The Los Angeles Angels are reeling after watching Shohei Ohtani sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but remain committed to fielding a competitive team next season.
The team is looking to bolster its starting rotation and have been linked to some of the biggest names on the trade block. The group includes Shane Bieber, Corbin Burnes and Tyler Glasnow.
According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Angels remain interested in the trio of aces and could also look to sign a mid-tier free-agent starting pitcher this offseason:
The Angels, sources said, are among the teams in the trade market for one of the starting pitchers under one year of club control — the Brewers’ Corbin Burnes, Rays’ Tyler Glasnow and Guardians’ Shane Bieber. They also could look at the second tier of free-agent starters.
Bieber, Burnes and Glasnow all have one year remaining on their respective contracts before potentially reaching free agency after the 2024 season.
The Angels are in a tough spot as they want to compete next season, but likely won’t contend for a World Series due to the departure of Ohtani. Thus, the club is specifically targeting players with limited team control so they don’t have to ship out multiple top prospects in a potential trade.
Signing a second-tier starter in free agency would additionally ensure that the Angels don’t commit significant money to any one player and retain financial flexibility for future seasons.
Since the report, however, the Tampa Bay Rays traded Glasnow and Manuel Margot to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Ryan Pepiot and Jonny DeLuca.
Angels unlikely to replace Shohei Ohtani
While the Angels are hoping to upgrade their rotation, they reportedly do not plan to sign a full-time designated hitter to replace Ohtani.
That makes sense given there aren’t many impact bats available this offseason. Not only that, but the Angels would seemingly benefit by using the DH spot as a revolving door in order to spread out at-bats to several players.
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