NEWSLETTER
Eventually, I’m not going to be able to punctuate these posts with a reminder that there are still plenty of useful options out there on the relief market.
Another interesting arm is off the market, with former Indians closer Cody Allen headed to Anaheim to do the job there:
Free agent reliever Cody Allen is in agreement with the Los Angeles Angels on a deal, league sources tell ESPN's @Alden_Gonzalez and me. Angels have been seeking a closer, and Allen is it. They've been discussing a one-year deal, per sources. Deal is pending physical.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 18, 2019
Cody Allen had been discussing deals in the one-year, $9 million range, sources tell ESPN. He also had been talking about deals that included a second-year option, though it's unclear if he received that from the Los Angeles Angels. @Ken_Rosenthal was first to report discussions.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 18, 2019
Allen, 30, was really good from 2013-17 at the back end of the Indians’ bullpen – you’ve gotta be pretty good to keep closing when Andrew Miller is there – but it thumped down pretty hard last year, as his ERA and his peripherals all looked more like a struggling middle reliever than a sure-fire back-end option. Worse, it was the culmination of some trends that had seemed to be popping up over the couple years prior, *and* his velocity has been declining over that period.
That is all to say, Allen is a pure bounce-back candidate, and there wouldn’t have been many teams offering him a sewn up closer’s job. Of course, with the Cubs, he would have had a chance out of the gate to try to take that role, with Brandon Morrow likely on the shelf. But, we never got any indication that the Cubs were involved with Allen, and they will instead continue to lie in wait for … someone … maybe … although each of Jed Hoyer and Tom Ricketts seemed to suggest yesterday that they feel like the bullpen is fine.
A reminder of the guys currently on the 40-man roster:
