The Angels have already accepted that the trade deadline is going to put them in seller mode, but the real question is how far they’re willing to go. Interim general manager John Mozeliak is still sorting through the value of the roster and trying to figure out how much owner Arte Moreno will actually sign off on moving.
That uncertainty could keep the biggest names in Anaheim until later. Mozeliak told Rhett Bolinger of MLB.com that the club needs to stay open-minded, read the market, and understand where things are headed between now and the offseason. In other words, some of the heavier lifting might not happen until winter.
That matters for teams hoping to get a jump on the market for right-handers José Soriano or left-hander Reid Detmers. It also matters for clubs hunting a right-handed power bat at shortstop with multiple years of control, because Zach Neto fits that description and has already drawn attention.
Neto has become one of the more interesting names to watch if the Angels decide to listen seriously. He has 19 home runs and 46 RBI, putting him on pace for 30 homers and 74 RBI, while hitting .235/.325/.444 with a .769 OPS through 98 games in his fourth season with the Halos.
The production has come with plenty of value attached. Neto has posted back-to-back 5.1 WAR seasons and is viewed as one of the more valuable shortstops in baseball. He also has three more years of club control, which only adds to his appeal if the Angels decide to cash in.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel ranked Neto as the sixth-best trade candidate, though they gave him just a 30 percent chance of being moved. They listed the Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves, Toronto Blue Jays, Minnesota Twins, Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees as the best fits if he does become available.
“The biggest curiosity in the industry right now is just how much Angels owner Arte Moreno will allow interim general manager John Mozeliak to maneuver -- and if the full rebuild the team needs can start to happen under a temporary employee,” Passan and McDaniel wrote Tuesday.
“And the return on Neto would be enormous. Four-win shortstops are not easy to come by, and Neto has consistently proved himself just that -- with room to grow.”
He isn’t a perfect player. Neto’s defense is not elite, even with a strong arm, and he does strike out a fair amount. But the bat, the speed and the overall upside make him exactly the kind of player teams circle when they’re trying to upgrade the right side of the lineup.
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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 🡒]