Angels grab yet another former Blue Jays player to add to their bullpen mix 

The Los Angeles Angels has had a fondness for Toronto Blue Jays players in recent years. After signing former Blue Jays fan favourite Yusei Kikuchi in free agency during the 2024-25 offseason, the Angels have also added pitchers Alek Manoah and Jordan Romano this winter on one-year MLB deals.

You can chalk up another former Blue Jay turned Halo as Los Angeles has struck again, signing reliever Nick Sandlin, but this time on a minor-league deal. The Angels will look to Sandlin to provide valuable bullpen depth for their organization.

Angels grab yet another former Blue Jays player to add to their bullpen mix 

The 29-year-old reliever was actually one of the key return pieces for the Blue Jays along with Andrés Giménez in their surprise trade with the Cleveland Guardians last offseason. Sandlin was expected to play a prominent role in the Blue Jays relief corps in 2025 after posting a career ERA of 3.27, WHIP of 1.15 along with 223 strikeouts in 195.1 career innings prior to joining the club. 

He certainly came as advertised, as the right-hander posted a 2.20 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, with 16 strikeouts in 16.1 innings pitched over 19 relief appearances with Toronto. However, injury woes that included a lat strain early in the year and right elbow inflammation later in the summer ultimately ended his season. 

But even with the strong numbers posted, Toronto outrighted Sandlin to Triple-A Buffalo in early November, where he eventually cleared waivers and elected free agency to end his tenure with the organization. That turned out to be quite the surprise, given the fact that the 29-year-old right-hander was a reliable arm out of the bullpen in 2025 when he was healthy.

However, with the deadline for the 40-man roster approaching ahead of the Rule 5 Draft at the time, the Blue Jays likely decided to pursue the route of protecting more valuable prospects than to keep a trusted veteran presence in their relief corps going forward.

Despite joining the Angels on a minor league deal, Sandlin should have a pretty good shot at making their Opening Day roster given his proven track record in the majors. In fact, he would probably even make the team before Manoah and/or Romano would, given that both of the latter players likely need to prove their worth once again after struggling with consistency and injury woes during their past couple of seasons.