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Angels right-hander Robert Stephenson continues to be coping with some shoulder discomfort and is probably not in recreation form by the point the season begins, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. Supervisor Ron Washington tells Fletcher that José Soriano might transfer again to the bullpen to take Stephenson’s spot.
Stephenson, 31, got here into camp with some shoulder soreness and he hasn’t but appeared in an official Spring Coaching recreation. As relayed by Fletcher, Stephenson has resumed throwing full bullpens and nonetheless plans on being prepared for Opening Day, however he has to recover from the discomfort and advance to dwell batting observe earlier than getting some recreation work in.
Barring a late March signing of Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery, the Angels’ most important transfer of the offseason shall be their three-year, $33MM deal for Stephenson. He obtained that good deal for himself based mostly on his stint with the Rays within the second half of 2023, when he was one of the dominant pitchers within the league.
He made 42 appearances for Tampa final 12 months with a 2.35 earned run common, because of a brand new breaking ball. Statcast labeled it as a cutter however Fletcher describes it as a tweak to his slider. Whatever the terminology, it helped him strike out 42.9% of batters confronted whereas strolling simply 5.7%. His 28.9% swinging strike proportion was greater than double final 12 months’s 11.6% league common for relievers.
The Angels had been primarily centered on bullpen upgrades this winter with Stephenson the spotlight. The one free agent they signed to a serious league deal that wasn’t a pitcher was Aaron Hicks, who solely requires the Halos to pay the prorated league minimal for the reason that Yankees are nonetheless on the hook for almost all of his contract. Pitchers Matt Moore, Luis García, Adam Cimber, José Cisnero, Adam Kolarek and Zach Plesac obtained one-year offers with Moore’s $9MM the biggest of them.
Stephenson’s deal was bigger than all of these, in size and in common annual worth. It’s unclear if he’ll miss a lot time, and even any in any respect, nevertheless it’s not the perfect begin to his tenure with the Angels.
In response to his standing, the membership could also be pivoting with Soriano, as talked about up high. It was reported a few weeks in the past that the Angels had been planning to stretch him out as a starter, although Washington admitted earlier this week that he wouldn’t be capable of safe a rotation spot except there was an damage to certainly one of Reid Detmers, Patrick Sandoval, Tyler Anderson, Griffin Canning or Chase Silseth. Now with Stephenson delayed, Soriano may return to the bullpen.
“First, you maintain want, after which you can begin considering long run,” Washington stated. “We determined we needed to attempt to see if Soriano can begin, and to date he has confirmed to us that he presumably can. Now, Stephenson down which means we’ve obtained a void within the bullpen. Now we’re going to decide on our want proper there. Long run could be Soriano being a starter. But when we are able to’t fill that void within the bullpen, Soriano has performed it earlier than. We’ve obtained an possibility.”
Soriano got here up as a starter within the minors however was considerably delayed as he required two Tommy John surgical procedures in pretty fast succession, one in February of 2020 and the opposite in June of 2021, which naturally led to him hardly pitching in any respect in that 2020-2022 interval. He was lastly wholesome final 12 months and tossed 42 innings for the Angels with a 3.64 ERA. His 12.4% stroll price was on the excessive facet, however that’s hardly stunning given the time he missed. He additionally punched out 30.3% of batters confronted and obtained grounders on 51% of balls in play.
Primarily based on Washington’s feedback, it appears the membership nonetheless thinks Soriano is a viable starter down the street however he could also be used within the bullpen for now. Along with his 42 innings of main league work final 12 months, Soriano additionally tossed 23 1/3 innings in Double-A, bringing his tally for the 12 months to 65 1/3. After lacking many of the earlier three seasons, he would in all probability run into an innings cap in some unspecified time in the future this 12 months if he had been appearing as a starter the entire time, speculatively within the vary of 100 to 120 or so.
He does have a few choices, so the Halos might maybe use him as a reliever within the large leagues for now however ship him down and stretch him again out later within the 12 months in the event that they wish to have him log some innings and maybe get in direction of a full starter’s workload in 2025.
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