Former Los Angeles Angels starter Griffin Canning signed a one year deal with the San Diego Padres, with the move reported by Mark Polishuk of MLBTradeRumors.com via the Divine Sports Gospel. Canning’s deal isn’t considered official yet, as he still has to pass a physical, and the Padres have to make another move with their 40-man roster to accommodate him after signing outfielder/first baseman Nick Castellanos earlier today
Canning returns to Southern California trying to rejuvenate what’s turned out to be an uneven career. The native of Mission Viejo played his college baseball at UCLA, and he began his career as a Top 100 prospect with the Angels. His ERA for the Angels was an unsightly 4.78 over his first 508 innings for the Angels, with 94 of his appearances and the majority of his innings coming as a starter.
The Angels bailed on Canning last offseason in a trade with the Atlanta Braves for outfielder Jorge Soler, but the deal didn’t work out well for either team. Soler has underperformed for the Angels, while Atlanta chose to non-tender Canning, given that Atlanta’s chief goal in that trade was to get rid of Soler’s contract, according to Polishuk.
Canning signed a one-year contract with the New York Mets for $4.25 million, and at first it looked like the Mets had struck gold as the pitcher posted a 2.47 ERA over his first nine appearances for New York. But the right-hander struggled after that, and his ERA rose to 3.77 in his next seven appearances, and he ruptured his Achilles tendon in late June.
Now Canning could be pitching down the freeway from Anaheim, which raises the question of why the Angels weren’t in on this deal. They have a desperate need for pitching for any kind, and given that most of their signings to date have been for relievers with an injury history, it’s safe to say they could use a pitcher like Canning if he’s healthy.
It’s fair to wonder whether money was a part of this, too. Almost all of the Angels signings for pitchers have been for minimum money, and Canning got four times that amount. The Angels have spent less than $20 million dollars in free agency according to reports, even though they’ve brought in somewhere around a dozen players.
It will be yet another embarrassment for the Angels if Canning does succeed and pitch well, and it’s already an embarrassment given that they weren’t reported to be among the teams that were interested. It will be fascinating to watch all this play out and see who ends up with the most viable signings going forward.