The Los Angeles Angels don’t just have offseason needs. They have a whole shopping list, and it starts at the top.
Jim Bowden of The Athletic laid out the needs for all 30 MLB teams, and the Angels stood out in a way that made the rest of the league look almost tidy by comparison. Bowden listed a new leadership team and a major-league coaching staff, left-handed bats, a center fielder and bullpen upgrades among the club’s priorities.
That’s a fair starting point for a team that just finished a 100-loss season, but it barely scratches the surface.
Bowden also mentioned some names tied to the search for a new baseball operation under new owner Stan Kroenke and his sports group. Among them were Theo Epstein, who is a minority owner of the Boston Red Sox, along with Brandon Gomes or Farhan Zaidi from the Dodgers.
There are plenty of names floating around, but most of that chatter fits the usual insider-list noise that tends to come with this kind of search. The situation is even murkier because Kroenke won’t take over until after Jan. 1, and that has already complicated the process. He also quickly moved on from the idea of keeping interim GM John Mozeliak in place to run the operation.
On the field, though, the Angels’ issues run far deeper than the front office.
The back end of the rotation looms as a major question. The organization has a lot of young prospects who could be ready to contribute, and Ryan Johnson is the best of that group. How many of those arms make it, and how the Angels choose to handle them, will shape a lot of what comes next.
The infield is just as unsettled. In theory, the Angels could use help at three of the four spots.
Zach Neto gives them a real piece at shortstop if they keep him, and the hope is that he can tighten up his approach and cut down on strikeouts. Beyond that, second base and third base are wide open.
First base is no safer. Vaughn Grissom filled in well enough and showed some pop, but he doesn’t look like a regular on a winning club.
And then there’s catcher, where the Angels are still searching for a real answer after trading Logan O’Hoppe.
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Complicating matters is the timing. The Angels are in the middle of an ownership transition from Arte Moreno to Stan Kroenke, a change expected to be completed by early spring, and the front office picture is still taking shape. With the negotiation window for posted Japanese players compressed, the club has less room than usual to sort through its internal changes while trying to land a prized target. [Read more 🡒]
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Crawford also fits the kind of financial lane the Angels have to consider, since the move would have to make sense as much on the ledger as on the field. For now, it remains a possibility rather than a done deal, but he is the sort of established infielder who could give the Angels a clearer answer at second base while helping them avoid another season of scrambling for solutions. [Read more 🡒]
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For now, though, this is just a scenario, not a confirmed front-office plan, and the questions around it are bigger than one name on a rumor board. Netos contract situation and the Angels roster needs both factor into whether anything like this ever gains traction, and the debate says as much about the teams long-term direction as it does about the shortstop himself. [Read more 🡒]