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 $210 Million, up slightly from the 2025 team.
- 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. Perry and our new manager are both on “show me” 1-year contracts and they will need to move the needle closer to contending for a wild card in order to keep their jobs. My goal this year is to have a more compeitive team, with the ability to punt and sell away players at the deadline when we buttercup the season and are out of the race by June. We will have little to no extra payroll in 2027, with the ability to make the team look very lucrative on paper for a potential buyer. (As long as the Skaggs trial is wrapped up this year.
My needs this year are the following:
- Additional need for IF starter, preferrably young and cost controlled
- More defensive minded in the OF, with giving some of our youth a chance to take one of the corner spots
- Top of the line starter to build this SP rotation into our stregnth
- Stronger bench pieces for late game situations
- A veteran closer to hold small leads
Trades
Now to shake up this team and get us a little bit of payroll flexability. Values for our players aren’t that great, but in my mind, Adell AND Ward are our two biggest tradable assets. First up is Jo Adell who has the most trade value:
Angels trade Jo Adell, Caden Dana, and Chase Shores for Sonny Gray, Brendan Donovan, and $5.5 million in cash
Here is why this works for both teams.
LAA: This works as long as we have an understanding that Christian Moore is not our long term 2B and we work all spring to convert him to our new starting 3B. I like his bat so much more here, and I think it solves our long term 3B problem if we can make this work. If he can’t get it done, or needs more time, we have Guzman to fill the role at 3B. Donovan is the MI piece that is cost controlled, plays good defense and is fantastic with the bat. He and Neto become the duo up the middle for years to come. Gray has a terrilble contract ($35 million with a $30 team option or $5 million buy out) We can finally get a front line starter that pushes everyone down a step on our SP depth chart. We have the option for another year of Gray in 27′ if we choose, and the money given in this trade will keep me right at the number we need for payroll this year.
STL: This is taken straight from MLB.com.
Biggest needs: Do well with the trades that are coming. (And young starting pitching.)
After the year-long transition from John Mozeliak to Chaim Bloom, a new era of Cardinals baseball is beginning, and there’s a ton of work to do. We’re likely to see at least two of veterans Sonny Gray, Nolan Arenado and Willson Contreras moved, if not all three, and Brendan Donovan would be an appealing piece to a contender if he were made available.
The Cardinals get out of a terrible contract and pick up three pieces for the future, all with multi years left on thier contracts. Adell is the center piece here and STL has a track record of doing well with the development of players. Dana is a top prospect SP who could be MLB ready and I think Shores is also a nice pick up for them. All three help with the rebuild in STL. The payroll flexibility of getting out of Gray’s contract this year is the biggest move here. Adell’s projection of $5.5 million in arbitration and only having to give $5.5 million to the Angels is a $24 million savings for them to help build out the rest of their roster.
With adding Gray’s contract I now have to move Ward for pitching prospects. I have multiple trades that all work for this, and choosing the right one is something we should debate below. I’d also really like to get Turk’s take on the prospects available in a Ward trade. Here are the trades proposed with the # in the top 30 for each teams top prospects:
Royals: #27 Josh Hansel (RP/SP) and #30 Cameron Millar
Orioles: #29 Wellington Aracena (RP/SP)
Phillies: #25 Mavis Graves (SP) and #29 Cody Bowker (SP)
Reds: (This one is my favorite) #10 Aaron Watson (2025 draft) and #30 Luke Hayden
Marlins: #27 Liomar Martinez and #28 Nate Payne. This deal might cost the Angels a little cash to pay for Ward. I estimated $1.1 million
I’m going to choose the Red’s package here as I’m getting the best prospect, but I think any of these would work for us.
Angels trade Taylor Ward to the Reds for Aaron Watson and Luke Hayden
Ward’s value was at the highest last trade deadline, but I still think he can grab us a nice piece. Watson was the 2nd round pick of the Red’s in 2025, and he would be another building block piece with Bremner for the long term look of our rotation.
Why it makes sense for the Reds? Their window is open now and they need offense in the corner OF position which Ward gives them. His contract is reasonable and if a defensive minded Harrison Bader is getting $13 million, then an offensive minded corner outfielder at the same price makes sense. It’s a big ask getting a 25′ pick, especially a 2nd rounder, but you have to give to get.
Free Agent Signings
The Angels have a few holes we need to fill especially now in the outfield. Remeber the goal of wanting to be better defensively.
Angels sign Harrison Bader to a 2 year $26 million dollar deal
Bader is our new CF and pushes Teodosio to the bench and a defensive replacement late in games. Bader’s bat is a bit of a question mark, but he holds down CF for our pitching staff. We are so much better up the middle now on this team with Neto, Donovan, and Bader.
Angels sign Kenley Jansen to a 1 year $9 million dollar deal
With Joyce still coming back from injury and no idea about Stephenson and his health (and terrible contract) I think having Jansen in for 1 more year makes too much sense. I’m a bit worried that it’s going to take more than $9million to get him as I projected $13million for this year, but FanGraphs says 9, so I’m sticking to the rules.
Having Kenley back also goes back to the Ward trade for me with BAL. The pitcher listed in the trade is closer material with a great cutter. I also wanted Kenley to mentor the young man and see how one of the all time best closers uses that pitch so effectivly.
Angels sign Chas McCormick to a 1 year $3 million dollar deal
We still have a need for an OF spot and Chas is a nice bounce back canidate. He’s hit in the big leagues, but had a set back last year with Houston and has cleared waivers looking for a starting job. The Halo’s can give him that to build his value up again for 2027. McCormick also gives us flexibility to work in one of four outfielders in RF in Soler, Trout, Teodosio, and Lugo. We also have Paris and Campero down on the farm. So we will have a camp battle for the RF position with Trout/Soler being the DH for the year. My money is on Lugo winning the RF job and Soler/Trout getting 1 day each in RF. Teodosio is the late game replacement, but I like our depth now.
Sign Jonah Heim to a Minor league deal worth $1 million if he makes the roster
This is another buy low move as the Rangers will be moving on from Heim. He’s again got a track record of hitting MLB pitching but had a terrible year in 2025. This is also a move for protection in case d’Arnaud goes down early, or if O’Hoppe can’t get it together. I think Logan will be our long term solution, but this move gives us some insurance just in case.
Here is my depth chart now:
| Outfielders | Infielders | Catchers | Starters | Bullpen |
| Trout-DH/RF | Moore 3B | O’Hoppe | Gray | Jansen |
| Lugo RF | Neto SS | d’Arnaud | Kikuchi | Joyce |
| McCormick LF | Donovan 2B | Soriano | Stephenson | |
| Bader CF | Schanuel 1B | Detmers | Burke | |
| Soler Bench | Peraza Bench | (Battle for #5) | Zeferjahn | |
| Teodosio Bench | Rendon IL | Farris | Bachman | |
| Kochanowicz | Silseth |
Here is the complete 40 man with payroll breakdown for you:
| Anthony Rendon | $ 38,571,428 |
| Mike Trout | $ 37,116,666 |
| Sonny Gray | $ 35,000,000 |
| Yusei Kikuchi | $ 21,225,000 |
| Jorge Soler | $ 13,000,000 |
| Harrison Bader | $ 13,000,000 |
| Robert Stephenson | $ 11,000,000 |
| Kenley Jansen | $ 9,000,000 |
| Travis d’Arnaud | $ 6,000,000 |
| Brendan Donovan | $ 5,400,000 |
| Zach Neto | $ 4,100,000 |
| Jose Soriano | $ 3,200,000 |
| Chas McCormick | $ 3,000,000 |
| Logan O’Hoppe | $ 2,900,000 |
| Reid Detmers | $ 2,600,000 |
| Brock Burke | $ 2,000,000 |
| Christian Moore | $ 820,000 |
| Ben Joyce | $ 820,000 |
| Nolan Schanuel | $ 820,000 |
| Matthew Lugo | $ 820,000 |
| Sam Bachman | $ 820,000 |
| Mitch Farris | $ 820,000 |
| Oswald Peraza | $ 820,000 |
| Chase Silseth | $ 820,000 |
| Scott Kingery | $ 820,000 |
| Ryan Zeferjahn | $ 820,000 |
| Bryce Teodosio | $ 820,000 |
| Ryan Johnson– | $ |
| Jack Kochanowicz– | $ |
| Cody Laweryson– | $ |
| Sebastian Rivero– | $ |
| Samuel Aldegheri– | $ |
| Ryan Noda– | $ |
| Walbert Urena– | $ |
| Victor Mederos– | $ |
| Gustavo Campero- | $ |
| Joel Hurtado– | $ |
| Samy Natera Jr. – | $ |
| Jose Fermin– | $ |
| Kyren Paris- | $ |
| Denzer Guzman- | $ |
| John Heim- | $ 1,000,000 if MLB |
| Total 40-man | $ 215,313,094 |
| Extra | |
| Cash from Cardinals | $ 5,500,000 |
| Total Payroll | $ 209,813,094 |
