LA Angels: 3 players team could trade and still remain competitive

No. 1 player the LA Angels could trade and still remain competitive: Steve Cishek

Steve Cishek has been a great pitcher for the LA Angels, make no mistake about it.

But, has he been so great that the Angels can’t win without him?

I don’t think so. If Cishek were pitching like this in a closer role, then the Angels would need to keep him.

Cishek’s role doesn’t provide that much value to the team, and they can likely get a haul for him if they want to try to deal him.

There are going to be many teams interested in a reliever like Cishek who has a 2.88 ERA, and has had seven other seasons where he’s had a sub-three ERA.

Despite last year in a pandemic asterisk season, Cishek has been very consistent. He walks too many guys (5.3 per nine) to be too valuable to trade, though, and the Angels can absolutely make a playoff run without him around.

They can achieve their season goals without any of these guys. If they want to buy, they’re likely going to have to part ways with some of these and get a lot in return. They certainly can, and need to be open to parting ways with these pitchers.