Angels Rumors: Gauging interest levels in former MVP, elite closer, veteran slugger

The Winter Meetings are built on extremely fatigued and stressed media and team members just throwing darts. Who knows who to believe? Who is actually available for a trade? Which teams a free agent is actually interested in? Words are wind after all (shoutout George R.R. Martin).

The rumor mill is CHURNING! This article will solely focus on external players who are linked in a way to the Angels, but there is plenty of content to come concerning Angels players who are either on their way out or in route for a role-change. Stay tuned.

Here is your mega-round up of every player who has been linked to the Angels in some way by the national reporters on-hand at the Winter Meetings.

Cody Bellinger

Heyman appeared on a B/R Walkoff live show, and mentioned the Angels once. He simply said that the Bellinger contract might be too steep to pique the Angels' interest. However, the Angels are in desperate need of a left-handed power bat, and Bellinger would be a great fit. Trout and Bellinger could trade-off center field duties, with both filtering into the corners every now and again. Bellinger would slot right into the heart of the order, and also could play first base every now-and-again.

Clearly, the Angels could off-set a portion of his incoming salary by sending out Tyler Anderson and Taylor Ward in return (two players who are in a plethora of trade rumors). An Anderson+Ward+ prospect package would be difficult to top for the expensive Bellinger, who's coming off a down year and on a club that is also openly shopping him. A team looking to spend cash that's burning a hole in their pocket, like the Yankees, could intrigue Chicago if they could get out of Bellinger's entire salary while still receiving a player or two. That being said, the Angels could offer the Cubs one of the better returns if Chicago is still trying to compete next season and not solely off-load salary.