The Angels are going to place reliever José Quijada on the injured list tomorrow, writes Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. Bullpen mate Chris Devenski is joining the major league club and appears likely to be formally selected onto the MLB roster before their evening matchup with Milwaukee.
Quijada woke up this morning with some discomfort in his throwing elbow. He told reporters he went for an MRI to determine the extent of the issue. More will be known once the imaging results come back but the southpaw is feeling enough discomfort he’ll be out for at least 15 days.
The 27-year-old Quijada has been a situational relief arm for the Halos since being claimed off waivers from the Marlins heading into the 2020 season. He owns a 4.89 ERA over 108 2/3 career innings in parts of five seasons. Quijada has allowed seven runs (six earned) in nine innings this year. All of that damage has been concentrated in his past two appearances, which have seen him shelled for seven combined runs after eight scoreless appearances to open the season. Quijada didn’t blame the injury for his rough recent results, telling Fletcher and other reporters he hadn’t experienced any elbow soreness until this morning.
With Quijada headed to the IL, a spot in the relief corps opens for Devenski. The Angels had to make a decision on the veteran right-hander soon, as he’s one of a number of players who could opt out of his minor league contract if not promoted by next Monday. The Halos will ward off his possible departure by installing him in the MLB bullpen.
Devenski, 32, has had a solid first month with Triple-A Salt Lake. He’s worked nine innings over seven appearances, allowing four runs with a 9:3 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He’s picked up swinging strikes on a quality 17.5% of his pitches. It was an impressive enough showing to get him a big league look for what’ll be an eighth consecutive year.
The Cal State Fullerton product was an elite multi-inning relief option for the Astros between 2016-17. Injuries — most notably a 2021 Tommy John surgery — intervened thereafter. He hasn’t posted a sub-4.00 ERA since 2017. He’s been hit particularly hard for the past three years, including a 2022 campaign split between the Diamondbacks and Phillies. Devenski allowed 14 runs over 14 2/3 MLB innings last season, in large part because of three home runs allowed. He didn’t miss many bats last year, though he only walked one of 67 opposing hitters to demonstrate excellent control.
Los Angeles will need to clear a spot on the 40-man roster. They can do so by transferring Logan O’Hoppe from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list; the rookie backstop will miss the majority of the season after undergoing labrum surgery.
More must-reads: