The Angels are taking a calculated swing at bullpen depth, signing veteran lefty Drew Pomeranz to a one-year deal reportedly worth $4 million. It’s a move that adds experience and upside to a relief corps that’s in the middle of a serious retool. With five open spots on their 40-man roster, the Angels are now up to 37 after also inking right-hander Jordan Romano.
Let’s talk about Pomeranz. This is a comeback story worth paying attention to.
The 37-year-old didn’t throw a single pitch in a major league game from 2022 through 2024. He had a brief stint on the Giants’ roster last season but never got into a game.
So when he started 2025 on a minor league deal with the Mariners, expectations were modest. But Pomeranz forced the issue.
After dominating Triple-A hitters with eye-catching strikeout numbers, he triggered an upward mobility clause in his contract and landed with the Cubs in mid-April.
That move paid off in a big way.
Pomeranz was a rock in Chicago’s bullpen, tossing 49 2/3 innings with a sparkling 2.17 ERA over 57 appearances. He opened the season on an incredible run-26 straight outings without allowing an earned run.
He hit a bump in July, but bounced back strong, posting a 2.21 ERA over his final 20 1/3 innings from August onward. The strikeout and walk numbers were impressive: a 28.1% K-rate against just a 7.4% walk rate.
While the Cubs didn’t lean on him in the highest-leverage spots, he still notched 14 holds and only coughed up the lead twice all year.
What made him so effective?
It starts with the fastball. Pomeranz leaned on his four-seamer more than most-throwing it 75% of the time to righties and a whopping 84% to lefties.
It doesn’t light up the radar gun-he averaged 92.7 mph-but the spin rate was elite. That high spin helped the pitch play up in the zone, generating plenty of harmless fly balls and a solid whiff rate.
It’s the kind of fastball that sneaks past hitters before they realize it’s not as fast as it looks. His secondary pitch, a knuckle-curve in the low 80s, wasn’t flashy but served its purpose as a ground-ball weapon.
This is a smart fit for the Angels, who are reshaping their bullpen after losing closer Kenley Jansen to Detroit and shifting Reid Detmers back into the rotation. Pomeranz now joins Brock Burke as the primary left-handed options for new manager Kurt Suzuki.
Burke has been more of a neutral-split guy throughout his career, while Pomeranz showed clear dominance against left-handed hitters in 2025-holding them to a .176/.238/.203 slash line with a 35% strikeout rate in 80 plate appearances. That’s elite-level stuff from the left side.
The right-handed side of the ‘pen is still a work in progress. Even if Robert Stephenson finally stays healthy, the Angels could use another leverage arm or two from the right. Their bullpen makeover is far from complete.
As it stands, the Pomeranz deal and the $2 million flyer on Romano push the Angels’ projected payroll to around $172 million, per RosterResource. That’s still well below the $193 million they opened with in 2025, so there’s room to maneuver. But there’s also a long to-do list: another starting pitcher, a versatile infielder, a center fielder-and more help in the bullpen.
Pomeranz is the third free-agent lefty reliever to sign today, with Caleb Thielbar heading back to the Cubs and Caleb Ferguson joining the Reds. There are still several quality lefties available-Sean Newcomb, Danny Coulombe, Justin Wilson, and Taylor Rogers among them.
But for now, the Angels are betting that Pomeranz’s 2025 resurgence wasn’t a fluke. If he looks anything like the guy who dominated for the Cubs, this could be one of the sneakier value signings of the offseason.