Angels News: Following Trip to IL, Aaron Loup Clears His Locker from Angel Stadium

Not again...

For the second time this month, an Angel cleared their locker before the season ended.

This time, it's reliever Aaron Loup.

Aaron Loup’s locker is gone. He went on the IL over the weekend. The Angels have an option on Loup or owe him a $2 million buyout.

— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) September 25, 2023

The lefty reliever finds himself on the IL near the end of the year with a left shoulder strain, and it's become a very familiar sight to see his name on the injured list for the Angels. 

Over his time in LA, he's appeared in 120 games, with a 4.86 ERA and a win-loss record of 2-8 over two years.

The Angels have a decision to make. They could either keep the 35-year-old and use their team option on him next year, which would come with a salary of $7.5 million, or they could buy him out for just $2 million, and he would become an unrestricted free agent.

With new names in the clubhouse like Davis Daniel, the Angels might be able to save a little money and maybe go after one or two big-name free agents this offseason. 

Guys like Blake Snell, Josh Hader and Yoshinobu Yamamoto all look like they're going to be on the market, and if the Angels pick up even one of them, it would be a sign that they're all in to win with Mike Trout.

But, haven't we heard that before?

Weren't we saying that same thing when the Angels pushed all their chips into the middle of the table at the Trade Deadline to get Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez?

The unfortunate thing about the whole situation is that for some teams, their season isn't anywhere close to being over, and with an injury like the one Loup suffered, he could've made it back onto the roster before the postseason was over. 

Ultimately, the team has no say in what a player does with their stuff, but players should want to stick around the locker room, regardless of their injury status. They should want to rehab at the team facility and be around the team in any way they can.

The Angels should be fighting for wins in October, not doing some fall cleaning around the locker room.