The news broke on Friday morning after an off-day. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim ace Garrett Richards has a torn UCL in his right elbow, and will need season-ending Tommy John surgery. And it’s apparent that Richards’ injury will doom the Angels’ chances of contending over the rest of the season.
Source: Angels ace Garrett Richards has torn ulnar collateral ligament and is expected to need Tommy John surgery. https://t.co/wkbiUpTCl0
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 6, 2016
Yahoo’s Jeff Passan also notes that Richards’ rotation-mate Andrew Heaney has a “damaged” UCL and Tommy John could also be on the horizon for him as well.
Left-hander Andrew Heaney is on the disabled list with what’s been called a strained flexor muscle, though multiple sources told Yahoo Sports he has a damaged UCL as well and is rehabbing with hopes of avoiding Tommy John.
This will be Richards’ second season-ending injury in three seasons. He tore his Achilles in August of 2014, causing him to miss the final month-plus of the season and Anaheim’s ALDS sweep at the hands of the Royals. The Achilles injury also stunted the start of Richards’ 2015 season, though he still made 32 starts and threw a career-high 207 1/3 innings.
It’s hard to count out any team that has Mike Trout patrolling center field, but the Angels are in an awful situation following Richards’ injury, considering that Heaney and CJ Wilson are both also on the DL with no return in sight for either starter. Richards has been the Angels’ best pitcher this season, making six starts and pitching to a 2.34 ERA over 34 2/3 innings. He’s struck out 34 and walked 15 this year.
The mantle of “ace” will now fall to Hector Santiago, who is having himself a great start to 2016. Santiago has thrown 37 2/3 innings over six starts, punching out 32, walking 13, and notching a 3.58 ERA. However, Santiago has been homer-prone this season, as he has been over most of his career, giving up six long balls over those six starts.
In some order, Santiago will be followed in the rotation by Nick Tropeano (3.42 ERA, 26 strikeouts, 15 walks in 26 1/3 innings), Jered Weaver (5.40 ERA, 14 strikeouts, nine walks in 28 1/3 innings), and uh…well, Matt Shoemaker was just demoted to AAA after pitching to a 9.15 ERA in five starts. Cory Rasmus, who has made eight relief appearances for the Angels this year and made seven starts over the course of his career, is getting the nod today for the Angels.
Shoemaker and Nate Smith will be getting the call to bolster the team’s pitching staff.
#Angels were at 4-man rotation before Richards news. Will likely recall RH Matt Shoemaker and LHP Nate Smith from triple-A Salt Lake.
— Mike DiGiovanna (@MikeDiGiovanna) May 6, 2016
The 24-year old Smith isn’t on the team’s 40-man roster, and has a 3.79 ERA in 35 2/3 innings this season at AAA.
The only other non-injured starting pitchers on the Angels 40-man roster are Chris Jones, who has a 7.77 ERA in five starts and has never pitched in the majors, and Victor Alcantara, a 23-year old that has made five starts above high-A and has a 4.91 ERA in those five starts. Tyler Skaggs could also be an option in time, but has been shut down with biceps tendinitis after his own Tommy John surgery late in the 2014 season.
Other options down in AAA, but not on the 40-man roster, are MLB veterans Kyle Kendrick and Yunesky Maya, though Maya is also on the DL with a forearm strain and Kendrick has made just three starts after signing in mid-April.
At 13-15, the Angels haven’t fallen out of the AL West race quite yet. The Mariners have taken control of the division with a 17-11 record, but the reigning division champion Rangers have scuffled their way to a 15-14 record and the reigning AL Wild Card winning Astros are in the basement with a 10-19 record.
Anaheim’s issues go beyond their poor, injury-riddled rotation. Their offense is hitting .246/.315/.373 this year, middle of the pack in the American League. The team’s bullpen ranks tenth in the majors with a 2.87 ERA, though they’re also without closer Huston Street and have thrown the 11th-most relief innings in baseball. Losing Richards, who has finished at least six innings in four of his six starts, won’t help that matter at all.
So in short, things aren’t looking too good for the Angels, despite the presence of Trout. Their farm system is the worst in baseball, and the only “help” that will be coming from the minors is possibly Skaggs. They’ll be dropping some money this offseason with Wilson and Weaver coming off the payroll, but they’ll also lose closer Joe Smith, and non-tendering Richards is a possibility because of the fact that he’s making $6.4 million this year and still has two more seasons of arbitration left.
Santiago will also be a free agent after 2017, which brings up the possibility that the only current member of the Angels rotation that could still be there in two years is Tropeano.
But aside from that…everything is fine! Just overlook the fact that the Angels don’t have a left fielder. Or a second baseman. And that their first baseman has one home run. And that Albert Pujols is hitting .198/.280/.387 and is still owed $140 million *after* this season. And that their third-best starting pitcher’s ERA is higher than his strikeout rate *and* that his fastball is averaging 82 mph.
https://twitter.com/Joe_TOC/status/684803645276319744
The concept of trading Mike Trout may seem ludicrous, but the Angels have to at least consider the possibility at this point – 2014 was their best chance at winning a championship with this core of players, and they didn’t win one playoff game.
With Richards out for the rest of this season and probably the beginning of next season, and with no high-upside starters to fill his void, the Angels could end this summer fighting for a top ten, or even a top five, pick in next June’s MLB Draft.
