leagues and the minor leagues, it's not really about stuff, it's about consistency,” Suzuki said. “He's obviously shown some brilliant flashes, and then some days it gets a little fast for him. So I think he's going to go down, he's going to keep working hard like he normally does, and get back in a groove.”
That’s what should have happened in the first place, but the Angels do what they always do, which is to rush young players and let them sink or swim rather than develop them properly.
“I really like him as a person, he works his butt off and is a great teammate,” Suzuki said. “It's just one of those things where it's part of the business. Hopefully we can keep him, but at the end of the day, with an arm like that, you just never know.”