Angels sign unicorn reliever who they hope will be able to replace Brock Burke

When anyone evaluates a pitcher, there are some general guidelines that help inform if a guy has a good profile or a bad one. All the data tells us that high velocity up in the zone and pitches with a lot of spin are the clearest way to get outs in the modern game of baseball. However, there are pitchers that defy those expectations as fringe cases, and the Los Angeles Angels just signed one of them.

The Angels have needed a lefty reliever from the moment that they shipped Brock Burke out of town. However, the offseason kept going by, and the Angels had failed to really fill out the left-handed portion of their relief corps. That changed on Thursday as the Angels are close to signing Brent Suter, who is not flashy, but is also better than he has any right to be as a soft-tosser.

Angels adding Brent Suter as their second lefty reliever is a curious bet to make

The financial terms of Suter's deal are not yet known, but the odds are very good that it is a short-term deal for not very much money. Suter is coming off a down year with the Reds, and at 36 years old, a multi-year deal was always a stretch.

Still, Suter is kind of a strange choice to make here. The pickings aren't great at this point of the offseason, but Suter is a fastball-first lefty whose fastball usually tops out in the high 80's. Soft-tossers are a dying breed, and there is a reason for that, as Suter discovered the last couple of years in Cincinnati. However, the Angels have some power arms in their bullpen, and having Suter as a change of pace guy to keep hitters off-balance could actually work.

Again, there is little risk here for the Angels. If Suter doesn't work out, the sunk cost is minimal, and they can look elsewhere for some left-handed help to back up Drew Pomeranz. That said, the Angels' choice of a veteran lefty here is very curious and could turn out to be a disaster.