Search the Community

Was Raisel Iglesias a One-Off, Elite Closer for the Angels? The Angels started the 2021 season with what could only be described as a questionable bullpen with two exceptions, in the form of Raisel Iglesias, an established, premium arm, and Chris Rodriguez, a young, promising prospect from the farm system. As the team limped past the Trade Deadline, the front office shook things up and made a series of promotions from the farm system to audition some new, young arms in anticipation of rebuilding the 2022 bullpen. Realistically, if Minasian focuses most of the available payroll and resources for one or more starting pitchers, a shortstop, etc., that will leave little left for relief help, thus relying heavily on that aforementioned bastion of young arms. The signing of Aaron Loup did not come without a cost, so barring a Moreno financial flex, it is quite possible the Angels front office may be done in this area, despite a potential desire to retain Raisel. Certainly, the Halos did extend Iglesias a Qualifying Offer, but he did not accept, increasing the likelihood he will play for another team in 2022. Also a Raisel extension would likely fall in the $15M-$18M per year range, maybe more, so allocating for this will be very burdensome on team payroll, unless Arte intercedes. Finding someone to replace Raisel will be made more difficult, because, although there is a fairly large pool of relievers available in free agency, there is a dearth of top-end talent to pick from this offseason. Minasian will be forced to either retain the increasingly expensive Iglesias or find a similar type of arm in trade, again (Loup was a good target!). In fact here is Raisel Iglesias’ Statcast player similarity for reference on how few pitchers there are that even come close in quality to the Angels reliever: Raisel Iglesias 2021 Statcast Player Similarity (R = .80) That is a trio of elite names. This fact may lead the Halos to seriously consider a contract, just on the principle of how good he is, but again, if he accepts, they will be pigeon-holed financially. If you branch out and look at Cole, Glasnow, and Kopech, the closest similarity of relievers you find are free agent Ryan Tepera and Rays reliever Diego Castillo, so if Moreno wants to significantly open the wallet, retaining Iglesias could, still, be a worthwhile and, as the Orange County Register’s Jeff Fletcher reported, possibly mutual goal. If the Angels move on from Raisel, they will still need to acquire 1-2 more relievers this offseason, to build proper depth. Loup may be our new closer, but he could also be a set-up guy, too. Either way, he is a nice arm to add to the back-end of the bullpen Names that may be of real interest in a back-end role could include Ryan Tepera, Archie Bradley, Oliver Drake, Kenley Jansen, Joe Kelly, Corey Knebel, Darren O’Day, Adam Ottavino, Trevor Rosenthal, Joakim Soria, Andrew Chafin, Brad Hand, and Kwang Hyun Kim, among a host of other candidates. Of course the trade market holds a vast number of names that the front office could focus on, including guys like Tim Mayza, Luis Medina, Shane Baz, Scott Barlow, Tanner Scott, Michael Fulmer, Richard Bleier, Scott Alexander, and Richard Rodriguez, among other potential targets. Adding Aaron Loup to the team's current internal options (40-man), yields the following, probable list of 2022 bullpen candidates: Aaron Loup Jaime Barria Jimmy Herget Jose Marte Mike Mayers Oliver Ortega Elvis Peguero Jose Quijada Chris Rodriguez (Injured, may return by end of 2022) Sam Selman Kyle Tyler Andrew Wantz Austin Warren That is a good group of arms, in principle, yet it still feels incomplete and could use another closer option. If Chris Rodriguez had not been injured it would have felt more “full”, perhaps even finished to a degree. Although the Halos probably want a top-tier closer, they may be priced out of that market, unless they go the trade route or, once again, Moreno opens the pocketbook. As it stands, this is probably our Opening Day 2022 bullpen (generally the team starts the year with eight relievers in order to stretch out the rotation): Aaron Loup Austin Warren Mike Mayers Jose Quijada Sam Selman Jose Marte Jimmy Herget Jaime Barria (Long relief) On paper that is a fairly solid relief corps. Were you to add another back-end arm to that list, it would likely be well inside the Top 15 in MLB, i.e. a real asset to team production. However, as it is currently constituted, this bullpen may be slightly above average, at best, barring multiple breakout performances. Basically, outside of Loup and Mayers, there is a lot of uncertainty and risk, for good or bad, with this group of arms. This variability adds risk. Reducing uncertainty and risk is GM Perry Minasian’s job, which is why the Halos would be best served finding another back-end reliever, particularly a guy who can close games, preferably, to help reduce the bullpen’s variability. If that is re-signing Raisel, one of the best they can likely acquire, or signing an alternate free agent or, more probable, trading for a preferred arm, that could reduce the variability in performance for our 2022 relief corps. The 2021 Los Angeles Angels were spoiled with the likes of Raisel Iglesias and now Minasian is tasked to try and fill that gap, whether it is re-signing Raisel, plugging it with Loup, or finding another solution.

By Robert Cunningham, Angelswin.com Senior Writer Special Request: Hope for Education is a small, targeted charity sponsored by Angelswin.com. I am humbly requesting a small donation as we enter the New Year and hope that you are in the giving mood as these kids need help to learn in a safe environment from this very deadly pandemic. Please lend a hand, even if it is only a couple of bucks, it does make a difference. Thank you for your time and attention! Important Note: First of all I would like to say Happy New Year! I hope all of you and your families are implementing best-practice safety guidelines as outlined by the Center for Disease Control, including wearing masks out in public, washing your hands often, and exercising physical distancing protocols. Not only is COVID-19 potentially life-threatening there are now reports of long-term physical and psychological damage to those that survive. Take care of yourselves out there both physically and mentally, the Angels family needs to stay strong so all of us can enjoy Mike Trout now and in the future! At this point in the off-season, it is easy to say that the Angels bullpen is already revamped and, in fact, may continue to evolve even further, prior to Opening Day, after a dizzying array of non-tendered contracts and Rule 5 and trade additions. The previous administration placed a lot of emphasis on acquiring relievers through the waiver wire, minor trades, and the rare free agent signing. By focusing resources in other areas, Eppler and company actually did a fair job of building a Major League bullpen, albeit it lacked a true, sustained closer type. Eppler’s front office focused a lot on high spin rates and acquiring arms that threw a good fastball and curveball; the latter is a good pitch that works against both sides of the plate, negating some of the need to find those lockdown lefties. Minasian’s reign has yet to give us a lot of information on how he will approach building a good relief corps but there are three data points to discuss here. First of all, the quick strike and addition of Raisel Iglesias is significant, as it adds a clear, proven back-end bullpen arm that is capable of closing out games on a regular basis for the Angels. Raisel is stronger from the right-side with his fastball, slider, and changeup combination which can shutdown a right-handed heavy team. Per FanGraphs, out of all qualified relievers in 2020, Iglesias was in the Top 5 of Wins Above Replacement (WAR). In fact, over the last two seasons, he ranks 8th with only lofty names like Nick Anderson, Taylor Rogers, Aroldis Chapman, and Brad Hand, ahead of him. Despite the fact that the Halos, currently, only have him for one season, there is a lot to like about bringing him into the fold for 2021, particularly due to the fact that the Angels are projected to have a fairly tight 5.12 Runs Scored per Game (RS/G) versus an 4.82 Runs Against per Game (RA/G), which means the team may find itself in more close games, where they will lead by a small amount of runs, creating a high leverage situation that Iglesias can help solve. Additionally, the Halos front office struck during the Rule 5 Draft, acquiring Jose Alberto Rivera, a young arm from the Astros organization. Rivera features a big fastball, averaging in the high-90’s, curveball, and splitter. Clearly the new Angels front office is gambling that the heater/curveball combination is mature enough to fit in middle relief and, just like the Eppler era, this feels like a worthy gamble, despite the fact that the Angels will need to keep him all season or send him back to Houston if they cannot keep him on the active roster. Also, the team recently signed left-hander Alex Claudio to a one-year deal, for $1.125M. Claudio is the pure definition of “soft-tossing lefty” and, as expected, gets left-handed hitters out at a pretty good clip, although he does okay versus right-handed hitters as well. This should give Joe Maddon a specialist option out of the bullpen on an as-needed basis. Finally, we can glean some information about the players Minasian non-tendered/traded versus the players he kept on the 40-man roster. Guys like Noe Ramirez, Hoby Milner, and Matt Andriese were lower velocity types, whereas arms like Gerardo Reyes, Luke Bard, Ty Buttrey, Mike Mayers, and Kyle Keller all throw in the mid-to-upper 90’s. High velocity appears to be a real draw for the new Angels GM. Notably most of these bullpen arms that were retained have fastball/slider combos in their repertoire lending to the idea that Minasian and company may be making a point to go with guys whose 2nd pitches are sliders, which is a notorious same-side strikeout weapon, i.e. pure strikeout potential seems to be preferred, over creating poor contact or pinpoint control by the new front office. Basically, it appears, on the surface, that the initial emphasis is on strong strikeout capability. High strikeout rates are an important element in Major League Baseball so it is a bit refreshing to see a little more importance placed on it, although it did appear that Eppler’s group was on to something regarding high spin rates (difficult for hitters to see) and targeting guys with good curveballs (ability to get batters out on both sides of the plate). We will see how this plays out moving forward with Minasian, but the route he is initially focusing on is also a good path to run prevention, i.e. less hitters on-base results in less runs scored. Moving beyond the philosophical discussion, the Angels currently have, as of Dec. 31st, 2020, the following pure, bullpen arms on the 40-man roster (number of Minor League options remaining are in parentheses after each name): Luke Bard (1) Ty Buttrey (2) Alex Claudio (0) Raisel Iglesias (0) Kyle Keller (1) Mike Mayers (0) Jose Quijada (1) Gerardo Reyes (1) Jose Alberto Rivera (R5, 3 after the 2021 season) In addition, as mentioned in the Rotation article, Dillon Peters (0), Jaime Barria (0), Felix Pena (1), and Hector Yan (2), may be viewed as starters but they could also, possibly, work out of the bullpen, too. In fact, Barria and Peters are out of options so they will need a home on the active roster if they are to play in 2021. So to start, it should be noted that the Angels may or may not retain all of these names. Player’s can always be designated for assignment, so none of this is set in stone yet. Trades, signings, and waiver wire acquisitions could still change the landscape, quickly, too. All that being said if you were to take what the Angels have now and line it up into a group of eight relievers to start the season, it may look like this: Raisel Iglesias (Closer) Mike Mayers (Setup) Ty Buttrey (Setup) Alex Claudio (Specialist) Gerardo Reyes (Middle Relief) Luke Bard (Middle Relief) Jose Alberto Rivera (Middle Relief) Felix Pena (Long Relief) Now, certainly, you could substitute Keller or Quijada in middle relief, if you like, but these two, as well as Reyes and Bard, have a Minor League option remaining and the Angels will need Minor League bullpen depth, so a couple of them will start the season down in AAA or AA. Additionally, Peters could easily be the long reliever with Pena starting the season in the Minors, as well. When you look at this projection, on paper, the back-end of the bullpen seems fairly strong, particularly with the addition of Iglesias. However, it is the middle of the bullpen that leaves some room for doubt. Reyes, Bard, and Rivera have some good stuff but they are mostly unproven in the Majors, particularly Rivera. It might be useful, then, for Minasian to acquire one more quality middle reliever with some experience in the Majors and a pedigree of success. Yes, that is not always easy to find in a relief arm, considering their year-to-year variance, but it is not impossible. Really if we can find one more back-end or good middle reliever, the bullpen will be in pretty good shape and could possibly absorb the loss of an Iglesias, Mayers, or Buttrey, if they were to go on the Injured List for an extended period of time. Additionally, it could allow the Halos front office to option down someone like Bard or Reyes to create more depth or even flat out replace a borderline relief candidate, with a preferred choice, on the 40-man roster. Considering how many relievers and Minor Leaguer’s were cut loose, due to financial impacts, finding another impact arm, at a reasonable price, should not be terribly difficult. Based on the Angels own payroll restraints, this will either be a trade, for an inexpensive, controllable, upside-type, or a simple less-costly Major League signing, not dissimilar to Alex Claudio. Certainly, Minasian could do more and perhaps he will when it is all said and done, particularly if we do not net a guy like Bauer or some other expensive starter, utilizing the old approach of spending on the bullpen if the market for starters is too overpriced to play in. In the end, the Angels bullpen was a bit above average in 2020 and, with the addition of Iglesias, it likely improved, despite the subtractions, so another addition now or later, at the Trade Deadline, could push the Halos bullpen into the Top 10 in baseball, potentially. Expect: It really feels like the Angels can make room for one more solid reliever by possibly trading one of their current relievers (maybe Bard or Peters) or even designating them for assignment, to create space on the 40-man roster. This addition could literally come from anywhere at this moment, through free agency (maybe Brad Hand or Archie Bradley, if the Angels lose out on Bauer, a mid-tier guy like Shane Greene, or perhaps a veteran like Darren O’Day or Mark Melancon) or trade (perhaps someone like Chris Stratton or Richard Rodriguez from the Pirates in a Joe Musgrove based trade or Rowan Wick, Hector Neris, or Scott Oberg, for example). Surely, Minasian and company could stand pat and add another arm closer to the Trade Deadline, but the opportunity to strike now, under a new regime that is remaking the team in their own image, may afford a more aggressive, fresh start to our relief corps, heading into 2021.