As we await the Winter Meetings this weekend, I figured I would take a look at some trade proposals and highlight some that I feel warrant discussion or at least consideration. The Angels are at an interesting place as a franchise with some high dollar players and a lack of depth and trades might help them either step up and compete now or accelerate a rebuild.
Perhaps the Angels most obvious trade chip is Taylor Ward. What might he fetch in a trade? Let’s take a look.
Here’s one from our own Turk’s Teeth:
There’s a lot going on here but the Angels add 4 years of 26 year old left handed left fielder Jake McCarthy to replace 2 years of Taylor Ward, who finally gives the D’backs a right handed hitting outfielder. Eugenio Suarez brings a great bat and reliability to third base. Jordan Montgomery is a decent bet to bounce back with a normal off season and Merrill Kelly is a back end option along for the salary offset. Great win now move as all but McCarthy are free agents after this season and it adds about $22 million in salary. In return the Angels give up Tyler Anderson, 2 years of Taylor Ward, and the hopes of seeing Reid Detmers fulfill his promise in an Angels uniform. Arizona picks up some quality players and a massive amount of payroll flexibility. This would greatly shake up the West and I’d love to see it.
A much simpler version of this trade is also possible:
Pretty straight up. 4 years of McCarthy plus the upside gamble on Montgomery for 2 years of Ward and intriguing hurler Walbert Urena. This saves Arizona in the range of $12 million to help fill out their roster, provides them with a more balanced offense, and gives them a nice little lottery ticket in Urena while giving the Angels a chance to compete in 2025 and beyond.
Here’s one I created. If the Mets lose out on Juan Soto they’ll still want to upgrade their outfield.
Nolan McLean has a nasty fastball, nasty slider, and an even nastier sweeper. His stuff is likely better than any Angels prospect but he does need to work on his command. There’s bullpen possibility with him, but he would likely be a stud in the bullpen if he doesn’t work as a starter. Dohm also has nasty stuff but injury concerns. Nothing that has needed a major surgery but enough to knock his first round hype down to a third round draft selection. Either way, these two add the type of frontline potential the other Angels prospects do not have with the worst case scenario a likely closer in McLean.
The Mets won’t be the only ones who miss out on Soto. The luxury tax Dodgers to the north likely will and they have an immediate need for help in left field. Here’s another idea of mine.
Jackson Ferris is a nearly developed lefty with the same prospect grades as Caden Dana. He brings three plus pitches and above average command to the organization. If brought in I would consider him to be our top pitching prospect. Chase Harlan is only 18 years old with great power and a strong, athletic 6 foot 3 frame. He’s a lottery ticket and our system could use some position player talent.
There are a ton of trades sending Ward to Pittsburgh on the board. This one is quite simple and I like the return.
A first round pick in 2022, Harrington has worked his was up to AAA at the age of 23. Across 244.2 professional innings he carries a WHIP of 1.108, strikes out over a batter per inning, and walks a miniscule 2.2 per 9 innings. He’s a pitcher, not a flamethrower. FanGraphs tabs him with as a guy with great command and a great changeup but below average fastball. Adding him to Caden Dana, George Klassen, Silent C and the other young guns would be a great way to further establish the type of young pitching depth any contender needs.
So, these are just some ideas to kick around but it is pretty clear Perry should have a decent trade chip in Taylor Ward once the Juan Soto sweepstakes ends. To really monopolize the 2.5 WAR decently priced outfield market, I’d sign Austin Hays and increase my trade leverage. But even without that being the case, which scenario do you prefer?
I made another one for fun:
We take Bellinger and the Cubs first round pick Cam Smith (stud 3B from Florida State) plus $2 million in cash for Ward.
A middle of the order of Trout/Belli/Soler should be solid and Cam Smith will take over third base for a decade.
I can’t see the Cubs attaching Smith to Belli to rid his contract, though.
Bellinger + Smith was actually my first thought when I proposed a Bellinger + Busch trade on the sim a couple weeks back, but I thought any trade sending Smith back would be too one-sided in the Angels’ favor.
https://www.baseballtradevalues.com/trades/177241
Turns out Cubs fans weren’t in love with departing with Busch or getting Schanuel in return (though Angels fans liked the swap).
Here’s a thought on a Ward trade approved by the Simulator:
Angels trade Ward (12.5 on the Trade Simulator) to Milwaukee for 3B prospect Brock Wilken (6.5 on Sim) and lefty starting pitcher Robert Gasser (6.6 on Sim).
Both players rank at 50 and are the #6 and #8 prospects in the Brewers’ highly rated system.
I like that trade a lot.
Brock really struggled last season, though. His K rate is in Kavadas/Adell territory, with less game power than either.
You talking about age 22 in AA?
Yes, but the underlying red flags highlight issues that scouts already were concerned about at drafting. Longenhagen tagged him with a 30 grade hit tool beginning of the season, 40 at ceiling, and he didn’t really improve on that with a sub-Mendoza batting average and a 28%+ K rate.
He has legit power, but struggles with breaking stuff and can’t get to his game power enough because he’s not making consistent hard contact.
It’s never a riskless situation but it may be why he could be obtained via trade. He was only drafted a year ago out of Wake Forest – 1st round #18.
Here are his current scouting ratings. Dude has a cannon for an arm.
Scouting grades: Hit: 45 | Power: 60 | Run: 30 | Arm: 65 | Field: 45 | Overall: 50
He would immediately be a top-5 Angels prospect.
MLB Pipeline grades from earlier this year – they tend to be more generous than other analysts.
I’ve followed Wilken since college – he was #4 on my board in that draft:
https://crashingthepearlygates.com/2023/07/09/turks-board-first-round/
But I think he’s riskier than other targets, and I’d like to see more contact before trading two years of Ward for the guy.
The problem, of course, is if/when this 22 year old figures it out and begins crushing the ball, he will become unattainable. Sometimes you have to take a risk.
Just to put this in a bit more perspective, Wilken was in the AFL this year – a hitter’s paradise where the 2024 pitching was relatively poor. The Angels’ #29 prospect Niko Kavadas earned Offensive Player of the Year there as Wilken was putting up a .155/.260/.310 slash, striking out in a third of ABs, and missing even some meatballs middle of the plate. There were some really bad looks.
The Biloxi Shuckers play in the same league as the Trash Pandas, so I got plenty of looks at Wilken this year in AA. I wouldn’t slag him if it wasn’t based on repeat impressions. Christian Moore outhit him utterly, he was drafted a year later, and I have a fair amount of concern with Moore’s own hit tool in the long view.
Good perspective. Appreciate it.
D-Backs don’t make that first trade and I don’t see Ward being of interest in the crowded OF.
I’d work on the Mariners. Would love to pick off one of their young starters (Woo, Gilbert or Kirby). Would need to add some other sweetener(s) with Ward, say Heefo. The M’s are desperate for offense and have very limited financial resources to acquire help. Ward and Heefo are affordable and getting a young proven starter would be such a solid get. Sorry, I don’t play the simulator thing to map it out but that is the framework. Just a fan of those arms and would immediately be the best Angel pitcher. Mariners also have some decent prospects as well if the Angels went that route. When Ward goes, you could sign O’Neill and not miss a beat. Near identical stat lines.
Yes. The Mariners will totally trade us Woo, Gilbert or Kirby…. in fact, if Perry doesn’t do this, he’s the idiot.
The first scenario is the one that potentially works. Two starting pitchers for two starting pitchers plus Ward for Suarez with a throw-in. Don’t know what the future looks like if it happens though. Ward and Detmers both could be around for a while. Not sure about the guys coming back.
McCarthy is around for 4 years, lining up with what we hope to be our next contention window.
Long term, the D’backs are keeping Detmers.
When I threw that one out there, it was more of a conversation starter, just to focus on underwater/bounce-back contracts. I don’t think it’s very realistic, given the money and number of players involved.
Angels fans liked it, DBacks fans were split.
I thought the simpler version of the trade with just Monty and Suarez coming to the Angels felt more realistic, and DBacks fans were keener on that one:
https://www.baseballtradevalues.com/trades/175829
Love this write up. I do think, however, that any trade that includes Detmers is a foolish one.
He’s exactly the kind of guy you give a slightly longer leash when you have no hope of contending. They need to run him out there every 5 days this year and see what happens. Hide him 175 innings to sink or swim.
His stuff and peripherals all look like he could turn a corner and be quite good. That K rate is real and his raw stuff is outstanding.
Otherwise, love the idea of trading Ward and trying to get McCarthy.
Also, taking on Monty wouldn’t be a terrible idea. He’s due for a bounce back.
I like the Dodger trade the best.
I think I do as well. Obviously the D’backs are the best trades to help 2025 but landing Ferris would be really nice. He’s probably a mid rotation guy, but I’d be heavily on him being an MLB regular.
While I would hate to see Ward go, I can see the wisdom of trading him for the future. Great write-up even if I don’t think he’s going anywhere until free agency.
Ward is one of my favorite players if not my current favorite.
Fresno Stste guy, super nice to my son when we met him, seen him be super nice to many other fans and kids.
He’s the Tay Tay I actually like. Unfortunately he’s also our best trade chip.
I like all your scenarios, but really like the last one, that is what you want with trading a veteran. Now if we could get either the Pirates or D’Backs to go along, Oh and Arturo too
Just curious. Why does Ward’s value change between different scenarios?
The simulator updated their player values a week or so ago and Ward’s improved slightly. As it wasn’t enough to really change the return, I went ahead and used a combination of suggested trades.
I like all of these ideas. I don’t want to be as stupid as “just do something” but they do need to do something.
I like McCarthy a lot, though we’d likely have to pay him real money by the time we are good and trying to pay other players real money to make us better.
I know it is a bigger risk, but I may lean towards the idea of a guy like Harrington strait up just because I think he’ll actually start in the MLB. If we could get Mitch Jebb thrown in, great…. if the market for Ward gets hot. McLean and Ferris will do nicely too.
I also like McCarthy.
We’re on the same page of wanting to add prospects rather than subtract them, but Turk’s idea keeps almost all of the farm in tact and significantly improves the 2025 product. It would suck to lose Detmers, but there’s as much risk of him becoming a nobody as there is of him becoming a star.
That was really the only point of the trade scenario – could we come up with something where the Angels don’t touch the farm, check off most of their remaining boxes (middle of the order power bat, 3b alternative, fill out the rotation), and get one useful piece that sticks around into their contention window.
Overly complex toy trade, but fun to think about.
I was big on signing Montgomery for this past season so I think I like this but Arizona might not consider him a true -9.7
Montgomery is being paid like a 2.5 WAR guy and he could very well be a 2.5 WAR guy this year. That’s the risk.