LA Angels Need to Be Conscious of an Andrew Heaney Extension This Offseason

The LA Angels have a huge offseason in front of them. As we all know, there’s some big fish in the pond this winter, but maybe the Halos need to focus on one of their own players first.

The LA Angels will be in on big names like Gerrit Cole and Hyun Jin Ryu this offseason. Perhaps, maybe, they even sign one of them. However, whether they find the ace they’ve been looking for or not, an Andrew Heaney extension needs to be one of the Halos top priorities this winter.

As of late, Andrew Heaney has been the Angels’ ace. He’s finally found his stride on the mound, and is showing everyone in the Angels organization how much he can provide for this club for years to come.

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Unfortunately for the Angels, it’s almost time to pay up for Heaney. He’s going into his final year of arbitration next season, which means he’ll be a free agent about 13 months from now (or 14 if the Angels go to the World Series!).

However, the Angels focus this offseason rightfully needs to be on the aforementioned aces. Whether they sign a big money contract with someone will change their future in astronomic ways. One of those ways is how they go about a Heaney extension.

If they strike out (again) in free agency, then they can make a Heaney extension ASAP. They could up his salary in 2020 (between 3-5 million dollars) and buy out some free agency years. A 4-year, $50 million deal would be a bargain for the Angels, allowing them to have Heaney throughout his prime years.

However, if they do sign a Cole or Ryu, they’ll be unable to balloon Heaney’s salary for next year due to a tight cap space. In that case, they’ll likely need to either negotiate a pure extension that kicks in after the 2020 season, or wait until he hits free agency.

However they do go about it, going into 2020 without having, at the very least, preliminary discussions with Heaney regarding his contract would be a huge mistake. It’s become clear, especially following Tyler Skaggs’ death, Heaney is a leader for this pitching staff. Having him not just on the mound, but in the clubhouse will bring value to the team.

I understand the Angels have a couple of sharks they’re trying to catch, and it’ll be expensive to do so. However, they can’t forget about their own fish they need to keep, and Andrew Heaney’s future with the team is more important that most tend to think.