Statement from the Angels website.
ANAHEIM -- The Angels, decimated by injuries throughout their rotation, acquired veteran starting pitcher Jhoulys Chacin from the Braves on Wednesday. In exchange, Minor League reliever Adam McCreery went to Atlanta.
Chacin was scheduled to start for the Braves on Wednesday, but he won't be active for the Angels until Thursday, at the earliest. Matt Shoemaker has been called up to start Wednesday's game for the Angels, and first baseman Ji-Man Choi, a Rule 5 Draft pick, was designated for assignment in order to clear a spot on the active roster for Shoemaker.
The Angels will thus have a 13-man pitching staff for the second of a three-game series against the visiting Cardinals, then will have to make another corresponding move to get Chacin on the active roster.
Chacin, 28, has a 5.40 ERA in five starts this year, and he has only made 20 Major League appearances (all starts) over the past three years. The Venezuelan was a fixture in the Rockies' rotation from 2010-13, going 37-40 with a 3.58 ERA and averaging 149 innings a year, but he dealt with injuries in '14, was released during Spring Training the following year and bounced around the Major and Minor Leagues.
Chacin joined the Braves on a Minor League contract that reportedly paid him $1.1 million in the Majors. He'll presumably make his Angels debut in Seattle on Saturday -- the next time the Angels need a starting pitcher.
Choi's DFA creates a spot on the 40-man roster for Chacin. The 24-year-old from South Korea cracked the Opening Day roster as a left-handed bat off the bench, but the Angels were never able to carve out a role for him. Choi was mainly used as a pinch-hitter and went 1-for-18 with six walks. Choi will now be placed on waivers. If every team -- including his prior club, the Orioles -- declines to put him on their 25-man roster, he can elect free agency.
Choi does not have to be offered back to the Orioles for $25,000, because he has already been outrighted to the Minor Leagues. Players who have already been outrighted once can elect free agency in lieu of being outrighted a second time.
McCreery, a 23-year-old left-hander, was drafted in the 22nd round of the 2014 Draft out of Azusa Pacific University in California and hadn't advanced past Rookie ball. He had a 3.55 ERA in 31 appearances with exaggerated strikeout and walk rates, issuing 7.8 walks and 11.6 strikeouts per nine innings.
Starting pitchers Garrett Richards (likely undergoing Tommy John surgery), Andrew Heaney (hoping to avoid the same procedure),C.J. Wilson (out until at least mid-June with shoulder woes) and Tyler Skaggs (shut down from throwing) are all out for the Angels, who have also looked into signing Tim Lincecumand Kyle Lohse.
Prior to Wednesday, the Angels' rotation consisted of only Jered Weaver, Hector Santiago and Nick Tropeano.
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