Is This the Year the Angels Finally Give in and Sell?
The MLB trade deadline is nearly upon us and the Los Angeles Angels are at a crossroads once again. Is this the year they finally sell?
The 2025 MLB trade deadline is under two weeks away, and plenty of teams will be forced to finally decide their official direction for the second half.
Some organizations already have their fate all but sealed for the rest of the year. Teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays will be looking to embrace their contending status with open arms and take on a buyers role before July 31.
Then struggling squads like the Colorado Rockies, Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago White Sox will surely continue their rebuilds and sell off roster pieces for future-focused assets.
However, there’s a grouping of middling teams who aren’t firmly in the postseason conversation but are rather lost in the mix of clubs that could feasibly make a run at a wild-card spot.
Some of these teams like the San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants and Seattle Mariners seem to be in a good enough place to go all-out and make a postseason push. But for others, the remainder of the year looks far less certain, and this is where we find the Los Angeles Angels.
At 49-50, the Angels are within shouting distance of the American League’s final wild-card spot. However, they weren’t necessarily expected to be a contender at the start of the season and seem like a prime candidate to fizzle out as the dog days of summer rage on.
That being said, the Angels have often made some head-scratching moves in the past and have a recent history of being overly-modest as sellers in the past few seasons. So, to think of them as either outright buyers or sellers at this point seems unrealistic.
Will they lean into their near-.500 record and push for October, or is this finally the long-awaited year the Angels accept their mediocrity and finally become sellers?
Stats and rankings were taken prior to play on July 21.
How Have the Angels Gotten to This Point?
The Angels have been in a middling situation for years now since they last made the postseason way back in 2014.
Looking back at the last few years, the opportunities have certainly been there to sell. However, more often than not they’ve passed on the opportunity to do so, especially post-COVID.
In 2021, the Angels were 45-44 by the All-Star break but still had four teams between them and the final AL wild-card spot.
They had plenty of assets to deal that year such as a 27-year-old All-Star in Jared Walsh (.277 AVG, .850 OPS) and a potential strong leadoff option in David Fletcher (.262 AVG, 15 SB). However, neither of these names were dealt and both suffered drop-offs after that season.
In 2022, by the time the Midsummer Classic rolled around, the Halos were far worse off than they they were the year prior, with a 39-53 record.
That year it was largely a similar situation once again as some prime names (which we’ll touch on momentarily) remaining undealt by the time the deadline came and went.
However, the Angels did sell off an asset and it actually worked out well for them, trading Brandon Marsh to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for their now current starting catcher in Logan O’Hoppe.
This stroke of arguable brilliance didn’t motivate them to follow the same path come 2023, though, as they actually assumed the role of buyers at the deadline with a 45-46 record at the All-Star break.
They acquired pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López from the Chicago White Sox as well as hitters in C.J. Cron and Randal Grichuk from the Colorado Rockies. Things wouldn’t end up going to plan after the deadline, though, and they ended up waiving — and subsequently losing — both Giolito and López, along with another arm in Matt Moore, all to the Cleveland Guardians for nothing.
Then came 2024, where the Angels were 41-55 by the end of All-Star festivities but still managed to keep the likes of infielder Luis Rengifo (.300 AVG and .763 OPS) and veteran starter and All-Star Tyler Anderson (3.81 ERA) past the deadline.
At least that time around they did do something, dealing closer Carlos Estévez to the Phillies for Just Baseball’s No. 70 overall prospect in George Klassen. After the O’Hoppe deal two years prior, this proved once again that when the Angels do choose to sell off assets, it’s worked out well for them in recent years. They just don’t do it enough.
And what all those years of modest deadline seasons had in common was the trio of their upper echelon talent that remained put throughout it all in Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout and Taylor Ward.
Ward still has an opportunity to be dealt (and we’ll elaborate on that soon), but Shohei Ohtani is creating history with their inner-city rivals in the the Dodgers after walking for nothing in free agency after 2023.
Then, Mike Trout has gone from a perennial MVP-threat to an oft-injured hitter that has enough power to be an above-average contributor at the plate, but his age, spotty recent health record, and sub-.250 AVG make his five remaining years of over $37 million-per-season a high salary for a contender to take on.
If the Angels Finally Sell, Who Could Be on the Block?
If the Angels do decide that 2025 is the year to finally go all in and really fuel a rebuild, they have plenty of expendable assets to bring in a solid haul come July 31.
OF Taylor Ward
We’ve already mentioned Ward and how the Angels have squandered the chance to trade an outfielder with multiple years of control left.
However, despite now only having a year of control left beyond 2025, Ward still finds himself being a solid trade candidate this month.
He might not be clearing the Mendoza line by a mile with a .231 AVG, he’s made up for that by crushing 23 HR, driving in 73 RBI, and slugging .491, which has all culminated into above-average .795 OPS and 115 wRC+ clips.
3B Yoán Moncada
After signing with the Angels on a one-year deal this winter after an unremarkable stint with the White Sox, the former top prospect has rejuvenated his career as a Halo.
In 138 plate appearances, he’s hitting a modest but respectable .244 with an impressive .853 OPS and 135 wRC+.
As long as health stays on his side and he can keep up this pace, Moncada could be one of the top rental options on the move this month.
LHP Yusei Kikuchi
Then there’s a series of arms that could catch the eyes of many in the coming days, starting with the team’s lone All-Star in 2025, Yusei Kikuchi.
In his first year in Anaheim, the veteran southpaw has quickly taken over the ace role, pitching to a 3.13 ERA and 3.90 FIP across 118.0 innings (21 starts).
With two additional years of control left beyond 2025, to go along adding another All-Star nod under his belt, he could be one of the hottest arms available for teams looking to make a lasting splash this summer.
LHP Tyler Anderson
Then there’s Kikuchi’s fellow southpaw in the rotation, Tyler Anderson. Despite being passed over in recent years by the Angels as a tradable asset at the deadline, at the age of 35 with an expiring contract, there’s no better time to sell him than now.
A 4.34 ERA and 4.89 FIP aren’t the greatest numbers in the world, but he is coming off that aforementioned sub-4.00 ERA a year ago and is a two-time All-Star, giving him a bit of prior pedigree to help motivate teams to deal for him as a veteran rotation boost for a stretch run.
RHP Kenley Jansen
Lastly, we move the closer in the twilight stage of his career in Kenley Jansen, who’s still proving he has it as a big-league closer.
The 37-year-old, four-time All-Star has racked up 17 saves so far this season, to pair with the a decent 3.28 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and .217 BAA.
There’s always a demand for bullpen help in July, and with Jansen not getting any younger, now is the prime time to cash in their offseason investment, especially considering he’s a free agent at year’s end that’ll be just a stone’s throw away from 40.
Written by
Caleb Moody is a contributing writer for Just Baseball and has been covering topics across Major League Baseball with them since he started as an intern…