Angels fans already fear this offseason move is going to backfire

When it comes to disappointment, the Los Angeles Angels always overachieve. The Angels didn't make many impact moves during the offseason, and essentially resigned themselves to signing marginal veterans to one-year deals. But somehow, LA already has several candidates lining up to be the team's biggest disappointment.

In the interest of fairness, we're not going to consider Grayson Rodriguez. Although it's upsetting that he was the club's biggest move and cost them their biggest chip in Taylor Ward, his injury hasn't allowed his performance to disappoint us yet, although it was entirely predictable.

Instead, we're going to look to the bullpen because a confluence of factors has made Drew Pomeranz's performance there incredibly disappointing.

Drew Pomeranz has been the Angels most disappointing offseason addition

Through his first five games, Pomeranz has thrown 4⅔ innings while posting a 5.79 ERA, shattering the image of him as a high-leverage lefty. More concerning is the fact that he's walked more batters (3) than he's struck out (2) while also posting an extremely low 26.7% groundball rate.

The veteran southpaw was part of a high-risk, high-reward strategy to build a bullpen by relying on injury-prone, and in most cases, aging, relievers to serve as the backbone of the relief squad.

Unsurprisingly, the IL has filled up with most of these guys. Robert Stephenson is out for the rest of the season with yet another elbow injury, Ben Joyce is still recovering from last year's shoulder surgery, and new face Kirby Yates is already on the IL. That's put even more pressure on Pomeranz and fellow free-agent reclamation project, Jordan Romano, to hold down the late innings.

Normally, a one-year, $4 million contract not working out wouldn't be anything to complain about, but the money is not the issue. It's the role Pomeranz was thrust into that's the problem.

While he was effective in 2025 for the Chicago Cubs, last season marked his return to the mound after a three-and-a-half-year absence that started with a torn flexor tendon in his left elbow. That led to several setbacks and other injuries — including a shoulder impingement — that had kept him out of action since August 10, 2021.

Promising season or not, that amount of missed time and the variety of ailments should have a front office thinking twice about any pitcher, much less a 37-year-old like Pomeranz.

Worse yet, Pomeranz is basically the replacement for Brock Burke, who had looked like a find once the Angels saved him from the Texas Rangers, and has thrown six scoreless innings with seven strikeouts so far for the Cincinnati Reds. Burke was the price Los Angeles needed to pay to acquire Josh Lowe, whose .423 OPS and 38.5% strikeout rate over 39 plate appearances leave a lot to be desired.

The ripple effects of relying on Pomeranz are hitting the Angels from multiple directions, and as a result, make him the clear most disappointing move of the offseason so far.