Angels Revisiting Deal Involving Travis Ballew

Angels pitcher Travis Ballew has quietly been a key contributor to one of the best teams in SSG Baseball since 2019.
Image credit: Keith Allisonderivative work: Delaywaves talk, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

At the start of the offseason, the Angels began exploring deals for swingman Travis Ballew, a pitcher who had a successful 2020 campaign both as a reliever and starter. A number of teams showed interest, but with the hustle and bustle of the offseason getting underway, any potential deal involving Ballew fell off the radar.

Now that a lot of the dust has settled on where the top free agent pitchers have landed, Travis Ballew emerges as one of the best bang-for-your-buck options as he is currently making the MLB minimum with 4 years of team control left. Ballew could easily fill into a team’s bullpen and can also serve as that important swingman starting pitcher who can fill in for that pesky 5- day injury or suspension. He’s also demonstrated success as a starter making 24 starts for the Angels in 2019, a year in which the team found themselves in the World Series.

GM Mike Lowe has stated that the Angels aren’t looking to fill any particular holes as their 2021 roster appears set. Therefore, it seems a potential deal could happen quickly as the Angels seemingly are after someone who they could develop in their minor league system.

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