MLB Trade Rumors prediction has Angels signing three players

MLB Trade Rumors links Brandon Drury to the Angels on a two-year $18 million dollar contract.

Brandon Drury has been a bench player who could play virtually anywhere other than center field for his entire career. He had a nice year as a bench player with the Mets in 2021 and was signed to a one-year $900,000 contract.

Drury was given a chance to play third base for the Reds and made the most of it. He slashed .274/.335/.520 with 20 home runs and 59 RBI before being traded to the Padres at the deadline.

He struggled with San Diego, seeing his OPS drop by over 130 points, but he did hit eight more home runs in 46 games.

MLB Trade Rumors' staff has one member linking Drury to four different teams; the White Sox, Marlins, Brewers, and Angels.

Drury would be a very welcome addition to the Angels, a team with awful depth. He'd probably play most of his games in left field and at second base. He could also occasionally spell Anthony Rendon at third to try and keep him on the field.

Something else intriguing about Drury is his ability to hit left-handed pitching. Jared Walsh has struggled mightily against southpaws in his entire career so Drury would be a nice platoon option with Walsh at first base against lefties. He had a .955 OPS against lefties this season, which is excellent.

The terms of Drury's contract are very fair and the Angels would only be giving him two years. The 30 year old probably won't hit another 28 home runs playing away from Great American Ballpark, one of the more hitter friendly parks in baseball, but he'd still be a very good bat who the Angels can deploy just about anywhere. The defense isn't great, but the bat makes it worth it.

MLB Trade Rumors links Mike Clevinger to the Angels on a one-year $10 million dollar contract.

If you told me three or four years ago that the Angels would have a legitimate shot at signing Mike Clevinger I would've gone crazy. He was one of the more exciting young arms in the game who was well on his way to stardom.

In his first five seasons, Clevinger had a 3.19 ERA in 105 appearances (92 starts) while striking out 10.0 batters per nine.

During the 2020 season, Clevinger was traded from Cleveland to the Padres for a huge haul. That offseason, Clevinger underwent Tommy John surgery. That kept him out for all of the 2021 campaign and part of 2022 as well.

As cool as it would've been to see Clevinger return as the same guy he was before Tommy John, that didn't happen. Angels fan witnessed it with Noah Syndergaard, and Padres fans saw it with Mike Clevinger.

Clevinger threw pretty hard and had elite strikeout numbers before his injury. Since returning, he hasn't been the same guy. His fastball velocity dropped from 95.1 mph in 2020 to 93.6 in 2022. His velocity on all of his pitches dropped by around two MPH. When you average 95 with your fastball, losing two mph is a big deal.

Clevinger struck out 8.6/9 in 2020 and 10.0 in his career before Tommy John. He struck out 7.2/9 this past season. He allowed opponents to hit the ball harder than they ever have and gave up 1.6 HR/9, well above his career mark of 1.1/9.

In the postseason Clevinger looked like he didn't belong anywhere near the mound as he allowed five runs (four earned) in 2.2 innings against the Dodgers in the Division Series. He then allowed three runs and did not record an out in the Championship Series against the Phillies.

Some pitchers come back stronger in their second year back from Tommy John and I hope Clevinger does. However, he clearly is not the same pitcher he once was.

Two members of the staff have the Angels signing Clevinger while the other two have him going to either Colorado or Toronto.

The Angels need to sign a couple of starting pitchers this off-season. I don't hate the idea of signing him to a one-year deal but there're other pitchers I'd rather the Angels kick the tires on.