ESPN predicts the Angels will sign this free agent closer

The Angels still have some money left to work with, and plenty of roster holes to fill before they kick off Spring Training. ESPN's David Schoenfield, in his annual Thanksgiving column, predicted that the Angels will go after Kirby Yates. Yates, who will be entering his age-38 season in 2025, is coming off of the best year of his 10-year career.

As the Rangers' closer last season, Yates was one of the most dominant pitchers in all of baseball in terms of his traditional and advanced statistics. The Hawaiian native notched 33 saves last season, made his second All Star team, finished 8th in AL Cy Young voting, and set a career high in bWAR with 3.3. Yates had similar statistics and accolades during his 2019 season with the San Diego Padres, so his performance was not some one-off year. Additionally, Yates' .168 BABIP last year was the second lowest mark amongst all pitchers who threw at least 60 innings last season (he is likely due for regression in that category next season). His 1.81 xERA ranked 2nd in MLB, 12.41 K/9 ranked 8th, his 2.50 FIP ranked 14th, and his 0.44 HR/9 ranked 14th.

Yates is an incredibly watchable pitcher with his seemingly care-free delivery and devastating pitch mix. His is predominantly a two-pitch pitcher: he used his mid-90s four-seam 61% of the time, his mid-80s splitter 39% of the time, and his slider just 1%. His four-seam has some two-seam tendencies, as its effectiveness relies more on its horizontal movement than vertical. His splitter has incredible tumble on it coming from his low 3/4 release. Despite the two-pitch approach, he keeps hitters on their toes with his pin-point accuracy and ability to throw his splitter in any count. If it wasn't for Emmanuel Clase, Yates would have been lauded as the best American League closer last year.

The Angels could really use some bullpen help. While the Angels have Ben Joyce as their presumptive closer in 2025, his inability to stay healthy over the course of a long baseball season behooves the Angels to acquire at least one additional back-end bullpen arm in case he goes down again. Yates, like Yusei Kikuchi, would help slot down the rest of the Angels' bullpen arms well and take some stress off of their roles. Furthermore, he is a former Brave! Perry loves his former Braves, as everybody is well-aware.

Many pundits expect Yates to get a multi-year deal with an AAV around $12 million. This would be quite the step up from the Rangers inking him for 1 year, $4.5 million before 2024. If the Angels feel that contract figure, factoring in Yates' age/possible durability issues, potential regression in BABIP, and high BB%, are too rich for their blood, they could perhaps go after another former Ranger in David Robertson.

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