The Angels are in an uncomfortable spot relative to the other four teams in the AL West. Houston and Texas have both won championships within the previous three years, Seattle has young talent signed long-term and a rotation that can carry the team, and the A’s – although without a major league home stadium – appear to have a direction in mind with some aggressive spending by their standards and several young players making an impact at the major league level.

With all of that being said, let’s take a look at how 2024 stacked up for the Angels and how they plan to attack 2025.

The Angels finished last season with a 63-99 record, giving them a last-place finish in the AL West for the first time since 1999 when the division was made up of only four teams. They had only one month in which they had a monthly record above .500, and a 16-38 finish to the season gave way for the Athletics to move into fourth place.

Los Angeles, unfortunately, had to witness another abbreviated season from CF Mike Trout due to injury. Trout suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee in April and would miss the remainder of the season after only 29 games played. It looks like he’s good to go for 2025, but it’s a shame how much time he’s missed in the past few seasons given how decorated his career was before the injuries started to set in.

Last year was also the first season without Shohei Ohtani, and the losses of him and Trout were felt by the offense. As a unit, the Angels finished 22nd in home runs and 28th in runs per game, batting average, and OPS.

They did, however, have four different players hit 20+ home runs, one of which being SS Zach Neto, who made strides in his second major league season. Neto slashed .249/.318/.443 with a .761 OPS, 23 home runs, 77 RBIs, 34 doubles, and 30 stolen bases through 155 games last season. There’s work to be done on his -5 Outs Above Average, but compiling a 5.1 bWAR nonetheless is impressive for his second MLB season.

LF Taylor Ward (25 homers, 75 RBIs) and C Logan O’Hoppe (20 homers, 56 RBIs) were two other members of the 20 home run club for the Angels. Like Neto, O’Hoppe has room to improve defensively; he was given mediocre percentile rankings for his blocking and caught stealing above-average figures per Baseball Savant.

The seven-year, $245 million contract given to 3B Anthony Rendon continued to look like a blemish on the organization. Rendon played in only 57 games last season due to back, oblique, and hamstring injuries. To make matters worse, he underwent hip surgery this past winter, leaving him out a “significant amount of time” per Angels GM Perry Minasian.

On the pitching side, the Angels may have found a gem for their bullpen in RP Ben Joyce, who hit 105 mph on multiple occasions last year. With his four-seamer averaging 102.1 mph, Joyce held a 2.08 ERA and 1.15 WHIP through 31 games last season. With only 44.2 major league innings on the books for Joyce, there’s still a lot left to see from him, but last year opened a lot of eyes.

L.A.’s rotation was held down by veteran lefty Tyler Anderson, who earned his second career All-Star nod last season. In the second year of a three-year deal, Anderson posted a 3.81 ERA and 1.29 WHIP over 31 starts. He pitched to an impressive 2.16 ERA over 9 outings against inter-league competition, including holding the Cubs scoreless over eight innings and keeping the Padres at one run over 6.2 innings.

The Angels got a solid 22 appearances from fellow starter José Soriano, who posted a 3.42 ERA and 1.20 WHIP behind a 97 mph sinker, 98 mph four-seam fastball, and a knuckle curve that generated a 40.2% whiff rate. Another one of their younger arms, Reid Detmers, struggled mightily last year, and he appears to be headed for the bullpen to kick off the 2025 season.

Believe it or not, the Angels were arguably the most active team this offseason, and they didn’t waste any time getting started.

On October 31st, just one day after the completion of the World Series, the Angels acquired slugger Jorge Soler from the Atlanta Braves in exchange for SP Griffin Canning. Soler signed a three-year, $42 million deal before the 2024 season with the San Francisco Giants, but he was dealt to Atlanta at the trade deadline. Between both teams last year, he slashed .241/.338/.442 with a .780 OPS, 21 home runs, 64 RBIs, and a career-high 34 doubles. Soler has made a living on hitting home runs as far as he possibly can, and he’s already given Angels fans a few examples this spring.

While O’Hoppe figures to get the majority of catching opportunities this season, the Angels added veteran C Travis d’Arnaud to serve as his backup. The veteran backstop is entering his 13th year in the MLB, most recently concluding a five-year stint with the Atlanta Braves. He played in 99 games last season, hitting .238/.302/.436 with a .739 OPS, 15 homers, 48 RBIs, and 16 doubles, and he also recorded a double in Atlanta’s NL Wild Card series against San Diego.

The Angels also added a pair of infielders – SS Kevin Newman and 3B Yoán Moncada – in free agency, with both having an opportunity to start on Opening Day and beyond. Newman played 111 games in Arizona last year that started as a minor league deal. He posted a respectable .278/.311/.375 slash line with three homers, 28 RBIs, and 17 doubles. With Neto slated to start the season on the IL due to shoulder surgery, Newman has a chance to log a solid amount of innings.

Moncada was signed to a one-year, $5 million deal relatively later in the offseason as part of a slow-moving third baseman market. A left adductor strain held Moncada to only 12 games last season in what would end a disappointing tenure with the Chicago White Sox. A former top prospect who headlined the Chris Sale trade to Boston, Moncada had promising 2019 and 2021 campaigns that L.A. is hoping he can tap into this year.

Before his injury-riddled 2024 season, Moncada hit .260/.305/.425 in 92 games in 2023 with 11 home runs and 40 RBIs, although he suffered multiple back injuries that year. Moncada has been dealing with soreness in his right thumb recently, but he feels he can be ready for Opening Day.

The Angels addressed their pitching rotation as well, signing veterans Yusei Kikuchi (3 years, $63 million) and Kyle Hendricks (one year, $2.5 million). Kikuchi gave the league his best audition possible last year after being dealt to Houston at the trade deadline from the Blue Jays. In his 10 starts as an Astro, Kikuchi owned a 2.70 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 11.4 K/9, and 2.1 BB/9, good for a 5-1 record. Several of those starts were against teams in playoff contention including Tampa Bay, Baltimore, Boston, Seattle, and Kansas City.

Factor in a solid showing this spring and an effective sweeper that he’s added to his pitching arsenal, the Angels gave Kikuchi the Opening Day nod.

This will be the first time in Hendricks’s soon-to-be 12-year career that he won’t be playing for the Chicago Cubs. A long-time staple in Chicago’s regular season and playoff rotation, Hendricks struggled last year over 29 games (24 starts). He posted a 5.92 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, 6.0 K/9, and a career-high 3.0 BB/9. Strikeouts have never been the name of Hendricks’s game, but he continued to excel in limiting hard contact as represented in his 97th percentile rank in average exit velocity last year.

Sticking with acquiring veteran arms, Los Angeles inked closer Kenley Jansen to a one-year, $10 million contract to team up with Joyce at the back end of the bullpen. Jansen saved 27 games as a member of the Red Sox last year, pitching to a 3.29 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, and 10.2 K/9. A lot of Jansen’s advanced analytics have taken a dip throughout the past couple of seasons, but if he can prove to be an effective closer, the Angels may be able to flip him at the trade deadline.

The Angels also swapped pitchers with the Braves just a matter of days ago, acquiring Ian Anderson in exchange for hybrid pitcher José Suarez. Anderson has not pitched in the majors since 2022 as he has been recovering from Tommy John surgery since early 2023.

Notable minor league deals: SS Tim Anderson, INF J.D. Davis, RP Connor Brogdon, SP Dakota Hudson, 1B Ryan Noda (claimed off waivers from OAK)

I don’t know who told the Angels that they were a contender this year, but they sure spent like one. Recent history suggests that the Angels probably aren’t fit to be a competitor right now, but this is a squad that can at least be a pain in the side of its AL West counterparts.

For a franchise that hasn’t had much success in the past decade, it was encouraging to see manager Ron Washington try to fix the culture within the clubhouse. The veterans of the squad enforced a “no cell phone” rule at Spring Training lockers to aid the team’s chemistry.

After writing about their offseason, though, I’m left with more questions than answers on what the Angels’ direction looks like. It’s not like they’ve been eager to trade their assets at previous trade deadlines. They dedicated a lot of money to older players that, although they make the team better, don’t immediately vault them into playoff contention. Perhaps they know something I don’t, but I don’t see the vision.

Regardless, here’s to a healthy Mike Trout for 2025, and maybe a nice 1-2 power punch between him and Soler in the heart of L.A.’s order.