LA Angels 3 Step Guide To a Perfect Free Agency

During the LA Angels introductory press conference with new manager Joe Maddon, there were a lot of notable quotes.

Most came from the LA Angels new skipper himself, but perhaps the most important one came from owner Arte Moreno.

During the press conference, Moreno stated that the Angels’ payroll will increase this offseason. While the Angels aren’t likely to exceed the luxury tax of $207 million dollars set by the MLB, there’s no reason to believe they won’t go right up against it.

For the sake of this piece, the Angels are likely to decline Kole Calhoun’s option and have around $65-70 million to spend. These three steps are what must be done by the Angels in order to have the perfect free agency period.

1.) Sign Gerrit Cole

Honestly, free agency begins and ends with Gerrit Cole. The Angels have everything working for them in this. Cole is from here, grew up an Angels fan, and has openly admired both Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani.

All that’s left now is for the Angels to pay up.

If the Angels come in to negotiations offering a 7-year, $245 million deal, I honestly expect Gerrit Cole’s free agency to be over. Like Maddon, it truthfully seems like Cole wants to be in Anahem, though he obviously can’t express that in the thick of a World Series run with the Astros.

However, as soon as that run ends, Gerrit Cole needs to be the Angels’ main priority in free agency. They need him more than any other possible free agent, and Cole’s availability is likely Moreno’s biggest reason for raising the payroll.