Angels acquire All-Star closer Huston Street from Padres
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are still in the 13th inning tied 2-2 with the Seattle Mariners but the San Diego Padres have already announced that they have traded their All-Star closer Huston Street to the Angels for most of the Angels’ farm system.
In a six-player trade the Padres sent Street and minor league pitcher Trevor Gott to the Angels in exchange for infielders Taylor Lindsey and Jose Rondon and pitchers R.J. Alvarez and Elliot Morris. The announcement came minutes after the Padres lost to the New York Mets by a score of 5-4. The Angels are expected to officially announce the trade once their game with Seattle has concluded.
Street, who won Rookie of the Year honors with Oakland in 2005 and is now a two-time All-Star having just been part of the National League’s 2014 team, has had a stellar year. He is 1-0 with 24 saves and a 1.09 ERA in 33 games with San Diego this season. He has only one blown save. Street has only allowed four earned runs in 33 innings pitched and has a strikeout to walk ratio of 34:7. He’s allowed three home runs.
Upon learning of the trade, Street made an announcement to the media according to the Padres Twitter account.
After learning of trade, @HustonStreet addresses the media: "I love this place, I'd come back. I still believe this team can win."
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) July 19, 2014
Street was prepared to be dealt having said earlier this week that he knew it would be either him or Joaquin Beniot that would be dealt.
The Angels sacrificed a lot of their farm system in order to fortify their bullpen to catch the A.L. West and MLB leading Oakland A’s. The A’s won in their not so unusual walk-off fashion Friday and the Angels will either be 1.5 games back if they do indeed defeat Seattle or 2.5 games back in the A.L. West if they end up on the losing end. The Angels currently have the second best record in the majors after Oakland.
Street will join an Angels bullpen that has been slightly upgraded in recent weeks with the additions of Jason Grilli from the Pittsburgh Pirates and Joe Thatcher from the Arizona Diamondbacks. He is expected to take over the closer role immediately from Joe Smith who took over for Ernesto Frieri who was ineffective and traded to the Pirates in exchange for Grilli.
This is a solid move by the Angels whose bullpen has been their weakest point this season. It is an answer to the A’s acquiring Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel from the Chicago Cubs. Street will be under team control for next season due to the $7M team option on his contract for 2015.
With Street the Angels and the Athletics will be battling it out for the A.L. West title for the remainder of the season. The division race may become even closer if the Seattle Mariners answer with a big trade of their own but that’s just speculation at this point. By far the most competitive and best division in the American League and in all of baseball you can look to see one of these teams make a run at the A.L. Pennant and the World Series.