Two years and one week ago, amid their startling 98-win season, the Angels traded an interesting but injury-plagued pitching prospect to Cleveland for a once-successful reliever they hoped could buttress their bullpen.
The deal’s bungling long since became clear, but Saturday’s game, a 5-1 loss to the Indians at Progressive Field, crystallized it. The reliever was Vinnie Pestano, then a 29-year-old with a 5.00 earned-run average. He threw 221/3 innings for the Angels between that year and 2015, and is no longer pitching professionally.
The prospect was Mike Clevinger, then a 23-year-old hard thrower working his way back from Tommy John surgery, who went on to impress talent evaluators with his pitching across two minor league levels last year.