Cubs select contract of Drew Pomeranz from Iowa

The 37-year-old was released by the Angels in the middle of June after posting a 5.01 ERA, 1.59 WHIP, and a 16/12 K/BB ratio over 23 1/3 innings in 25 appearances out of the Angels’ bullpen. He was sent to Triple-A Iowa and threw a scoreless inning on Sunday in his first appearance.

Pomeranz was designated for assignment on Monday and slid through waivers unclaimed. The 37-year-old left-hander registered a 5.01 ERA, 1.59 WHIP and a 16/12 K/BB ratio over 23 1/3 innings in 25 appearances out of the Angels’ bullpen. He’s now free to peddle his wares on the open market.

Los Angeles has decided to move on from Pomeranz after he compiled an inflated 5.01 ERA across 23 1/3 innings of work. Th3 37-year-old southpaw signed a one-year, $4 million contract with the Angels last offseason after a strong season with the Cubs last year where he posted a 2.17 ERA and 57/15 K/BB ratio over 49 2/3 innings.

Pomeranz wound up doing the minimum 15-day stint after going down with elbow inflammation. With a 7.20 ERA in 15 innings before getting hurt, Pomeranz has a lot of improvement to find before becoming interesting in fantasy baseball.

Pomeranz pitched on Tuesday and allowed one run (unearned) on one hit while also walking one. Something must not have felt right during or after the appearance because he’s now going on the injured list. We’ll wait to hear more about his possible timeline for return.

The first was a three-run shot from Munetaka Murakami, but since both runners were inherited, Pomeranz was charged with only two earned runs. Still, he’s now given up three homers in two days, which won’t help his chances for picking up saves in a wide-open Angels bullpen. He has an 8.74 ERA in 11 1/3 innings, and while it’d make sense for the Halos to stick with him, there’s the chance they’ll give him the Jordan Romano treatment.

The Angels already had a lefty in the game in Brent Suter, but they wanted to put in more of a power guy to face Caglianone’s power. What followed was a 109-mph homer. The Angels took another blown save in the 10th, as Joey Lucchesi, pitching with a one-run lead in the Angels debut, gave up a three-run homer to lose the game. The Halos’ pen is even more of a mess now with Jordan Romano gone. Maybe Kirby Yates or Ben Joyce will eventually fix things in the ninth, but no one seems trustworthy at the moment. If one absolutely had to roster a currently active Angels reliever, Sam Bachman, who gave up two runs while getting three outs tonight, is probably the best option.

This most likely would have been Romano’s second save in two days if Zach Neto hadn’t homered in the top of the ninth to expand the Angels’ lead from three runs to four. However, since Romano has now pitched two days in a row, Drew Pomeranz, who didn’t throw tonight, is probably the favorite to close should the opportunity arise in Saturday’s game.

This came up completely out of nowhere. It looks like Jordan Romano or Drew Pomeranz will open the season as Los Angeles’ primary ninth-inning option with Yates on the shelf and Robert Stephenson (elbow) done for the year. No word yet regarding how much time Yates is expected to miss. This entire closing situation is a borderline stay-away for fantasy managers outside of extremely deep mixed leagues.

It’s a potential worst-case scenario and a crushing blow for Stephenson, who previously underwent Tommy John surgery back in 2024. The 33-year-old veteran reliever suffered a setback earlier this week after experiencing nerve issue and thoracic outlet syndrome symptoms during the offseason. He’ll visit with Dr. Meister to evaluate his options and determine whether he’ll be able to pitch at all this season. The most likely outcome is some kind of surgical procedure if he’s dealing with UCL damage. He’s no longer in the mix to close for the Angels with Kirby Yates, Jordan Romano and Drew Pomeranz the leading candidates.