Former Tampa Bay Rays' All-Star Signs Deal with Los Angeles Angels

After starting the year there in 2023, free agent reliever Matt Moore is headed back to the Los Angeles Angels on a one-year deal.

Free agent reliever Matt Moore is headed back to the Los Angeles Angels on a one-year deal, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

Matt Moore goes to Angels. $9M.

Matt Moore goes to Angels. $9M.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 24, 2024

For Moore, heading to Los Angeles represents a degree of familiarity, as he actually started the 2023 season with Los Angeles before finishing up in Cleveland and Miami. He had a very productive year in 2023, going 5-1 overall with a 2.56 ERA in 50 appearances. He was an integral part of the Angels' bullpen but was jettisoned in a cost-saving move when the team fell out of contention in the second half.

The 34-year-old veteran has now pitched in 12 different seasons with the Rays, Giants, Rangers, Tigers, Phillies, Rangers, Angels, Guardians and Marlins. While he has reinvented himself as a reliever over the last few years, he came up as a prominent starter with Tampa Bay, even earning an All-Star nod in 2013.

That season, he went 17-4 overall for Tampa Bay and pitched to a 3.29 ERA. Lifetime, he's 66-63 with a 4.36 ERA in 318 appearances (164 starts). In addition to being an All-Star, he finished ninth in the American League Cy Young voting in 2013. 

As Moore continues his career, he joins an Angels team that is certainly in flux. After losing Shohei Ohtani in free agency and moving on from manager Phil Nevin, no one quite knows what to expect for LA in 2024.

They finished fourth in the American League West a season ago.

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