What the LA Angels can learn from the Boston Red Sox fast rise

The LA Angels can learn a thing or two from the Boston Red Sox in their quest to build an AL contender this offseason.

The Sox were down bad after they got busted for cheating in the 2019-2020 offseason. They were caught, and they were also coming off of a bad season. They followed that offseason up by being the worst team in the AL East.

Since then, they are now going to be playing in the ALCS. Part of their turnaround is something that the Angels can learn from.

The LA Angels need to approach this offseason similarly to how the Boston Red Sox have approached roster building.

The Red Sox built their lineup by adding in some ‘glue guys’ in addition to the heavy hitters they already had in players like J.D. Martinez and Rafael Devers. The LA Angels already have their top dogs in Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout, Jared Walsh, and Anthony Rendon. They now need to figure out who their glue guys are going to be.

Who is going to be their Kike Hernandez? Who is going to be their Alex Verdugo? Those two aren’t world-beaters, but they compliment their lineup well.

The Angels have power, but they need to go and get some contact hitters too. Those will be their glue guys. They don’t need to load up on power bats that strike out a lot, or pop up a lot.

They need guys that are capable of taking something off of their swings and making contact. They want to find guys who can get on base, and not swing for the fences every at-bat. They need these guys to play defense too, as they’ve already sacrificed defense for hitting quite a bit.

They were one of the worst defensive teams in baseball. They need to round out their lineup with guys who don’t just look good on paper, but who can provide them with production that plays defense, gets on base, and is willing to sacrifice power numbers for contact.

Glue guys don’t cost too much. This is where the Angels can really turn this roster around fast. If they can find this production for cheap, which the Red Sox showed was possible, they then can splurge on pitching.

The Angels are so scarred from bad pitching that they have no choice but to decide to spend a ton on it. If they want to do that, they’ll need to be smart with the rest of their budget.

That’s very doable. They need reinforcements. They don’t need to go after highly-paid superstars.

They’ll only be able to pay so many of them, and won’t be able to address the other needs in their lineup.

The Angels weren’t able to overcome the injuries they faced this year, but if they can manage their budget the right way and find the right guys to compliment their two MVPs, they will be right in the thick of the AL West hunt.