LA Angels: 3 reasons why the Angels should be optimistic

The 2021 season has not been kind to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Mike Trout is on the shelf for at least another month with a calf alignment, the Angels’ $245M man (Anthony Rendon) is hitting .228 with 3 HRs, the Angels’ pitching ranks bottom five in the MLB in WAR, BB/9, HR/9 and ERA, the team is 5 games under .500 one-third of the way through the season (all stats in this article are as of June 2nd)… the list goes on and on. Naturally, a lot of these things are correlated.

Despite all of these negatives, shortfalls, and disappointments, there is plenty of reason for the Angels’ front office and fanbase to be optimistic. These 3 specifically give hope and reason to be excited for seasons to come, as well as the rest of this season…

#1 reason why the Angels should be optimistic: The 2019 Nationals’ season start

The Nationals 2019 season will always be remembered for their gritty postseason performance that led them to a 4-3 World Series victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. However, what is often forgotten about that season is that same World Series roster got off to a 19-31 start 50 games into the season. By the end of June, they had corrected their record to 42-41, having gone on a scorching 23-10 run following that horrific start.

At 25-30, the Angels have plenty of season left to correct their early season miscues, and Trout’s return some time in late July/early August will be as good of a shot in the arm as any team could ask for. In addition, with how great of a player Rendon is, there is no reason to believe that he won’t have a tremendous summer and get his numbers back to what the baseball world is used to seeing. Finally, the starting staff has had some bad luck, ranking 3rd to last in BABIP (.307), meaning a lot more hit baseballs are falling into play than they should be for Angel opponents. 13 of the next 16 games come against the Mariners, Royals, Diamondbacks, and Tigers. All teams that have been scuffling this year and teams that provide the Angels with an opportunity to get back over .500.

#2 reason why the Angels should be optimistic: The Angels’ homegrown talent

It is no secret that in order to put together a complete, competitive roster in the MLB, there needs to be some level of homegrown talent being “underpaid” and carrying a roster during their pre-arbitration and arbitration years. The 2019 World Series Champion Nationals had Juan Soto, Tanner Rainey, and Victor Robles making the league minimum in pre-arbitration, and Trea Turner making less than $8M in arbitration. Those four players combined were making less than $10M.

Similarly, the 2020 World Series Champion Dodgers had Ace Walker Buehler, fireballer Dustin May, and slugging catcher Will Smith all in pre-arbitration making less than $2M combined. In addition, they had Julio Urias, Cody Bellinger, and Corey Seager making less than $20M combined in arbitration. It is not up for debate that those six players would make much more than $22M combined in an open market.

Sure, homegrown players need to be complimented by a savvy front office bringing in great complimentary pieces via free agency and trade, but at its core, a championship club is built internally first. An entire World Series roster simply cannot be assembled entirely via free agency, as it would be far too expensive.

The Angels have struggled for many years to turn out great, superstar quality players from their farm system, thus being forced to pay big bucks for free agents, handcuffing roster flexibility. This year, however, the Angels have a first baseman for the next half-decade spreading his wings, as Jared Walsh looks every bit like a player that can carry a roster. Hard-throwing righty Chris Rodriguez looks like a lockdown, back-end of the bullpen guy at worst, and a potential front-of-the-rotation weapon. David Fletcher is coming into form as his usual crafty, reliable self, and Shohei Ohtani looks like the best athlete not only in the MLB, but in sports in general. These four guys combined are making less than $7M, giving the Angels some flexibility in their roster they haven’t had in quite some time. Speaking of the greatest talent baseball has seen in quite some time…