2 reasons to believe the Angels should be buyers, 2 reasons they should be sellers

The American League is not all that strong as a whole, and there are many teams that are mired down towards in the middle of the pack. The Los Angeles Angels are currently tied with the Texas Rangers for the fourth worst record in the AL, but both teams are only 4.5 games back of the Seattle Mariners -- who lead the American League West and have the third best record in the league. Between the Angels/Rangers and the Mariners are the Guardians, Twins, Astros, Royals, Rays, Blue Jays and Red Sox...with the A's and Orioles still lurking behind them as well.

Of that group, it remains to be seen which teams will offload major leaguers at this year's trade deadline and which will acquire them. It's quite rare for the Angels to be a member of the buyer group, but there are some signs that they should trade members of the farm system to bolster their chances at a postseason run...and a few others that point towards them selling some big leaguers to build for the future.

2 reasons to believe the Angels should be buyers

Zach Neto needs some more help

The Angels' series opener against the New York Yankees felt indicative of both their 2024 season and what might happen the rest of 2025. Neto led the game off with a 440 ft. home run to dead-center off of Ryan Yarbrough, then his team could not muster another run the rest of the game.

In 2024, the Angels' franchise nadir, Neto was the team's most valuable player by a not insignificant margin. In just 35 games this year, Neto is once again the Angels' MVP in terms of fWAR and is blossoming into one of the best shortstops in baseball. Excluding Matthew Lugo, Neto leads the team in batting average, SLG, OPS, out rate on balls in play and wOBA. Despite playing in ~15 fewer games than the Angels' regulars, he is close to leading the team in doubles (one off the lead), runs scored (two off) and leads the team in steals. The Angels could buy players at the deadline knowing very well that Neto will keep raking from the leadoff spot.

Mike Trout might start seeing a little bit of himself in Neto -- an Angels superstar who was never given an adequate enough team to help him reach the playoffs. Perhaps Trout will serve as a cautionary tale for Neto if their team keeps underwhelming, and he ends up leaving down the road? Sooner rather than later, the Angels need to show Neto just how serious they are about building a contender around him.

The Angels have a clear defect that's holding the team back

It's quite obvious what the Angels are bad at this season.

The Angels pitching staff is tied with the White Sox for the second fewest strikeouts in baseball. They are dead last in walks. They rank 26th in both home runs and hits allowed. They are 28th in Chase%, 27th in wOBA, 28th in batting average against and 27th in SLG.

The Angels could easily upgrade their bullpen and the back-half of their rotation at the deadline. It would not take acquiring an ace-level pitcher to upgrade over Kyle Hendricks, Jack Kochanowicz or even Tyler Anderson for that matter.

For the bullpen, there are certainly better options than some of the arms they have utilized this season. Just as a reminder, here are some of the relievers they have used in 2025: Touki Toussaint, Víctor Mederos, Michael Darrell-Hicks, Ryan Johnson, Shaun Anderson, Ian Anderson and Carl Edwards Jr. Similarly, it's not like Héctor Neris, Reid Detmers, Garrett McDaniels, José Fermin, Connor Brogdon, Hunter Strickland or Jake Eder (who are either currently on the injured list or in the 'pen) have been all that great or can be relied upon moving forward.

2 reasons the Angels should be sellers

Remember 2023?

If there was ever a case to be made that the Angels have been cursed by the baseball gods, it might start with what happened to the Angels after the 2023 trade deadline.

The Angels were 56-51 at the end of July. They bought Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo López, C.J. Cron, Randal Grichuk, Mike Moustakas, Eduardo Escobar and Dominic Leone in an effort to finally clinch a playoff spot. The prospects they relinquished to acquire those seven have not amounted to anything, other than Edgar Quero of course. That definitely shows that even if the Angels do trade prospects in bulk this year, then they could easily flame out like many of their others. However, the organization might not be so lucky if they do so this time around.

The Angels pushed their chips in that year to round out the roster around Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout. Trout went down with an injury after playing in a game on July 3rd, came back and played in a game on August 22nd, then was not seen again. Angels fans know the rest -- the team lost their first seven games in August and ended up waiving Giolito, Matt Moore, López, Leone, Grichuk and Hunter Renfroe before the month concluded. Every single one of those players was flat out awful after being landed by Perry Minasian.

If the Angels go all-in at the 2025 trade deadline, it will be a massive bet on Trout's health sustaining...which has been a losing proposition for years now. He has not played in all of May, and had his on-field issues when he was active. The Angels do not have many prospects they want to deal or that other teams would want, meaning they will not be able to bring in marquee names that would make much more of an impact that Giolito, López, etc. did in 2023.

Remember 2024?

Just like last season, the 2025 Angels have some clear trade candidates on their roster. In fact, they retained three members of last year's squad that very likely should have been dealt in Taylor Ward, Tyler Anderson and *sigh* Luis Rengifo. Obviously, Rengifo has negative value on the open market but the same cannot be said for some of his teammates.

Just as a reminder, the Angels turned Luis García and Carlos Estévez into George Klassen, Sam Aldegheri, Ryan Zeferjahn, Matthew Lugo, Niko Kavadas and Yeferson Vargas at last year's deadline.

The Angels have Kenley Jansen and his 11:0 SV:BS on an expiring deal. Tyler Anderson is expiring as well, and he's one of the more professional pitchers that could become available for relatively cheap come July 31st. Perhaps someone will want a crack at a switch-hitting third baseman whose shown signs of life this season in Yoán Moncada? Taylor Ward is under team control the rest of this year and all of next, and is tied for the fifth in the league with 15 home runs right now.

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