Los Angeles Angels Andrew Heaney having mixed results in minors
When the Los Angeles Angels traded former All-Star second baseman Howie Kendrick to the crosstown Dodgers for pitching prospect Andrew Heaney, the belief amongst Halos management must have been that the 23-year-old would be ready for regular Major League action sooner rather than later.
More from Call to the Pen
- Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
- Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals
The move by the Angels was necessitated by a few things. Value was probably Angels GM Jerry Dipoto‘s greatest motivator. Kendrick is set to be free agent following the 2015 season and will only be entering his age 32 season. He should be one of the more coveted infielders on the market this offseason. A career .292 hitter that does a little bit of everything, Kendrick should be in for a nice pay day.
Getting value for the Angels was important for a couple reasons. Long before Josh Hamilton relapsed, it was probably apparent to Dipoto that his contract with the club was not optimal. The Angels have the eighth highest 2015 payroll in MLB and that number should probably rise in 2016.
Mike Trout‘s salary will jump from $6.083 million this season to $16.083 in 2016. And while Albert Pujols is no longer a perennial All-Star, his $24 million salary this season goes up in million dollar increments every year until his contract expires after the 2021 season. Even Jered Weaver, who is not the pitcher he once was, goes from making $18 million this season to $20 million in 2016, the final year the Halos are contractually obligated to him.
The list goes on. The Angels strongest option in the rotation is Garrett Richards, but he is arbitration eligible in 2016 and will probably see his base salary next year increase substantially from the current $3.2 million it sits at if he pitches anywhere close to the way he did in 2014. Starters who will need to be replaced if they are not re-signed for 2016 include third baseman David Freese and catcher Chris Iannetta.
Having Trout on the roster means the Angels have to err on the side of caution so as to not get tagged with the ‘re-building’ stigma that can surround professional sports organizations. Having the brightest young talent in the game and a future Hall of Famer in Pujols who is one of the highest paid players in the league on their roster would put the Angels in a very awkward position should that word become synonymous with operations.
Trading Kendrick opened up payroll space and gave Los Angeles control of a much cheaper player for years to come. Heaney is thought to be one of the finer left-handed pitching prospects in the game, so the Angels feel if he lives up to his potential, he could complement Richards and Matt Shoemaker at the front-end of the rotation for the foreseeable future.
The Angels gave Heaney every opportunity to make the Opening Day squad. They clearly wanted him to be part of the 25-man roster, if even out of the bullpen. Only Shoemaker logged more spring training innings than Heaney, but his 7.03 ERA and 1.9 K:BB ratio wasn’t tidy enough for immediate big league service.
So Heaney opened the year at Triple-A with the Salt Lake Bees. He impressed in his first outing, scattering two hits across seven innings while walking none and striking out eight. His second start was horrendous, failing to make it out of the first inning. His third start saw Heaney strike out a season high nine hitters in 5.1 IP while allowing three earned runs. Then he recorded the exact same number of outs in his forth start, though none came via the strikeout. In his fifth start on May 1, he allowed a season high nine hits and four earned runs but managed to work efficiently through seven full innings using only 90 pitches.
Overall, Andrew Heaney is 3-0 with a 4.62 ERA and 4.16 K:BB ratio on the year. Right now Adam Wilk is the Bees best performer at starting pitcher. The 27-year-old will carry a 1.88 ERA into his fifth start. For that reason he might be next in line to get called up, but the Angels still have a lot invested in Heaney.