3 players with attached qualifying offers Angels must avoid during of free agency

The offseason has officially gotten underway for the Angels and MLB as a whole, with players and clubs declining or accepting options, players being waived (and the Angels claiming a promising one), and most importantly qualifying offers being made to free agents about to hit the market. The Angels did not have any free agents worthy of receiving the qualifying offer (although Kenley Jansen's remarkable 2025 season could have had a case for it), but the player who did receive them could change the Halos' front office's plan of attack this winter. With such a shallow farm system, if the team is going to sign a free agent with a qualifying offer tag and subsequently lose a draft pick they have to be sure the player is worth it. And these names may need to be taken off the Angels' big board following today.

3 players with attached qualifying offers Angels must avoid during of free agency

Gleyber Torres, INF

After playing a key role for a Detroit Tigers team that spent a large majority of 2025 as the best team i the American League, Gleyber Torres is hitting free agency at a perfect time. With a career-high on-base percentage to go along with decent power (22 doubles and 16 home runs), Torres is one of the better second basemen in baseball. He'd have been an intriguing fit opposite Zach Neto, but the idea of losing a high draft pick for signing Torres should dissuade the Angels, especially with Christian Moore healthy and hoping to build off of a sporadic-but-promising rookie season.

Edwin Diaz, RP

The Angels' bullpen very well could just take a quantity over quality approach, but Edwin Diaz would have been a fantastic closer for the team if they fail to bring back Jansen. Diaz was always going to get a hefty price tag, but the qualifying offer should take him out of any consideration the Angels may have had. Throughout his career, Diaz has followed a weird statistical path where he has one elite season followed by a good, not great campaign. After posting a 1.63 ERA in 2025, Diaz is due for regression - the only question is how much.

Zac Gallen, SP

The Angels currently have two open rotation spots, and at least one of those is guaranteed to go to a free agent signing. Zac Gallen posted a 4.83 ERA in 2025, but his career ERA sat at 3.29 prior to this year. That would have made his an incredible bounce back candidate for the Angels to sign, but this qualifying offer shows his market value is much higher than the Angels will want to give - especially if the loss of a draft pick is attached to the contract they offer.