LA Angels: 3 New Year’s resolutions for the 2021 season

Find a Pitching Philosophy that Works

While there’s no doubt the Angels need to acquire starting pitching to upgrade their rotation, they also need to figure things internally if they want to compete in the AL West. I’ve been saying this in previous posts, but I’m going to be stressing this again as the Angels will need to get more out of the starters they have.

Even Angels manager, Joe Maddon, has expressed this himself in a zoom call with reporters in December stating:

"“For me, it’s about building a better pitching method, pitching philosophy internally.”"

Other than Dylan Bundy, no Angels starter had a ERA under 3.50 which is something that has to improve with young starters such as Patrick Sandoval, Griffin Canning, and Jaime Barria.

The Angels could use at least two starting pitchers as Maddon has also said himself, and with those starters, they could add a fresh set of eyes to struggling young starters. Someone like Bauer, who calls his own game plan, could offer some advice and maybe see things when he’s not making his start. This would come down to leadership in a sense, as while Andrew Heaney has been the number one starter for the Angels, he hasn’t pitched like it. Heaney has his own issues to figure out as he finished with an ERA of 4.46 in 2020, if the Angels are going to add starting pitchers that are going to be leaders in the rotation, they will have to be well established.