The latest buzz from all the top insiders is that the Angels are growing increasingly active in the bullpen market. The team apparently is looking to add at least a couple of arms to the mix as they look to upgrade the roster and get back on a competitive track in 2025.
The Angels have been linked to free-agent lefty reliever Tim Hill in recent days, as has nearly every team with contending aspirations at some point this offseason. Hill is a nice player, but the links just go to show how flawed the strategy could be if not paired with other, more significant moves to fill bigger needs.
Hill is one of the top lefty specialists on the market, however, despite a successful 2024 campaign with the New York Yankees He spent the previous year getting non-tendered by the Padres and later was DFA'd by the White Sox. Even if we accept the fact that he's turned a corner, this is still a player who isn't going to command more than a couple of million dollars to gain his services.
Beyond Hill, most of the top remaining bullpen options entering the offseason have already found new homes. The Halos are looking at the next-best tier to fill out their pen, which likely includes aging veterans who will sign for relatively cheap one-year deals. Again, some of these players could be useful, but we're not going to be looking at huge money being spent to fill out the two or three spots they have in mind for bullpen upgrades.
The Angels' remaining roster holes will render any potential bullpen additions irrelevant
Let's face the facts. Having an elite bullpen is great for protecting leads but that only works if you have a lead to begin with. That means having a lineup that can consistently score runs and a starting rotation that can sufficiently hold down the opponent before turning over the proceedings to the pen.
In 2024, Angels hitters put together a combined .229/.301/.369 line. The team wRC+ of 90 ranked 25th in the Majors. Sure, a hopefully healthy season of Mike Trout and the addition of Jorge Soler will help, but otherwise this isn't a group that has proven to inspire a lot of confidence.
As for the starting rotation, the unit's 4.97 ERA last season ranked 28th, ahead of just the lowly Marlins and the altitude-challenged Rockies. By FIP the rotation also ranked 28th with a 4.84 number that indicated that "bad luck" wasn't at fault for the poor outcomes.
Sure, the team added two new starters this offseason. One is Kyle Hendricks, 35, who posted a 5.92 ERA last season. The other is Yusei Kikuchi who turns 34 in June and has just one season with an ERA under 4.00 and three seasons with an ERA over 5.00 in his six-year career. Clearly, not enough has been done to address this need either.
Ironically, the bullpen may have been the team's strongest group in 2024. With a 3.99 ERA, Angels' relievers ranked 16th in the league. FIP paints a more bleak picture as the team's 4.46 mark ranked 27th. There's no doubt reinforcements are needed here as well.
With all that said, if the Angels add two or three relievers, spend $10-15 million on those additions, and call it an offseason it will be tantamount to trying to pull the wool over the fans' eyes. The team will achieve their goal of raising payroll and will claim they've made improvements, but those improvements will be largely negated by the inaction to address larger issues which in turn would raise the impact of these hypothetical reliever additions.
Adding to the pen is a great idea, but if that's all the team does the fan base should be livid, and it will be clear that the club is more interested in profits than winning.