The Los Angeles Angels and general manager Perry Minasian attempted to field a competitive roster during the offseason despite losing Shohei Ohtani in free agency and interest for some of their pieces. But that attempt — due in part to injuries and some underperformance — has not been successful through the first two months of the 2024 season.
The Halos are 24-39, the second-worst record in the American League and fifth-worst record in all of baseball. And while players like Jo Adell, Taylor Ward, Tyler Anderson and others have had solid seasons, it hasn’t been enough to lift the Angels out of the league’s basement.
This gives Minasian and the Angels a grim reality check that — for the first time in a very long time — they desperately need to be sellers at the 2024 trade deadline. The Angels are a collection of some intriguing pieces but are far from a coherent roster, putting them in a perfect position to trade players away and start to rebuild their farm system that has routinely been in the bottom three of the league.
And reportedly, Adell and Ward are two players that have been receiving plenty of league-wide interest. Adell is having his best season as a pro and Ward has been a consistently above replacement-level player for four years running. Minasian is certainly fielding calls for these two, but won’t make it easy to strike up a deal, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN:
Outfielder Taylor Ward is under control until after 2026, and outfielder Jo Adell until 2027. And while general manager Perry Minasian is asking for giant returns for either right now, the Angels desperately need to improve the worst-in-baseball farm system that they gutted last summer in an ill-advised spree intended to show Shohei Ohtani that Anaheim was the sort of place he wanted to stay for the remainder of his career.
The Angels may finally be willing to admit that selling is the correct path, even though that has been the case for several years now. And if they do, Ward and Adell could be among the first to find a new home. Anderson, Luis Rengifo, Matt Moore, Kevin Pillar and others could be dealt as well.
Minasian and L.A. have to decide who they want to spend the next few seasons building around and leave everyone else up for the taking.
Zach Neto has confidence in Angels young players
The Angels secured their first home series win of the season and second sweep of the season, getting three narrow victories over the San Diego Padres with young players putting together big contributions. Jose Soriano got the victory on the mound in the finale and Zach Neto tallying four RBI during the series.
Neto, the leader in the clubhouse during the series, spoke about what the sweep means to him and the team in terms of their progress as a young core.