The Angels may finally be headed into an era where the money and the machinery are on the same side. With Stan Kroenke’s deep pockets poised to take control, Los Angeles should be able to spend like a serious player and invest in the kind of infrastructure winning clubs lean on - from player development and scouting to facilities and technology.
And the timing, on paper, looks decent. The AL West was weak this season, and the teams ahead of Anaheim don’t exactly look immune to erosion.
The Mariners are expected to lose a key bat in Randy Arozarena. The Astros are headed for a new regime and a year older with a crumbling core.
The Rangers are treading water. The Athletics have already shown they can’t keep up.
But the jump from irrelevant to relevant won’t be quick. The Angels still have to clean up three major problems before any real contention talk makes sense.
The first is depth, or more accurately, the lack of it. For years, the Angels have patched holes with journeymen, faded names, and players who were never more than stopgaps. Once injuries hit, the roster has too often turned into a guessing game.
Donovan Walton was one example, arriving after Yoan Moncada’s annual coalescence on the IL. Walton was 32 and had never played more than 25 MLB games in a season before this year. Shaun Anderson has been another symbol of the same issue, a human boomerang who signed seven minor league contracts with the club over 16 months.
Adding more premium talent will help, but the Angels also need better supporting pieces. Denzer Guzman is a good case study.
The 22-year-old was a mid-ranked prospect in a bottom-ranked system, and while he had some early success, he finished with -0.1 fWAR over 87 games after stepping into a starting role. In a stronger organization, he might fit better as a bench piece.
Right now, the Angels need him to do more than that because they don’t have enough better options.
That problem extends to the farm system. Years of poor management left the pipeline bare, and while John Mozeliak did yeoman’s work revitalizing the pipeline via the draft and his trade deadline moves, most of the better talent still sits at the lower levels.
And it’s not just about finding stars. A contender also needs the kind of Triple-A help that can get called up and survive for a few weeks when injuries pile up.
Los Angeles does not have that kind of cushion yet.
The second issue is the bullpen, or really the lack of an actual bullpen plan. This is bigger than simply needing a closer or a couple of late-inning arms. The Angels need an entire unit they can trust.
Samy Natera Jr. and Jose Fermin have at least given the club something to look at, but their exact roles are still fuzzy. Are they closing?
Setting up? Filling the seventh and eighth?
Or just useful middle relievers? Ryan Watson showed flashes, but the upside there looks limited.
Ben Joyce has velocity, but the question is whether he can stay healthy and productive.
The larger issue is that there isn’t anyone in the relief group who clearly inspires confidence. No one is locked into a role, and no one comes with a strong enough track record to assume the job will be fine. That’s how winnable games get away from you, and the Angels can’t afford that if they want to climb.
Then there’s the hardest piece to fake: a true superstar. Every real contender has one.
The Dodgers have Shohei Ohtani. The Yankees have Aaron Judge.
The Rays have Junior Caminero. The Guardians have Jose Ramirez.
Los Angeles doesn’t have that kind of centerpiece right now.
Mike Trout still carries superstar status by name, but the production no longer matches the label. At 35, he was healthier than he’s been in a long time and played 142 games, but his .802 OPS was solid rather than dominant.
That leaves Zach Neto as the most obvious candidate to become the face of the lineup, though even that comes with uncertainty. There’s a chance the 25-year-old is traded this offseason. And if he stays, there’s still the matter of whether his all-around production ever rises to true centerpiece level.
Neto has been steady, posting wRC+ marks of 117 in both 2024 and 2025, then 116 this year. Useful?
Absolutely. Superstar?
Not yet. The pattern has been that when he improves in one area, something else slips.
He came into 2026 with a career walk rate of 6.2%, then bumped that up to a career-best 9.9% this year - but that came with a career-worst 30.5% strikeout rate.
He did post a career-high 3.9 fWAR this season, which is a strong step forward. But if the Angels hold onto him, the likeliest outcome is that Neto becomes a Robin, not a Batman. And until they find the kind of force who can truly drive the lineup, that remains the biggest hurdle between the Angels and legitimate contention.
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