Welcome to my version of the “If I Were Perry Minasian” series. In order to rosterbate responsibly, we will use the following guidelines.
- Payroll is to be $200 Million, if you really want to spend that much!
- Use either MLBTR’s estimated free agent salaries or their counterparts at Fangraphs
- You can clear roster space by non-tendering players
- Run all trades through the trade simulator at Baseball Trade Values dot com
- (My rule) Show the full 40-man roster with payroll
It’s my favorite time of the year. A chance to sharpen my pencil, look at the players on the field, and come up with a plan to make this Halo team better and moving one step closer to a goal of getting back to the playoffs. We saw that the AL-West is weak right now, but I don’t think we get our hopes up in 2025. My goal though is to have a very compeitive team ready in 2026 with only a couple of FA addtions needed.
My needs this year are the following:
- Depth in the middle infield
- Protection/platoon for 1B with a strong lefty on the mound
- Keeping our next young core down in the minors to not start their “clock”
- 1 additional SP that will help in 2026
- A veteran 3B that isn’t a cancer and won’t block any youth in the future
- Continue to stock pile arms… because TrAdition
We are going to start here with the man that needs to go, Anthony Rendon. I think I have found a viable way to trade him and actualy justify it to both teams. Here we go….
Angels trade Anthony Rendon, Luis Rengifo, Reid Detmers, and $15.255 Million in cash to the Detroit Tigers for Javier Baez, Spencer Torkelson, Ty Madden, and Eric Silva
Here is why this works for both teams.
LAA: We have 0 MLB ready players on this roster who can play a legitmate SS in case Neto goes down or needs a day off. (Note: After writing this article we now know that Neto may be down to start the year) Baez defensivly is still very good. We give the SS job to Baez until Neto is legit healthy, no reason to rush now. When Neto is back, Baez goes to 2B. This allows us to keep Moore down to start the year and not start his clock sooner than it needs to. Torkelson is a bust in DET and he gives us a RH bat to platoon with Schanuel. Both of those players I believe are on a make it or bust year in 2025. Madden is another depth arm that got some action in the MLB this year and could be useful moving forward. Silva was given the chance to play in the AFL this year and I think is the reason we kick in money to get him in this deal. The Angels can eat a third year of a contract of Baez and he becomes the MI backup for two young studs in 2026. If he is still a pain because he isn’t starting, then you DFA him.
DET: They want offense badly, need more SP, and pick up Rendon and Rengifo. Rendon is almost a given to be DFA’d at camp. DET doesn’t mind the higher salary for Rendon because the Angels are picking up the difference from him and Baez. It also opens up room for Rengifo and their youth to man the 3B,2B,SS positions. Rengifo was one of the best hitting infielders in the league last year. Detmers is another change of scenery canidate and could be better for another coaching staff. I also don’t agree with the amount of value that he is worth here. He has a no hitter in the MLB and has showed great stuff, but he’s been very inconsistant. It also opens up a lot more payroll for the Tigers a year earlier with Rendon only being 2 years of pay instead of Baez at 3. The Tigers are also going to be players in the 1B FA market (Alonso I think) so Torkleson is going to be an odd man out.
Even trade values likes this straight up without the Angels kicking in cash, but I think money will be needed to get Silva.
Angels trade Evan White and Davis Daniel to the St. Louis Cardinals for Nolan Arenado and $19 million in cash to be paid over the next three seasons ($6.33 million)
Call me Atre Jr. on this one, but this is the TrAdition move that we have been making for a while now. I think the consensus is that we don’t have a long term 3B and that Fontenelle needs more time. Arenado is a 3 year, gold glove, and above average hitter that can keep the hot corner warm. He has deferred cash for 15 years at 2 or 3 million, but with the $19 million kicked in by the Card’s, I’m ok with this trade and paying $15,$10, and $9 million over the next three years for an above average 3B. We have the payroll to do this, and 3B is one of the hardest positions to fill in the MLB right now.
Why it makes sense for the Card’s? Big money dumb for a team trying to shed payroll and get younger. They buy Daniel as they are trying to aquire young arms like us. They have to take Evan White from us to try and offset payroll for us this year, but long term the Card’s get a good young arm and only give up $6.3 million a year to get out of 15 years of payments. They shed $7 million on this years payroll immediatly by doing this.
Free Agent Signings
The Angels have a few holes we need to fill especially now at 2B to start the season.
Angels sign Donovan Solano to a 1 year $1.2 million dollar deal
Solano is a good bat, average glove utility type that can be had on the cheap. He adds a better bat in the lineup, and can be mixed and matched at multiple places on the infield. With Kingery on the team as well, you can mix up playing time at the keystone to start the year. If Moore is knocking down the door at AAA, then we make the switch midseason and this move doesn’t hurt the halos overall.
Angels sign Shane Bieber to a 2 year $40 million dollar deal
I didn’t need to do this at all because I actually was only at $175 million in payroll. If the Angels really think they can compete in 2026, then Bieber makes sense as he won’t be ready to pitch until July 2025. If he comes back healthy, he’s a great top of the rotoation guy to pair with another FA signing in 2026. (Gallen,Efflin, Cease) A rotation with Bieber and 1 of those three has a great start to it with Soriano, Silent K, and one of our young arms at the #5 spot and it looks really good for the Angels. Again I think 2026 is when the window opens for us. We could also not do this and go with the $175 million payroll and use the money next year on two of the top arms on the market.
PS Side note; Vlad Jr is a FA which is why I believe Schanuel in 2025 is a make or break year for him. Bring baby Vald back home in 2026!!!
If the Angels go back to a $230-245 milion payroll, our 2026 team could get very good very fast with a few FA additions and another year with the young core. One last chance for Trout in his final years with the team!
DFA Jose Suarez and Brock Burke
| Outfielders | Infielders | Catchers | Starters | Bullpen |
| Trout-CF/DH | Aranado 3B | O’Hoppe | Anderson | Joyce |
| Ward RF | Baez SS | Thaiss | Soriano | Stephenson |
| Adell LF | Solano 2B | Kochanowicz | Quijada | |
| Soler DH/OF | Schanuel 1B | Hendricks | Crouse | |
| Moniak Bench | Torkelson Bench | (Battle for #5) | Zeferjahn | |
| Kingery Bench | Bieber (July) | Bachman | ||
| Neto IL | Sandoval 2026 IL | Silseth |
Here is the complete 40 man with payroll breakdown for you:
| Mike Trout | $ 37,116,666 |
| Javier Baez | $ 25,000,000 |
| Nolan Arenado | $ 21,000,000 |
| Shane Bieber | $ 20,000,000 |
| Tyler Anderson | $ 13,000,000 |
| Jorge Soler | $ 13,000,000 |
| Robert Stephenson | $ 11,000,000 |
| Taylor Ward | $ 9,200,000 |
| Justin Turner | $ 7,700,000 |
| Kyle Hendricks | $ 2,500,000 |
| Jo Adell | $ 2,100,000 |
| Mickey Moniak | $ 1,800,000 |
| Matt Thaiss | $ 1,300,000 |
| Donovan Solano | $ 1,200,000 |
| Jose Quijada | $ 1,100,000 |
| Logan O’Hoppe | $ 800,000 |
| Jose Soriano | $ 800,000 |
| Spenser Torkelson | $ 800,000 |
| Nolan Schanuel | $ 800,000 |
| Zach Neto | $ 800,000 |
| Ben Joyce | $ 800,000 |
| Sam Bachman | $ 800,000 |
| Jack Kochanowicz | $ 800,000 |
| Chase Silseth | $ 800,000 |
| Scott Kingery | $ 800,000 |
| Ryan Zeferjahn | $ 800,000 |
| Hans Crouse | $ 800,000 |
| Christian Moore | $ 800,000 |
| Cole Fontenelle | $ 800,000 |
| Ty Madden | $ 800,000 |
| Caden Dana | $ 800,000 |
| Samuel Aldegheri | $ 800,000 |
| Ryan Noda | $ 800,000 |
| Eric Wagaman | $ 800,000 |
| Victor Mederos | $ 800,000 |
| Niko Kavadas | $ 800,000 |
| Kelvin Caceres | $ 800,000 |
| Guilo Zuniga | $ 800,000 |
| Davis Daniel | $ 800,000 |
| Jordyn Adams | $ 800,000 |
| Kyren Paris | $ 800,000 |
| Bryce Teodosio | $ 800,000 |
| Total 40-man | $166,416,666 |
| Extra | |
| Payment to Tigers | $ 15,255,000 |
| Cash from Cardinals | $ -6,300,000 |
| Patrick Sandoval | $ 5,900,000 |
| Total Payroll | $ 194,941,666 |
