There are few more evident trade candidates than Carlos Estévez. Rental relievers on non-contenders are the likeliest players to move at the deadline. Estévez fits the bill, making it all but inevitable that he’ll be on the move barring injury over the next few weeks.
Robert Murray of FanSided wrote on Wednesday that the Angels are already gauging interest from contenders on their closer. Estévez is fresh off being named the American League’s reliever of the month in June. He tossed 10 scoreless innings while striking out 10 hitters. Estévez retired 26 consecutive batters at one point and allowed only two baserunners (both on singles) in 31 plate appearances.
That might have been the best month of the hard-throwing righty’s career. The 31-year-old isn’t a one-month wonder though. He has been a generally effective late-game arm throughout his time in Los Angeles. The Halos signed him to a two-year, $13.5MM free agent pact during the 2022-23 offseason. Estévez had spent the entirety of his career with the Rockies before hitting the market. He’d been inconsistent during his stint with the Rox, but he flashed closing stuff at his best.
The Halos plugged him into the ninth inning. Estévez saved 31 games in 35 attempts a season ago, working to a 3.90 ERA over 62 1/3 innings. He earned an All-Star nod with a 1.80 ERA during the first half. Estévez struggled down the stretch, posting a 6.59 mark through his final 27 1/3 frames.
Aside from a handful of rocky outings between the middle of April and early portion of May, Estévez has put that slow finish behind him. He carries an even 3.00 earned run average in 27 frames. He’s punching out 27% of opposing hitters while walking just 3% of batters faced, by far the lowest rate of his career. He is 16-19 in save opportunities.
Estévez probably won’t maintain this level of pristine command. He’d walked nearly 10% of opponents during his final season in Colorado and posted an 11% walk rate last year. Even if he hands out a few more free passes, he should remain a quality high-leverage arm. Estévez has fanned nearly 28% of batters faced as an Angel. He has gotten swinging strikes on more than 12% of his offerings in each of the past two seasons. He’s not going to rack up strikeouts at a Mason Miller or Josh Hader level, but Estévez has better than average bat-missing ability. He pairs a 96-97 MPH fastball with a slider that checks in around 89 MPH.
Signing Estévez has been one of the better moves of Perry Minasian’s GM tenure. It hasn’t stopped the Angels from falling towards the bottom of the American League, though. A terrible August killed their chances of competing for a playoff spot in 2023. After losing Shohei Ohtani in free agency and dealing with another extended Mike Trout absence, the Halos will be clear sellers at the deadline this time around. Tonight’s shutout loss to the A’s dropped them 13 games below .500.
Estévez is making $6.75MM before returning to free agency next winter. He’s owed just under $3MM for the rest of the season. That’d drop to roughly $2.18MM in remaining commitments by the deadline. Most teams should be able to accommodate that salary for arguably the best rental reliever available. Every contender could be a realistic suitor — even teams with an established closer could push Estévez into the seventh or eighth inning — but teams like the Yankees, Royals, Padres, Mets and Cardinals could be especially motivated to add late-inning help.
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