The Angels added another entry to an already wild relief market. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports that Los Angeles has made closer Raisel Iglesias available in trade negotiations.
If he's dealt, it would be the second trade in eight months for Iglesias, who was somewhat surprisingly acquired by the Angels last December as Cincinnati was looking to unload the $9.15M salary owed to the closer in the final year of his contract. In terms of both 2021 success and overall track record, Iglesias is quite possibly the best closer on the market now that Craig Kimbrel has been dealt, so teams who missed out on Kimbrel could now turn Anaheim’s way.
It isn’t yet clear that Iglesias will actually be moved, of course, and the Angels might just be doing their due diligence in seeing if they can score a big offer for the veteran right-hander. Just the fact that the Halos are listening on Iglesias represents some change of direction for the 51-51 Angels, who are six games out of a wild card spot and 11.5 games back of the AL West lead. With Jared Walsh now on the injured list and some continued uncertainty about when Mike Trout will be able to return from the IL, it could be that Los Angeles is already looking ahead to 2022.
If the Angels were indeed still planning to make a big push this year, it can be argued that with their overall shaky bullpen, Iglesias might be one of the last players they’d look to trade. Iglesias has enjoyed an outstanding season with a 3.23 ERA and only a 1.95 SIERA over 47 1/3 innings, and his 38.6% strikeout rate and 4.3% walk rate are both among the league’s best. The 31-year-old is making a strong case for himself in free agency this winter, and he can add to that platform by perhaps helping a contender achieve some playoff success.
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