Miami Marlins TD aftermath: 3 biggest losers

2. LOS ANGELES ANGELS

ANAHEIM, CA – AUGUST 02: Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Angels jogs to the dugout after fllying out against the Oakland Athletics in the third inning at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on August 2, 2022 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images)

It’s hard to find a worse run Major League team than the Los Angeles Angels. It’s bad enough that they don’t even really play in Los Angeles, but the way they keep wasting CF Mike Trout is astonishing. The future Hall of Famer has been on the team since 2011, with 2012 being his first full season. It’s now 2022 and they’ve only been to the playoffs once and didn’t even win one game.

The Los Angeles Angels had a bizarre trade deadline, they had to sell, but they still clearly seem to think that they can contend for the playoffs next season. They traded free agent-to be SP Noah Syndergaard in a logical trade to the Philadelphia Phillies. That was as far as their logic ran however.

They traded CP Raisel Iglesias to the Atlanta Braves. Why? Yes he has a 4.04 ERA, but he also has a 3.17 FIP and was signed long-term, just last off-season! If they plan to compete, they need a closer, and now they’ll have to look for a new one. They might not be able to acquire someone of Raisel’s caliber, so why create a new hole on the roster?

They then traded LF Brandon Marsh, who isn’t even arbitration eligible for a catching prospect that they didn’t even need. They could’ve used Marsh in CF, when Trout will have to eventually move there. The worst move however was the one that they didn’t even make…

The Los Angeles Angels needed to trade SP/DH Shohei Ohtani. It was a must. The Iglesias and Marsh trades would’ve made sense if they traded him. Instead, those moves look bizarre for a team that’s supposedly still planning to compete for the playoffs next season.

The bizarre part is the fact that it’s clear that Shohei Ohtani will leave as a free agent after next season. It’s inevitable. His priority is winning and he won’t get it in Anaheim. He knows it and the team knows it. Will the Los Angeles Angels be contenders in 2023 with a weak farm and Major League roster?

Will they acquire an ace, a mid-rotation starter, a closer, a settler-up man, a SS and a 2B this off-season? All of those should be good players by the way and not just players to fill out positions. The Los Angeles Angels won’t do all of that, so why not just rebuild the farm through a blockbuster Ohtani trade? That’s what they should’ve done, and they didn’t.

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