3 Angels players who are on thin ice going into the 2025 season

Lefty Reliever Jose Quijada may not be long for the Angels' roster

The Angels may open the season with as many four instead of five lefty relievers in their bullpen, but the number of southpaws is still unusual and unprecedented. The reason for this is simple -- roster inflexibility.

Of the four lefties, three including Jose Quijada, are out of options meaning they can't be sent down without the fear of losing them for nothing. The fifth, Garrett McDaniels, is a Rule 5 pick who would need to be offered back to his previous team, the Los Angeles Dodgers if demoted to the minor leagues.

The Angels selected McDaniels because of his potential, so while he may have to take some lumps making the jump from the low minors to the bigs in 2025, he looks to be a piece they can build their pen around in the future.

As for the other lefties, they're all getting one last shot once the games start to count before the team makes a true decision. Between these veteran lefties, there are essentially two groups -- those with potential which include Brock Burke and Angel Perdomo -- and those who we likely know who they are which consists of Quijada.

Brock Burke has shown flashes. After a terrible showing in Texas last season he seemed to right the ship with a 3.54 ERA in the second half with the Angels. Moreover, it's his 2022 season in which he pitched 82.1 innings over 52 appearances and posted a 1.97 ERA which gives the Angels hope.

Perdomo has less of a track record. He's only logged 48.2 career innings and is coming off Tommy John surgery. However, he posted a whopping 13.66 K/9 to go along with a 3.72 ERA and 3.01 FIP in 2023 when his 29.0 innings pitched served as his longest big-league exposure.

Quijada on the other hand has both been given multiple opportunities in the past and never shown that kind of upside.

While he posted a 3.26 ERA last year that came in just 19.1 innings and was supported by a 4.30 FIP. That was on the heels of a 6.00 ERA in 2023 that came in just 9.0 innings of work and a 3.98 ERA in 2022 that was spread over 40.2 innings pitched.

Quijada has shown the occasional flash, however, the 29-year-old has one fatal flaw which is a complete and total lack of secondary pitches. Last season he threw his fastball an unimaginable 94% of the the time.

That lack of an arsenal makes Quijada more thrower than pitcher, and his command of the strike zone has also been known to waver. Hitters have an easy time with him as there's no deception, they can simply lay off fastballs out of the zone and sit dead-red waiting to crush the mistakes in the zone, leading to meltdowns and big innings.

A number of young, right-handed arms, are waiting in the wings which not only would provide balance to the pen, but likely improvement as well. If Quijada struggles to open the regular season, look for them to be quickly replaced. At a minimum, the leash will be much shorter for him than the likes of Burke and Perdomo.

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