Angels manager Ron Washington is optimistic about 2025, but should you be too?

Angels manager Ron Washington has been around a long time. He knows better than most that the spring warmups are a time where hope wafts through the air like the scent of the blooming flowers. He also knows that once the bright lights of the regular season come on, that hope quickly evaporates for many teams that are lightyears away from contention.

That's why when Washington spoke to the LA. Times about his optimism for 2025, it's important to look at his comments with a fine-tooth comb. Is he spouting the typical platitudes that are common this time of year? Is he following the company line after owner Arte Moreno raised payroll in an attempt to compete this offseason?

Washington is in the last year of his contract, and surely will be the scapegoat if the Angels suffer another poor season following last year's franchise-worst 63-99 campaign. It's exactly those struggles, however, that fuel Washington's source of optimism saying:

"Last season does matter [so] that you don’t fall into where things didn’t go right. That’s what you’ve got to prevent. And that’s the only reason it matters."

Ron Washington via Kevin Baxter

The other key issue that Washington points out is health. The Angels were ravaged by injuries last season, headlined by superstar Mike Trout playing a career-low 29 games, and saw their depth tested and fail.

On the issue of depth, the Halos made massive improvements there. Out are players like Matt Thaiss and WIlly Calhoun replaced by key pieces like Travis d'Arnaud and Jorge Soler. Signings like Kyle Hendricks and Kevin Newman reinforce the rotation and infield, respectively, in ways that weren't present last year.

Ron Washington makes some salient points, but the Angels haven't done enough to contend

Taking the lessons learned, improving the depth, and hoping for health are all nice, but the Angels finished in the basement last season for more reasons than that. They've answered some questions and improved in key areas, no doubt, but on paper the roster still doesn't look like a contender.

The starting rotation was dreadful last season, ranking 28th in the majors with a 4.97 ERA, and while Hendricks' veteran leadership is a nice addition, they're betting big on Yusei Kikuchi's 60 innings of dominance outweighing six years of mediocre performance that has generated a career 4.57 ERA.

The lineup lacked thump, ranking 28th again in the bigs last year with a .369 slugging percentage, and while Jorge Soler and a hopefully healthy Mike Trout will help, whiffing on the top free-agent power bats like Anthony Santander and Pete Alonso certainly doesn't help.

It's almost a near-certainty that the team will be better than the 63-99 disaster they put up last season, but that's a low bar to clear. In order for a real run at contention, in addition to health and the lessons learned about depth from last season, the Angels will be counting on yet another step forward from their young core.

That could happen. Players like Zach Neto and Logan O'Hoppe have already shown their worth on the big-league level and might be poised for even more. Top prospects like Christian Moore and Caden Dana might be ready to make an impact this season. On the pitching side, maybe Jack Kochanowicz and/or Reid Detmers figure it out and Jose Soriano finds a way to manage a starter's full workload.

There's a lot of things that will need to break right, and the glass-half-full view is that they're all in the realm of possibility. The reality of the situation, though, is the Angels needed to do more to make contending a certainty, and until they prove it when the games start to count, a healthy dose of skepticism is warranted.

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