4 former Angels players still without a job heading into the 2025 season

The Angels have a litany of familiar faces still on the market. With the way the offseason is panning out, there is absolutely no telling when these guys are going to sign. The meticulous pace of the stove is making it anything but hot for the middle-class free agents...plus if a player (not named Shohei Ohtani) was rostered by the Angels in the past few years and is now a free agent...middle-class is the peak of your status within the league.

There is a minimal chance the Angels will re-sign any of these players. It honestly feels like there is a minimal chance the Angels sign anybody before Spring Training, despite various levels of interest. That's non-sensical, but it just feels like it at the moment. Nevertheless, Angels fans do not wish ill upon any of these players even if they could not put the Angels over-the-top in recent years. When they find new homes, it will subsequently cause tepid applause from fans and well wishes for them and their families moving forward.

Honorable Mentions: Kevin Pillar, Hunter Strickland, Randal Grichuk, Matt Moore, Aaron Hicks, Jose Iglesias, José Quintana, Keynan Middleton, Matt Andriese, Amir Garrett, Adam Cimber, Dominic Leone. Not you, Michael Lorenzen

Carlos Estévez

Estévez likely needs to wait for players like Tanner Scott, Jeff Hoffman, and David Robertson to sign before he himself puts pen to paper. So far, only Yimi García and Blake Treinen have signed multi-year deals to continue relieving games (so that excludes Clay Holmes). Estévez is 100% pining after a 2-3 year deal with no opt-outs, even if he might have to settle for a set-up man role in 2025 and beyond. Whether he lands with a bona fide contender or more of a middle-tier club remains to be seen.

In an ideal world, Estévez returns to the Angels on a cheap deal and accepts a role where he sets up Ben Joyce. That is very much not in the cards, sadly. Estévez's career in the Big A was a breath of fresh air, and a big reason why he is a fan favorite. He was highly effective for the Angels as a big league free agent signing, where most of the relievers the team has signed over Perry Minasian's tenure have not panned out whatsoever. Whether it's Robert Stephenson, Aaron Loup, or Ryan Tepera, Minasian has severely whiffed when building out his bullpen. Angels fans will have to wish him well on his next club, while awaiting George Klassen's MLB debut and Sam Aldegheri's return to Anaheim.

Andrew Heaney

"Hean-Dog" is somehow one of the best free agent starting pitchers remaining on the free agent market. Other than Jack Flaherty, Kyle Gibson, and Nick Pivetta, Heaney has posted the highest fWAR the past couple of seasons. His east-west style of pitching keeps hitters off-balance, and his off-speed is the biggest reason why. His slider and changeup were effective in 2024, but especially his changeup. He has great arm-action on his changeup, has similar movement to his fastball with it, and has a great velocity-separation off his heater coming from his consistent 3/4 arm slot. Heaney has always boasted an outstanding repertoire, despite not posting the best traditional results while with the Angels.

Heaney's seven-year tenure with the Angels was up-and-down, but overall a positive. The now World Series champion, spent the past couple of seasons with the Texas Rangers. Before that, he spent the entirety of the 2022 season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and half of the 2021 season with the New York Yankees. The Angels dealt Heaney to the Yankees for right-handed pitchers Janson Junk and Elvis Peguero, who vascillated between MLB and AAA before they were traded themselves to Milwaukee.

Brandon Drury

Drury is coming off of one of the worst seasons Angels fans have seen in recent seasons. The once-heralded utility man might have to accept a minor league contract to extend his career after what he showed MLB scouts and executive in 2024. He had one of the worst single season fWARs an Angels player has posted over the past 30 years, which was reminiscent to Albert Pujols' 2017 season.

Drury's 2024 unfortunately negates his 2022 and 2023 seasons where he hit 54 home runs and amassed 496 total bases. He just simply was not good at any aspect of the game last season. That's not saying he will never get back to where he once was as a player, but he could not hit at all, had no range in the infield, no arm strength, and no speed. He is certainly worth a flier once he accepts that he will sign a minor league contract, but he will have to seriously create output in AAA next season before a team will trust him at the big league level again.

Luis García

Much like with Estévez, García was dealt last season for prospects Angels fans are fired up about (man, shoutout to Perry). Even though the Angels landed Matthew Lugo, Niko Kavadas, Ryan Zeferjahn (all three will contribute to the Angels in 2025 and beyond) and Yeferson Vargas for García, the reliever lost all his value after a horrible tenure with the Boston Red Sox. ERA is an overrated statistic, but his 8.22 ERA in his 15.1 innings pitched with Boston is spot-on.

Also similar to Estévez, Angels fans would not mind bringing him back on a cheap deal which he assuredly will get. He is not at all a top priority for teams, but he could definitely supplant guys like Hans Crouse, Jose Suarez, or Sam Bachman given how well he pitched while with the Angels last season.

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