LA Angels: Three Trades to Make Before Opening Day

The Angels have learned in recent years that you can never have too much starting pitching, or pitching in general for that matter. While they have done a good job of acquiring depth at the position and seem well set up for 2019, once again, you can NEVER have too much starting pitching.

And for that reason, the team should be in contact with the Baltimore Orioles about starter Andrew Cashner. The 32-year old is on a team-friendly deal and could be a solid bounce back candidate if he finds the right team.

More from Halo Hangout

• New York Post columnist has LA Angels bringing veteran starter back to LA
• Dodgers make wild mistake signing failed LA Angels starter
• Why LA Angels’ Qualifying Offer to Raisel Iglesias could become historical
• Both Gold Glove finalists for LA Angels getting snubbed is a complete joke
• Marcus Stroman definitely appears to be interested in the LA Angels

Last season was not encouraging for Cashner. In 28 starts, he posted a 5.29 ERA for the worst team in baseball. And while a large part of that is because of an awful ending (7.97 ERA over his last eight starts), it was still an underwhelming season.

However, if Cashner comes to a new environment such as Anaheim, there could be a lot of reason for optimism, for two reasons. The first is that Cashner is a very ground ball dependent pitcher. There isn’t anything wrong with that, but in Baltimore he had one of the worst defenses in baseball behind him. If he is shipped to the Angels, where the defense is arguably the best in the MLB, one could only expect his numbers to increase to an extent.

The second reason Cashner could bounce back if he was traded to Anaheim, is that the Angels made serious improvement in their analytical department this offseason. It was a focus for Eppler and Co., and may be a reason for breakout seasons from the likes of Tyler Skaggs, who said he has “learned more in the past month than I have in the past four or five years”.

The Orioles were lackluster in 2018 with their analytics department, and a change of scenery could be just what Cashner needs. And for the Orioles, they should (and most likely would) take any prospect the Angela offered as they begin a full-on rebuild.