Credit: Jim Cowsert-US PRESSWIRE

On May 3rd, Ernesto Frieri was traded from the San Diego Padres to the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for infielder Alexi Amarista and minor league pitcher Donn Roach. What proceeded was one hell of a first-half honeymoon. Frieri quickly established himself as the most solid relief pitcher in the Angels bullpen and nabbed the closer position.

His first 25 1/3 innings in Angels red, Frieri didn’t allow a single run. In his first 9 innings with the Angels he struck out 20. Only 3 other pitchers have done that in the history of baseball. He struck out 40 of the first 91 batters he faced and allowd only six hits. He also was the first pitcher since 1921 with 20-plus strikeouts and no earned runs in his first 10 innings with a new club (according to Stats LLC).

Somehow, in his first half of 2012 with the Angels, Frieri went from the fifth man out of the Padres bullpen to suddenly becoming one of the best relievers in baseball. It seemed improbable.

And guess what? It was. In the second-half of 2012, Frieri put up an 4.50 ERA, allowed 7 home runs in 28 innings of work and blew 3 saves. A far cry from his near perfect first-half performance.

2012 Game of the Year

Every game Frieri pitched in the first-half for the Angels could be a viable candidate for his best game of 2012. His June 2nd game against the the Texas Rangers in front of over 44,000 Angels fans in Anaheim might be the best, though. Not only did Frieri earn his second save in a row in as many nights against the division rivals, but he did it on three strike outs, ending with a swinging strikeout by Josh Hamilton, leaving the bases jammed. It wasn’t his best pitching performance but it showed Frieri had a tough, closer’s mentality. Or so it seemed at the time.

2013 Outlook

Is Ernesto Frieri the dominant closer-type pitcher the Angels saw in the first-half or the good but not great, middle-reliever type they saw in the second-half? It’s hard to tell but don’t be surprised if Frieri isn’t named the opening day closer in 2013.

Frieri’s success as a pitcher is the result of being able to get a lot of swing and misses on the movement of his four-seam fastball, a pitch he throws 85% of the time and that batters swung at almost 50% of the time in 2012. It’s by far his best pitch. The problem lies in that Frieri doesn’t have a reliable secondary pitch to go with it. So if he’s not locating that fastball, then he becomes hittable or starts walking batters. And with not much else but a shaky curveball in his bag of pitches, that can be a bad combination.

Despite having a very different second-half from his excellent start in 2012, the overall numbers are very similar to his 2011 season with the Padres. If that’s any indication, the Angels acquired a mostly solid relief pitcher in 2012 with a penchant for a low WHIP and a good K/BB ratio.

Is he the closer of the future for the Angels, though? Don’t bet on it.

Frieri has literally been unhittable since coming to the Angels (Image: Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE)

Plan B involved demoting Walden to a middle relief/setup role as he continued to work on his secondary pitches in less high-pressure situations. They moved their lone reliable arm from the early part of the season, Scott Downs, back to close, hoping the shuffling would bring about some different results. To add a little more help, the Angels front office struck a deal with the San Diego Padres, sending them infielder Alexi Amarista in exchange for reliever Ernesto Frieri. Plan B has gone exceedingly well.

During his time with San Diego, Frieri was used as a middle reliever and setup man. Control issues always kept Frieri from moving into the closer’s role despite his excellent stuff. GM Jerry Dipoto targeted Frieri because of his good movement on his fastball and his tendency to “miss bats,” which was something that was severely lacking from the Angels pen early this season. Deception is the key for Frieri, as he uses an unorthodox across-the-body motion to deliver a lively 93-mph fastball. Since the trade, Frieri has made a commitment to attacking the zone, rather than nibbling the corners, which has drastically reduced the control issues that plagued him in San Diego. Now, he throws it down the pipe and lets the natural movement take the pitch to the corners.

The results have been phenomenal. Over 8.2 innings in nine games, Frieri has yet to surrender a hit, striking out 19 and walking six. Of the 32 batters he’s faced so far as an Angel, only six have put the ball in play. Combined with Downs, who hasn’t given up a run in 13 innings, and Walden, who has responded well to his demotion and is bouncing back nicely, and the major weakness of this team in April suddenly looks like its biggest strength.

Frieri has been such a strong addition to the bullpen, he may force Mike Scioscia to amend Plan B (Plan B-2 maybe?) and install the newcomer as the closer. Downs has been good, but Frieri has been sooo good, Scioscia may want to put Frieri as the stopper at the end of games. He did it on Wednesday, giving Downs the ninth and bringing Frieri in for the save in the 11th.

Scioscia won’t officially name Frieri his closer, saying that he would also like to keep Downs as an option for the end of games, but his actions and Frieri’s performance seem to indicate the move has already taken place, even if unofficially. Whether it’s Frieri or Downs, though, teams are going to have a hard time mounting late rallies against this Angels bullpen. Who thought we’d be able to say that a month ago?

Mike Scioscia has seen enough from Walden to make a change (Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE)

The team had faith in Walden and brought in veteran closers like LaTroy Hawkins and Jason Isringhausen to act as set-up guys and mentors to the young hurler. The Angels were hoping the sage wisdom of Hawk and Izzy would help Walden develop as a closer and cut down on those blown save chances. Then they loaded up the offense and starting pitching to make sure he’d have plenty of leads to close out, and everything would work out perfectly.

Unfortunately for all involved, things haven’t gone perfectly. In fact, so far this season it seems that everything has gone terribly wrong. The offense has been pretty terrible for the most part, the starting pitching has been inconsistent, and the middle relief has looked hell-bent on giving away as many leads as humanly possible. Walden has seen just six games, and has struggled through 4.1 innings of work, striking out six, walking four with an 8.31 ERA and a 2.077 WHIP. In all, Walden has seen just two save opportunities through 19 games, including one blown save on Thursday when Walden surrendered a walkoff three-run home run to pinch hitter Brandon Allen of Tampa Bay. Now, it seems Walden will have to wait a while before getting save chance number three because the Angels have seen enough.

According to Mike DiGiovanna’s twitter (@MikeDiGiovanna), the Angels have given Walden the hook as closer and will be replacing him with Scott Downs for the near future. Walden will be transitioned back to a middle relief/set-up role, seeing action in the 7th or 8th innings. Downs has yet to give up a run this year in 7.0 innings of work, striking out three and walking two with a WHIP of 1.000. He’s been one of the few consistent relief options out of the Halos’ bullpen, but hasn’t seen a lot of time as a closer in his career, with just 17 saves over his 11 year career.

Manager Mike Scioscia says he still have faith in Walden, but feels like the young right-hander needs more time to develop his pitches and grow as a pitcher. He recognizes that it’s tough to experiment and find your groove as a pitcher coming in during the ninth inning and wants to get Walden some chances to do different things in situations that aren’t so critical to whether the Angels win or lose. He contends that this demotion is not about Walden developing his “closer mentality,” but more about him learning to execute his pitches more consistently and developing a better breaking ball.

The Angels were forced to drop Walden into the closer spot much sooner than they would have liked and they hoped that he’d able to develop as he went along. While he’s shown flashes of being an excellent closer, the inconsistency from his lack of experience has really shown through and hurt the Angels in some critical spots, and right now, the Angels can’t handle anybody else hurting them. Taking him out of the high pressure situations of closing so that he can grow and learn a little bit will help his development in the long run which will be good because this Angels team can’t afford to let him figure it out as he goes any more.