Angels trade away pair of pitchers

They ship out Heaney and Watson but keep the rest of their roster intact as they still vie for wild-card spot.

They send Andrew Heaney to Yankees and Tony Watson to Giants but avoid a teardown.

As deals began to fly in the final hours before Friday afternoon’s trade deadline, it seemed like the Angels had a perfect opportunity to become all-out sellers.

To retreat from their precarious position in the playoff race and regroup for an offseason that should be full of financial flexibility.

But, after beginning Friday six games back in the American League wild-card standings, the club instead refused to give up on this campaign — or, at least, didn’t receive enticing-enough offers to persuade them otherwise.

The Angels traded starter Andrew Heaney to the New York Yankees and reliever Tony Watson to the San Francisco Giants, getting a collection of pitching prospects in return but held onto more important players such as closer Raisel Iglesias and starter Alex Cobb.

They didn’t make any notable additions to their big league roster — despite general manager Perry Minasian’s assertion that they were “very aggressive” in pursuing such deals — but didn’t tear up a core that, when healthy, they hope can mount a late-season run.

As has been the case all year, the Angels remain in baseball’s gray area: Not quite a buyer, not quite a total seller; far from a bona-fide contender, but also not all the way out of contention either.

“We were not focused on tearing down this team by any stretch,” Minasian said Friday afternoon, before the Angels’ 2-0 loss against the Oakland A’s — their secondstraight shutout defeat to an A’s team possessing the final AL playoff spot.

Though it seemed likely that Iglesias, Cobb and other pending free agents on the Angels roster could have netted a strong return — especially as other contenders around the league paid premiums on Friday to address areas of need — Minasian said he didn’t want to force a late deal either.

“I think this group has earned the opportunity to continue to compete,” Minasian said, adding: “To me, we did not go into this trade deadline with the mindset of, ‘Let’s do a total rebuild’ or anything like that.”

Minasian claimed the Angels had the contrary mindset, revealing they had conversations with other clubs about acquiring big league help on the mound and at the plate.

“We were able to talk about higher-salary players,” Minasian said.

But they never found the right match. “I think it just depends on different circumstances,” Minasian said. “Some guys have notrade clauses, some guys don’t.

Sometimes you don’t line up with value and what you want to give and what they’re asking for. It’s hard to come up with specifics, but things have to line up.”

The moves the Angels did make leave holes to fill.

Though Heaney, who will be a free agent in the offseason, had been up-and-down all year with a 5.27 ERA in 18 starts, he had strung together strong outings in his two most recent games and was a popular presence in the clubhouse as the second-longest tenured member of the team.

Right-handed pitching prospects Janson Junk and Elvis Peguero comprised the return from the Yankees.

“You hate losing Andrew,” Maddon said. “But we picked up some really big-time arms there.”

Another repercussion of Heaney’s departure will come Sunday, when the Angels’ top pitching prospect Reid Detmers will start the series finale against the Oakland A’s in his big-league debut.

“In Heaney’s case,” Minasian said, “we felt like acquiring what we were able to acquire and opening a spot for Reid Detmers ... was really important.”

By trading Watson, the Angels received three pitchers from the Giants: Sam Selman, a 30-year-old left-handed reliever who has a 4.06 ERA in 41 games and will join the Angels MLB roster; and prospects Jose Marte and Ivan Armstrong, a 21-year-old right-hander in low-A.

Short hops

Shohei Ohtani was originally supposed to start on the mound Sunday for the Angels but had his outing pushed back. Maddon said Ohtani was struck in the right thumb by a foul ball on Wednesday and is battling soreness, though he’s still able to bat. … Cobb was placed on the injured list after the deadline passed on Friday with right wrist inflammation.