If you are hoping for tons Angels news this week, you might as well stop reading right now. The only really notable news to come out of Anaheim is that there will not be much news until the other 29 owners approve Arte’s sale to Kroenke.
In some minor news, the Angels made the easy decision to decline Robert Stephenson’s $2.5 million option to not pitch last year. Overall, the dude picked up $33 million to pitch a handful of games in 2025 but none in 2024 or 2026. Solid move, Perry.
And the team lost Kyren Paris to the NY Mets, which is as close to staying with the Angels as you can get.
In one piece of fun news, the team added Nicolo Pinazzi who has a great back story and pitched the longest stretch of scoreless innings in the minors last season.
As for when the other owners will let Kroenke join the club, Mozeliak said that would be in two weeks but then Jeff Fletcher refuted that claim.
So there will be Angels news at an undetermined time in the future. Stay tuned?
Meanwhile, the list of free agents the Angels should avoid at all costs is now out. Signing a free agent with a Qualifying Offer attached at this stage of the rebuild would be horribly stupid.
But once the action picks up, how much cash will the new front office have to blow? Yes, that was step one to getting our off season pieces rolling. Expect them next week.
To help you get started, here are the projections from both MLBTR and, of course, FanGraphs.
That number might not seem like a ton, but I think the Angels bullpen could be revamped for $20 million.
Yeah, there’s not much to do right now expect hope for some shiny new presents this off season. So for once I don’t feel too bad about loading up my links here.
Strikeouts are a huge problem for the Halos. Here are two outfielders with low K rates that won’t break the bank.
Defense was also a huge problem, particularly in left field, so maybe Ian Happ and his 4 Gold Gloves could help?
And time for a text break. Jake Munroe looks like he’s going to be my next favorite player. Kid is looking good out in the desert.
We need a backup catcher. So I had a college catcher tell me who he thinks fits the rebuild.
Almost certainly using this in my off season piece. J.P. Crawford makes a ton of sense for second base.
But does KBO stud Si-Hwan Roh solve the team’s third base problem? Considering that is only a problem until Munroe arrives, what should the Angels do at the hot corner?
Perhaps the team continues to tear down and rebuild. This is a horrible free agent class, especially for first base, and several contenders need help at the cold corner. That adds up to Schanuel having more value than in the past.
Personally, I would cash in on that value and send him to the Snakes for a nice little prospect package.
Even if the team does continue to cash in some trade chips, signing young talent to long term deals would make sense. NBP ace Kaima Taira is on the Angels radar but should they sign him?
And, finally, congrats to Mike Trout and Zach Neto for being named finalists for the Silver Slugger Award.
I started tracking Trout’s path to a Silver Slugger in August and am glad to see it happen. Pretty sure that was my first piece to get picked up by Yahoo!, who now has an agreement to recycle SI content.
Enjoy your weekend and link what I missed. I’ve been traveling back to back weekends, lived through a house repipe job and two new shower builds/installations, and finally have a weekend at home with a fully functional home. I’m not going anywhere. Stater Bros. has tri tip on sale and I have plenty of charcoal and mesquite, plus s’mores stuff for the fire pit. A quiet weekend at home with my family is going to be gorgeous.
