Angels Rumors: Should Halos look to trade Dylan Bundy at the deadline?

Should the Angels keep Dylan Bundy and not trade him at the deadline?

Let’s face facts, good pitching is hard to come by for the Los Angeles Angels. The team has seemingly been on the hunt to add consistent innings and performance to their staff, and the results have been a revolving door for the past several seasons.

So why would the Angels want to trade a starting pitcher showing any semblance of skill and consistency?

Of the seven different Angels pitchers to receive a start this season, only one other pitcher outside of Bundy has been able to stick around long enough to collect a win. Additionally, no other arm has averaged five or more innings a start.

However, there are other factors in play as well, outside of just the immediate future.

In addition to what Bundy means to the 2020 pitching staff, he also has one more year of arbitration-eligibility. That means the Angels have one more year of contractual control and that Bundy would be a building block for the 2021 pitching staff. He would join Andrew Heaney, Griffin Canning, and Patrick Sandoval as the only members of the current staff under contract for next season. Meanwhile, there is uncertainty over whether Shohei Ohtani will pitch in 2021 and Julio Teheran is bound for free agency.

With that in mind, the Halos would be stupid to move a starting pitcher under the current conditions, right?

The upcoming free agent pool isn’t exactly teeming with potential staff aces, highlighted by Trevor Bauer, Marcus Stroman, Jake Odorizzi, and a cast of question marks. The Angels may be wise to hang onto Bundy and then try to add one other arm this winter as opposed to reinventing the wheel like they did in 2020.

However, there is the other side of the coin.