Angels Pitcher Linked to Yankees, 4 Other Contenders in Potential Major Trade Deadline Move

The Los Angeles Angels are seen as an unpredictable team ahead of the MLB trade deadline, since they are not clear-cut buyers nor sellers, despite there being around 48 hours until the deadline commences.

ESPN's Alden Gonzalez reported last week that the Halos were looking to move some of their expiring contracts, but The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal has still listed the Angels as a team with no direction ahead of Thursday.

Angels southpaw Reid Detmers was listed with a 15 percent chance of being traded according to ESPN's Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel, and was linked to the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, and the Toronto Blue Jays.

Detmers has had a tumultuous tenure across his last five seasons in Anaheim, but it finally feels like the left-hander is finding his way once again.

After his first five appearances in The Show didn't go as planned, his 2022 showing featured a no-hitter and a 3.77 ERA across 25 starts. His ERA would only grow the next two seasons, but Detmers was moved to the bullpen ahead of 2025 and is now working with a 3.99 mark.

His new role as a reliever was off to a rough start this season, holding a 6.04 ERA across his first 22 games, but his Fielding Independent Pitching was a mark of just 3.25, a stat that deals with solely a pitcher's strikeouts and preventing walks and home runs.

Per Fan Graphs, the league average FIP is 4.20, as an excellent FIP would be considered 3.20 or lower. This would show that a lot of his ERA can be attributed to his defense or bad luck.

In Detmers' last 22 contests, his ERA has been 1.64. He has hurled 30 strikeouts to just seven walks in this span, allowing just four runs in 22 innings of work.

All of this is to say that Detmers has extreme trade value should a deal come to be, and especially for a contending team like the pitcher-hungry Yankees. The price for relief pitching always skyrockets ahead of the trade deadline, and if there was going to be any time to part ways with the southpaw, the time to do so would be now.

Detmers has multiple years of team control as he isn't set to hit free agency until 2029.