ANAHEIM, Calif. — Aaron Loup never wanted to leave the Mets after his historic season last year, but when it came time to negotiate, he had difficulty getting answers from the club.
At the time the Mets were conducting a general manager search that ultimately concluded when they hired Billy Eppler.
“It took a little bit to get them on the phone, I had to stall [the Angels] for as long as I could,” Loup said Friday at Angel Stadium. “Eventually everything I asked for they kept giving to us so I couldn’t wait around any longer.”
The lefty reliever received a two-year deal with the Angels worth $17 million. It came after he pitched to a 0.95 ERA in 65 appearances for the Mets, emerging as a fan-favorite for his folksy manner, which included conducting postgame interviews on Zoom with a can of Busch Light.
Next to his locker inside the Angels’ clubhouse, Loup keeps a well-stocked refrigerator with his beer of choice, but not as many as he would have liked have been opened in celebration.
Loup had a horrific May that included three blown saves and he entered the series-opener against the Mets on Friday night with a 4.43 ERA in 24 appearances.
“It started off great,” Loup said. “I hit a rough patch in May that wasn’t so fun, but it’s probably one of the worst stretches of my career, a four or five game stretch, but other than that it’s been great.”
The Mets traded for lefty reliever Joely Rodriguez during spring training and signed journeyman Chasen Shreve to a minor league contract. Both have pitched to mixed results, and lefty relief will likely be on the team’s radar heading to the Aug. 2 trade deadline.
As much as Loup enjoyed his season with the Mets, he doesn’t regret leaving for the Angels.
“I had a career year,” Loup said. “I’m not going to throw a better season than what I had last year so in a way you would love to run it back, but at the same time [the Angels] wanted me about as badly as I have been wanted over the course of my career, so I can’t complain there either.”
Loup, who became only the 10th reliever in major league history to finish a season with an ERA below 1.00, realizes there was an element of luck involved in his 2021.
“A lot of things have to go your way,” he said. “I pitched well, but the ball has got to go right at guys. When you come out of games with guys on base, [relievers] have to strand them out there too, which they did.
“We had a great bullpen last year, a great staff so a lot of things have to go your way to line up to have the kind of year that I did, so I am very grateful for that and wish the best for those guys over there. They have had a pretty good year and hopefully they can keep it going, except for these three games.”
Two days after the Angels fired manager Joe Madden, the team snapped a 14-game losing streak Thursday by beating the Red Sox.
“It’s been a grind,” Loup said. “We have found just about every way to lose a game. I think we have about covered it. We got a win [Thursday] night so things are looking up hopefully.
“I can’t say I saw [Maddon’s firing] coming, but at the same time baseball is definitely a ‘What have you done for me lately?’ so it’s not out of the realm of possibilities.”