Wait... What are we doing?

The Angels’ offseason so far has been akin to a psychological experiment where unsuspecting subjects are led into a waiting room and told to wait indefinitely for something that will never come. One by one, they eventually lose patience and their temper. While a large portion of the fanbase shields itself from expectations with the logical assumption that nothing good will ever happen to us Angels fans, I personally feel like I’m getting close to my breaking point this week. In this article, I’m going to try to talk myself off the ledge by making sense of this offseason.

On paper, I’ve liked every move that the Angels have made. Picture the reaction if any of our moves had instead been made by a mid-market team in contention. If the Brewers had signed Drew Pomeranz, the MLB media would have showered them with A+ grades for signing a reliever with a top-25 ERA, supported by good peripherals, at what is effectively an 80% discount due to his age. Repeat the same process for Alek Manoah, Jordan Romano, Vaughn Grissom, and Grayson Rodriguez. If those transactions had been made by the Cleveland Guardians or the Detroit Tigers, then they would have been covered completely differently.

The issue is that when you zoom out to look at the bigger picture and the state of our roster, I’m not sure that any of it makes sense. With about a month left until pitchers and catchers report, I’m hoping that part of this uncertainty is due to the fact that I’m staring at an incomplete picture. However, it’s taking more and more of my imagination to come up with moves that push this franchise in a direction that makes sense.

There are a few FA targets out there, such as Eugenio Suarez and Aaron Civale, who I’ve mentioned before on this blog as potential fits at the right price. Plus, there are trade targets like Brendan Donovan and MacKenzie Gore. But fans are now rightly asking if those moves would even be enough to get us anywhere.

On paper, the lineup has taken a step back and is currently too reliant on names like Logan O’Hoppe and Christian Moore breaking out. The roster also needs to replace Matthew Lugo on the bench (as projected by FanGraphs) with a lefty platoon bat like Michael Conforto**, and it also needs to upgrade at either 2B or 3B (moving Grissom to the bench) to be taken seriously.

Projected Lineup:

1. Zach Neto - SS

2. Nolan Schanuel - 1B

3. Mike Trout - LF/DH

4. Jo Adell - RF

5. Yoan Moncada - 3B

6. Jorge Soler - DH/LF

7. Christian Moore - 2B

8. Logan O’Hoppe - C

9. Bryce Teodosio - CF

That lineup, with Grissom, Meckler, Conforto, and d’Arnaud on the bench, is starting to look like the most realistic scenario for this offseason. Maybe instead of Moncada, it’s Eugenio Suarez or Luis Arraez (playing 2B with Moore at 3B), but it’s basically last year’s lineup, except with a Teodosio and Meckler platoon replacing Taylor Ward, who was our third-best hitter last season per wRC+.

That’s obviously not a good sign, considering we ranked 26th in wRC+ last year. However, there are a few reasons to be optimistic:

1. Mike Trout: After getting over the mental hurdle of hitting his 400th home run, he really looked to have figured things out at the end of last year. He had an .869 OPS over his final 20 games, including a 1.512 OPS in the small sample size after reaching 400 HRs. That was a rare occurrence of Mike Trout looking like Mike Trout; if that carries into this season, then it completely changes the dynamic of this team.

2. Logan O’Hoppe: In July 2024, he was considered by some to be a better piece for this franchise than Zach Neto, but he has struggled since. I’m optimistic about how Kurt Suzuki can help O’Hoppe get back to his best; the kid has talent, and I’m not ready to give up on him.

3. Christian Moore: He had a .727 OPS after being recalled from AAA late in the season and should only keep improving with another offseason.

4. Jorge Soler: We may get the most out of him by having him platoon with a left-handed outfielder.

5. Bryce Teodosio: He could win a Gold Glove, if not a Platinum Glove, if he is our center fielder.

However, even if everything goes right, this still isn’t an above-average lineup by any stretch of the imagination. It would take at least another Mike Trout MVP year for this team to have a top-10 offense.

On the pitching side, we currently project to have the 18th-best rotation in baseball according to Steamer projections. And that’s with them accounting for Alek Manoah’s 0.7 fWAR as our fifth starter. If we were to sign a Zac Gallen or Framber Valdez (unlikely), or even someone like Aaron Civale (likelier), we’d have one of the better rotations in baseball. That’s a huge step up for a team that’s been bottom-three in starter ERA these past two seasons.

That said, those projections are hard to believe because who knows what we’re getting out of Grayson Rodriguez and Reid Detmers. Together they’re projected to produce about two fWAR each, but honestly, who knows? Either could be an All-Star, or they could be out of the rotation by May.

The elephant in the room this offseason has been the uncertainty of this team past 2026. We currently don’t have a TV deal, a potential franchise-altering assessment of Angel Stadium is expected to be completed this year, Perry Minasian and Kurt Suzuki are both on one-year deals, we’ve only handed out one contract extending past 2026 these past few offseasons, and we don’t even know if baseball is going to be played next year with the current CBA set to expire before the 2027 season.

The pessimistic theory is that Arte Moreno is trying to save money on a 2027 season that may be shortened, if not canceled altogether. It’s a stretch of the imagination to assume that Moreno has been carefully planning for years just to save some money during a potential lockout, but I get that most wouldn’t put it past him.

The optimistic theory is that Moreno is preparing to put the team back on the market. These rumors have been bubbling since he first took the team off the market in January 2023, and if he holds the desire to sell, a lot of signs point to it being very soon. With the Tyler Skaggs trial, CBA negotiations, TV-rights negotiations*, and the stadium assessment soon to be behind him, a lot of questions that could impact the valuation of the Angels are about to be answered.

Whatever theory you go with, it does appear that Arte Moreno just wants to kick the can down the road for 2026 and commit as few financial resources as possible to 2027 and beyond. From that perspective, it’s a positive that a lot of the bets that Perry Minasian has made, such as Grayson Rodriguez, Vaughn Grissom, and Alek Manoah, have the upside of helping the Angels past 2026.

I think Angels fans wouldn’t mind this being a rebuilding year if the organization were clear about what the expectations were. I don’t get as upset about Perry Minasian's press conferences as some fans and reporters do, but if we’re going to play the young kids, see Nelson Rada, George Klassen, and Tyler Bremner make their debuts, and go for another top draft pick, then that’s a playbook that I’d be happy to follow.

Instead, the messaging from the front office has been that the Angels are trying to compete, which so far hasn’t aligned with their actions. Competing teams don’t trade their most reliable offensive piece for a speculative young pitcher with four years of control left. For whatever reason, they’re reluctant to publicly dampen expectations for 2026. Part of me can accept that, but once you realize that this is yet another transition year, then this offseason starts to make a lot more sense.

So, once again, we’re looking at a roster that’s on track to win about 70 games, but with enough volatility baked in to allow for some fun stretches should everything click. If everything goes right, then they can absolutely make the playoffs, and from that perspective, it’s fine for the team to state that 80+ wins is the goal in January. However, as fans, we can admit that’s unlikely to happen and that we’re going to have to wait at least one more year for this team to pick a clear direction once the uncertainty of 2026 subsides.

It’s not ideal, but it still looks to be a fun year. Teodosio is a highlight reel in center field, every year with Mike Trout should be cherished, it’s a complete joy watching Zach Neto compete every day, the amount of reclamation projects we’ve signed has created some fun subplots for the season, and it’s going to be a lot of fun to watch our young players develop. Each season also gets us one year closer to Arte Moreno selling the team, and if he were to sell in the next 18 months, then he’d be handing over a near blank slate to our next owner.

*Reporting currently says that the Angels should have the option to renew with FanDuel Sports Network for an additional three years, subject to FanDuel receiving additional funding. I’d consider this the most likely option at this time.

**Right after publishing this article, the Angels traded for Josh Lowe, who fills the exact role that I envisioned for Conforto.

Happy New Year

Writer Jayson Stark recently shared the following quote on Twitter: “It's amazing how far away spring training feels on Dec. 31...And how close it feels on Jan. 1.” It’s a quote that rang true for me, as for the first time this offseason I’m beginning to feel like baseball is just around the corner.

We’re now roughly a month away from pitchers and catchers reporting, which for the Angels’ sake hopefully means that we’re about to see a slew of signings. Despite my blog’s four-week hiatus over the holiday season, there isn’t a whole lot for me to catch up on. Here I’ll attempt to write a few words on the few signings that I missed.

Jordan Romano

From 2020 to 2023, Jordan Romano was one of the best relievers in baseball. During those four years, his 2.29 ERA ranked as the 10th best over at least 100 innings. If you increase the innings limit to 200, then he is behind only Devin Williams, Emmanuel Clase, and Jacob deGrom.

In 2024, Romano struggled through 13.2 IP before being shut down due to arthroscopic surgery to repair an impingement in his throwing elbow. The following year, Romano was healthy but had an awful season, finishing with an 8.23 ERA. On the surface, that’s obviously an unfathomable number, but there are some underlying metrics that support the potential for him to bounce back this year.

Romano’s xERA, which uses Statcast data to figure out what a pitcher’s ERA should be, was a much better 3.99. A large reason for this was Romano’s proneness to giving up hits in bunches. Romano left only 49% of opposing batters on base, which effectively meant that half the opponents he allowed on base would eventually score a run. Romano’s xFIP of 4.33 tells a similar story.

These aren’t elite numbers, but they compare favorably to many Angels relievers; one example is Kenley Jansen, who posted a 3.75 and 4.60 xERA and xFIP, respectively.

As Romano recovers from injury and learns to trust his arm, there’s reason to have optimism that at worst he could hover around a 4.00 ERA, with upside to get closer to his old dominant self. For $2 million, that’s good value.

Drew Pomeranz

Drew Pomeranz has had an unorthodox MLB career. Pomeranz was a top-five draft pick turned top prospect who, as pitchers tend to do, struggled in Colorado after being called up. He then had a couple of successful years in relief for Oakland before breaking out as a starter, earning an All-Star nod in 2016 for the Padres.

He was dealt to the Red Sox and kept having success before the wheels fell off his career in 2018. From 2018 to 2021, he posted a 4.61 ERA and struggled to stay healthy. He was out of the major leagues from 2022 to 2024, and at age 36, most people would have assumed that his MLB career was over. Instead, last year Pomeranz signed with the Cubs and was miraculously one of the best relievers in baseball.

If you look at pitchers with a minimum of 40 IP, Pomeranz had a top-25 ERA last year, which all of his peripheral stats supported. At 36 years old, he still had his stuff, and his K-BB% was the best of his career if you ignore the 2020 season where he pitched only 18.2 innings.

The Cubs initially started him out in a low-leverage role, but he kept climbing their list of trusted relievers, and by the end of the year he was pitching important innings in the playoffs.

The Angels are taking a $4 million bet that at 37 years old, Pomeranz has at least one year left in the tank. Pomeranz has pitched only 94.0 major league innings this decade, which should be a good sign for his durability, but as a 37-year-old with a long injury history, there’s obviously a ton of risk here.

If the bet pays off, the Angels are getting a quality reliever who the Cubs trusted to hold close leads in the seventh inning during the playoffs.

Kirby Yates

To date, the theme of this offseason for the Angels has been reclamation projects, and in Kirby Yates, they’ve signed yet another.

The Dodgers' bullpen was a complete mess last year, with evidence suggesting an organizational failure in coaching and game planning. Here is how the top of their relief corps fared:

Name	2024 ERA	2025 ERA
Kirby Yates	1.17	5.23
Tanner Scott	1.75	4.74
Blake Treinen	1.93	5.40

Three top-tier relievers imploding in the same season is statistically improbable and suggests the Dodgers outsmarted themselves. To support this theory, look at a player familiar to Angels fans: Luis Garcia.

In 2024, Garcia was a reliable arm for the Angels before being dealt to the Red Sox. Boston tinkered with him, increasing his velocity and altering his mechanics; as a result, his ERA ballooned to 8.22. He then signed with the Dodgers and posted a 5.27 ERA before being released. Finally, he landed with the Nationals and finished the year with a dominant 1.60 ERA over 28 innings between Washington and Anaheim.

The Dodgers had limited Garcia’s sinker usage, but with the Nationals and Angels, he returned to throwing it roughly half the time. That adjustment essentially turned Garcia back into his old self overnight.

Regarding Kirby Yates, his profile shows similar small changes made by the Dodgers, most notably a three-degree shift in his arm angle. The Angels are betting $5 million that, like Garcia, Yates can rediscover his form by pitching like his old self. This bet is more realistic because the Angels are reuniting him with pitching coach Mike Maddux, who oversaw Yates’ 2024 campaign where he posted a 1.17 ERA and finished eighth in the AL Cy Young voting.

From 2017 to 2024, Yates posted a 2.52 ERA. If the Angels are getting that version of Kirby Yates, then they’ve just found their closer.

Wade Meckler

I initially wasn’t going to include Meckler in this article, but the more I consider this signing, the more likely I think it is that Meckler will be on our opening day roster.

Meckler is a left-handed bat who can play all three outfield positions. Given that the Angels currently don’t have a lefty outfielder, this makes Meckler a great fit. Most notably, it also gives the Angels the option to use a Teodosio/Meckler platoon in center field. Teodosio had a .755 OPS against lefty pitchers last year, while Meckler in Triple-A has had much more success against right-handers.

The biggest question is whether his offense from Triple-A can translate to the big leagues. Meckler only put up a .578 OPS during his short MLB stint back in 2023, but he has had much more success playing in Triple-A these past couple of years, albeit in the hitter-friendly PCL.

Meckler has Taylor Ward-esque patience, where he’ll take a lot of strikes looking for the right pitch. When he elects to swing, he has really good contact rates; however, this is paired with a below-average power profile. Given the Angels' lineup of high-slugging / high-strikeout hitters, I think with Meckler and Grissom the Angels have shown that they’re actively trying to get more contact hitters into their lineup. Across 2024 and 2025, Meckler’s contact rates in the minors have been around 80%, which is only bettered by Schanuel out of current Angels players.

It’s not the most exciting signing, but if it doesn’t pan out, then Meckler has the upside of having one minor league option remaining. I said at the start of the offseason that the Angels needed to sign a dirt-cheap fourth outfielder, and I’m fine with Meckler as that signing. If purely used as a platoon bat, he could be a nice piece.

Going cheap in the outfield now gives the Angels more freedom to spend on pitching and the infield. Between Trout, Adell, Soler, Teodosio, Meckler, Rada, Paris, and Lugo, the Angels have options in the outfield, whereas there are much bigger question marks left in the rotation and in the infield.