The Angels may be sitting at 39-61, but the bigger story at the trade deadline is the value attached to their two best starters. With Aug. 3 looming, Los Angeles has a chance to turn Jose Soriano and Reid Detmers into the kind of return that could reshape the organization.
That possibility is sitting right in front of them because starting pitching is so expensive to acquire right now. Soriano and Detmers both come with team control through 2028, which means the Angels are not staring down an urgent free-agency clock. Even so, the combination of the club’s place in the standings and the market for arms makes this look like the kind of moment where moving at least one of them would make sense for the franchise.
MLB Network insider Jon Heyman reported that the Angels are expected to make Soriano and Detmers available. Their value may only have climbed as the Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox have heated up over the past couple of weeks, trimming the pool of teams looking for starting help.
“As a result, the options for buyers looking to add a starter who can potentially start in the playoffs could be limited, giving the Angels a chance to capitalize if interim GM John Mozeliak can convince Moreno that trading Detmers and Soriano is the right move,” MLB.com wrote Monday.
For Detroit, the appeal is straightforward: even if the Tigers lose one of the best pitchers in the world in the broader version of this idea, he is probably headed to the Dodgers soon enough anyway, and they could instead choose from the Angels’ starters while keeping themselves in the mix.
For the Angels, the logic runs the other way. A proper rebuild would be painful in the short term, but the payoff could arrive in a couple of years. That’s a tough sell for any fan base, yet Los Angeles is already in a rough spot and has not reached the playoffs in more than a decade.
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Reid Detmers Suddenly Feels Like The Angels Deadline Decision
Reid Detmers has moved from being just another arm in the Angels system to one of the more interesting deadline chips on the board. Teams calling on him know Los Angeles is trying to line up the kind of young, impact bat it has lacked, which gives the left-hander a different kind of value than a typical rental pitcher.
Interim general manager John Mozeliak may have the authority to decide whether that value gets cashed in, and the market already has a few familiar names attached to the conversation. The Braves, Brewers and Guardians have all been floated as possible partners, each with a prospect who fits the Angels preference for young hitters with power, but whether any of those talks actually turn into a deal is still the part everyone is waiting to learn. [Read more 🡒]