Angels add lefthander to pen

By Alan Matthews
December 9, 2005

The Angels added a much-needed lefthander to their bullpen when they sent shortstop Alexi Casilla to the Twins for disgruntled reliever J.C. Romero.

The Angels won their second straight American League West division title in 2005 despite receiving fewer than 31 innings of relief work during the regular season from lefthanders--Jake Woods and Jason Christiansen.

Romero has been one of the better lefty specialists in the AL over the last four seasons, but his situation in Minnesota had soured. He has been inconsistent over the past couple of seasons, and disagreed with how the Twins had used him, so he requested a trade this offseason.

He held lefthanded hitters to a .198 average in 2005, when he went 4-3, 3.47 in 68 appearances spanning 57 innings. The 29-year-old Romero was called up to Minnesota in 1999 and has pitched in at least 68 games each of the last four seasons. He is to make $2.2 million next season.

Casilla, 21, split the 2005 season among three levels, filling in at Triple-A and Double-A before eventually spending the final three and a half months of the season in the low Class A Midwest League. He batted .311 with 49 stolen bases in 266 at-bats between the three stops. He had a 22-game hitting streak beginning in July.

Casilla, who profiles best as a second baseman, broke his forearm late in the year and missed the final two weeks of the season, but was back on the field playing in a lower-level Dominican winter league by November. He's a high-energy player with above-average speed who keeps the ball on the ground and does the little things to help produce runs.