The Angels’ latest turn in their trade-deadline showcase comes tonight with Jose Soriano on the mound against the St. Louis Cardinals in the opener of a three-game series.
Los Angeles has turned into a rolling audition stage lately, and Soriano is the next arm under the spotlight during the club’s first homestand after the break. Whether he’s still in Angels colors for long is part of the conversation, because he’s one of the names that could be moved if the team decides to sell.
Soriano is exactly the kind of pitcher that can make a front office pause. He came flying out of the gate and was nearly untouchable through the first month of the season, but things have been less predictable since then.
At times he’s looked sharp and steady. At others, he’s been a little more vulnerable.
That mix has made him a tough read, even if the talent is obvious.
There should be no shortage of eyes on him. Scouts are expected in the stands when Soriano faces Kyle Leahy, and the backdrop adds another layer to the night.
The Angels fired GM Perry Minasian, and interim GM John Mozeliak - who used to be with the Cardinals - now sits in the middle of the club’s direction. Mozeliak has said the Angels could be full-on sellers or selective sellers, and contenders are waiting to see which way that leans.
St. Louis arrives with a more straightforward mission, even if the path isn’t clean. The Cardinals are 51-47, four games above .500, but they’re also packed into a crowded group of teams chasing a wild-card berth.
They haven’t exactly been rolling into Anaheim. The Cardinals dropped four of five against the Milwaukee Brewers, though they did better against the Chicago Cubs before that.
Their current trip west opened with two losses in three games to the Arizona Diamondbacks, so this stop against the Angels probably looks like a welcome one. Then again, that tends to be true for most teams that come through Anaheim.
In Other News...
Angels May Be Weighing A Move Fans Never Wanted To Hear
The Angels are headed toward the trade deadline in seller mode, but the bigger question may be how far they are willing to go. Interim general manager John Mozeliak is still sorting through player values and trying to gauge how much owner Arte Moreno is open to moving, which leaves the club in a familiar spot: talking about flexibility while knowing the real decisions might not come until later.
Mozeliak has already suggested the most significant moves could wait until the offseason, and that makes the next few weeks feel more like a test of the market than a full teardown. One name to watch is shortstop Zach Neto, who has drawn attention as a valuable trade piece, but there is still plenty of uncertainty about whether the Angels will actually part with him or keep him as part of whatever comes next. [Read more 🡒]
Angels Fired Someone After Crossing A Line Against The Rockies
A quiet offseason personnel move turned into a much bigger story for the Angels after Major League Baseball flagged a violation tied to a June series against the Rockies. The club moved quickly once the issue was brought to its attention, cutting ties with a scout and trying to contain the fallout before it spread beyond a one-off breach of protocol.
Both teams came away believing the scout acted on his own, which is a big reason the Angels are not facing league punishment. Still, the episode left the organization doing damage control with Colorado, and then-general manager Perry Minasian apologized to the Rockies front office as the club worked to put the matter behind it. [Read more 🡒]
Angels Fans Suddenly Have A Zach Neto Question They Never Expected
Zach Neto has become the kind of name Angels fans did not expect to see in trade chatter this early, but ESPN analysts Kiley McDaniel and Jeff Passan have put the shortstop on a list of possible fits for a handful of contenders. Atlanta is among the teams mentioned, with Boston also in the mix, and the broader field reportedly includes Toronto, Minnesota, Tampa Bay and the Yankees, which is enough to make this feel less like idle speculation and more like a real winter-to-summer storyline taking shape.
The twist for Los Angeles is that Neto is still under club control through 2029 and has not even reached arbitration yet, so any talk of a move is coming well before the Angels would normally have to confront it. ESPNs estimate gives him a 30% chance of being traded, but for now the bigger question is whether this is just deadline noise aimed at a 2026 decision point or the first sign that a much more surprising conversation is starting to build. [Read more 🡒]