The Angels are headed toward a busy trade deadline, and Jorge Soler looks like one of the more obvious names to watch.
Los Angeles is one of the worst teams in the league, so the expectation is that it will sell. Mike Trout isn’t going anywhere, and the odds of Reid Detmers or Jose Soriano being moved don’t look great either. But that still leaves room for the Angels to shop other pieces, and Soler fits the profile of a player who could be available for next to nothing.
Tim Kelly of Bleacher Report called the veteran outfielder/designated hitter a potential “buy low” target, noting that the Angels might be willing to move him if a club offers even a modest return.
"The Angels might not be willing to trade Mike Trout or Jo Adell, but it likely won't take much more than a warm minor league body to convince them to deal the expiring contract of Jorge Soler," Kelly writes.
That kind of price tag makes sense when you look at Soler’s season. In 72 games, he’s hitting .216 with a .693 OPS and a 95 OPS+, while also adding 11 home runs. The power is still there in flashes, but the overall production has been underwhelming.
Soler’s defensive limitations only tighten the market. He’s a right-handed slugger, but he’s not someone teams can confidently pencil into the outfield every day, which leaves him mostly tied to the designated hitter spot.
Then there’s the contract. Soler is in the final year of a three-year, $42 million deal, and that expiring money is a big part of why he’s being viewed as a buy-low option rather than a premium trade chip.
His earlier brawl this season with Braves pitcher Reynaldo Lopez is another detail that could chip away at his value, even if it’s not enough on its own to derail a deal.
For a club with a DH opening, though, Soler still has some appeal. The Angels probably wouldn’t get much back for him, but with an expiring contract and a down year, anything meaningful would be better than letting him walk away for nothing.
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