LA Angels non-tender Matt Shoemaker and Blake Parker

The LA Angels have just non-tendered starter Matt Shoemaker and reliever Blake Parker and will see them immediately depart for free agency. The Angels are known for their need for pitching depth, which makes this non-tender an interesting one to ponder. Are there bigger moves down the line for Halos? 

More from Halo Hangout

• New York Post columnist has LA Angels bringing veteran starter back to LA
• Dodgers make wild mistake signing failed LA Angels starter
• Why LA Angels’ Qualifying Offer to Raisel Iglesias could become historical
• Both Gold Glove finalists for LA Angels getting snubbed is a complete joke
• Marcus Stroman definitely appears to be interested in the LA Angels

The LA Angels have officially non-tendered pitchers Matt Shoemaker and Blake Parker, two Angels who have both contributed greatly to the Angels franchise in some form or another. Matt Shoemaker was with the team for six years, in those years pitching a total 545 innings with an overall 3.93 ERA. Matt Shoemaker won 40 total games with the Angels, averaging about 7 wins a season.

Matt Shoemaker will be remembered for his lone playoff start with the Angels back in 2014 against the to-be World Series champions, the Kansas City Royals. In that start Shoemaker pitching 6 innings of 5 hit baseball while striking out 6 and allowing no earned runs in one of the finest starts of his career. Unfortunately the Angels did not win that game.

Shoemaker has been experiencing severe injury bugs that sidelined him for the vast majority of the 2017 and 2018 season. Across those two season, Shoemaker pitched 108.2 innings of 4.64 ERA baseball while struggling to stay healthy. The Angels will be saving 4.125 million with the non-tender of Shoemaker.

Regarding Blake Parker; the relief pitcher had a fantastic 2017 season which saw him pitch 67.1 innings of 2.54 ERA baseball while collecting 86 K’s to only 16 BB’s. That was a season which saw Parker take control of the closer job late in the season and collect 8 saves. Even though Parker was stellar all year round he was not able to wrestle the closer job from Bud Norris, who saved 19 games (23 opportunities) in 62 IP while maintaining a 4.21 ERA.

Despite that fantastic season Parker came down to earth a little bit in 2018, pitching 66.1 innings of 3.26 ERA baseball and collecting 16 saves while finishing 41 games. Despite those good numbers Parker was non-tendered by the Angels as he entered his 2nd year of arbitration going into his 7th season at the age of 33. Parker made 1.8 million in 2018 and looked to receive a raise for 2019.

It’ll be interesting to see how the Angels follow-up this news. Is there a big trade or signing happening in the near future? Or was this a simple “act first, think later” move? We will find out soon enough, but for now we can only hope the best for Matt Shoemaker and Blake Parker in finding a new home and much success in their futures.