Angels news: Justin Garza, MLB news, more

In a day full of big moves, the Los Angeles Angels made a minor one, signing reliever Justin Garza to a split contract. This means he'd get paid differently based on where he pitches, being on a minor league deal when he's in the minors and receiving an MLB deal when in the majors. Garza is another depth piece for the Angels to go to with their bullpen. He's their fifth depth reliever signed.

Garza has shown some flashes in the bigs and the minors but has never put it all together, mostly due to his lack of command. If the Angels can help him with that, they might have something there.

As a result of the signing, Kenny Rosenberg was DFA'd. Rosenberg made a couple of appearances and a start for the Angels this past season but he didn't figure to be part of the equation in the future.

More Angels news:

The Halos could be a team interested in Carlos Carrasco. Cookie is one of many quality starters the Mets have and he does make some sort of sense because of his contract. One year at $14 million dollars for a pitcher of his caliber in this marketplace could be considered undervalued. If it doesn't take much to get him, I don't see why they shouldn't.

Jose Quijada had a really nice year out of the Angels bullpen. He pitched particularly well against left-handed hitters and showed real improvement with his changeup against righties. If he can improve his command he might be a legitimate back-end reliever at some point for the Halos.

MLB news:

In a trade that seemed to take forever to finalize, the Athletics traded Sean Murphy with three years of control away to the Braves in a three-team deal involving the Brewers. Milwaukee landed the second-best player in the deal, William Contreras, while only giving up a prospect who hasn't hit much who was acquired in the Josh Hader deal, Esteury Ruiz, to Oakland. The Brewers won this deal by a landslide and Atlanta upgraded at catcher so they did well also. What Oakland is doing I have no idea but I'm glad Murphy is out of the division and they're even worse.

The Blue Jays signed Chris Bassitt to a three-year $63 million dollar deal. Bassitt was my number one target for the Angels to get this offseason, but they never seemed interested. Toronto got him for slightly more than guys like Taijuan Walker and Jameson Taillon and for one fewer year. This is a great deal for the Jays who now have a top three in their rotation that can compete with anybody.

The Twins signed Christian Vazquez to a three-year $30 million dollar deal. Vazquez for some reason was linked to the Angels earlier this offseason, but I'm glad they didn't commit three years for $30 million dollars to a catcher with Logan O'Hoppe waiting in the wings. Vazquez is a good player who undoubtedly makes Minnesota better.