Angels Sign Jose Godoy, Gerardo Reyes, Cam Vieaux To Minor League Deals

The Angels have signed catcher Jose Godoy, right-hander Gerardo Reyes, left-hander Cam Vieaux to minor league contracts, according to MiLB.com’s official transactions page.  All three players were assigned to Triple-A Salt Lake.

Reyes has the most big league experience of the trio, with 29 games and 28 innings pitched across two seasons.  Twenty-six of those innings came with the Padres in 2019, and then Reyes was sidelined by the abbreviated 2020 season and Tommy John surgery early in 2021.  Finally returning to game action last April with the Angels’ Triple-A affiliate, Reyes had a 3.74 ERA over 45 2/3 minor league innings, racking up a lot of whiffs (28% strikeout rate) and unfortunately also a lot of free passes (15.9% walk rate).  The righty also got back to the majors for two appearances with Anaheim.

A hard-thrower with a live fastball, Reyes is still a work in progress as he enters his age-30 season.  He has posted increasingly strong strikeout totals dating back to his time in the Padres’ farm system, though walks have also been a consistent issue, and his 2022 walk rate represented his highest over such an extended sample size of innings.  There isn’t much risk for the Angels in continuing to carry Reyes on a minor league deal, just in case he gets fully on track after a normal offseason and can finally harness his velocity.

After joining the Angels, Godoy has now been part of five different organizations since March, starting with the Mariners and then bouncing to the Giants, Twins, and Pirates on waiver claims.  All these travels resulted in only 10 MLB games for Godoy in 2022, suiting up twice for Minnesota and eight times with Pittsburgh.  With two outright assignments, Godoy had the ability to become a free agent, and he took that option after the season.

Godoy has appeared in 26 total Major League games over two seasons, and the longtime Cardinals farmhand has some respectable numbers in the minors, including a .271/.323/.405 slash line over 605 career Triple-A plate appearances.  The 28-year-old Godoy joins Matt Thaiss and Chad Wallach as catching depth for the Angels behind Logan O’Hoppe and Max Stassi, though there have been some rumblings that Los Angeles might be looking to further upgrade itself behind the plate.  The Angels had some interest in Willson Contreras before he signed with St. Louis, so unless the Halos’ interest was limited to Contreras specifically, they could still aim to bring another catcher into the mix.

Vieaux made his Major League debut in 2022, posting a 10.38 ERA over 8 2/3 innings with the Pirates.  Vieaux qualified for minor league free agency after the season, as Pittsburgh designated and outrighted him twice off its 40-man roster — by coincidence, the Bucs DFA’ed Godoy to create roster space when selecting Vieaux’s contract back in August.

A sixth-round pick for Pittsburgh in the 2016 draft, Vieaux will be changing organizations for the first time in his pro career.  The lefty was a starter for much of his time in the minors but transitioned to relief pitching in 2021, and Vieaux seemed to hit a wall at the Triple-A level.  Things started to click in 2022, as he posted a 3.06 ERA, 23.7% strikeout rate, and 7.6% walk rate over an even 50 innings for Triple-A Indianapolis.  While not huge strikeout numbers for a reliever, Vieaux’s K-rate has ticked upwards since his move to the bullpen, so the 29-year-old might yet be able to reach another gear as he continues to acclimate to relief pitching.