The Angels Off-Season Plan Appears To Be Acquiring Washed Up Old Guys

Diamond Images. Getty Images.

The good news for Los Angeles Angels fans is that they have been the most active team this off-season. It's not even close. Since the World Series ended, any time you hear of a player getting traded or signed, the Angels are almost involved.

The bad news these are old players whose best days are before COVID.

October 31: Angels trade SP Griffin Canning to Atlanta Braves for DH Jorge Soler

Of all the moves they have made this off-season, I do like this one the most. That's also very faint praise. Canning is going into his Age 29 season and has a 4.78 career ERA. We know what he is by now. Of course, I say that and watch the Braves make him a Cy Young candidate. Regardless, the Angels got the most they could out of him and he'll be a free agent next year. No great loss.

As for Soler, I get it to some extent. Sure, the days of leading the league in home runs are gone along with the days when people were excited to see Joaquin Phoenix play the Joker. But he still has some power in that bat (57 homers in 2022-23). My issue here that he's on the hook for $16 million dollars this year...and next. He's going to be 33 and can't play the field. The Braves tried to throw him right last year and he had slower feet than Mike Tyson. He somehow had a -1.2 defensive WAR in only 46 defensive games. That's hard to do.

Also, this is a bad contract. No way Soler would get 2 years/$32 million dollars in the free agent market. The Angels could have just non-tendered Canning so this isn't a good use of resources.

John J Kim. Shutterstock Images.

November 7: Signed SP Kyle Hendricks to a 1 year/$2.5 Million Dollar contract

It's not that Hendricks is a bad signing for the Angels. He'd be a bad signing for anyone. Want to give him a non-roster invite to spring training? Go for it. He's had a very good career and by all accounts, a good guy and teammate.

He also had a 5.92 ERA last year in 130.2 innings pitched. He has a 4.80 ERA over the past four seasons. His fastball speed was 87.7 MPH last year. He's terrible. He's going to be 35. He's not going to get better. He's awful now and will continue to be awful. I hate when people on ESPN or MLB Network feed us lines like "You never know about Kyle Hendricks. He might have another good season left in him!" They are lying to us. They know he sucks. I don't blame Hendricks at all for wanting to keep his career going as long he wants. But let's not pretend that he is still an effective player.

November 12: Signed C Travis d'Arnaud to a 2 year/$12 Million Dollar contract

November 14: Signed INF Kevin Newman to a 1 year/$2.5 Million Dollar contract

If the mentality is that you want a veteran in the clubhouse that can help the young players learn to play the right way, sure. $12 million dollars to a 35 year old catcher who has never played 113 games in a season seems wild, but the overall philosophy has some merit.

But this clubhouse already has Mike Trout and Kyle Hendricks and Jorge Soler and Tyler Anderson and Taylor Ward. At some point, you are just a team that only has veteran leadership. Of course, they even signed Kevin Newman two days later.

ALLISON DINNER. Shutterstock Images.

The main issue here is that the Angels don't know who they are...or more clearly, they don't want to believe what they are. Owner Arte Moreno keeps trying to put band-aids on bullet holes. The Los Angeles Angels are a terrible baseball team. Let me say that again in the extremely unlikely case that anyone involved with the Angels sees this:

THE LOS ANGELES ANGELS ARE A TERRIBLE BASEBALL TEAM.

I'm sure this is not breaking news to almost everyone reading this. They went 63-99 last year. They haven't had a winning season since 2015...and that's with two surefire Hall of Famers on the team! They are bad and only getting worse and the faster Moreno and GM Perry Minasian can accept that, then they can finally move on.

They need to explore if there is any team willing to take on Mike Trout and his now-albatross of a contract. He's owed $222.7 MILLION DOLLARS over the next 6 years. Would anyone (Phillies?) be ok with taking on half of that? Trout was an amazing player but his back is a mess and even his legs failed him last year. He's averaged 67 games/season since 2021.

The focus needs to be the farm system and the future. Not Jorge Soler, Travis d'Arnaud and the present. You want to bring in new players, wait to see who gets non-tendered and bring in younger guys. Give them the at bats and innings. Trade veterans like Tyler Anderson and Taylor Ward for any prospects you can.

It's going to be a painful process. But the last decade has been pretty painful anyway. This isn't ripping down a mansion. It's tearing down a mobile home to try to build something greater.

The Angels can be great again. They have an owner that is willing to have a payroll over $200 million dollars. Not every team can say that. But to get there, they also need to finally admit what everyone else can see.