LA Angels ink another pitcher former Braves ace Julio Teheran to one-year deal

Everyone has been clamoring for the LA Angels to acquire some pitching this off-season. They have already traded for Dylan Bundy from the Orioles and now they have signed former Braves ace Julio Teheran to a one-year deal worth nine million dollars.

While these moves are a start, the LA Angels still need an ace to anchor the staff that could end up being a six-man rotation.  Julio Teheran is not a bad pitcher by any means and could be a diamond in the rough that could pay big dividends for a small price.

The Angels 2020 rotation will now most likely have Andrew Heaney, Griffin Canning, Shohei Ohtani, Dylan Bundy, and now Julio Teheran.  The potential sixth starter could be Patrick Sandoval, Jose Suarez, Dillon Peters, or Felix Pena, but now the Angels have some firepower to play with signing Teheran and trading for Bundy.  Is there a move for an ace on the horizon? Very possibly with Dallas Keuchel and Hyun-Jin Ryu being the top pitchers the Angels are pursuing for that role.  A trade for an ace is still possible as well, but it will depend on what the other team may want from the Angels rising farm system.

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So what about our new acquisition Julio Teheran?  Teheran will just be 29 before the season starts and has pretty good career numbers going 77-73 with a 3.69 ERA and a WHIP of 1.21 with 1,184 strikeouts in 1,360 innings of work. Last season Teheran went 10-11 with a 3.81 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP with 162 strikeouts in 174.2 innings.

There has had more than 10 victories in five of his seven seasons in the majors. He had 14 wins in both of his first two seasons in 2013 and 2014.  One stat that jumps out at me is Teheran’s .235 opponents batting average including a .196 OBA in 2018 and a .229 OBA in 2019.  His run support the last couple of seasons has hurt him in not getting more wins despite having a lower ERA and OBA. Angel Stadium is more of a pitchers which should benefit.

Overall it is a nice low-risk and relatively low-cost move to help add depth to the Angels rotation.  The Angels still need an ace to anchor the staff, but this is still a very good pick-up for the the team.  Just wait and see.