Los Angeles Angels: Julio Teheran is a great signing, but more is needed

The Los Angeles Angels signed Julio Teheran to a one-year, $9 million contract in the team’s first pitching-based moved since inking Anthony Rendon to a contract.

The Los Angeles Angels signing Anthony Rendon was a great move to get the fanbase excited and definitely makes the Angels’ offense one of the most exciting in the league next season, but it did not address the major issue at hand.

The team still needed pitching. They knew this, the fans knew this and everyone who follows baseball knew this. As good as the offense can be, you cannot win in the big leagues without pitching. You might be able to get to the playoffs by being creative, but you won’t ever win a multi-game series.

The Halos made the first pitching-related move since signing Rendon when it was reported on Thursday that the team had agreed to a one-year, $9 million contract with Julio Teheran. It might not be the big name that Angel fans were hoping for, but it really is a great signing for the Angels.

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The Angels’ Achilles’ Heel the last several years, outside the lack of true quality from top to bottom in the rotation, has been the health in the rotation. The Angels have the second-most days missed to injuries in the entire league since 2016 and just under 40 percent of those injuries came out of the pitching staff (h/t Jake Mailhot, FanGraphs).

Teheran is actually someone that we circled as a potential pitcher to bring in alongside Gerrit Cole before Cole went and signed with the Yankees for this very specific reason: he is durable and consistent.

As mentioned in the article we wrote that is linked above, Teheran is 12th in the MLB in innings pitched over the last three seasons and has started 30 or more games every single season since 2013.

Sure, he no longer is the future ace that he was early in his career and appears to be someone whose ceiling is a high-three ERA, but he is a valuable arm that can be slotted in the middle of the rotation and produce.

And quite frankly, the Angels can take two routes the rest of the winter, but they have to pick which way to go and have to decide soon.

The team can either bring in one of the big-name starters that are still available, with the biggest name being Hyun-Jin Ryu.

Ryu definitely has durability concerns but if he can stay healthy then the team would have its true ace until Shohei Ohtani comes into form.

A starting rotation of Ryu, Ohtani, Teheran, Andrew Heaney and Griffin Canning is good enough to win 90 games behind that offense. The only potential problems is, yet again, injuries. Ryu, Ohtani and Heaney should not be fully trusted yet and if two of those three go down the Angels will be in terrible shape.

The other route that the Los Angeles Angels could go would mirror their cross-freeway rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and attempt to build a deep starting rotation that bleeds into the bullpen. If there are concerns about Ryu and the team cannot get a trade done for a pitcher then this would be the best route.

The Angels can sign more mid-level pitchers that are reliable, such as Teheran, and build up the starting rotation. If the Angels can bring in two more arms like Teheran that would give them eight starting pitching options to choose from, including Dylan Bundy from Baltimore.

Sure, they might not have the “ace” that every team strives to have if Ohtani is not ready for that workload yet, but they would have enough arms to overcome adversity and behind this offense, that might be all the team needs.

Either way, the Los Angeles Angels likely are not done with just Teheran as they cannot afford to be done. This team still needs pitching.