Angels lose in arbitration against former number one pick who is on roster bubble

The Angels had many members of their 2024 team either become or remain arbitration-eligible, and they are almost done settling up with the players they wanted to proceed with heading into 2025. They avoided arbitration with Taylor Ward, José Quijada, Brock Burke, José Suarez, Jo Adell, and Reid Detmers. They got rid of arbitration-eligible players in Griffin Canning, Patrick Sandoval, Carson Fulmer, and Matt Thaiss. The Angels entered arbitration with Mickey Moniak, and the former number one overall pick from 2016's camp bested them in the hearings.

Moniak, the presumptive fifth outfielder for the Angels next season, will make $2 million next season. The Angels had filed for $1.5 million. This was Moniak's first year of arbitration-eligibility, and he made $770,000 in 2024. Even after besting the Angels in arbitration, it is not a foregone conclusion that Moniak breaks camp with the Angels. Why would that be the case for the Angels who are super-thin in the outfield?

Moniak will be on thin ice in 2025 if he does make the major league roster out of spring training. Coming off a down-year and having a not-insignificant injury history, he will need to impress coaches and the front office in order to enter a platoon with Jo Adell and/or Jorge Soler or a bench role. Not to mention the Angels could still trade for a player like Alek Thomas, or sign a guy like Harrison Bader in free agency, thus punting on Moniak's future. He is out of minor league options.

Furthermore, Sam Blum ofThe Athletic recently dropped an interesting tidbit about how the Angels might speed up the development of Matthew Lugo. While forecasting the Angels' 2025 outfield, Blum wrote: " The organization is determined to get Lugo on the roster immediately." Much like Christian Moore, Lugo was in line to make his MLB debut last season had he not gotten hurt immediately after being acquired by the Angels. It appears the front office might want to fast-track his development. Shocking!

Moniak does have an advantage over Lugo due to his major league experience, the Angels needing a center fielder to spell Mike Trout (Moniak can also slot into right field), his overall defensive chops being more seasoned, and being a left-handed bat. Lugo will more likely be competing with Scott Kingery, as they are both right-handed bats who can play both the infield and outfield.

There remains an unlikely scenario where the Angels opt for both Kingery and Lugo over Moniak, but it's doubtful that the Angels will want to lose assets. Cutting bait with Moniak, who has two-years left of team control, is an unlikely outcome this early in the year. He will certainly need to pick his game back up next year, though, if he is to salvage both his Angels and MLB career.

The Angels only have one remaining arbitration case: Luis Rengifo in his final year of eligibility before becoming an unrestricted free agent.

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