The struggles of Brian Fuentes have Angel fans in an uproar and a closer controversy is quickly brewing, and justly so. But the closer issues are only just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the Angels’ woes in relief. The real issue they are having is just getting to Fuentes in the first place, especially when they can’t use Kevin Jepsen or Fernando Rodney who are being worked to the bone before we have even hit the quarter pole for the season. Already they’ve had to place Matt Palmer and Brian Stokes on the DL just to rid themselves of their ineffectiveness and Scot Shields probably isn’t too far behind them. Having two good relievers (and that might be a generous assessment) is no way for a contending team to get through a season, so the Halos better find themselves some bullpen reinforcements before they burn out the few quality bullpen members that they have left.
At this point of the season it is probably too early to start talking about trades and the free agent market looks thin, so the Angels have no other choice than to look for some help from within. The question is will they be able to find any?
If you think Brian Fuentes is the only problem in the pen, think again.
Rich Thompson – As usual, Thompson is dominating at Triple-A. As usual, the Angels don’t trust Thompson to be of any use in the majors. Chopper has had cups of coffee with the Angels over three seasons, totaling 28 innings as a major leaguer, and all he has to show for it is a career ERA of 7.71 and a 1.89 WHIP. He throws hard enough and has a big curveball, but has proven far too hittable and far too homer prone to be anything more than a mop-up man. The bigger issue for him right now is that he just went on the minor league disabled list, so he isn’t even really an option until he gets healthy. In any event, the organization never has shown much faith in Thompson, so he still may not get the call when he is given a clean bill of health.
Rafael Rodriguez – Probably the next best option in Salt Lake is Rafael Rodriguez, the best of the three relieving Rodriguezes toiling for the Bees right now. Rafael Rodriguez has been a strong performer in the minors over the years, but he got hammered in his first tour of duty with the Angels last season, getting tagged for 47 hits in 30.2 innings of work that included just 10 strikeouts. Obviously Rodriguez doesn’t miss a lot of bats, but he does produce a lot of grounders which actually might be a nice wrinkle to have in a bullpen full of power arms, even if it does mean carrying a low-ceiling player.
Jeremy Hill – He may be playing in Triple-A, but Hill has the resume of a Quadruple-A journeyman. At 32 years old, Hill clearly isn’t high on the Angels’ list of development priorities, which is why he isn’t even on the 40-man roster. However, Hill has been putting up pretty good stats in the minors for several years now and has never really gotten a fair shot at breaking into the bigs. Maybe it is time the Angels quit messing with wet-behind-the-ears kids and go with someone a little more stable?
Trevor Bell – Bell is getting his chance at filling the bullpen void right now, and he probably represents the guy with the highest upside out of the Salt Lake roster but that might be damning him with faint praise. Bell is off to a great start to his Triple-A season as a starting pitcher and will now have to convert to a reliever, something that might actually be to his benefit as he hasn’t missed many bats in the starter’s role but could change that since he can cut loose more as a reliever. Still, Bell got knocked around big time in his eight major league appearances in 2009 and looked like he was in for more of the same when he was called on in relief Tuesday night. The Angels should give him a fair look, but I don’t see him being more than a swingman right now.
Bobby Cassevah – Cassevah is a bit of a surprising addition to this list since he hadn’t thrown a pitch above Double-A until this year but he just got called up for the second time this year when Brian Stokes went on the DL. The Angels like Cassevah because he is an extreme groundball pitcher, making him like a better version of the aforementioned Rafael Rodriguez. That groundball rate hasn’t translated int he bigs yet though as Cassevah has given up runs in three of his four big league appearances in 2010. It is possible he could settle in and become a solid middle innings guy, but it seems more likely that he needs to spend some time in Triple-A before he will really be ready for the majors.
Michael Kohn – Time to dip down into the lower levels of the Angel farm system. Kohn is only in his third minor league season but is off to a stellar start in Double-A. His huge strikeout rates have attracted a lot of attention and certainly make him look like a future closer, but the Angels aren’t normally one to rush a prospect and forcing Kohn all the way up to the majors having thrown just over 14 innings in Double-A seems to be totally against their philosophy. Then again, desperate times call for desperate measures.
Ryan Aldridge – Before there was Kohn, there was Ryan Aldridge. In 2006, Aldridge was the hot closer prospect with the huge strikeout numbers but injuries have since derailed him. His 2010 numbers in Arkansas suggest he is back on track though and he has been just as dominant as Kohn, if not moreseo. Since he has more minor league innings under his belt, he might be a bit safer of a bet to survive skipping a level.
If you aren’t exactly jazzed about these options, you are not alone. There is no obvious choice in the minors, but the Angels seem to be playing things correctly. Bell and Cassevah are the safest bets right now, so they should get every chance to succeed. If they falter and Palmer and/or Stokes can’t come back from injury and be effective after that, only then should they make the high-risk maneuver of calling up Kohn or Aldridge, but by the time that they get that desperate, I imagine that they will either be too far out of the division lead to make it worth their while, or contending for the division crown and close enough to trade deadline to opt to search for help from outside the organization instead.
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