What’s Next for the Angels in the Post Ohtani Era?

Arte Moreno and Shohei Ohtani *(Image of Sport)*

Somehow, Shohei never played in a playoff game in his six years as an Angel, while Mike Trout has only been to one playoff series in his entire career, playing against the Royals in the 2014 ALDS. It was a huge accomplishment for Moreno and Billy Eppler to land Ohtani back in 2017 as a two-way star, and many around Major League Baseball were skeptical. Six years later, Ohtani is a two time MVP, while finishing 2nd in 2022. He’s the biggest star in the game, and the Angels knew they had to get him back in 2017, so give them some credit. Beyond that, the last six seasons have been a disappointment in the sense that the team never had organizational success during his time there. Now that Ohtani has signed with the LA team that actually plays in Los Angeles, the Angels of Anaheim must consider what’s next for their organization.

I think it’s fair to say that Billy Eppler’s tenure hasn’t produced as much major league talent as expected, and now the result is a borderline competitive roster for year four of Perry’s tenure as GM. Will Leitch ranked the Angels 25th in his post World Series power rankings in November here, and there haven’t been any transactions to suggest they should be ranked higher than 25th at this point. We know the Rangers, Astros, and Mariners will be competitive next year in the AL West title race, while Oakland will of course be awful. The Angels now have a projected CBT salary of $169,148,333, which gives them about $68M of room before they hit the CBT threshold. Rather than trade Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon as salary dumps, the Angels organization and their fans would be better served adding to the roster with the $68M of room they currently have. They may not be able to add a starter, a power bat, a center fielder, and bullpen arms for $68M in the free agent market, but they can probably get most of those pieces through the market. Minasian is said to be looking for a trade, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Angels trade for their starter, or even their outfielder for that matter.

Infield

The Angels currently have young catcher Logan O’Hoppe behind the dish, with even younger prospect Nolan Schanuel presumably starting at first base in 2024. Rengifo and Neto are up the middle with Rendon at the hot corner, assuming he’s actually healthy. The Angels also have found somewhere for Brandon Drury, and presumably could rotate the DH role with him, Trout, and Rendon, among others. We’ve all heard about the thin market for free agent position players, particularly the infield. However, there are several guys on the market who could play 1st base at an affordable price. Should the Angels look at Dan Vogelbach or Rowdy Tellez?

2024 Angels Projected Lineup *(Roster Resource)*

Other 1st Base Options: Rhys Hoskins, Joey Votto, CJ Cron, Carlos Santana

Outfield

LAA had a wRC+ of 101 last season with Shohei. The front office has to make an effort to add a corner outfielder, but they also need healthy campaigns from Trout and Rendon. If they move Trout to the corner, they might get the healthy corner outfielder with All Star numbers, but then you need a center fielder. This is the preferred avenue, given Trout’s injury history. Moniak can play some center, but it’d be nice to have another plus center fielder with Trout hopefully moving to a corner. The Cardinals don’t have room in their lineup for Dylan Carlson right now, who could be a perfect fit if they can entice St. Louis with either one of their major league starters or their prospect pool.

Outfield Options: Dylan Carlson, Randy Arozarena, Teoscar Hernandez, Michael A Taylor, Kevin Kiermaier

Starting Rotation

On the pitching side of things, Ohtani was their ace and they now need to replace him with the same pedigree, a frontline starter. While they likely won’t be in the bidding for premier arms like Yamamoto or Corbin Burnes, they can make a splash in the next tier, with someone like Marcus Stroman or Blake Snell. Currently, the Angels sport a rotation of Detmers, Canning, Sandoval, Anderson, and Silseth. Now, Silseth and Anderson have had their moments, but the Angels clearly need a frontline starter in front of Reid Detmers to push everyone down a spot. Neither Canning nor Detmers are really frontline starters, but they function well as mid rotation guys. Who knows, maybe the Angels will stun everyone and trade for Tyler Glasnow or Shane Bieber?

Starter Options: Marcus Stroman, Blake Snell, Shane Bieber, Tyler Glasnow, Shota Imanaga, Tyler Mahle, Seth Lugo

2024 Roster Resource Angels Starting Pitching Depth *(Fangraphs)*

Bullpen

Their bullpen ranked 25th in the MLB with a 4.88 ERA, showing inconsistency and an inability to close the door throughout the season. Minasian and company have added Luis Garcia and Adam Cimber on affordable deals, but they clearly need to add a high leverage reliever. Estevez had an admirable season, but fell apart in the 2nd half (6.59 ERA after the break), and showed he’s clearly not a closer. Jose Soriano showed some promise for sure, but his command issues are too severe to pitch in the 8th or 9th at this point. This is a major growth opportunity and need for the Angels if they want to be competitive in 2024. They added Kolarek for $900K, but need a legit impact arm pitching from the left side, as well as someone with closer pedigree.

Closer options: Josh Hader, Jordan Hicks, Hector Neris, David Robertson

Left handed reliever options: Aroldis Chapman, Wandy Peralta, Brent Suter, Matt Moore, Aaron Loup