Another Eppler move may pay big dividends for LA Angels

LA Angels general manager Billy Eppler signed Yusmeiro Petit  to a minor league contract today.  Most people are probably like ‘Big Deal’ , my answer would be, ‘It could be’.  Why you might ask? because when Petit is right he can be really good.

The LA Angels had one of the weakest bullpens in the majors last year, and although they have made moves to strengthen it this off-season, Petit can definitely help.  Petit is an eight-year veteran who still has a good arm.

Last year aside when Petit went 3-5 with a 4.50 ERA for the Washington Nationals with a 1.32 WHIP, he has been a pretty effective reliever and he also has 58 career starts.  In his first four major league seasons mostly as a starter Petit was 10-20 with a 5.65 ERA with the Florida Marlins and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

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After a horrid 2009 season where he went 3-10 with a 5.82 ERA, Petit was sent to the minors and bounced around the minors until he landed in Fresno with the Giants Triple-A affiliate in 2012 and Petit slowly started to resurrect his career. He only pitched one game in the big leagues in 2012 and was only moderately effective pitching 4.2 inning giving up two runs.

Petit was sent back down to the minors and was called up again in 2013 and was much more effective as a starter going 4-1 with a 3.56 ERA with 47 strikeouts in 48 innings with a 1.18 WHIP. Petit finally made the Opening Day roster and was a key pitcher in the Giants World Series run going 5-5 with a 3.69 ERA as both a starter and a reliever. What was more impressive was his numbers 133 strikeouts in 117 innings with a 1.017 WHIP. Opponents only batted .223 against Petit and he had only 22 walks.

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However where Petit earned his money wan the 2014 post-season.  Petit was like Francisco Rodriguez was for the 2002 Angels going 3-0 with a 1.42 ERA in the playoffs.  Petit pitched in 12.2 innings with 13 strikeouts with a 0.87 WHIP and opponents batted .163 against Petit. Very impressive numbers.

Next: Yusmeiro Petit is signed by Angels

So as you can see Petit has some experience and has also been very effective during most of the last five seasons and I think he will be a major asset to the Angels bullpen.  I truly believe he will make the Opening Day roster and b a key swing man in the Angels bullpen in 2017. Who knows maybe he can have another post-season like 2014 and help lead the Angels to the promise land again.  ‘It could happen’.