2020 finish: 26-34, 4th in AL West
Key additions: Kurt Suzuki (FA WAS), Jose Quintana (FA CHC), Raisel Iglesias (trade CIN), Alex Cobb (trade BAL), Jose Iglesias (trade BAL), Dexter Fowler (trade STL)
Key subtractions: Andrelton Simmons (FA MIN), Julio Teheran (FA DET)
The Angels have only been to the playoffs one time in Mike Trout’s career (2014). They made some solid moves this year to help improve their chances at making the playoffs. A big sore spot has been the bullpen. With the emergence of Mike Mayers, they felt they had their setup guy, but really needed a lock down closer. Enter Raisel Iglesias. He has 100 saves since taking over the Reds closer full time in 2017. He has a very high K rate and in 2020, he was one of the better closers in MLB, so expectations for 2021 are fairly high for him. How will the new look Angels fare?
Albert Pujols is entering his last season of that massive 10 year contract. To me, that’s unfathomable that this is it. Speaking of “this is it”, his wife insinuated that he would retire at the end of the season, before backtracking that Instagram post. Pujols is likely a bench player and will DH when Shohei Ohtani pitches. Pujols is 100 home runs shy of tying Barry Bonds’ home run record and 38 home runs shy of 700. If he plays long enough, he could reach 700 before he retires. Taking over 1B is likely Jared Walsh. He had a breakout of sorts last year hitting 9 home runs in 32 games with an OPS+ of 158. That won’t be sustainable, but they seem high on Walsh. The Angels lost their shortstop of 5 years in Andrelton Simmons to the Twins in free agency. Arguably, the best defensive shortstop currently, they were able to acquire another elite defensive shortstop: Jose Iglesias. Iglesias was traded from the Orioles, along with SP Alex Cobb. Entering his 10th season, Iglesias is coming off his best hitting season of his career, hitting .373. He will be in a much better lineup and could be a good table setter for Trout as he will likely hit 8th or 9th. David Fletcher has played all over, splitting time at short and second last year while dealing with injuries. He will be the team’s primary 2B. He has steadily improved each season. Projections currently have him hitting .285 with close to 10 home runs. Then you have Anthony Rendon. Rendon has received MVP votes in each of the last 4 seasons. There were some questions on how he would adjust to AL pitching as 2020 was his first season with the Angels. He didn’t disappoint. He hit 9 home runs and 31 RBI, which extrapolates to about 24/84. All while hitting .286. He will have plenty of opportunities to drive in runs hitting behind Trout and Ohtani.
In the outfield, we all know about Mike Trout. He’s the best player in the game and has been the past few seasons. That reign will likely cede in the next couple years though as there are some great young players in the game now. In left field, Justin Upton enters his 15th season, his 5th with the Angels. He’s starting to creep up there in age and his production is starting to slip as well. He’s had an issue with injuries the past couple seasons, which could be a reason for his declining production. Early last month, news came out that the Angels acquired Dexter Fowler from the Cardinals for a PTBNL. That surprised me as I figured they would have given Jo Adell every opportunity to play RF. Fowler started 2020 hot, but then cooled off. He didn’t have the best Cardinal career, but the Angels saw enough of him to take him. The Cardinals are playing all but $1.25M of his contract. I’m not sure if Adell will be the 4th outfield or if he will be sent to their alternate site. Shohei Ohtani will be the team’s primary DH when he is not pitching. Yes, for those that don’t know, he is a two way player. He has primarily hit in his short career thusfar because of his injury issues.
Projected lineup via Fangraphs
David Fletcher 2B
Mike Trout CF
Shohei Ohtani DH
Anthony Rendon 3B
Justin Upton LF
Jared Walsh 1B
Dexter Fowler RF
Jose Iglesias SS
Max Stassi C
The Angels rotation, their whole staff in general, has been the bane of the Angels the past few seasons. Not only have they had struggles developing pitching, they also had to deal with the death of Tyler Skaggs in the middle of the 2019 season. They have improved their rotation little by little year by year. Signing Shohei Ohtani in 2018, trading for Dylan Bundy in 2020, now they have traded for Alex Cobb and signed Jose Quintana. Their rotation, on paper, definitely looks a lot better. In years past, they have pitched Ohtani on Sundays and I see them doing the same thing this year. Ohtani missed the 2019 season with Tommy John Surgery, and only started 2 games in 2020 due to a forearm strain. So they are going to ease Ohtani back in, but early indications this spring looks like he’s back to his dominate self, hitting 100 numerous times. Dylan Bundy led the league in losses in 2018, but has bounced back quite nicely. Cutting his ERA by over 2 full runs since then, even earning some Cy Young consideration. Andrew Heaney is a guy that should have better numbers than what he’s produced. He has a good K rate, but he’s been consistently over a 4.00 ERA.
Projected rotation via Fangraphs
Andrew Heaney
Dylan Bundy
Jose Quintana
Alex Cobb
Griffin Canning
Shohei Ohtani
Raisel Iglesias – closer
Prospects you should know
Brandon Marsh – If Adell doesn’t get the call, Marsh could get the call. Great runner and speed with a little bit a pop.
Jordyn Adams – a first round pick in 2018, really started to come on in 2019. 2021 could be a breakout for him. Could be up next season.
Reid Detmers – drafted 10th overall in 2020, this lefty out of Louisville is very similar to former Louisville Cardinal and current Tampa Bay Ray Brendan McKay. Should move through the system quickly with a mid-rotation starter ceiling.
Best case scenario – They make the playoffs. West isn’t as strong as it was a few years ago.
Worst case scenario – Pitching continues to be a bane of the Angels existence and under .500
My prediction 3rd in AL West
