The Los Angeles Angels have signed 30-year old RHP Cody Allen to a 1 year deal. Allen’s deal is reportedly worth $8.5MM guaranteed and can max out at $10.5MM with incentives. The Angels cleared a spot on the 40-man roster for Allen, by designating RHP Miguel Almonte for assignment.
Cody Allen has played in 7 seasons in the MLB and all have been with the Cleveland Indians. Since 2014, Allen has primarily been the Indians closer collecting 147 saves in that time period and holds the Indians saves record with 149 saves. The last 5 seasons, Allen has averaged 70 games, 29 saves, and a 3.03 ERA. Allen, in his career has 24-29 record, a 2.98 ERA with 564 strikeouts in 440.2 innings. Cody Allen was a big part of the Indians World Series run in 2016, that saw pitch 13.2 scoreless innings with 24 strikeouts.
Cody Allen had his worst season in 2018 and that saw him pitch 67 innings with a 4.70 ERA. Despite that high ERA, he still managed to get 27 saves and kept his strikeout total high with 80 punch outs and that was good for 10.7 K/9. The average velocity on his fastball went down a small margin from 2017 where he averaged 94.58 mph down to 94.20 mph which is what he averaged in 2018. Cody Allen appeared in 70 games in 2018 and 52 of them were scoreless and his three worst appearances he allowed 13 runs in 1.2 innings of working. Without those three outings his ERA goes from 4.70 to 3.04.
Cody Allen is expected to close for the Angels while providing a veteran presence for the young Angels bullpen. This would allow the likes of Ty Buttrey and Justin Anderson to come in the ball game earlier instead of pushing them right into the closer’s role, which they may not be ready to do for a full season just yet.
Featured Image: Elsa/Getty Images
