Angels sign reliever to split contract

Yesterday was a busy day across the league as plenty of big moves were made. The big one was the Sean Murphy Willson Contreras three-team swap. Chris Bassitt signed a deal with the Blue Jays and the Twins signed Christian Vazquez.

The Los Angeles Angels made a move as well as they signed pitcher Justin Garza to a split contract. A split contract is essentially a deal that pays him a different salary whether he pitches in the minors or majors. Garza will be on the 40-man roster but will make less when he's pitching in the minors.

With Garza being added to the 40-man roster the Halos Designated Kenny Rosenberg for Assignment. Rosenberg was behind a bunch of pitchers when it came to starting pitcher depth, so this makes sense.

Angels continue to add depth to their bullpen

It's no secret the Angels have been looking to add depth to their bullpen. They've signed four veterans in Jacob Webb, Chris Devenski, Jonathan Holder, and Cesar Valdez to minor-league deals. All four of these relievers have had some semblance of MLB success in the past, but haven't done much lately. Garza is someone without much MLB success who the Angels are predicting to have success.

Garza has 21 appearances of big league experience and they all came in 2021 with the then Cleveland Indians. He went 2-1 with a 4.71 ERA in 28.2 innings of work. He walked too many (5.7 BB/9) but struck out 29 batters in those innings and showed some good stuff.

Garza spent the entire 2022 campaign in AAA for Cleveland and posted a 4.64 ERA in 42.2 innings pitched. While that's not great, he struck guys out 10.5 batters per nine and he did a decent job limiting hits and home runs. His issue was and always has been the walks.

The fact that Garza received a split contract tells me there was some sort of interest around the league and the Angels did what they had to do to land him. If he improves his command the Halos might have something.

If he pitches well in the spring, it wouldn't be surprising at all to see him on the Opening Day roster. If he struggles, he'll likely be in AAA. He has options, so they wouldn't have to waive him to send him down.

Adding this kind of depth is something most teams do and it's a good thing that the Angels are doing it. They should still be adding another reliever and have other moves to make as well.