TEMPE, Ariz. —Arte Moreno issued a public challenge to Perry Minasian back in October, when the Angels owner said that he had given his general manager “marching orders … to build a team that can contend for a playoff spot.”
That’s a tough task on the heels of a 99-loss season.
Starting with the first workout of the spring for pitchers and catchers Wednesday, we will start to get an idea of whether Minasian actually did it.
They got a little closer with a couple of last-minute deals, spending $10 million on closer Kenley Jansen and $5 million on infielder Yoán Moncada in the days leading up to the opening of camp.
Those deals ended a two-month stretch in which the Angels did not make a significant move, which followed an early-winter burst in which they were one of baseball’s most active teams.
The result is a payroll that current sits at about $204 million, up from the $176 million they spent on salaries in 2024, according to Roster Resource, That’s still about $13 million less that what they spent in 2023, when they were just under the luxury tax threshold.
The extra money they spent plugged a few holes, although perhaps not to the liking of fans who had visions of deals for Corbin Burnes or Anthony Santander. The frustration is understandable for a fan base that has watched its team miss the playoffs for 10 consecutive seasons, the longest current streak in the majors.
One of the biggest issues last season was the production of the infield, specifically at second and third. The best player they added who plays either of those positions is Moncada, who has been hurt for much of the past three years. They also signed utilityman Kevin Newman and they are taking a no-risk flier on a minor-league deal with former batting champ Tim Anderson.
Another problem they faced heading into the winter was whether to find a new center fielder, moving oft-injured Mike Trout to a corner or even DH. They didn’t get one.
Questions like those have most of the baseball world figuring the Angels will be fighting the A’s for fourth place in the American League West. FanGraphs projects the Angels for about 75 victories, which would still be an improvement on last year’s 63.
The fact that they can even talk about improvement is a reflection of what happened during the first month of the offseason, when the Angels were actually one of the most active teams.
The Angels made a trade barely 12 hours after the Dodgers finished off the World Series, getting Jorge Soler from the Atlanta Braves for pitcher Griffin Canning.
Soler hit 21 home runs with a .780 OPS last season. Over the last four years, the 32-year-old has averaged 24 homers with a .779 OPS. If he can do that again, it would be a dramatic improvement for the Angels, whose .629 OPS out of the DH spot ranked 27th in the majors in 2024.
The Angels signed catcher Travis d’Arnaud to a two-year, $12 million deal in November. D’Arnaud, 36, is considered one of the game’s better pitch-callers and clubhouse influences, so the Angels are banking on him helping starter Logan O’Hoppe and the young pitchers take the next steps in their development.
The Angels added to their starting rotation by signing left-hander Yusei Kikuchi to a three-year, $63 million deal, the largest contact they gave a free-agent pitcher since C.J. Wilson in 2011. Kikuchi, 33, has been projected as the Angels’ best starter, even though he’s been inconsistent throughout his career. Kikuchi had a 2.70 ERA in his final 10 starts last season, after a trade to the Houston Astros and a change in his repertoire.
The Angels also signed right-hander Kyle Hendricks, which is more of a flier. Hendricks, 35, had been a solid mid-rotation starter or better for his entire career, until an awful 2024. The Angels are paying him only $2.5 million, so they are risking little in the hopes that he can bounce back. And even if he can’t, they figure he could be a positive influence on their young starters.
The young core is, truthfully, the Angels’ biggest reason for optimism going into the season.
If the Angels surprise the baseball world and contend in 2025, the difference isn’t likely to be production from the over-30 corps of players like Kikuchi, Jansen, Soler and d’Arnaud.
The Angels have plenty of players in their 20s who still could take significant jumps forward.
For as bad as 2024 was, the Angels saw encouraging signs from players like O’Hoppe, shortstop Zach Neto, first baseman Nolan Schanuel, outfielder Jo Adell and pitchers José Soriano, Ben Joyce and Jack Kochanowicz. They remain hopeful that left-hander Reid Detmers can finally reach his potential. They have a handful of other promising pitchers – like Caden Dana and George Klassen – who have barely touched the major leagues.
The Angels will need most of those players to take steps forward in 2025, or else their decade of misery will continue with another losing season.