January 6: Los Angeles formally introduced the signing on Tuesday night. Their 40-man roster rely climbs to 38.
December 30: The Angels have reportedly agreed to a one-year, $5MM contract with free agent reliever Kirby Yates. The veteran right-hander is represented by the Beverly Hills Sports activities Council.
Yates offers the Angels one more veteran reliever with some closing expertise who’s in want of a rebound — in his case, forward of what’ll be his age-39 season. The Halos will hope to lastly get a full workload out of Robert Stephenson within the closing season of his three-year, $33MM contract. They’ve additionally signed former Jays nearer Jordan Romano and veteran reliever Drew Pomeranz to low-cost, one-year contracts this offseason as effectively.
If wholesome — a serious caveat, given the harm historical past in query right here — Yates could possibly be the perfect of the bunch. The 2-time All-Star led the NL with 41 saves again in 2019 and has twice posted full seasons with an ERA shy of 1.20, together with as lately because the 2024 season with Texas.
Since an age-30 breakout with the Padres, the late-blooming Yates has pitched 355 innings with a 2.84 earned run common, 97 saves, 65 holds and solely 13 blown save alternatives. He’s fanned a whopping 35.1% of his opponents alongside the best way (backed by an enormous 15.7% swinging-strike charge) and walked 9.6% of the batters he’s confronted. Coincidentally sufficient, the Angels have been the workforce from which the Padres claimed Yates off waivers. They’d picked Yates up themselves by way of waivers the prior October. He pitched just one inning as an Angel and was tagged for 2 runs.
Yates now returns for a second stint with the Angels. The signing reunites him with veteran pitching coach Mike Maddux, who was Yates’ pitching coach with the ’24 Rangers. Yates saved 33 video games and posted an immaculate 1.17 ERA with a 36% strikeout charge that season.
That efficiency was sufficient to land him a hearty $13MM assure on a one-year take care of the Dodgers. However whereas Yates landed the primary World Sequence ring of his profession, the wedding didn’t go notably effectively. He was thrice positioned on the injured listing — twice for hamstring strains and as soon as on account of a decrease again harm — and pitched solely 41 1/3 innings. The veteran righty’s 5.23 earned run common was one of many worst marks of his profession, and his 92.8 mph common four-seam velocity was his lowest since 2013. Yates nonetheless punched out a wonderful 29.6% of his opponents, however he was doomed by dwelling runs, yielding a median of 1.96 round-trippers per 9 frames.
Whereas Yates has usually been wonderful when wholesome, he’s had his share of accidents. He pitched solely 4 1/3 innings in 2020 on account of bone spurs in his elbow. He signed with the Blue Jays in free company that offseason however by no means pitched an inning for Toronto. He required Tommy John surgical procedure on the finish of spring coaching. From 2020-22, Yates pitched solely 11 1/3 innings within the majors.
The Angels will wager on Yates’ monitor file and hope for higher assist. Between Yates, Stephenson, Romano and Pomeranz, they definitely aren’t missing expertise on the again finish of the bullpen — however there’s a transparent lack of consistency and sturdiness. They’ll hope so as to add flamethrower Ben Joyce to that blend sooner or later this season, although his timetable for a return from final Might’s surgical procedure to restore a torn labrum in his proper shoulder stays murky.
It’s not solely clear the place the Yates signing takes the Angels’ payroll. RosterResource projected them for a payroll round $172MM this morning, however that was earlier than the Angels and Anthony Rendon agreed to defer the cost of the ultimate yr and $38MM on his contract for a reported three to 5 seasons. Particulars surrounding that still-fresh association have but to floor in full, but it surely’s clear that the Angels are fairly a bit south of the roughly $206MM payroll determine at which they ended the 2025 marketing campaign.
Ari Alexander of Boston 7 Information first reported that Yates was signing a one-year take care of the Angels. Jon Heyman of The New York Submit had the $5MM assure.
