Could Angels pitchers be non-tender candidates due to finances?

Financial issues could force clubs like the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to non-tender arbitration-eligible players after the 2020 season.

If the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the rest of Major League Baseball find a way to have a season in 2020, it will be because both the owners and the players make financial concessions to allow for games to resume. Regardless of any agreement, the battle over finances and player salary will likely extend into the offseason and additional casualties could result.

Before any agreement has been hashed out, we’ve already seen payrolls being slashed by multiple clubs, including the Angels. This has extended from front office employees to minor league players, as teams try to trim payrolls in the wake of the Coronavirus delay and the likelihood of games without fans when the season does resume. It also includes players at the MLB level, where they have already accepted cuts due to the cancellation of Spring Training and the first few months of the 2020 season, and owners are attempting to get players to agree to further cuts due to the loss of fans.

But could it go even further?

As noted by Buster Olney of ESPN, team owners could look to arbitration-eligible players and make additional cuts by non-tendering players in the offseason. This could be especially true to those players with questionable performance and who are in the final few seasons of arbitration-eligibility.

With that in mind, we are opting to take a look at those players that are currently in the arbitration process and could be potential non-tender candidates by the Angels. Of the 11 players that the Angels currently have slated for arbitration next winter, there are a pair of pitchers that fit the mold. However, their fates may be intertwined.

Angels Non-Tender Candidate – Andrew Heaney

There may be no better example of a player on the bubble than Andrew Heaney.

The Angels’ lefty has been with the organization since December 2014 and been a part of the major league roster since June 2015. He never looked back after going 6-4 with a 3.49 ERA, a 3.73 FIP, and a 6.6 K/9 over 18 starts and 105.2 innings of work.

However, the results have been mixed since. Heaney made only a single start in 2016 after feeling elbow discomfort and ultimately saw his season end with Tommy John surgery. As he waited until July to undergo the procedure, it cost him most of 2017 as well, with the lefty only making five starts.

Heaney would return to the Angels in 2018 and make 30 starts for the first time in his career and the results were encouraging. Over 180 innings of work, Heaney went 9-10 with a 4.15 ERA, a 3.99 FIP, and a 9.0 K/9. However, that goodwill would be lost in 2019, when further elbow discomfort limited him to 18 starts of 4.91/4.63/11.1 work.

The ongoing injury concerns surrounding the Angels’ pitching staff led the team to pursue outside additions to the team. The additions of Dylan Bundy and Julio Teheran to the rotation, and the likely returns of Shohei Ohtani and Griffin Canning, leave only one spot in the rotation up for grabs. Joe Maddon could look at that spot as a potential opener situation, with another offseason acquisition Matt Andriese, or even piggy-back Heaney if he doesn’t win the spot outright. Given his performance before the shutdown of spring training (seven runs, six earned over 7.2 innings), may not inspire much confidence there.

With a salary of $4.3 million entering 2020 (before pay cuts), Heaney has only one more season of arbitration eligibility after this season. Given his past performance and health history, what he can do with the 2020 season will go a long way toward whether the Angels opt to tender him for the 2021 season.

Even after an injury-shortened 2019 season, Heaney saw an increase of $900k, which would put him at $5.2 million for 2021 if applied similarly. That may be tough for the Angels to swallow if he continues to struggle with health and performance in 2020.