MLB Trade Rumors projected a 3-year deal for Carlos Estevez where he would get $27,000,000. While that’s not a lot of money, that’s solid money for a reliever. Estevez, however, has been better than solid in his career and he was downright dominant in 2024 for the Los Angeles Angels and Philadelphia Phillies. During last season he threw 55.0 innings with a 2.45 ERA while giving up just 38 hits, walked just 12 batters – and four of those were intentional – and he struck out 50 of the 212 hitters he faced. Going back to 2021 with Colorado, he’s thrown 236.0 innings with an ERA+ of 127.

After he signed with the Angels following the 2022 season he was made their closer. In his first season there he made the All-Star team and picked up 31 saves. He had another 20 of them for the Angels in 2024 before he was traded to Philadelphia where he added six more.

For the most part his time in Colorado saw him keep home runs to a minimum and since leaving he’s been good in that regard. But he’s also a big time fly ball pitcher so the question remains as to whether he can continue to suppress home runs if he continues to give up a ton of fly balls.

Outside of his 2023 season in Los Angeles, his strikeout rate has been solid, but not standout worthy. The big key for him in 2024 was that he turned in an elite level walk rate. He was also benefiting from a very low .229 BABIP against. It’s tough to truly compare that to his past and know exactly how “lucky” that was because much of his career came while pitching in Colorado where BABIP is far higher than typical and it skews the sample size in a big way. What we do know is that it’s unlikely that he will have a .229 BABIP moving forward because almost no one has been able to repeatedly perform to that level in the history of the game. Still, even with some regression there he should remain a quality reliever as long as he keeps the rest of his peripherals that he showed in 2024.