The Los Angeles Angels have had the best player in baseball since 2012. First it was Mike Trout, then Shohei Ohtani took that mantle. The Angels didn’t make the postseason with the duo, and have only made made the playoffs once since Trout’s debut, when they were swept out of the ALDS by the Kansas City Royals in 2014.
This offseason hasn’t been ideal for the Halos, with Ohtani moving 33 miles north and the Dodgers also attracting Yoshinobu Yamamoto to sign while also trading for Tyler Glasnow. The Dodgers were already a force in baseball, and they’ve only gotten better. The Angels, meanwhile, are left to wonder how they can rebuild their roster and potentially return to contention anytime soon.
There are still plenty of good pieces on this team. While the offense ranked 14th in wRC+ and 16th in runs scored with Ohtani, it has been health that’s been the team’s biggest obstacle of late. Trout hasn’t played more than 120 games since 2019. Abthony Rendon has played in 148 games the past three seasons combined. Keeping those two healthy would be a good start.
The Angels have also not been known for their pitching in recent seasons, finishing with a 4.64 staff ERA in 2023. They have a 4.37 ERA as a team since 2021, good for 20th in baseball. If you’re not going to build up depth, then you have to excel at either pitching or hitting. The Angels have done none of those things.
So how can they start building up their roster for 2024 and beyond?
Related: Los Angeles Angels place top priority on signing this Cy Young-winning pitcher
Add Blake Snell to the Los Angeles Angels’ Rotation
This is something that has seemed like a match made in heaven for weeks, but it wasn’t until Thursday that the Angels were confirmed to have big-time interest in Snellzilla. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle has reported that they are making him their priority.
Snell is the reigning NL Cy Young champion and held a 2.25 ERA in 2023. For a team that has always lacked starting pitching, going after an established big-league starter with two Cy Young awards seems like a pretty good fit. He’s also thrown in a couple of seasons in his career with ERA has been over four, so he’s not the most reliable year-to-year. But he’s been consistently pretty good with a career 3.20 ERA.
Snell not necessarily being a sure thing is what makes him feel like an Angels signing. His walk rate of 13.3% last season was the highest of his career, but he also ended up with the second-lowest ERA of his career, falling short of the 1.89 he put up with Tampa Bay in his other Cy season in 2018.
Adding Snell would put a bonafide ace at the top of the rotation, and his career ERA isn’t that much higher than Ohtani’s 3.01 in fewer innings. He wouldn’t be a perfect replacement for half of what Ohtani can do, but he’d be a pretty good starting point with a lot less financial commitment.
Related: New damning report on Los Angeles Angels’ contract talks with Shohei Ohtani
Then spend more money on Cody Bellinger
Bellinger, like Snell, isn’t necessarily a sure thing. He finished 10th in the NL MVP voting in 2023 as a member of the Chicago Cubs and held a 134 wRC+ (100 is league average), his best mark since 2019 when he had a 161. After down years with the Dodgers in 2021 and 2022 where he hit a combined .193 with a .256 OBP and 29 home runs in 239 games, he seemed to be back to his old self while playing in Wrigley.
In 2023 he hit .307 with a .356 OBP, 26 home runs, 97 RBI, and his strikeout rate, which had been hovering around 27% in those down years, dropped to 15.6%. You can’t just discount those down years in L.A., however, so that will give some teams pause before dolling out major bucks.
That said, the Angels now need to compete for headlines with the Dodgers, and adding Snell and Bellinger would draw some of that much-needed attention. These are also the only two players left on the free agent market that would come close to approximating Ohtani’s value on both sides of the ball.
Adding Bellinger would make it so that Trout, if amenable, could move off of center field in an effort to keep him in the lineup more often. That could mean more days in a corner outfield spot or at DH. Anyone could be moved around defensively to get Trout’s bat into the lineup on a day-to-day basis.
Snell and Bellinger are projected to earn a combined $49 milion per year over the span of their deals in free agency with contracts totaling $269 million overall. If the Angels want to keep pushing forward, they are both affordable.
Brandon Woodruff and Frankie Montas for different reasons
Brandon Woodruff has been one of the best pitchers in baseball since he debuted in 2017, holding a cumulative 3.14 ERA, which ranks ninth among all pitchers with at least 600 innings in that span. While he doesn’t have the same number of innings as Yankees’ ace Gerrit Cole, he does have the same 3.14 ERA in that span. Tenth on that list is Snell with a 3.17.
While adding Woodruff would typically be an insane option after grabbing the first two players on this list, he’s also not expected to pitch in 2024, and if the Angels tack on an extra year of security (if that’s what he wants) or a little extra money, then the Angels could have a pretty powerful one-two punch at the top of their rotation come 2025.
With Montas, the aim would be a little different. While competing in 2024 isn’t necessarily out of the question, this coming season will likely be more about assessment for the Angels. After making a number of trades in order to make a postseason push in their final year with Ohtani, the Angels could use a little more depth in their farm system. Montas didn’t pitch much of the 2023 season, totaling just 1 1/3 innings with the Yankees, but when he has been on the mound and he’s been healthy in recent seasons, he’s put together some really special runs of success. He has a career 3.90 ERA, but has two or three starter potential and finished the 2021 season with a 3.37 ERA.
Montas will likely be after a one year deal to show that he’s back to his old self before testing the free agent market again next winter. Since that is the type of contract he’s likely to receive, that also makes him a pretty good trade piece at the Deadline, and could net the Angels a pretty good player or two. This signing would be banking on a return to form from Montas.
If they could find a way to move Rendon’s contract, then signing Matt Chapman also wouldn’t be a bad addition for the Halos. Subtracting Rendon while adding Chapman, Snell, Bellinger, Woodruff, and Montas wouldn’t be much higher than last year’s payroll and the team would have their talent spread around a little better instead of having two great players at the top, which would presumably lead to more wins in the standings.
While the plan laid out here has some big names on it, it’s still achievable. You may gripe that there aren’t enough hitters on the list, and that makes sense. However, the Angels brought up catcher Logan O’Hoppe, shortstop Zach Neto, and 2023 draftee Nolan Schanuel as part of their failed postseason push. In 2024 the team should assess where each of those players are and make adjustments to their needs moving forward after they get a full season.
The Angels have also added Ron Washington as their manager, so there will be plenty of changes happening in the clubhouse already. You don’t want to make too many changes too quickly, because the wrong player could be let go or traded in order to make room for a short-term solution. Let the 2024 team gel, see where they’re at, and then build from there. The free agent market next offseason is ripe with pitching, and with the plan put forth, the Angels would already have a good foundation there that would be ready to build upon.