The Los Angeles Angels announced on Monday that they have signed relief pitcher Aaron Loup to a two-year deal worth $17 million.
Loup will make $7.5 million per season and there will be a team option for $7.5 million for a third season (2024). If the Los Angeles Angels don’t exercise that option, there will be a buyout for $2 million.
The Los Angeles Angels signing Aaron Loup breaks a streak that lasted nearly a decade.
By signing Aaron Loup, the Los Angeles Angels broke a streak that lasted nearly a decade. Loup is the Angels’ first free agent signing of a pitcher for more than one season since 2013. Their last multi-year free agent signing for a pitcher was with Joe Smith, per Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register.
Oops. Forgot Joe Smith, who signed a three year deal in November 2013.
— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) November 22, 2021
The Joe Smith signing worked out well for the Angels as in two-plus seasons, he pitched to an ERA of 2.89 in 184 games, but the previous multi-year free agent pitcher signings before Smith were awful for the Angels. The last two multi-year free agent pitcher signings for the Angels were Joe Blanton and Sean Burnett.
The Joe Blanton signing was an atrocious signing for the Angels as in 2013, he was one of the worst pitchers in baseball. He went 2-13 with an ERA of 6.04 in 28 games (20 starts).
The Angels released Blanton before he could even finish the second half of the contract. He spent the season outside of baseball before reinventing himself as a relief pitcher for the Kansas City Royals in 2015.
The Royals won the World Series in 2015 largely due to their bullpen but the Pirates (who also made the playoffs) purchased Blanton for their stretch run.
The Angels, coincidentally, announced another free-agent signing on the same day as Blanton. That was for relief pitcher Sean Burnett and, like Blanton, he also signed a multi-year deal.
Burnett, who had just turned 30 at the time, signed for a two-year deal, but his deal also didn’t work out for the Angels. He pitched well in 13 games (0.93 ERA) before an injury. He eventually had shoulder surgery, which wiped out the rest of 2013 and most of 2014, as he only appeared in three MLB games.
Given their recent history of pitching woes and the disasters that the Blanton and Burnett deals were, it’s easy to see why the Los Angeles Angels were a bit gun-shy of signing a multi-year deal for a pitcher. However, it’s also very easy to see why they have not won a playoff game since 2009.