This Is The Angels Last Chance To Build A Winner Around Mike Trout
This winter, the Los Angeles Angels have a unique opportunity to choose the direction of their franchise. For the first time in 20 years, Angels’ fans are welcoming in a new manager, Brad Ausmus, and the team boasts the reigning AL Rookie of the Year winner and the best player in baseball in Mike Trout, yet finished 80-82 last season, good for fourth in the AL West.
The 2018 Angels ranked among the league-worst in total hits, doubles, batting average, on-base percentage, at-bats per home run, strikeouts (on offense) and saves. Superstar center fielder Mike Trout has been in the top-3 of the AL MVP voting in each of the last seven seasons, winning two of them in 2014 and 2016. But Trout has only seen the postseason once in 2014 and it’s not clear if you can call last year a disappointment when it’s been the norm for this team for half a decade.
Considering the Angels spent a fair amount of money on offense last offseason, 2019 should be directed towards pitching. There were some exciting players to come in Anaheim this past season, though, including the return of left fielder Justin Upton, who was traded to LA towards the end of 2017. Coming off of a career season in 2016 for Cincinnati, shortstop Zack Cozart signed a 3-year/$38 million contract and moved to third base to keep four-time Gold Glove Award winner Andrelton Simmons at short. Unfortunately, Cozart had a season-ending injury back in June that required shoulder surgery.
History has also shown that pitching for the Angels brings some serious bad luck. Recent prospects and established stars not reaching their full potential has set Los Angeles back time and time again, keeping them short of the playoffs just about every year. Four of the five starting pitchers listed on the 2018 Opening Day roster for the Angels have missed at least one full season to Tommy John surgery since 2014 and Shohei Ohtani now won’t be eligible to pitch in 2019 because of a UCL injury sustained this past season and chose to undergo Tommy John surgery at the seasons’ end to continue hitting as DH. That creates some problems though because the injury-prone Albert Pujols shouldn’t play first base full time.
This offseason, though, has a great class of both starting and relief pitchers (or maybe it doesn’t). The Angels should be looking for a top of the rotation guy and an arm or two in the bullpen that could really make a difference.
Some starters that come to mind are Dallas Keuchel, Nathan Eovaldi and J.A. Happ.
Keuchel is coming off of a down-year, but the former Cy Young Award winner’s numbers didn’t drop substantially and there’s evidence he can still pitch well with mildly diminished stuff. The Cincinnati Reds are one of a few teams in the mix of teams looking to sign Keuchel for a long term contract for a spot near the top of their rotation, but he makes more sense in LA.
Eovaldi and Happ are both coming off of stellar years and would fit nicely into any organization. Eovaldi, in particular, may have just raised his worth thanks to his performance in this year’s World Series, which showed that he’s recovered well from two Tommy John surgeries.
Happ is the safest pick for the Angels. He’s would be a stable contributor to a young rotation that seems to be focused on complimenting 27-year-old southpaw Tyler Skaggs.
Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman has also made it clear to the rest of the league that New York is listening to any trade requests involving Sonny Gray, who is desperate for a change of scenery.
As for relief pitchers, just about any team hoping to make a playoff push will be looking to add key arms. Joe Kelly is riding high off of his World Series performance and Cody Allen is looking to be a game changer in a new bullpen that’s looking for a closer. We can assume that that second baseman Ian Kinsler and catcher Martin Maldonado (both free agents) won’t be re-signing with Los Angeles after being traded at the deadline, but there are decent players who could fill each void and make a real impact on the field and in the lineup.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have reportedly been open to dealing their starting catcher Francisco Cervelli in hopes of getting Elias Diaz more playing time, and Cervelli would be a great contributor towards the bottom of the order in LA in his last season of control.
With the Seattle Mariners dealing all their veterans in the midst of a total rebuild, second baseman/outfielder Dee Gordon may be available in trade talks. Gordon would provide some great speed, stolen bases and an effective leadoff hitter.
The Angels have been a victim of bad contracts. They’ve lost too many significant draft picks and suffered injuries to key players, severely limiting their flexibility. The Los Angeles Angels unfortunately have a terrible history of signing expensive, long term contracts with players that haven’t lived up to their potential. Josh Hamilton, C.J. Wilson, Jered Weaver all flopped after a big pay day and came and went with LA, but Albert Pujols, who’s precipitous decline has been extremely well documented, is still on the roster.
Brad Ausmus has his work cut out for him in 2019 and we will see how the Angels’ front office and GM Billy Eppler take on the season. Eppler has made it clear that he will not be listening to any trade offers for Mike Trout, but as we getting closer to the trade deadline and the last year of Trout’s deal, we’ll see if that changes.
That the Angels haven’t been able to put a competitive group around baseball’s biggest star is a tragedy. It’s time the team step up and make the smart moves necessary to get this team over the hump and deep into October in 2019.
-Kyle Unger
