The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are currently the second best team in baseball with a 62-41 record, but are two games behind the league leading Oakland A’s in the AL West.
The Halos had some troubles at the beginning of the year, most resulting from bullpen issues. They have greatly improved their pen for the second half of the season adding Jason Grilli and most recently, Huston Street. With the A’s continuing to dominate, the Angels had to make a move, and they made one that won’t only help them make a playoff run, but also a stronger contender for postseason play.
Before the All Star Break, the Angels bullpen posted a 3.89 ERA which was 24th in the league. The Halos also had Ernesto Frieri closing games, and he was uneffective to say the least with a 6.39 ERA. Now the Angels have two experienced closers sitting in the bullpen in Grilli and Street.
Grilli has pitched great for the Angels in 13 games with a 1.59 ERA and 13 strikeouts. Recently acquired Street has only pitched in three games for the Halos, but earned his first save with his new team on Wednesday.
The Angels have acquired a pitcher who has lead all pitchers over the past three seasons in save percentage at 95.2, and has blown only four games in his last 80 save opportunities. They now have a reliable closer who shouldn’t provide too much drama in the ninth.
The Angels are a talented team. They’ve been expected to be contenders in the West for three years now, and after a few disappointing years they are finally performing at the level they were expected to. A roster featuring big names such as Josh Hamilton, Albert Pujols, Mike Trout, Jered Weaver, and C.J. Wilson, is expected to put up quite a few runs and dominate opposing hitters; this year they are doing just that.
The Angels were in need of a bullpen overhaul, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. As the second half of the season is underway, so is the tough portion of the Halos schedule.
Competition heats up during the second half of the season and is when you see what teams are really made of. The Angels needed to make a few moves to fix their pitching woes and they did just that.
Street was a great pickup for the Halos. He’s an experienced closer and a successful one at that. In order to keep pace and try to surpass the A’s, they needed dominant pitching to take over for their starters, and now they have a bullpen that can do just that and keep them in games.
It should be an entertaining second half for the AL West in a close division race.