4 incredibly high-profile free agents that the LA Angels just don’t need

The LA Angels have holes on their roster; we know this.

However, they also have many strengths on their roster, and don’t need to fix everything.

Jon Becker of Fangraphs laid out many free agents that the Angels don’t have room on their roster for, or wouldn’t be upgrades for this team over the guys they already have. There are four very notable free agents he put in this category for our team.

No. 4 incredibly high-profile free agent that the LA Angels just don’t need: Anthony Rizzo

Anthony Rizzo is still a really good player, but he’s just not worth signing for the LA Angels.

Rizzo isn’t significantly better than Jared Walsh at anything these days, and Walsh is a much cheaper option. In the last two years, Rizzo has hit .240/.343/.432 (.775 OPS) with 33 home runs and 85 RBI in 199 games. Walsh has hit .280/.338/.531 (.869 OPS) with 38 home runs and 124 RBI in his last two years (176 games).

He’s a better baserunner, and while Rizzo is superb on defense, Walsh is great too and is in the running for a Gold Glove.

Of course, there would be no spot for Rizzo to DH either, as the Angels have the best DH in baseball. Rizzo is a great clubhouse guy and I don’t think there’s a single baseball fan that doesn’t like him. He just realistically wouldn’t be needed on this team.

No. 3 incredibly high-profile free agent that the LA Angels just don’t need: Nelson Cruz

Again, there’s just no space on the LA Angels for Nelson Cruz. He’s coming off of his seventh All-Star campaign, and is an outstanding player, but we already have outfield plans for next year.

We’ll have Mike Trout back, and are likely going to be keeping both Brandon Marsh and Jo Adell up in the Big Leagues. We’re paying Justin Upton a lot of money for next year too. That’s a lot of money to commit to the outfield if we also sign Cruz.

And again, he’s not an option as a DH either due to us having Shohei Ohtani at our disposal. And besides, Cruz finished the season poorly. He went from hitting .294/.370/.537 (.907 OPS) in Minnesota to .226/.283/.442 (.725 OPS) in Tampa after he was traded this season.

He’s a guy who’s hit against AL pitching for 16 straight years now, and that’s valuable. We look too good in the positions he plays, however, to go after him.

No. 1 incredibly high-profile free agent that the LA Angels just don’t need: Freddie Freeman

Freddie Freeman is of course a better ballplayer than Walsh, but the LA Angels need to focus their money at positions where they have more of a need.

Freeman is great in the field and as good as it gets offensively, but signing him would leave us with no room to really go out and bolster the rotation and bullpen. Also, it would force us to move Walsh to the outfield.

Walsh is very good in the outfield, but we want to use our opportunity here to play and develop Marsh and Adell. We’re also already paying Upton a lot of money, and we don’t need anybody else in the outfield.

We have a good thing going with Walsh, and we don’t need to spend money at first when we now have the opportunity to employ an All-Star there for cheap.

The Angels do have the money to go out and splurge, but smart franchises are selective over where they elect to spend their money.