Angels acquire Iglesias from Reds

The Anaheim Angels have acquired closer Raisel Iglesias from the Cincinnati Reds for reliever Noe Ramirez and a player to be named later, it was announced today.

Iglesias is under contract for $9.125M for the 2021 season, after which is he scheduled to become a free agent. Iglesias has been the team’s closer since 2017, though his best years in terms of bWAR were from 2016-18, when he combined for 6.9 bWAR. In 2019, he had a 4.16 ERA and 3.92 FIP in 67 IP, good for 0.7 bWAR, while in 2020 he logged just 0.2 bWAR in 23 innings in the shortened season, though he put up a 2.74 ERA (albeit with a 4.30 RA9 due to 4 unearned runs versus 7 earned runs) and a 1.84 FIP.

The Reds appear to have decided they don’t want to spend $9 million on Iglesias to close for them in 2021, and one can conceivably point to his numbers from the past couple of years and argue that he’s on the decline and that it makes sense for them to move on, particularly given that Iglesias turns 31 in January. Of course, Ramirez turns 31 in December — Ramirez and Iglesias were born 13 days apart — though he does have three years of team control remaining.

This appears to be a cost-saving move by the Reds, and the Angels are getting a rental closer for little more than taking on his salary. The priority for the Angels this offseason was going to be to try to repair their pitching staff, and this would seem to be a step towards that goal.