Arizona Diamondbacks trade Matt Andriese for RHP flier prospect Jeremy Beasley

The Arizona Diamondbacks acquired RHP Jeremy Beasley from the Los Angeles Angels for RHP Matt Andriese. The 40-man roster is at 39. Beasley, 24, spent the majority of 2019 at Double-A Mobile and, in 23 games (22 starts), he went 6-7 with a 4.06 ERA (49 ER in 108.2 IP), .258 opponent average and 102 strikeouts. He also made 3 starts for Triple-A Salt Lake, going 1-0 with a 7.90 ERA (12 ER in 13.2 IP).

In 2 seasons at Double-A Mobile (2018-19), he appeared in 33 games (29 starts) and went 9-10 with a 3.59 ERA (61 ER in 153.0 IP), .244 opponent average and 139 strikeouts. In 3 seasons in the Angels’ system (2017-19), he appeared in 68 games (43 starts) and went 16-15 with a 3.56 ERA (105 ER in 265.2 IP), .247 opponent average and 256 strikeouts.

The ongoing presence of Matt Andriese on the roster was a baffling issue, since he arrived at the trade deadline in July 2018, traded from the Rays for prospects Brian Shaffer and Michael Perez. Andriese promptly sucked, allowing 29 hits, including eight home-runs, in just 19 innings of work for Arizona. Things were slightly better last year, but a 4.71 ERA was still nothing special, even though his FIP was virtually a run lower, thanks to a decent K-rate (79 in 70.2 innings). Still, his almost supernatural ability to avoid a spell in Reno was an irritant. when it seemed better pitchers languished in the minors. He leaves Arizona with an ERA of 5.62 over 89.2 innings. 10th-worst all time for a pitcher with that many innings here.

As for Jeremy Beasley... Well, he’s not Matt Andriese, and that’s good enough for me. Prospects1500.com ranked the 24-year-old as the Angels #31 prospect, saying: “Beasley pitched across both AA and AAA during 2019. LIke many pitchers his numbers in AAA were atrocious and thus should be taken with a large shaker of salt (as well as small sample size). Beasley has more of a back of the rotation or long reliever ceiling. He has a fastball, slider, splitter pitch mix, with all pitches being average, the splitter is the out pitch here. I don’t expect Beasley to make his debut this year unless the Angels have injury issues in the bullpen.”