LA Angels: Lack of aggression the reason for offseason misses

The reigning National League CY Young award winner, Trevor Bauer, signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as they are continue to pretend that money grows on trees. They now have three former MVPs and three Cy Young winners on the same team. The commitment to winning is a big reason they are playing in the World Series as often as they are. The Angels, well, they may have dropped the ball here.

You can’t make money until you give people a reason to spend it on you. Bauer, well, he could have been that reason. Yes, Mike Trout is great, but hitting wasn’t the issue for the Halos last year. No, it was their awful pitching. Dylan Bundy had a great year for what the season was, but to rely on a guy who has only shown flashes in a shortened season is not the thinking of a team trying to win now.

At what point will we see the Angels take risks towards building a legitimate World Series contender?

The frustrating part about this is that Bauer mixes in perfectly with this team. Bundy would not have to be the first option. Jose Quintana, who just signed a one-year deal, would have to revert to his best days as a starter for the White Sox.

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Griffin Canning doesn’t need to fall into one of your top three options, which matters comes October. It’s not so much that the Angels missed on Bauer. It’s more that owner Arte Moreno and general manager Perry Minasian really didn’t try.

Everyone “talked” to Bauer; he was the most sought after free-agent pitcher after all. At the end of the day, it was just the Mets and the Dodgers who went after him hard. Bauer made it clear he was wanting to win and make a lot of money. Like, a lot of money.

Did teams not think he would stick true to his word? When has Bauer ever beat around the bush? The Angels simply didn’t show up to the fight.

The real punch to the gut here is that this is two years in a row now where the Angels came up short. First, losing out to Gerrit Cole with the Yankees, and now, losing out to Trevor Bauer with the Dodgers. The difference between the Angels and those two teams? They may end up playing in the World Series, and Halo fans are holding out hope for a division title run. It just is what it is.

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Sure, there are other names out there, and trades could always happen, but if Alex Cobb and Jose Quintana are the “fix” that the Angels think they need, they are not playing to win. Moreno and Minasian are just playing not to lose. We’ll see what this year ends up looking like but, in the meantime, I believe the Angels messed up badly here.

Now we get to watch him playing in Southern California, wearing blue instead of red.