Blake Parker, Jose Alvarez among Angels relievers “believed to be in play” at deadline, per Ken Rosenthal

The Angels traded Martin Maldonado to the Astros earlier this week, whether the club makes any additional moves is yet to be seen.

It appears, though, that the Angels have a few relievers available: Blake Parker and Jose Alvarez.

Blake Parker, whose salary is $1.8 million, is controllable through 2020 and Jose Alvarez, whose salary is $1 million, is controllable through 2021.

Parker broke out in a big way in 2017 but has taken a step back this year, even though he is still outperforming peripherals. His four-seam fastball has dropped a tick but its effectiveness is much, much lower, per Pitch Info pitch values (16.3 wFA in 2017, -2.9 in 2018). Parker has regressed to a 3.42 ERA and 4.09 FIP, becoming more susceptible to the long ball (1.52 HR/9) in a year in which league-wide home runs have decreased. His strikeouts are down (10.27 K/9) and walks are up (3.04 BB/9).

Alvarez, on the other hand, holds much more value as a 29-year old above-average left-handed reliever controllable for three additional seasons. One probably would not want him to pitch to righties, per se, but unlike a LOOGY, he is not limited to exclusively facing left-handed hitters.

Justin Anderson, too, is another name that appears to have come up in conversations.

As it is, the Angels are in a precarious situation. Eight games back of the second wild card, the club needs to go on a tear to get back in the hunt—selling off relief pieces would be counter to that approach.

Billy Eppler is a self-described opportunist as far as trade markets are concerned; don’t be surprised if a soft-sell is in order or if reliever trades return MLB-ready pieces. Anything is possible.