Angels reliever accepts Triple-A over free agency as new arm joins the bullpen

It's pretty rare for organizations to designate a pitcher for assignment in order to add a position player, or vice versa, but the Los Angeles Angels just enacted one of those cross-positional transactions. Perry Minasian wanted to roll the dice with Chris Taylor, who was recently DFA'd and subsequently released by the Angels' cross-town rivals, and they optioned Kyren Paris down to Triple-A Salt Lake to open up a roster spot. They needed to clear a 40-man spot as well, and did so with a reliever who is semi-promising but ultimately was too unreliable for them. The Angels were able to keep him in the organization after he cleared waivers, and he could easily make his way back to Anaheim at some point this season.

Angels reliever accepts Triple-A over free agency as new arm joins the bullpen

For a brief moment, Shaun Anderson became a free agent after 29 teams passed on adding him to their 40-man roster via a waiver claim. He wound up returning to the Angels on a MiLB deal. The 30-year-old has shown that he can eat innings in a swing role out of the bullpen, as he was built up as a starter for the Bees before his call-up. He is getting more comfortable with his nasty kick-change and his slider and sweeper combo is solid as well. So, even if he only topped out at 94.5 MPH with his heater, Anderson can still show the Angels that his arsenal will play at the major league level by performing reasonably well with Triple-A Salt Lake. Anderson had an above average WHIP, K%, BB% and wOBA before his relatively puzzling DFA.

The Angels' bullpen has been held together with scotch tape this season. Despite their run prevention unit faring well recently against the vaunted New York Yankees' lineup, the relief pitcher corps the Halos deploy leaves their fans feeling dubious at best. Kenley Jansen has been rock solid, Robert Stephenson's the team's white knight, Ryan Zeferjahn is a revelation and Brock Burke is pitching with more confidence now. Reid Detmers has terrifying numbers for the season, but of late it appears he is settling into his transition to the bullpen -- in eight innings from May 9th on, Detmers has a 1.13 ERA, 11 strikeouts and has not issued a home run.

The last three spots in the bullpen are currently being occupied by Connor Brogdon, Hunter Strickland and Héctor Neris. Basically, those are interchangeable parts. All three have provided some nice moments thus far, but also have plenty of reasons to not believe that they are mainstays of the bullpen. Whether it is their injury history (all three are in their mid-30s) or performance issues, a player like Shaun Anderson could be pressed into duty later in the season in place of one of them.

Yes, Anderson is heading to Salt Lake after posting a 6.30 ERA, 5.97 FIP and 1.70 WHIP for the Angels. However, retaining bullpen depth is always huge news for this organization and there is more than what meets the eye with Anderson.

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