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Looking Back At Angels' Regretful $33 Million Robert Stephenson Deal
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- Looking Back At Angels' Regretful $33 Million Robert Stephenson Deal
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)
November has finally arrived, meaning big shakeups in MLB are coming in the next month or so. Los Angeles Angels fans hope their club will be part of the impending frenzy.
While the big moves across the league are still to come, we can look at the impacts of the smaller, yet still impactful, moves that have been going down. For the Angels, that means diving into the Robert Stephenson situation.
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It was officially announced on Friday that the Angels would not be exercising their $2.5 million club option to keep the 33-year-old in town for 2027. With their hands officially clean from Stephenson, let's take a look at how his tenure in Anaheim played out.
The Halos signed the right-handed reliever back ahead of the 2024 campaign after his great end to 2023 with the Tampa Bay Rays. It was a three-year, $33 million agreement between the Angels and Stephenson – a significant contract for a club notoriously unwilling to spend big on multi-year contracts.
Things got off to a rough start as he would miss the entire first year of that contract after undergoing Tommy John surgery in May of 2024. That time on the injured list bled into 2025, but he eventually worked his way back onto the mound to toss 10 innings in the second year of the contract. In that small sample size, Stephenson impressed by allowing just 10 baserunners, punching out 10 batters, and allowing just three runs.
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There was hope that the Halos would get more of that production out of the bullpen from Stephenson in 2026, but those few innings in 2025 turned out to be his last in an Angels uniform. He would undergo another surgery last April to repair a ligament and flexor tendon in his elbow. That surgery kept him off the mound in Anaheim the entire year.
Zooming out, Stephenson missed the entire first and third years of his three-year deal while only pitching 10 innings in that second year. Value-wise, $33 million for 10 innings wasn't exactly a great deal for the Halos, who finished last in the AL West in each of the last three seasons.
Since Stephenson spent at least 130 consecutive days on the injured list, the Angels were given a conditional option worth $2.5 million to keep the righty for the 2027 campaign. As many expected, however, the Angels have decided to wash their hands of the reliever and declined the option to do so. With his name officially off the books, the new Angels front office will look to fill out the bullpen elsewhere.
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The aggressiveness of the Angels this offseason is still a big unknown due to the finalization of the club's sale and the search for a new general manager in the works. Still, with as many holes as there are on the roster and after losing 100 games for the first time in franchise history, expect to see many new faces at the Big A in 2027.
They may not be ready to land the biggest names in baseball yet, but I can imagine incoming owner Stan Kroenke wants to set a precedent in his first year as the Angels' owner. One thing that'll help with that is Stephenson's $33 million being in the rearview.
