Angels could leverage new GM if Cardinals rethink their trade deadline plans

The Los Angeles Angels — in their own mercurial way — recently decided to part ways with longtime general manager Perry Minasian and hired John Mozeliak as the club's interim GM. All signs point to that interim tag being removed sometime in the future, though one never can truly know what Angels' owner Arte Moreno is thinking.

Regardless of what the future holds, the fact of the matter is that Mozeliak will be in charge of the decision-making in the short term. That means he'll be charged with the Halos' plan of attack for the upcoming MLB trade deadline

Most Angels fans rightly assume their favorite team will be sellers at this year's deadline. LA is hopelessly out of contention in both the AL West and AL Wild Card, meaning they'll be looking to retool the roster ahead of the August 3 deadline.

No one truly knows what the Angels will do at this year's deadline, though they have a number of potential assets that could bring back quite a nice return. Reid Detmers, Jose Soriano, and even Zach Neto are all names that have drawn considerable attention with the deadline now less than a month away.

If the Halos decide to sell and sell big, it's possible that Mozeliak's connection to the St. Louis Cardinals could come into play. The Cardinals' former president of baseball operations left the Gateway City on good terms, and spent some time with current St. Louis executive Chaim Bloom.

John Mozeliak's connection could create some trade buzz between the Angels and Cardinals

It's not uncommon for such acquaintances to match up from time to time at the trade deadline. Perhaps there's a young prospect or two in the Cardinals system that Mozeliak still has his eye on.

The problem, however, is the Cardinals' rumored approach at this year's deadline. Even though St. Louis is over .500 on the season and just a few games out of the NL Wild Card chase, most of the talking heads presume that the Cardinals will take a very measured approach at this year's deadline. In fact, some so-called experts expect St. Louis to sell off some of their assets.

It appears as though the NL Central has become a two-horse race with the surging Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers leaving St. Louis in the dust. The Cardinals need to go on a run in the coming weeks if they're to buy rather than sell (or stand pat) at the August 3 deadline.

With the Cardinals in the midst of a quasi-rebuild, the organization's top prospects are likely to be off limits at the trade deadline. But if St. Louis were to target one of LA's top trade assets, the Cards have a litany of young pitching prospects like Ixan Henderson, Jacob Odle, and Yhoiker Fajardo who could fit nicely into LA's plans for the future.

One never can tell how the MLB trade deadline will pan out, but Angels fans have to feel better about having a more seasoned and proven GM running the show this time around.

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