What Might Perry Net At the Deadline?

With a week to go before the trade deadline, the over achieving Angels are still outside of the playoff picture and more likely to fall further back than make up ground. At this point, the smart thing to do is recognize the emerging core needs plenty of help. Sell, baby, sell, but for a purpose.

What could some trades look like for our Angels? I took a look at the trade board on the simulator and even contributed a few myself. Here are a few I’d probably do if I was Perry. I’d at least consider them.

Every “win now” team has a trade that hurts to make at the time and could come back to bite them down the road. For the Cubs, this is such a trade. One the one hand, they’d build a ridiculous outfield of Taylor Ward, Pete Crow Armstrong, and Kyle Tucker for 2025 with all but Tucker assured back next season. Moncada takes some pressure off Matt Shaw at third and becomes a versatile bench player at worst.

Owen Caissie is stud who is blocked by the above trio and Ian Happ in Chicago. He’s crushing AAA pitching to the tune of a .282/.383/.581 slash line across 77 games and is technically able to play all three outfield spots although he’s best in a corner. He’s an immediate Ward replacement with likely less power but improved defense and on base percentage. So likely a similar 2-3 WAR player but for a fraction of the cost.

Same duo shipped to Philly in a win now move for Dombrowski. Here I acquire a young, middle of the rotation starter in Mick Abel. He likely replaces Tyler Anderson in the rotation next year for minimum wage. At worst, he’s an improvement over Hendricks with the youth and club control of Kochanowicz. Tanner Banks is a solid bullpen arm that comes with another 3 years of control. Otto Kemp has a league average bat and has lined up at LF, 3B, and 1B at the MLB level. He’s a useful piece who can move around.

None of these guys have the ceiling of Owen Caissie, but getting 3 cost controlled MLB pieces frees up cash to spend on a stud elsewhere. Bringing in the left Banks should ease Detmers back to the rotation or out the door. Soriano, Detmers, Abel, is a nice start to a good rotation. And all are cost controlled.

This is a big boy trade here. Jo Adell seems to finally be blossoming into the player we dreamed he’d be. Or he could be hot for a couple of months. So this could really blow up in Perry’s face or turn into a great example of selling high. Time will tell. This trade is an over pay per the simulator but I think it is underestimating Jo’s upside.

Justin Crawford is a stud. One even Dave Dombrowski might hesitate trading. The son of Carl Crawford is emulating his father nicely with a .329/.413/.428 slash line and great speed. He’s 21 years old with 70 grade speed but no real in game power. That speed has led to 31 stolen bases, 18 doubles and 3 triples but he’s only popped 2 home runs in 77 AAA games. His speed makes up for some questionable routes defensively but with experience he could/should be a plus defender and baserunner.

Mick Abel is a cost controlled addition to the rotation, as mentioned above, and comes with 5 years of control. Crawford has 6. So this could be good value for 2.5 years of Adell.

Speaking of selling high, Reid Detmers has been dominant out of the bullpen for about 2 months now. He’s shown flashes of ability as a starter, but his career has been anything but consistent. He might still be a starter. He might be a shutdown bullpen guy. Or he might be having a couple of good months.

Mikey Romero is a local kid from Orange Lutheran who is in AA playing mostly shortstop and third base. He has a pretty well rounded offensive profile but has much higher rated power than hit tool.

James Tibbs was a first round pick out of Florida State last year thanks to his prolific bat. He’s lined up at both corner outfield spots and first base this year but his best position is in the batter’s box. Tibbs was sent to Boston in the Devers trade but is blocked for the foreseeable future at the MLB level.

Vaughn Grissom is your typical glove over bat utility infielder. He’s a toss in here and at most replaces Kevin Newman for minimum wage. Still, that saves $2.8 million to use on somebody useful.

With a farm system devoid of power, this adds to power bats.

It isn’t difficult to see the appeal and downside to each of these trades. But the fact of the matter is the Angels are extremely fortunate to be within sniffing distance of a Wild Card berth given the complete lack of depth in the organization. I’d take the Cubs deal in a heartbeat. Snagging Abel and some help also intrigues me. I’d rather do the Detmers deal than the Adell deal, but if Perry thinks he’s selling high on either player could add some significant talent.