Which Angels are doomed to not return in 2021?

The Los Angeles Angels are due to clean house after a disappointing 2020 season, and these players could be on the way out.

As we sit here on an off-day in the abbreviated 2020 season, the Los Angeles Angels are clinging to life in the American League West. They currently sit just 2.5 games behind the Houston Astros with three games to play.

Despite their early-season struggles, the Angels still have a shot at their first postseason appearance since 2014, but they’ll need some help. First, they need to sweep the Los Angeles Dodgers, and then they need to hope for the Astros to in turn be swept by the lowly Texas Rangers.

With all that said, the odds are stacked against the Halos and in all likelihood, they will be staying home in October instead of participating in playoff baseball. That means the team will have another headstart in assessing what they have in-house and what areas they need to improve in.

In other words, it’s time to start looking at how the Angels will clean the house.

We already know that General Manager Billy Eppler is unlikely to return to the team. The team has been rumored to be eyeing candidates to replace the incumbent in the front office, but he’s hardly the only change the team will be making.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at which players are not likely to return to the Angels in 2021.

Angels that won’t return in 2021: Julio Teheran, SP

Coming into the 2020 season, the Angels struck out on numerous free agent targets while trying to bolster their pitching staff, and in particular their starting rotation. While they made a few at least one trade that proved fruitful for the staff, one proved to be a big mistake.

The signing of Julio Teheran was the most high-profile addition to the starting staff. The right-hander, while not ace material, had been a steady presence in the Atlanta Braves’ rotation for nine seasons before making the jump to Anaheim. He’d averaged 30-plus starts and 190-plus innings of 3.64 ERA with Atlanta, and the Angels were expecting something similar or at least approximated during the shortened season.

What the Halos got instead was a complete disappointment.

Teheran got a late start to the 2020 season after contracting COVID-19 prior to the start of summer camp. Once he joined the team, he was weeks behind in training and didn’t make his first appearance for the club until August 5th.

Overall, Teheran only made nine appearances and eight starts, averaging just 3.34 innings per appearance. The results of those innings were an 0-4 record, a 9.49 ERA, an 8.69 FIP, a 5.04 K/9, and a 4.15 BB/9. In addition to his control issues, he was also victimized by hard contact, allowing opposing hitters to barrel balls on 13% of contact and home runs at a clip of 3.56 HR/9. All that amounted to a -0.9 fWAR in 2020.

Needless to say, the one-year deal that the Angels agreed to with Teheran will not likely be a mistake that the team will wish to make again. As such, Teheran is likely to become a free agent looking for a new home this winter.

Angels that won’t return in 2021: Andrelton Simmons, SS

One of the first moves that Billy Eppler made upon joining the Angels was landing a cost-controlled shortstop in his prime. In doing so, he cemented the position for the next five seasons for the Angels and gave them the best fielder in the game for half a decade.

Looking back at that deal, it turned into a huge bargain for the Angels. They sent Erick Aybar, Chris Ellis, Sean Newcomb, and cash to the Braves for Andrelton Simmons and Jose Briceno. Newcomb, a rising prospect at the top, was seen as the center-piece going back to Atlanta.

While the left-hander never amounted to much for the Braves, Simmons found a groove in Anaheim. In additional to his already stellar defense, he also found an offensive rhythm, allowing him to become less of a liability with the bat and approach/exceed average value on the offensive side of the ball.

Over his first three seasons in Anaheim, Simmons accrued 13.1 fWAR, a wRC+ of 101, and averaged .284/.331/.404 at the plate.

Unfortunately, injuries played a huge role in his production over the next two seasons. Out of a possible 222 games, Simmons would appear in just 133 games over the 2019 and 2020 campaigns due to two ankle injuries. In that time, his production dipped at the plate to .271/.318/.362 with an 85 wRC+ and a 2.4 fWAR.

While that won’t necessarily spell the end to Simmons’ time with the Angels, his actions earlier this week, where he opted out of the remainder of the 2020 season, may indicate that the team and Simmons are mutually going in different directions.

Angels that won’t return in 2021: Hansel Robles, RP

One of the only true things that the Angels felt they had at the beginning of the 2020 season was a closer. Hansel Robles was coming off of two consecutive above-average seasons and had nailed down the role.

Robles was a Cinderella story for the Angels. Selected off waivers from the Mets, the right-hander changed overnight and flourished for the Halos. Over the course of the 2018-2019 seasons, Robles gave the Angels 109 innings of quality pitching, holding a 2.64 ERA, a 9.17 K/9, and a 2.56 BB/9.

But for how quickly he rose to prominence for the Angels, Robles fell from grace even quicker.

A sudden drop in velocity from 97.1 MPH in 2019 to 95.4 MPH in 2020 and a return to big walk rates gave hitters all they needed to get the jump on the right-hander this season. Hitters have torched Robles to the tune of .300/.394/.533 with18 hits and 18 runs allowed over 14.2 innings of work.

As a result, Robles has appeared in just four games this month, going 11 days between games from September 9th through September 20th.

After doubling his salary from 2019 to 2020 through the arbitration process, Robles in set to sit through the process again this winter. However, the Angels may not choose to take the chance of paying him more after such a down season.

Angels that won’t return in 2021: Hoby Milner, RP

If you’ve kept up with the Angels throughout the ups and downs of 2020, then you already know that the bullpen has been a major issue for the team. Part of that has been an overreliance on the relief corps, but some of it has just been poor performance.

Signed as a minor league free agent prior to the 2019 season, left-hander Hoby Milner was a buy-low candidate for an Angels staff looking to add a southpaw to the bullpen. However, he made the 30-man roster out of summer camp and, outside of a stay on the 10-day IL with back spasms, he’s found himself firmly entrenched in the pen.

Unfortunately for the Angels, presence hasn’t dictated performance, and they work they’ve gotten out of Milner has been sub-par. Over 17 appearances, he’s worked just 11.1 innings and surrendered nine runs on 10 hits and three home runs. Overall, he’s got a 7.15 ERA, a 6.53 FIP, an 8.7 K/9, and a 4.8 BB/9.

Astonishingly enough, Milner has suffered most of his damage against like-handed hitters, with lefties teeing off on him to the tune of .258/.343/.548 while right-handers have only managed a .167/.333/.250 batting line. That runs counter-productive to his career trends, but it is still a troubling sign when the lefty in the pen can’t get outs against left-handed hitters.

While Milner isn’t arbitration-eligible until next winter, his body of work over the last three seasons would indicate that there are better options available elsewhere.