The Angels are coping with a little bit of a scare involving offseason signee Robert Stephenson. The righty reliever departed Saturday’s Triple-A rehab outing after going through one hitter (whom he walked). Whereas particulars are nonetheless sparse, the crew advised reporters this afternoon that he’s headed for additional testing after experiencing soreness in his throwing elbow (X hyperlink by way of Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com).
Stephenson has spent all the season on the injured checklist, however the elbow problem appears to be new. His authentic IL placement got here because of some shoulder discomfort that arose throughout Spring Coaching. The abbreviated rehab look was his first official sport motion as a member of the Los Angeles group.
The Halos signed Stephenson to a three-year, $33MM pact that represented their largest funding of the winter. Whereas they roughly overhauled all the bullpen, Stephenson was the one participant to whom they made a multi-year dedication. They envisioned him stepping in as a high-end setup arm in entrance of Carlos Estévez, however his Angels tenure has gotten off to a rocky begin. Stephenson was arguably the very best reliever in MLB for the ultimate few months of the 2023 season. After being traded from the Pirates to the Rays in early June, he threw 38 1/3 innings of two.35 ERA ball with an enormous 42.9% strikeout charge.
It’s far too quickly to know whether or not he’s in peril of lacking important time. If there’s a long-term elbow problem, nevertheless, it may have an effect on Stephenson’s contract standing. His three-year deal features a provision that the Halos would obtain a $2.5MM membership choice for the 2027 marketing campaign if he suffers an elbow ligament damage that knocks him out of motion for 130+ days.
