The Los Angeles Angels were widely viewed as sellers at the MLB Trade Deadline on Tuesday. General manager Perry Minasian made two deals at the deadline that signaled that, first trading Carlos Estévez to the Philadelphia Phillies and then sending Luis Garcia to the Boston Red Sox.
The Estévez deal netted the Angels two potentially game-changing pitching prospects in George Klassen and Samuel Aldegheri. Klassen instantly became the No. 3 prospect in the Angels system and Aldegheri No. 8. The Angels landed four prospects for Garcia: OF Matthew Lugo (No. 11), 1B Nike Kavadas (No. 24), RHP Yeferson Vargas and RHP Ryan Zeferjahn.
The Angels certainly did well for themselves in those two trades, and Minasian admitted that it was hard to part with both players given their impact on the rest of the ballclub, according to Brent Maguire of MLB.com:
“Those are tough guys to move because of what they bring and how they affect our younger players,” Minasian said. “At the end of the day, it’s about what’s best for the organization and what we were presented with. We feel good about what we got for those two players.”
But with those moves, the Angels could have arguably done more. Tyler Anderson, Luis Rengifo and Taylor Ward — among others — appeared to have value league-wide. However, the Angels chose to hang on to all of those players. Minasian spoke about what went into that choice.
“If there were things presented that made the organization better, we obviously would’ve gotten it,” Minasian said. “Those are all good players that we have under control.”
Minasian clearly felt the Angels did not get good enough offers to justify parting ways with talented players under team control through next season at least. Estévez’s return signified a seller’s market, but that does not inherently mean that’s the case for every player L.A. had on the block.
The Angels can look to trade those players again in the offseason or try and build a competitive roster around them. Either way, Minasian is going to continue doing what he feels is best for the club’s long-term success.
Ben Joyce to take over Angels closer duties
With Estévez and Garcia both being sent out at the trade deadline, the Angels had a massive hole at the closer position. Estévez has been among the better closers in baseball and Garcia was viewed as his backup.
Now, they’ll turn to Ben Joyce to be the closer for the first time in his career.
