Angels sign Carlos Estevez (2 years, $13.5 million)

[mmc]

 

[Erstad Grit]

Hell ya! Go get a SS!!!!

[ScottM]

His career ERA is a full 2 runs lower out of Coors. Could be a decent arm pickup. 

[Angelsfan1984]

Solid!

[rafibomb]

Good for you @totdprods!

Quote

 

Nope, just somewhere between a guess and a hunch. This is the ‘what move would you make next’ thread after all. Perry traditionally moves quick and bullpen is probably the next to address.

The Angels can give him the opportunity to close and up his value for a future deal, or they can lock him up for a year or two now at money less than a closer would need. Hits 100. Big dude. Wouldn’t take a huge commitment but could clearly fill a need. It feels like it would align with Anderson, Renfroe, and Urshela - not the flashiest name, a few question marks, but a reasonable commit and cost. 

He‘s clearly affected by pitching in Coors.

158 innings at Coors with a 5.57 ERA, allowing more than a hit per inning (169) and walking 75 against 160 K.

Away? 143 IP, 3.51 ERA, 138 hits, only 43 BB against 152 K. That’s a dramatic difference in BB/9, and a significant difference in H/9 and K/9, suggesting his stuff truly just plays a lot better out of Coors.

After a rough start to ‘22, he had a very solid June through end of year too.

New assistant pitching coach Bill Hezel has liked/retweeted a few Estevez-related things over the years that Driveline metrics liked, things specifically pointing to potential for a big step-up away from Coors. Hezel’s whole Twitter is just filled with stuff mostly about Ohtani, Sandoval, and Cobb preceding his hire, plus lots of mentions about Baltimore’s Dillon Tate and Spenser Watkins. Jharel Cotton (a current free agent) also mentioned a lot. Wouldn’t be surprised if these are guys we’re targeting. Could do our annual Baltimore trade and try to get Tate too.

 

 

[jsnpritchett]

Just now, ScottSted said:

His career ERA is a full 2 runs lower out of Coors. Could be a decent arm pickup. 

It's still 3.51 outside of Coors, which is solid, but certainly not spectacular for a reliever.  K rate is again good, not great.  Here's his Baseball Savant profile from this year.  It's, uh, not great.

[Pancake Bear]

Petriello likes it

 

[Warfarin]

 

[totdprods]

1 minute ago, jsnpritchett said:

It's still 3.51 outside of Coors, which is solid, but certainly not spectacular for a reliever.  K rate is again good, not great.  Here's his Baseball Savant profile from this year.  It's, uh, not great.

That’s also taking into account half his games at Coors where his stuff obviously suffers. It doesn’t mean it will reverse significantly but simply getting him away from there could tick a lot of stuff much more the right direction. His BBs go way up, hits allowed go way up, and strikeouts way down at home. And not just a bit.

[mmc]

 

[ScottM]

5 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

It's still 3.51 outside of Coors, which is solid, but certainly not spectacular for a reliever.  K rate is again good, not great.  Here's his Baseball Savant profile from this year.  It's, uh, not great.

that chase rate tho 

[Pancake Bear]

Even better. 

[yamsi12]

[Warfarin]

1 minute ago, totdprods said:

That’s also taking into account half his games at Coors where his stuff obviously suffers. It doesn’t mean it will reverse significantly but simply getting him away from there could tick a lot of stuff much more the right direction. His BBs go way up, hits allowed go way up, and strikeouts way down at home. And not just a bit.

I think the key thing is that it appears he has to rather useful weapons - his FB and slider, both of which seem to grade well.  Possibly some tweaking is needed in terms of his usage, but I do think the biggest factor will be taking him out of Coors, as you basically said.  

[totdprods]

a tweet that new asst pitching coach Bill Hedel liked back in September 

[m0nkey]

[Warfarin]

1 minute ago, mmc said:

 

So basically - the Tepera deal.

[jsnpritchett]

$7M per seems to be a popular amount.

[totdprods]

I think I’ve also read somewhere that getting more out if Estevez’ changeup could yield some results and we’ve done that well with our starters.

[Chuck]

2 minutes ago, Warfarin said:

So basically - the Tepera deal.

But better. 

[Swordsman78]

Another ++ addition.  If we can't get a Top 4 SS then I'm fine with  Estevez and a #1-2 Starter.

Some people would say the pitching pickups are the #1 priority anyway as they would say the Halos have enough quality bats now.

 

[jsnpritchett]

He's a big boy.  Listed at 6'6", 277 lbs.

[Angels 1961]

BIG SPLASH still coming as Arte walks out the door

[Warfarin]

5 minutes ago, totdprods said:

a tweet that new asst pitching coach Bill Hedel liked back in September 

 

[totdprods]

Fwiw, the lionintexas dude on Twitter also called out Estevez and Angels pretty specifically a few days back, and today said they were prioritizing bullpen above all else and we’re getting their guy this week. 

A lot of what they’ve said is pretty safe for predictions but it hasn’t been terribly inaccurate.