September 2: As expected, the transaction log indicates that Anderson cleared waivers and elected free agency. He’ll surely be limited to minor league offers this offseason but could re-sign with the Halos as a depth option for the final few weeks.
August 30: The Angels announced several roster moves today, mostly on the pitching side. Left-handers Mitch Farris and Blake Weiman are being recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake, while righty Trevor Martin is being optioned down. Right-hander George Klassen heads to the 15-day injured list (retroactive to August 27th) with left low back inflammation. Catcher Sebastian Rivero was reinstated from the 60-day IL and optioned to Salt Lake along with Martin. Finally, righty Shaun Anderson was reinstated from the 15-day IL, then designated for assignment. The Angels’ 40-man roster is full after these moves.
The 31-year-old Anderson has thrown 31 1/3 big league innings since the start of 2025, all coming with the Angels. Unfortunately, he’s been downright dreadful in that time, posting an ERA near 9.00 and allowing ten home runs, or 2.87 per nine innings. Opposing hitters have batted .361 on balls in play off Anderson in that span, but while that’s far above league average, it’s only marginally higher than Anderson’s career .346 BABIP in over 180 innings pitched. Simply put, he’s allowing far too many runs for the bad luck to make a meaningful difference.
Anderson has fared better in the minors this year, but not by much. He has a 4.95 ERA in 43 2/3 innings for Salt Lake along with a decent 23.6% strikeout rate but worse-than-average walk and ground ball numbers. It’s a lot more palatable than Anderson’s 7.65 ERA in the Majors this year, but at best, he’s merely a depth option for low-leverage innings.
The Angels gave Anderson a non-roster deal with a spring training invite back in December. Since then, they have designated him for assignment three times. After the first two, Anderson elected free agency in lieu of an outright assignment, then re-joined L.A. on a new minor league pact. He figures to do the same this time around, as he’s unlikely to get interest from around the league given his struggles. In contrast, the Angels are on track for a 100-loss season and probably see little harm in keeping him around to eat innings every now and then.
Turning to the other players, Klassen heads to the IL after a decent run in the rotation since being recalled earlier this month. Jack Janes of MLB.com reports that Klassen felt sore after his most recent start on August 24th, but the righty doesn’t expect a lengthy stint on the IL. In four starts since August 7th, the 24-year-old has a 2.01 ERA and a 51.6% ground ball rate. He has also walked 11 hitters in that stretch, but overall, he’s been a welcome sight for an Angels rotation that looks pretty underwhelming at the moment.
With José Soriano traded to the Blue Jays, Reid Detmers stands alone as the ace of the staff. Grayson Rodriguez and Ryan Johnson have ERAs under 3.00 since the trade deadline, but the latter’s 1.71 ERA is undone by an expected ERA over four runs higher. Klassen had a similar disparity between his actual and expected ERA, though his 4.27 xERA was still acceptable for a mid-rotation arm. Walbert Ureña is in a rut, posting a 5.29 ERA in his last four starts.
Looking at the bullpen, Farris and Weiman come up as fresh arms while Martin heads down to Triple-A. Farris is the more experienced of the two call-ups. He’s tossed 47 1/3 innings with a 4.18 ERA out of the Angels’ bullpen this year. His 24.0% strikeout rate is above average, but he’s struggled to keep the ball in the yard, allowing nine home runs (1.71 HR/9). Weiman, 30, has an even 3.00 ERA in nine big league innings, but otherwise he’s spent the year at Double-A. Martin has been effective at Triple-A for the Rays and Angels, so he figures to get called back up at some point in September.
Rivero had been out since June 10th with a left hamate fracture. In a limited sample of 52 plate appearances this year, he’s batting just .245/.286/.283 with a wRC+ of 62, or 38% worse than league average. The Halos have Travis d’Arnaud and Tyler Heineman behind the plate at the moment, so Rivero will stick around in Salt Lake as a depth piece.
Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images (via Reuters Connect)
