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Angels' preeminent closer will now cost any interested contender a king's ransom

Show us the money!
Evan Roberts
Evan Roberts

Halo Hangout

Texas Rangers v Los Angeles Angels / Harry How/GettyImages

There are three American League teams that are sure-fire sellers at the trade deadline -- the Chicago White Sox, the Athletics and the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles have started to offload assets, and should continue to do so in the next few days. One player the O's cannot deal anymore, or trade at face value, is their star closer Félix Bautista. "The Mountain" was placed on the 15-day injured list with a shoulder issue, and it now makes every other closer on the market that much more valuable. Those three teams are behind the Angels and Minnesota Twins in the standings, and it's unclear what the two mid teams will do in order to re-tool their farm system.

Well, if/when the Angels decide they do need to trade their expiring contracts, they could get an absolute haul for Kenley Jansen now.

Angels' preeminent closer will now cost any interested contender a king's ransom

Jansen has some impeccable numbers this season. Namely, the potential future Hall of Famer has a 17:1 SV: BS, a 35:11 K:BB and a team-leading 3.19 ERA. Of the 17 pitchers with 17 or more saves, only Houston's Josh Hader, Bautista and Jansen have one or fewer blown save (none of those players have 0 blown saves). In Jansen's 40 appearances this season, he has allowed at least one earned run in only six of them. He has three appearances with one earned run, two with two, and one with six. If you remove that one blow-up outing, Jansen is posting a 1.75 ERA, a 3.28 FIP, a 0.97 WHIP and a stellar 0.75 HR/9.

The Orioles have started to dictate the relief pitcher trade landscape after they dealt Gregory Soto to the New York Mets in exchange for Wellington Aracena and Cameron Foster. Per Chad Jennings of The Athletic: "The Orioles get high-velocity upside from Aracena, while Foster is an older prospect, but his numbers are good. It’s not out of the question that at least one of the two becomes a valuable big league reliever, which feels like the proper return for two months of a good bullpen lefty."

It should always be noted that the Angels landed George Klassen, Sam Aldegheri, Ryan Zeferjahn, Matthew Lugo, Niko Kavadas and Yeferson Vargas last season in exchange for Carlos Estévez and Luis García. If the Orioles could land Aracena and Foster for Soto, and the Angels could land that haul for those two inferior rentals, than a Jansen trade could set the organization up so well moving forward.

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Evan Roberts

Evan Roberts

Evan Roberts worked in professional baseball for 5 years, after pitching collegiately at Davidson College for 4. After graduating in 2018, he worked with the Boston Red Sox at their Pawtucket affiliate for the 2019 season as a Player Development Intern. He picked up with the Chicago White Sox in 2020, but after the Minor League season was canceled he worked with Team USA Baseball at their National Training Complex as a Trackman Stringer/Operator. From 2021-2023, he worked with the Los Angeles Angels as a Game Planning Strategist at their Arizona (ROK League), Salt Lake (AAA), Rocket City (AA) affiliates. He attended the Angels' last 2 Major League Spring Trainings. During Rookie Ball games, he coached 1st base and assisted the players & coaches in the dugout.