Two days after this desk called Kirby Yates the Angels’ clearest trade chip, the veteran closer gave evaluators the outing they will have to price in. Handed a 1-0 lead in the ninth inning of Friday’s second-half opener against Detroit, Yates hit Dillon Dingler with a pitch, walked Riley Greene around a pair of flyouts, and with two outs surrendered Hao-Yu Lee’s two-run double — a 2-1 loss covered in full here — taking both the blown save and the decision.
The damage to his statistical case is real if not fatal. Yates’ ERA moved from 3.00 to 3.74 in two-thirds of an inning, and his season ledger now shows three saves against three blown saves for a Los Angeles Angels club that has lost three straight and sits 38-60. The underlying appeal is unchanged: he is an impending free agent, he had allowed one earned run over his previous four appearances, and contending bullpens are short on experienced ninth-inning arms every July. One bad night does not erase that. It does, however, shrink the gap between what the Angels can ask for and what a contender will offer.
The frustrating part for Anaheim is that the loss wasted Reid Detmers‘ fourth scoreless start of six-plus innings this season: six innings, seven strikeouts, no walks, and just four hits. Detmers, at 3-6 with a 4.16 ERA, is himself the kind of controllable left-hander rival front offices ask about, and outings like Friday’s are why John Mozeliak has resisted a full teardown even at 22 games under .500.
For fantasy managers, Yates remains rosterable for saves but the leash is worth watching — if he is dealt to a contender by August 3, he likely moves into a setup role, and Ryan Zeferjahn and Sam Bachman, who combined for two clean innings Friday, are the speculative names if the ninth inning in Anaheim opens up. Detmers is a viable add in deeper leagues while the strikeout-to-walk form holds.
