LA Angels, Heaney Avoid Arbitration

The LA Angels and starting pitcher Andrew Heaney were able to agree to a deal on Tuesday to avoid any upcoming arbitration hearings.

The LA Angels were able to sign Heaney for $800 thousand on a one-year deal, per Jon Heyman. The deal does include bonuses for Heaney, which will be rewarded pending his performance.

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Heaney is coming off a 2017 season in which he spent the majority of it rehabbing from Tommy John Surgery. As his Instagram will tell you, it only took Heaney 377 days until he made his first rehab start. He progressed through the usually lengthy process quickly, and made his season debut in Baltimore on August 18th.

However, Heaney was not his old self upon his return. In his five starts he made, he allowed 12 home runs and 17 total runs for a 7.06 ERA. It was apparent Heaney was still struggling to pitch effectively, as he allowed 11.2 hits per nine innings.

Heaney did show a flash of his dominant pre-injury self in his third start. He threw 94 pitches across six innings, and struck out ten batters while walking one. He only allowed two hits, though one left the park.

Heaney is facing a pivotal season in 2018. The 26-year old will be healthy going into the season, and will need to show the Halos organization that he can both stay healthy for an entire season while also being an effective pitcher. He was once viewed as a potential #2 option in a rotation, and the Halos are looking for clarity in their rotation this season.

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While the salary seems small, Heaney will likely have bonuses for pitching certain amounts of games/innings. He will also have performance bonuses such as amounts of strikeouts, ERA total, and wins.

The Angels still have nine other players facing potential arbitration, and will be looking to sign them to contracts this week as well.

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