Angels News: GM Perry Minasian is 'Excited' About the Addition of Carlos Estevez
The Angels made a splash in free agency on Tuesday, signing former Rockies reliever Carlos Estevez to a two-year, $13.5 million contract. Estevez will receive $6.75 million each year.
Estevez comes over from Colorado, where he spent the first six years of his career. The big righty from the Dominican Republic, who will turn 30 later this month, has a 4.59 career ERA in 302 innings for the Rockies.
At the Winter Meetings, Angels GM Perry Minasian talked to the media about how Estevez's stuff might play outside the thin air of Denver.
"That’s something that we spent a long, long time talking about and digging into," Minasian said. "At the end of the day, we felt really comfortable with this player. There’s some things that we feel like he can do and make adjustments with that have got a chance to really impact his career going forward. So we’re excited to work with him.
"We felt like we needed some power," Minasian said. "It was something we lacked to a certain extent, just pure stuff."
Estevez definitely has the power, sporting a triple-digit fastball that is intimidating coming from his 6-foot-7, 277-pound frame. But for some reason, he's averaged just 9.3 strikeouts per nine innings in his career, not nearly as gaudy a number as you'd expect from someone with his fastball.
If the Angels can unlock the strikeout stuff, Estevez could be a bargain at less than $7 million per year, especially if he emerges as the team's closer.
