Feb 19, 2026, 7:15 AM ET

The Los Angeles Angels signed reliever Kirby Yates to a one-year, $5 million contract this offseason. Yates was a disappointment for the Dodgers last season, posting a bloated 5.23 ERA and 4.76 FIP in 41 1/3 innings. What went wrong for Yates in 2025? It was a season marred by injury, as the 38-year-old Yates made three separate trips to the injured list last year. His home run rate also exploded to 1.96 HR/9, which is absolutely untenable for a reliever. His ground-ball rate fell to a career-low 29.9%, and the increased number of flyballs was not good for his ERA. To make matters worse, Yates struggled with walks last season, with a 9.6% walk rate. That was actually lower than it had been in the previous few seasons, as Yates had been in the double digits the previous two seasons. He's always given up walks, but the combination of a high walk rate and a high home run rate was brutal. The veteran right-hander also lost half an mph of velocity on his fastball and over an inch of arm-side movement on his famous splitter. The splitter was uncharacteristically crushed for a .267 AVG, .520 SLG, and .365 wOBA in 2025. He was a little unlucky last season as his 69.1% LOB rate, 17% HR/FB rate, and .293 BABIP were all big deviations from his career marks. His 3.33 SIERA suggests that there could be room for improvement, but he's got to cut the home runs if he wants to remain a high-leverage relief option. He's in the closer mix for Los Angeles, but it's a crowded bullpen competing with Jordan Romano, Ben Joyce, and Robert Stephenson. Yates is the favorite to handle ninth-inning duties for the Angels for now and is a cheap source of saves (ATC projects 10 saves) at his current NFBC ADP of 324 in March.--Elliott Baas