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MLB Trade Rumors: Angels to acquire Dylan Bundy from Orioles, per report

The Angels made a move to upgrade their pitching staff.

MLB: Toronto Blue Jays at Baltimore Orioles Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

One of the absolutely worst kept secrets around baseball this offseason is that the Angels are looking to upgrade their pitching staff. This isn’t a hard conclusion to come to since the team ranked next to last in fWAR in 2019 with a combined 5.8 fWAR which is...well....not good.

In addition to being heavily linked to the rumor mill surrounding the top pitcher on the market in Gerrit Cole (who does have roots in southern California), one positive note that has come out recently is that two way phenom Shohei Ohtani has been cleared to throw again. If he can approach the potential he has on the mound, that in itself is going to be a big addition to the Angels’ beleaguered staff.

However, the Angels are not taking any chances and today they made a move for a really interesting, if flawed arm.

As a former 4th overall pick in the MLB Draft back in 2011, Bundy has long been thought of as a guy who has huge raw talent. However, he has dealt with injury issues throughout his time as a professional including Tommy John surgery back in 2013 and a shoulder issue in 2015.

However, Bundy has remained reasonably healthy over the last three season and two of those season (2017 and 2019) were pretty good as he north of 2 WAR in each of those seasons. He isn’t a front line guy, but for a piece to upgrade the back of a rotation, any team could do far worse than him assuming he can keep his injury issues behind him.

As for the Orioles part of the return, those details are known now.

For a guy in Bundy who has a couple years of team control, the Orioles did pretty well for themselves. They snagged a couple of recent college draftee arms in Peek and Brnovich and Isaac Mattson is a pitcher who just put together a stellar season in the minors. Across three levels, he posted a 2.33 ERA in 37 relief appearances with 110 strikeouts in 73.1 innings.