John Mozeliak has already started putting his stamp on the Los Angeles Angels, and the changes haven’t been subtle. Big trades have come through, including the deals that sent away Jose Soriano and Jo Adell.
Prospect usage has shifted. The draft approach has shifted, too.
Even so, there’s only so much a new general manager can do in the middle of a season. He can shake up the roster, sure, but he can’t tear it down and rebuild it while the games are still going.
That’s why the focus is turning to the offseason, where the Angels could make a much bigger statement about what direction they’re really headed. Maybe that means leaning into a rebuild and listening on names like Reid Detmers and Zach Neto.
Maybe it means doubling down on the current core and clearing out some of the younger pieces along the way. Either way, these three players look like the most likely to be moved on from.
Nolan Schanuel is the kind of player who makes this decision harder than it looks at first glance. He puts the bat on the ball, draws walks, and has posted an above-average wRC+ in every major league season he’s played.
That’s a useful offensive base. But it’s a far less convincing package when it comes from a first baseman, where the bar is much higher.
He’d look more appealing with speed or middle-infield defense behind that approach. At first base, it just doesn’t carry the same weight.
The bigger issue is that Schanuel, now 24, doesn’t look all that different from the player who debuted in 2023. The bat speed gains have been tiny, and the leap from the second percentile in 2024 to the fifth percentile in 2026 isn’t much of a leap at all.
First base options on the market are never overflowing, but Los Angeles could still piece together the position with Vaughn Grissom and Moises Ballesteros and save money by moving on. Schanuel is arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter, which makes the timing even more logical.
Grayson Rodriguez is a different kind of case, but the same offseason logic applies. Most front offices would be tempted to keep a pitcher like this around just to prove the original trade made sense, especially after giving up a key piece like Taylor Ward to get him. Mozeliak doesn’t carry that baggage, which gives him more freedom to judge Rodriguez purely on what he is now.
For a brief stretch, it looked like Rodriguez might be turning a corner. He put together a 2.93 ERA in August while pitching alongside his rotation mates.
But September has pushed back hard, with that number ballooning to 5.73. The 26-year-old also comes with the familiar warning label of injury history, and he’s arbitration-eligible.
That might not make him especially valuable in a trade, but it could still be enough for another club to take a shot on a controllable starter. The Angels may be able to get something for him rather than simply non-tendering him.
Ben Joyce is the most explosive name on the list, and also the riskiest. Letting him go now would require conviction, because nobody wants to be the team that bails on the next Mason Miller before the payoff arrives.
But there’s also a real danger in getting stuck with a pitcher whose best trait is raw velocity and whose actual production never quite catches up. That’s the balancing act here.
Joyce can touch 105 miles per hour, and the heat is real. But he has spent more time on the injured list than on the mound since breaking through in 2023, and his injury history goes back to his college days at the University of Tennessee. The question practically asks itself: just because he can throw 105, does that mean he should?
The results have been uneven, too. Before this season, Joyce’s career-high strikeout rate was 23.2%.
This year it has climbed to 29.5%, but that comes with two huge asterisks: it covers only 15 1/3 innings, and it’s paired with a 14.8% walk rate. Like the others, he’s arbitration-eligible.
Unlike the others, the gap between his reputation and his production may be especially wide. That could make him a candidate for a trade return that outstrips his real value, and Mozeliak would be smart to cash in while that market still exists.
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Six Angels players, including Zach Neto and Wade Meckler, have posted a wRC+ above 100 with runners in scoring position, a useful sign for a club trying to build something sturdier for next year. The overall numbers in those situations are still poor, though, and part of the drag has come from players who may not be around long enough to factor into the next stage of the rebuild. [Read more 🡒]
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For an Angels team still trying to steer clear of a 100-loss season, the appeal of Neto and Moore goes beyond the box score. They represent a possible in-house answer at a time when the franchise needs reasons to believe the next phase can be better than the last, and their progress has at least made that conversation feel legitimate. The larger question now is whether these encouraging stretches become something more lasting as the season goes on. [Read more 🡒]