Angels have joined Rockies in a race to the bottom, but there’s a method to the madness

The Los Angeles Angels are having a very bad year on the field. It’s so bad in fact that they may lose 100 games for the first time in the history of the franchise. Right now they are competing with the Colorado Rockies for the worst record in MLB this year, but even though things hurt right now it is in service of a larger goal.

In a weird way, the Angels losing 100 games might actually be a sign that brighter days are ahead for the organization. Sure, if they had held onto Jo Adell, José Soriano, and Logan O’Hoppe at the trade deadline they may have won some extra games and had a slightly more respectable record, but the Angels finally did what they needed to do by undertaking a mini-rebuild to position themselves for the future.

Interim general manager John Mozeliak clearly has a plan for the franchise even if his status for the future beyond this season has yet to be fully finalized. Obviously, the sudden news that owner Arte Moreno will be selling the franchise has a ton of implications but for Angels fans it has to feel nice that a new page is being turned on the franchise and the Moreno years will be in the rear view mirror.

This doesn’t mean next season the organization will win 100 games or even make the playoffs. In fact, it wouldn’t shock anyone if there are several more years of pain and losing 90-something games for the Angels but the hope is that they continue to draft well and trade some of their solid veterans for prospects to try to stock up a farm system that has lagged behind for far too long.

Angels need to have patience, but the future is promising

Angels fans have had to suffer through a lot of bad baseball for years now, so they could probably get behind a rebuild and be patient with the hope that by the late 2020s or maybe even 2030 the franchise will be in a much better position.

It may not even take that long, though. While no one expected the St. Louis Cardinals or Chicago White Sox to be competitive this year, the White Sox are likely to make the playoffs and the Cardinals are right around .500 so a turnaround can happen much faster than many projections might think possible.

The Angels shouldn’t be completely unwatchable going forward though. Mike Trout should still remain in the fold and there are already some young budding players who have made a good impression this year. A young team that is learning and growing can be fun to watch even if the win-loss record isn’t pretty so despite where the Halos are in the standings, things feel like they may be headed in the right direction for the first time in a while in Anaheim.

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