Despite losing Shohei Ohtani in free agency, the Los Angeles Angels don't seem inclined to enter a rebuilding period.
Per The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal, the Angels are testing the trade market for players like Luis Rengifo, Mickey Moniak, Taylor Ward, Matt Thaiss and José Suárez with the hope of trying to upgrade their roster for 2024.
After Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, there were a lot of questions about what direction the Angels were going to take. Owner Arte Moreno has never shown an inclination to rebuild, but the entire organization is in such dire straits that it would seem like the best path forward.
MLB.com ranked the Angels' farm system as the third-worst in baseball during a midseason update in August. Their recent draft strategy has been built around adding players who can be fast-tracked to the big leagues, even though they don't necessarily have high ceilings.
Despite rumblings that Mike Trout could potentially be on the trade block, Angels general manager Perry Minasian said definitively at the winter meetings they are "100 percent" not dealing the three-time AL MVP.
Per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, the Angels have made reigning NL Cy Young winner Blake Snell "their priority" in free agency.
If the Angels aren't trading Trout and are making a strong push for Snell, they clearly don't want to waive the white flag. It's unclear how much value any of the players they are reportedly shopping have around the league.
The most attractive thing about each of the five players Rosenthal cited is they have multiple years of team control remaining before hitting free agency. Moniak, Ward and Rengifo were all above-average hitters by OPS+ last season, but none of them had more than 394 at-bats in 2023.
Suárez had an 8.29 ERA and 1.96 WHIP in 33.2 innings and dealt with a shoulder injury that kept him on the injured list for four months last season.
Thaiss' value is tied up in the fact that he's a catcher and teams are always looking for help at that position. He's only accrued 0.4 FanGraphs wins above replacement in 188 games since 2019.
The Angels have finished 73-89 in each of the past two seasons. They haven't had a winning season since 2015 (85-77) and haven't made the postseason since 2014.
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December 24, 2023 at 12:21AM
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MLB Rumors: Angels' Rengifo, Moniak, More Drawing Trade Interest After Ohtani Exit - Bleacher Report
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