Angels Offseason Plan (Part Two)

Last week, I wrote about what a potential offseason for the Angels could look like. It was a good exercise that got me thinking about the players in this year's Free Agency class, and who could make sense for the Angels. However, at best it was a tad fanciful, and bound to leave disappointment compared to what the end result is likely to be. 

Not even accounting for the struggles of competing with 29 other teams to snatch up all of the best value on the market, I straight away set the exercise to easy-mode by offloading Jorge Soler on the unsuspecting Nationals. While I still believe trading for Soler could make sense for a team like Washington, my gut tells me that such a deal is unlikely to happen from the Angels side. The Angels, especially Arte Moreno and Perry Minasian, rarely admit defeat, and may choose to stubbornly move forward with Soler despite there not being a clear role for him on this roster.

Instead of leaving us with $46 million, which is just enough to go out and pillage the Starting Pitching, Third Base, and Relief Pitching markets to find quality replacements, we’re back down to my initial target of $30 million. This makes things significantly more difficult. To make it even harder for myself, I’m going to avoid using any of the names that I mentioned last week.

Another assumption I have for this article is that Arte Moreno isn’t going to want to commit much money past the 2026 season. The one-year deal for Kurt Suzuki was a big sign that Arte isn’t committing resources past next year; If Arte isn’t trusting Perry to sign a manager beyond the 2026 season, then it stands to reason that he may be imposing the same limits on his free agency signings.

I won’t go position by position this time, and instead focus on a list of additional targets who I feel make sense for the Angels. These names are roughly sorted by largest expected AAV to smallest.

The Targets

Zach Eflin - SP

Zach Eflin, after being acquired at the 2024 trade deadline, was positioned to be the ace of the Orioles staff in 2025 after the departure of Corbin Burnes. Eflin had a 2.60 ERA for the Orioles in 2024, started the second Wild Card game allowing one earned run, and then was named the Opening Day starter for 2025.

He was off to the perfect start in Baltimore, and put up a 3.00 ERA in his first three starts of the 2025 season before his first IL stint of the year, which was due to a right lat strain. By the time he returned in May, the wheels had fallen off in Baltimore, with them being 10 games under .500 and manager Brandon Hyde soon to be shown the door. Eflin struggled on his return to the rotation, before going back to the IL with lower back discomfort in June. He pitched two more starts in July, before the same back discomfort sent Eflin to the IL for a third time, where he remained for the rest of the year.

Zach Eflin uses six pitches, and they were all down in quality this year per Stuff+ when compared to 2023 and 2024. All six of his pitches also saw increases in xSLG from 2024 to 2025; his fastball velo was also at a career low. At age 31, you have to believe all of that happening at once is only possible if his pitching was impacted by injury. 

Due to the injuries, there’s reason to believe that Zach Eflin can bounce back and return to the sub-3 ERA pitcher that he was in Baltimore, or at worse, the solid starter that he was proven to be in the seven and a half years before being traded last year.

There is some risk here, but Eflin represents the opportunity to get a quality starter for a major discount.

Miguel Andujar - 3B/OF

Miguel Andujar burst onto the scene in 2018 in the Bronx, and looked like he’d make the transition from top 100 prospect to the next Yankees star. He had a 130 OPS+ over 149 games, with 27 Home Runs, 92 RBIs, and 47 doubles, breaking Joe DiMaggio’s record for the most doubles by a Yankee’s rookie. It was a great year that saw him finish 2nd in the AL Rookie of the Year voting to Shohei Ohtani.

Since then, Andujar has struggled to stay healthy, and when on the park hasn’t been the same hitter that we saw in his rookie year. From 2019 to 2024, Andujar was an 81 OPS+ hitter, with poor defense out in left field. This year the Athletics moved him back to third base, and while his defense there was still poor, his offense recovered as he quietly put together a .318/.352/.470 slash line en route to a 125 OPS+.

Turning 31 next March, the hope is that Andujar’s issues offensively are behind him, and that his bat will be enough to make up for the fact that he’d be a defensive liability should the Angels play him at Third Base. There’s still some durability concerns, but Perry may overlook those to take on yet another reclamation project.

Kyle Finnegan - RP

Kyle Finnegan was a late addition to this list, after reading Jim Bowden’s estimate for The Athletic that had him projecting to earn only $6.25m next season.

At that price tag, signing Finnegan feels like a no-brainer, especially for a team like the Angels who have a need for a closer and who had interest in Finnegan last offseason. Finnegan has been one of the most consistent relievers in baseball since 2021, with his ERA falling between 3.47 and 3.76 in each of those seasons. It has not been elite production by any stretch, but Kyle Finnegan has been doing his job year in and year out and would be a safe play for the Angels without breaking the bank.

Martin Perez - SP

The White Sox have an option to keep Perez for 2026 worth $10 million, which at this point would be an overpay for Perez. From 2022 to 2025, Martin Perez had pitched to a 3.79 ERA, but the issue with him now is health and age.

Perez missed four months of the season this year with left elbow inflammation, which threatened to end his career. Turning 35 next year, Perez’s career, which peaked with an All Star appearance for the Rangers in 2022, may be running on fumes. Another sign that the end may be near for Perez, is that his fastball velocity dropped 1.6mph this season, dropping below 90mph for the first time in his career.

Perez’s 3.54 ERA in 56 IP this year shows that there’s still a quality pitcher here, but the question is how much longer can he keep it up. With the pitching prospects in the Angels farm system, a cheap one-year stop gap may be the preferred option for the fifth starter role.

Shawn Armstrong - RP

Shawn Armstrong had eight career saves heading into 2025, but kept pitching well enough down the stretch for the Rangers that they started using him in save situations. His year might have been good enough to make him one of the most under the radar relievers of the entire season, with his 1.5 bWAR and 2.31 ERA getting little attention outside of Texas.

One reason to think that the increase in production Armstrong saw this year is sustainable, is that the Rangers tripled his sweeper usage this year, which opponents batted only .080 against.

Armstrong will be 35 next season, but the performance of his sweeper suggests that there’s still some quality seasons left in the tank. With his age and lack of closing experience, you’d be getting him for a discount compared to what you’d hope the production would be in 2026.

Luis Garcia - RP

At the end of the 2024 season, the Angels said goodbye to Luis Garcia, Hunter Strickland, and Carson Fulmer, only to welcome them back throughout the course of the 2025 season. I’m hoping Perry has learned from this lesson, and makes more of an attempt to bring back these names as cheap reliable veteran arms for the bullpen. 

Paul DeJong - INF

At his best, Paul DeJong was an All-Star shortstop, who could hit the ball well while also being a plus fielder, but his production has steadily decreased since his 2019 All-Star season in St. Louis. 

His production bottomed out in 2023, when he was worth -0.5 bWAR and had an OPS+ of 66. However in 2024, he experimented with a move to third base, and so far it’s a move that looks like it may extend his career. If you look at his splits over the past two years, his offense has ticked upwards while he has played third base, and his defensive numbers there are adequate. 

Signing DeJong would be the boring choice for third base, but he’ll come cheaply and might offer a solid floor as a playable yet below average hitter and fielder.

Mike Clevinger - SP

From 2017 to 2023, Clevinger was a solid starting pitcher posting a 3.32 ERA in 735 IP. Since then, Clevinger has struggled for dysfunctional White Sox teams. He has spent most of his time pitching for their AAA affiliate the Charlotte Knights, and outside of 21.2 turbulent innings has not been given much of a chance in the Major Leagues.

Clevinger had a 4.20 ERA over 100.2 innings pitched in AAA this year, which isn’t great, but suggests that there may still be a little left in the tank. Clevinger elected free agency on October 3rd, and will presumably be looking for a team that’s going to give him a chance to compete for a roster spot in Spring Training.

The Angels could end up being that team for Clevinger, as they may not have the payroll to go out and get two quality starters. Clevinger, on a minor league deal, would give them a cheap option to compete with names like Ryan Johnson, Caden Dana, George Klassen, Tyler Bremner, Mitch Farris, Jack Kochanowicz, and Sam Aldegheri for the final spot in the rotation.

Harold Castro - INF

Castro was a bench piece for the Tigers during their rebuilding years from 2018 to 2022. He appeared in 351 games in this time, primarily in the infield, and had a respectable OPS+ of 90.

He then moved to Colorado, where it looked like his MLB career was over after struggling with an OPS+ of 54. In the two years since, he has continued working hard and has proven himself worthy of another chance in the majors, with some good hitting in the Mexican League, the Venezuelan Winter League, and in AAA this past season. Castro had a .892 OPS with the Omaha Storm Chasers (the Royals affiliate) in AAA, but was released on September 30th.

He’ll be 32 next year, but he’ll be cheap and can play all over the infield. You're hoping his performance in AAA indicates that he can get back to being a 90 OPS+ kind of guy, which would make him a reliable bench piece next year. Castro is more likely a candidate for a minor league contract, but would be a good option for the Angels to replace the vacancy left by Luis Rengifo.

End Result

There’s a lot of ways to do this exercise, but I opted to put most of my eggs in the one basket and go after the high-upside of Zach Eflin. The 2026 season could be a disaster if the Angels don’t invest in their pitching, and Eflin is one of the best names available for them in the middle tier of free agents.

With Eflin eating up a little more than half of my available cash, I’ve had to go cheap elsewhere, so I went with my preferred options out of the lower-tier of free agents. 

Zach Eflin / 1-year $16.25 million.

Kyle Finnegan / 1-year $6.25 million

Martin Perez / 1-year $5 million

Luis Garcia / 1-year $1.5 million

Paul DeJong / 1-year $1 million

Looking at this roster below, you see the poorly spent $27 million on Jorge Soler and Robert Stephenson, not to mention the wasted $38.5 million that’ll be donated to Anthony Rendon, and wonder what this roster could look like with better allocated resources. It’s not that far off being a playoff roster, and with a few meaningful upgrades could be knocking on the door of a wild-card spot. 

Rotation	Bullpen	Lineup	Bench
Yusei Kikuchi	Kyle Finnegan	C: Logan O’Hoppe	Travis d’Arnaud
Jose Soriano	Ben Joyce	1B: Nolan Schanuel	Jorge Soler
Zach Eflin	Ryan Zeferjahn	2B: Christian Moore	Oswald Peraza
Reid Detmers	Brock Burke	SS: Zach Neto	Denzer Guzman
Martin Perez	Robert Stephenson	3B: Paul DeJong
	Luis Garcia	LF: Taylor Ward
	Jose Fermin	CF: Bryce Teodosio
	Chase Silseth	RF: Jo Adell
		DH: Mike Trout

Finally, to combine the thinking from my two articles, here are the five Free Agents, who I feel are most likely to sign with the Angels. This excludes players who were on the 2025 Angels such as Luis Garcia or Kenley Jansen.

1. Kyle Finnegan

2. Adrian Houser

3. Paul DeJong

4. Aaron Civale

5. Eugenio Suarez

Angels Offseason Plan

The Angels finished 72–90 and have a lot of holes to fill. In a perfect world, they could bring in a ton of guys and address all of their weaknesses, but once you start looking at finances it’s going to be tough. After taking into account departing free agents and arbitration increases, the Angels should only have about $25 million coming off their total salary for 2026. Arte Moreno may choose to increase payroll, but I’m not counting on a significant bump. For this exercise, I’m setting the budget at $30 million.

Shedding Salary

The most realistic way that the Angels can increase their spending power this winter, is to rid themselves of the salaries of Jorge Soler and Robert Stephenson, owed $16 million and $11 million respectively. If the Angels can free up that $27 million, then suddenly there are many more opportunities on the table. 

When evaluating Soler’s market, I searched for teams that might want a pure DH, and there aren’t a lot of great fits. When looking at teams with poor DH production in 2025, it’s a lot of teams that either don’t spend money, already have DHs under contract, or have recently rostered Jorge Soler. Atlanta seems like a good fit for example, but can they really trade for Soler a third time?

The best option might be handing Soler and a prospect over to a team like the Nationals, who are a team that can spend money, but probably aren’t ready yet to commit to major long-term deals. Josh Bell served as their primary DH in 2025 (98 games at the position) and is now a pending free agent. Dealing Soler to the Nationals lets Washington replace Bell’s production for a year, and pick up some minor prospect capital in the process.

For the sake of this exercise, I’d deal them Soler and Dario Laverde. Laverde is a bat first catcher, ranked 19th in the Angels org per Pipeline, who stalled this year in the pitcher friendly environment of the Tri-City Dust Devils. Still only 20, the Nationals may think that a new environment and another year of development might be enough for Laverde to conquer High A in his repeat year. The Nationals don’t have a need for a catcher, but we aren’t asking too much of them in this scenario.

Robert Stephenson is much trickier to speculate on because his injury status is unknown. For the sake of this exercise, I’m going to assume that the Angels can’t deal him. Assuming only Soler is dealt, and Stephenson remains, that leaves us with $46 million to work with.

I’m now going to take a look at needs, one at a time, from most to least important.

Starting Pitching

Starting pitching is without a doubt the Angels biggest need. They finished 28th in ERA in 2025, and are set to lose two reliable starters in Tyler Anderson and Kyle Hendricks to free agency. The plan at the moment is to move Reid Detmers into the rotation, which leaves the Angels with Yusei Kikuchi, Jose Soriano, Reid Detmers, and some close, but not quite ready yet prospects, most notably Caden Dana, Sam Aldegheri, Tyler Bremner, Ryan Johnson, George Klassen, and Mitch Farris. 

Ideally, they’d need to sign two guys, at least one a reliable starter on good money, and the other at worst a proven yet unspectacular name on a one-year deal. I’m also only looking at names with reasonable floors, as I don’t think they can afford to take the risk to try and rehab somebody like Nestor Cortes or Walker Buehler.

Shane Bieber

Bieber is the only marquee name I considered here, but he ticks a lot of boxes. He is a local kid, he doesn’t have a qualifying offer attached, and his value is lower coming off Tommy John surgery. 

If the Angels are going to hand out $25 million AAV to a pitcher, then I really think that Bieber is the only name that makes sense. 

Merrill Kelly

Merrill Kelly at 37 has been a reliable yet unremarkable starter for the past seven seasons, and with his age might sign for a discount relative to his production over a two-year deal. If the Angels could sign him for 2/25m, then there’s not many guys out there that would give them better production for an AAV of $12.5 million. Kelly is probably the fit that makes the most sense here, but there are a lot of teams who will be interested in his pitching.

Adrian Houser

A trend we’ve seen with Perry Minasian, is that he likes signing pitchers who have recently been “fixed”. You look at Kikuchi in Houston, Anderson in LA, and Stephenson in Tampa Bay, and they were all “fixed” by smart orgs.

Now, I wouldn’t give enough credit just yet to put the White Sox in the same category as those teams I just mentioned, but Houser is this year’s FA who was recently “fixed”. This season, all of his pitches went up two ticks of velocity, which is incredibly rare at 32, and it turned a career 4.21 ERA guy into somebody who had a 2.10 ERA in 68.2 innings before being dealt to Tampa Bay.

We’ve seen Perry take these risks before, and a 3/30m deal would be great value if you feel like his performance in Chicago was sustainable.

Robert Suarez

This is a creative approach that I feel the Angels won’t take, but Suarez ticks all the boxes for a reliever-to-starter conversion. He has great stuff that could survive the loss of velocity, and multiple pitches that he can control. There’s an element of risk here, but Suarez represents the opportunity to get a below-market rate on a good starter.

Tyler Anderson

Tyler Anderson isn’t the most interesting choice, but he proved himself over the past three seasons to be a reliable innings eater. Turning 36 this year, he’ll be a bit cheaper than he was when he signed with the Angels back in 2022. There are worse options to bring back for a year to bridge the gap to our young prospects. If Kyle Hendricks isn’t retiring, then he’d be a consideration for the same reason.

Aaron Civale

Aaron Civale is a guy who I think is undervalued due to the lack of continuity that he has had over the past three seasons. In this time, he has pitched for five teams, and has been serviceable with a 4.20 ERA and a 2.99 K/BB ratio. I think there’s a solid starter here who just needs a team to believe in him, and the hope is that his production will tick upwards once he stops hearing a different message every six months. He has good stuff and could be worth the risk on a three-year deal.

 

Third Base

With Moncada and Rengifo departing as free agents, the Angels are left with Anthony Rendon, who due to persistent injuries and declining performance, likely won’t be available in 2026, and Denzer Guzman, who has potential, but shouldn’t be an opening day starter. To cut it short, the Angels absolutely have to go out and get somebody to play third base on opening day.

Munetaka Murakami

There’s really only one name you can start with here, and it’s the Japanese slugger who most of us have never seen play. If you can believe that Murakami can actually play third base, then he might be our best option here. 

There are enough holes in his offensive profile that you might get him for similar to the 5/90m deal that Masataka Yoshida signed for, which represents significant upside given the age of Murakami. He is going to be incredibly sought after, so it’ll be difficult getting him to agree to sign in Anaheim.

Kazuma Okamoto

Okamoto is the other Japanese third baseman being posted this winter. He doesn’t have as much pure power as Murakami, and at age 29 offers a lot less upside. He does have some positives compared to Murakami, such as his better defense and contact rates, and the fact that he would require less development. However, he should still sign for a discount when compared to the offers Murakami is set to receive given his perceived lack of upside, and for that reason he might be the Angels' preferred target

Eugenio Suarez

Suarez seems like an obvious regression candidate, especially in Anaheim, but, excluding Bregman, who I don’t consider a possible option, he is at the top of what’s a pretty weak domestic free agency class for third baseman. I don’t like the fit here at all, but the Angels can’t afford to be picky in a weak market. The main question here is if there’s a deal that makes sense. If the number gets to around $15 AAV, then I’d be interested, but it would be hard for the Angels to justify spending significantly more.

Yoan Moncada

Bringing back Moncada might seem like an obvious move, but without the versatility of Rengifo on the roster I’m not sure you can afford to bring back a guy who is probably going to miss half the season at best. If Moncada pulls a hamstring in spring training, who is starting for this team? You’d have to bring in a reliable utility guy for the bench such as Willi Castro who you’re okay with starting when Moncada misses time. If the Angels miss out on the top of the market, they may have no other choice, but to bring back Moncada.

Closer

Currently, I have Ben Joyce, Robert Stephenson, Chase Silseth, Brock Burke, Jose Fermin, and Ryan Zeferjahn as our bullpen, with Carson Fulmer in long relief, and a big question mark over the closer position. With Kenley Jansen departing in Free Agency, I don’t see an obvious answer as to who is closing. Joyce and Stephenson are both too injury prone, Detmers is set to join the rotation, and others like Zeferjahn, Silseth, and Fermin are too young and inconsistent. Maybe the answer is Brock Burke, but left-handed closers are rare, and I don’t think Burke has proven himself enough to sway the Angels from going with an outside hire. However, I think Burke gives the Angels some flexibility here to do nothing if the right signings pop up elsewhere.

Kenley Jansen

Kenley Jansen coming back to Anaheim would be considered the betting favorite here, and the only reason it won’t happen is if the Angels think the money is better off spent elsewhere. The Angels definitely aren’t going to spend more than the 10m they paid Jansen last year, so the only other options worth considering are names who would sign for significantly less.

Devin Williams

There’s no way Williams signs for less than $10 million per year, right? Williams' year in the Bronx was a complete disaster, but there’s a lot of evidence suggesting that it was mostly poor luck that led to his 4.79 ERA. That said, how many playoff contenders are desperate enough to hand over the closing role to Devin Williams? If he is set on closing, then he’ll have a small market, and might be better off signing a one year deal to rehabilitate his value. It’s unlikely, but maybe there’s a number here where Devin Williams to the Angels makes sense.

Kirby Yates

Yates was one of the best closers in 2024, finishing 8th in the AL Cy Young with a 1.17 ERA. He signed a one year deal with the Dodgers for $13 million this past offseason, and after a disastrous year, his next deal figures to be for significantly less. Like Devin Williams, if you think of his 2025 year as an aberration, then Yates represents great value on a guy who has shown that he can be a reliable closer.

Seranthony Dominguez

Dominguez represents another path the Angels could take, which is taking a reliable setup man, and making him their closer. You’d get a bit of a discount, as you’re not quite paying a closer’s price tag, but whether that’s enough to justify not bringing back Kenley Jansen is yet to be seen.

Fourth Outfielder

If you’ve been following along, adding up potential numbers in your head, then by now you’re probably well above the $46 million target that I set for myself. For this reason, we’re sticking with Bryce Teodosio in center field. Yes, Teodosio can’t hit, but because of his glove, he was worth 0.6 fWAR over 50 games. That means over a full season, he’d have been worth more fWAR than any Angels position player not named Zach Neto or Taylor Ward. The Angels also have the depth just in case Teodosio doesn’t work out, as they can instead opt to go with Kyren Paris, Matthew Lugo, or even Nelson Rada, who is the long-term answer at the position.

That said, as we’ve traded away Soler, I think the Angels need to add a fourth outfielder here to at least compete with those guys previously mentioned and provide depth behind Ward and Adell. The Angels had a lot of trouble with this position in 2025, with guys like Gustavo Campero and Lamonte Wade Jr. struggling in Anaheim.

I won’t do write ups on individual players here, because the goal is to spend as little money as possible, but the names you’re looking at are guys like Austin Slater, Chris Taylor, and Lane Thomas.

Beyond that, you’re mostly looking at minor league deals, and maybe some bottom-of-the-market relievers to fill out your bullpen such as Andrew Chafin. There isn’t enough money left at this point to make any significant improvements to the roster. 

The End Result

I’ve prepared three scenarios as to what a potential offseason could look like for the Angels, and I think they do a good job at showcasing the names that I feel are the most realistic and also illustrating what this upcoming offseason could look like. I've stuck to $46 million in each column, but have omitted these figures as I don't want that to be the focus of this conversation. I’ve also prepared a table of what the roster would look like under Option 1.

Option 1	Option 2	Option 3
Kazuma Okamoto	Shane Bieber	Eugenio Suarez
Aaron Civale	Willi Castro	Merill Kelly
Adrian Houser	Yoan Moncada	Tyler Anderson
Kenley Jansen	Kirby Yates	Austin Slater
Chris Taylor	Kyle Hendricks	Andrew Chafin

Rotation	Bullpen	Lineup	Bench
Yusei Kikuchi	Kenley Jansen	C: Logan O’Hoppe	Travis d’Arnaud
Jose Soriano	Ben Joyce	1B: Nolan Schanuel	Denzer Guzman
Reid Detmers	Robert Stephenson	2B: Christian Moore	Chris Taylor
Aaron Civale	Brock Burke	SS: Zach Neto	Oswald Peraza
Adrian Houser	Ryan Zejerjahn	3B: Kazuma Okamoto
	Chase Silseth	LF: Taylor Ward
	Jose Fermin	CF: Bryce Teodosio
	Carson Fulmer	RF: Jo Adell
		DH: Mike Trout