Reid Detmers had been traded for the first time in his career. At least, that’s what the internet said.
Hours before the MLB trade deadline on Aug. 3, it was reported that the Los Angeles Angels had dealt the left-hander to the Chicago Cubs. It was on MLB Trade Rumors and any other news sources that baseball executives, players, and fans obsessively hit refresh in the days leading up to the deadline.
When Reid Detmers briefly thought he was traded
Detmers reacted much like anyone in any other profession would if their life had just been uprooted. Seemingly a thousand thoughts raced through his mind at once.
“There's the whole human side,” Detmers said to FanSided. “I’m going to have to move everything to the other side of the country. I'm going to have to get my car and everything over there. Where am I going to stay? All kinds of stuff like that. So, there's the human side of it.
“But also, there's the baseball side. I don't really know anybody (with the Cubs). I've been here with the Angels my whole career, and it's like, how's that going to work out? A lot goes into it. It’s a blur.”
Detmers then paused.
“And my phone was blowing up, absolutely blowing up, but I thought it was strange that none of those calls were coming from the Angels or the Cubs,” he said.
A false alarm for Reid Detmers
So, Detmers called his agency, Excel Sports Management, and learned that the report was false. While the Angels had traded reliever Ryan Zeferrjahn to the Cubs for rookie catcher Moises Ballesteros, Detmers had not been part of a larger deal.
“They said they would call me if anything happened and then nothing happened,” Detmers recalled
Detmers certainly wasn’t oblivious to the thought he could be traded. The Angels hired longtime St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak as interim general manager on June 26 after firing Perry Minasian.
Owner Arte Moreno and team president Molly Jolly wanted a seasoned baseball executive to evaluate the Angels, who haven’t been to the postseason since 2014 or had a winning record since 2015.
Clearly, Mozeliak was not brought in to keep the status quo, and Detmers, right-hander Jose Soriano, and shortstop Zach Neto were among the hottest names on the rumor mill in July. The Angels traded Soriano to the Toronto Blue Jays for top shortstop prospect Arjun Nimmala but held on to Neto.
The Angels not only have the worst record in the major leagues at 54-90 but are a franchise in flux. Moreno struck an agreement to sell the team to Kroenke Sports and Entertainment for $4 billion last week.
Reid Detmers faces a winter of uncertainty
No one knows what Kroenke will do. However, he is considered a big baseball fan. He has won championships in the other three major North American sports leagues – the NFL (Los Angeles Rams), the NBA (Denver Nuggets) and the NHL (Colorado Avalanche).
The consensus around the Angels is that Mozeliak will be retained and promoted to president of baseball operations, and he will hire Cardinals scouting director Randy Flores as GM.
However, it looks like Detmers should remain a target this offseason. The 26-year-old’s record is just 4-8, but he has a 3.44 ERA and 182 strikeouts in 162 innings going into his 29th start of the season on Tuesday night against the Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston.
Detmers is also under contractual control for two more seasons. So, the rumors will likely begin again when the offseason begins.
“Obviously, you're going to see the stuff,” Detmers said. “You just try doing your best to not think about it. For me, I was trying to stay off social media (before the deadline). As soon as you get on social media, you see everything. It’s hard. It gets in your head, and you wonder what it is going to end up looking like. I can't control any of it. It's out of my hands, so I'm just going to go out there, perform up to my best, and whatever happens happens.”
Still …
“It’s your career and your life,” Detmers said. “You’re human, so you do think about it.”
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