The Los Angeles Dodgers’ championship glow continues to dim, piece by piece.
Another member of their 2025 World Series-winning roster is gone. Veteran right-handed reliever Kirby Yates has agreed to a one-year, $5 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels, choosing a short drive down the freeway — and a far longer walk back toward relevance.
On paper, it looks like a minor move. In reality, it carries the weight of endings, risks, and one franchise’s quiet belief that careers don’t always fade when logic says they should.
At 38 years old, Yates becomes the latest experienced arm pulled into the Angels’ evolving bullpen orbit, joining Jordan Romano and Drew Pomeranz in what feels less like a traditional rebuild and more like a calculated experiment. This front office isn’t chasing perfection. It’s chasing flickers — glimpses of dominance that once made these pitchers terrifying when games tightened and margins disappeared.
And despite everything that went wrong in 2025, Kirby Yates still flickers.
Last season with the Dodgers was supposed to be stability. Yates signed a one-year, $12 million deal to help fortify the back end of a bullpen built to defend a title. Instead, it became a grind. Injuries mounted. Three separate trips to the injured list interrupted any chance at rhythm. By the time October arrived, Yates wasn’t just unavailable — he was off the postseason roster entirely.
He never threw a pitch in October. Not one.
Yet his season didn’t end quietly. Inside the Dodgers’ clubhouse, Yates became a mentor, a steady presence for younger relievers navigating championship pressure. The results on the field were rough — a 5.23 ERA — but the underlying metrics told a more complicated story.
There were whispers of life.
A 35.3% whiff rate.
A 29.1% strikeout rate.
The stuff, at least in flashes, still looked like it remembered who it once was.
And when the Dodgers lifted another World Series trophy, Yates walked away with a ring — and one unforgettable Kirby tattoo — even if his contributions never showed up on a playoff stat sheet.
For the Angels, that contradiction is exactly the point.
Yates’ career has never followed a straight line. Undrafted out of Yavapai College, he lived on the margins for years. Rehab replaced recognition. Two Tommy John surgeries threatened to erase him before he was ever truly known. He didn’t debut in the majors until age 27, bouncing between organizations, roles, and expectations.
Then, suddenly, at 32, he became unstoppable.
In 2019 with the San Diego Padres, Yates authored one of the most dominant seasons by a closer in recent memory. He led MLB with 41 saves, posted a microscopic 1.19 ERA, earned his first All-Star selection, and completely rewrote his own ceiling.
The fall came just as fast.
Bone chips. More surgery. Lost seasons. Over three years, Yates made just 15 total appearances. Careers usually end there — quietly, without ceremony, without a second act.
He resurfaced with the Braves in 2023, then stunned the league in 2024 with the Texas Rangers, roaring back into the national conversation. Another All-Star selection followed. A 1.17 ERA. 85 strikeouts. 33 saves. It was a resurrection that felt almost mythic — a pitcher rebuilt by willpower, muscle memory, and stubborn belief.
Now, he lands in Anaheim, where uncertainty defines the bullpen.
With Kenley Jansen gone, there is no established closer. Ben Joyce offers raw, triple-digit electricity but little margin for error. Robert Stephenson brings steadiness. Romano has pedigree, even if recent seasons have dulled his shine.He brings 98 career saves — and the scars of someone who understands the ninth inning’s cruelty better than most.
There are risks, undeniably. Last season, Yates allowed nine home runs in just over 41 innings, a flaw that cannot survive consistently in late innings. Limiting the long ball will define whether this experiment becomes a solution or another footnote.
But the path exists. It’s not guaranteed. It’s not easy. It’s visible.
For the Dodgers, this is a clean goodbye — part of the natural erosion that follows sustained dominance. Yates never lived up to the role Los Angeles envisioned, yet he still helped the organization reach something rare: back-to-back World Series titles.
For the Angels, it’s something far more dangerous.
Belief that careers don’t always end when the numbers say they should. Belief that flickers can become flames again. Belief that Kirby Yates, one more time, might still know exactly how to finish a game when everything is on the line.
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