Was Michael Lorenzen just a flash in the pan for LA Angels?

Michael Lorenzen came off to a blazing hot start for the LA Angels in his first season with this ballclub. In his first four starts with Anaheim, he went 3-1 while posting a 3.04 ERA and .212 BAA. In his fifth start this year, however, he gave up five earned runs in just 4.2 innings pitched. He gave up five hits.

Now, his season numbers don't look particularly impressive. Lorenzen has a 4.13 ERA to go along with a 4.60 FIP and 4.31 SIERA.

Peeping his career numbers as a starter show that if this regression to the mean continues, he would be closer to the starter he was earlier in his career. A starter who owned a 6-10 record, a 4.95 ERA, and a .286 BAA. While many may scoff at this notion and believe that one start can't be cause for concern, it wasn't exactly just one start.

Michael Lorenzen has been a bit inconsistent for the LA Angels so far this season.

Michael Lorenzen's first, third, and fourth start were absolutely phenomenal for the LA Angels this year. In those outings, he allowed just four earned runs in 20.1 innings pitched. The issue is that in his other two starts, he's given up nine earned runs in eight innings pitched.

Sure, three starts is greater than two, but that inconsistency is a bit too close for full comfort right now.

It's still early in the season, so not too many judgements can be made on the year up to this point, but considering Jose Suarez was already sent down, it appears that the Halos' coaching staff has a shorter leash on guys in 2022.

Does that mean Lorenzen is on the verge of getting sent down? Not at all. Joe Maddon and Co. are going to need MUCH worse performance than what Lorenzen's put forth to send someone making almost seven million dollars to Salt Lake.

Could the team begin to regret their decision on signing the veteran this offseason over the big names that they passed up on, though? Potentially, they could.

To much confusion around the league, LA decided to save money with Lorenzen instead of being aggressive and going after some elite starting pitchers this past winter such as Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Robbie Ray, and Chris Bassitt.

The Halos will need more than just two poor performances to officially begin regretting the move, or deciding to send Lorenzen to the pen (where he has been statistically better in his career). His latest start was not what they were looking for, however, from a pitcher who made the front office look genius earlier in the year.

They also don't have anybody to bring up right now who they know could be better. It's just five starts, and just two of them at that, so this is by no means an article meant to bash Lorenzen at all. It is true, however, that the Lorenzen Angels' fans saw on Saturday is not the one they were counting on after his hot start.