Angels to add veteran lefty Brent Suter to bullpen

The Angels reportedly agreed to a deal with veteran left-handed reliever Brent Suter on Thursday morning, filling one of the final spots in their bullpen makeover with spring training just days away.

The reported deal has not been announced by the Angels, who would need to make a 40-man roster move to open a spot for Suter.

Suter, 36, had a 4.52 ERA in 67⅔ innings last season with the Cincinnati Reds. Prior to that, his ERA had been below 4.00 with in his previous six consecutive seasons as a reliever. He began his career with three seasons in which he split time between starting and relieving.

Suter has a career 3.57 ERA over parts of 10 years, including the first seven with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Last season Suter had a worse than average 18% strikeout rate and a better than average 6% walk rate. The average exit velocity he allowed was in the 99th percentile. His ground ball rate was in the 67th percentile.

Prior to the deal with Suter, the Angels had only one lefty — veteran Drew Pomeranz — who was locked in to a bullpen job.

This season the Angels have already added veteran right-handers Kirby Yates and Jordan Romano. The top returning relievers are right-handers Robert Stephenson and Ben Joyce.

Stephenson and Joyce, who are coming off major injuries, combined for just 14 ⅓ innings last season. Right-hander Chase Silseth, who has a strong shot at a bullpen job because he’s out of options, pitched just 11 innings last season.

Of Angels relievers who worked at least 30 innings last season, the only ones still on the bullpen depth chart are right-handers Ryan Zeferjahn (57 innings with a 4.74 ERA) and José Fermin (34 ⅓ innings with a 4.46 ERA). Both of them will have to win jobs in spring training.

Left-hander Reid Detmers, who was a fixture in the bullpen last season, is now a starter.

By turning over almost the entire bullpen, the Angels will look to improve on last year’s 4.86 bullpen ERA, which ranked 28th in the majors.