Pomeranz earned a big league deal after a comeback season with the Cubs. The 37-year-old left-hander had not appeared in an MLB game between 2022 and 2024, as a brief stint on the Giants MLB roster in ’24 did not result in any game action. He started last season on a minor league contract with the Mariners. Pomeranz posted big strikeout numbers against Triple-A opposition to convince the Cubs to add him to the MLB bullpen. He took advantage of an upward mobility clause in his contract to leave for Chicago in mid-April.
It worked out pretty well. Pomeranz pitched 49 2/3 innings of 2.17 ERA ball over 57 appearances. That included a remarkable stretch to start the season, as he didn’t allow a single earned run in his first 26 appearances. He had a rough patch in July, but bounced back from early August to the end of the season with a 2.21 rating in 20 1/3 innings. Pomeranz fanned 28.1% of opponents against a walk percentage of 7.4%. Although the Cubs didn’t use him in a ton of high-leverage situations, he recorded 14 carries while giving up the lead just twice.
Pomeranz leaned very heavily on his four-seam fastball. He threw the pitch to righties three-quarters of the time and at an 84% clip against lefties. It won’t blow hitters away on speed alone. His average speed of 92.7 MPH is mediocre. Pomeranz was near the top of the league in fastball spin, allowing the pitch to play above his velocity at the top of the strike zone. That could put him in danger of home run trouble, but it also led to a lot of harmless flyouts and a decent swinging strike rate. His only secondary pitch is an 83-84 MPH knuckle curve that played more as a groundball offering.
The Angels have to do a lot of heavy lifting in the bullpen. Closer Kenley Jansen heads to Detroit in an $11 million deal. They are on the move Reid Detmers back into the rotation and took their best setup guy out of the mix. Pomeranz mate with Brock Burke to give rookie manager Kurt Suzuki some solid options from the left side. Burke has had neutral platoon numbers over the course of his career. Pomeranz doesn’t need to fill a specialist role, but is likely the superior option against teams’ best left-handed bats. He held lefties to a .176/.238/.203 line with a huge 35% strikeout rate in 80 plate appearances this year.
Their right-handed options are weaker, even if they finally have a healthy season Robert Stephenson. They need to keep looking for leverage arms from the right side. Their deal with Pomeranz and a $2 million rebound flier on Romano pushes their projected payroll to $172 million, according to Grid source. They had a payroll of $193 million to start the 2025 season. There is plenty of room, but a lot still needs to be done. The Angels still need a starter, at least one multi-positional infielder and a center fielder. That’s in addition to the moves yet to come in the bullpen.
Pomeranz is the third free agent lefty reliever to leave the board today. Now former teammate Caleb Thielbar goes back to the Cubs, while Caleb Ferguson agreed with the Reds. Sean Newcomb, Danny Coulombe, Justin Wilson And Taylor Rogers are among those not signed.
Ari Alexander of Boston 7 News first reported that Pomeranz and the Angels were on a one-year contract. Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register was the first with a $4 million guarantee. Image courtesy of Patrick Gorski, Imagn Images.
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