Angels can sit back and relax before MLB's non-tender deadline

The Los Angeles Angels have their fair share of issues as an organization, but the looming non-tender deadline does not really effect them at all. The team has relied on its young core to provide the majority of the team's production after the departure of Shohei Ohtani and due to the diminishing value of Mike Trout. Many members of that young core are arbitration-eligible, but are not going to go anywhere (unlike one recent player who was just traded).

Angels can sit back and relax before MLB's non-tender deadline

The Angels have until the evening of November 21st to decide whether or not they want to tender contracts to Zach Neto, Jo Adell, Logan O'Hoppe, José Soriano, Reid Detmers and Brock Burke. Taylor Ward was a member of that group, but he was traded to Baltimore in exchange for Grayson Rodriguez (who becomes arbitration-eligible next year). Unless, of course, the Angels want to make another massive trade that would possibly include Adell or O'Hoppe, then those six players will all stay around for 2026 and likely beyond.

Not only will the Angels easily tender those six players contracts, they could have their pick of many players who have already been DFA'd or are about to. JJ Bleday for the Athletics and Christopher Morel for the Tampa Bay Rays are two names to keep an eye on, as they were shipped off their respective 40-man rosters. Luis García Jr. for the Washington Nationals would make a lot of sense, as he is an exciting young second baseman that might be too expensive (~$7 million) for the Nats. The Angels have long been tied to Jake McCarthy of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and he could potentially be non-tendered by the Snakes ahead of the deadline.

The Angels have a lot of holes to cover on their roster, and the non-tender deadline is an easy way for them to cheaply re-build their roster. They have some more money to throw around after the Ward trade, but there could be several available players who could out-kick their coverage with the Halos next year if added.

This is a stark difference from last season, where the Angels had many, many options to non-tender. They had Griffin Canning (who they traded for Jorge Soler), Patrick Sandoval (who did get non-tendered), José Quijada, Luis Rengifo, Taylor Ward, Brock Burke, Jo Adell, Reid Detmers, José Suarez (who they eventually traded for Ian Anderson), Carson Fulmer (who was eventually DFA'd), Matt Thaiss (who was eventually traded) and Mickey Moniak (who was eventually released).