Angels Rumors: Jeff Passan cautions of elephant in the room with trade deadline approach

The Los Angeles Angels have some decisions to make ahead of the trade deadline. They have a number of trade chips that would be enticing to other teams but the question is whether new interim GM John Mozeliak will have the authority to move who he wants.

Prior to Perry Minasian’s firing, there was reporting that owner Arte Moreno did not want the team to trade players like Jose Soriano and Reid Detmers. It’s unclear if that reality has changed at all with Mozeliak in charge now but ESPN’s Jeff Passan acknowledged the elephant in the room in a recent article.

Passan ranked Detmers as the sixth-best trade chip in MLB ahead of the deadline, writing, “How much leeway owner Arte Moreno will give Mozeliak to potentially deal Detmers and others with multiple years of club control remains unclear at the moment.”

He put the odds of the Angels trading Detmers and Soriano at 20-percent for each so it’s clear that Passan isn’t sold on the notion that Mozeliak will be able to do whatever he wants.

MLB Draft could be a preview of how Angels will operate at trade deadline

Mozeliak has said that he feels he’ll be given a lot of leeway to do what he thinks is best and he's been very honest about the state of the franchise, but this next month or so is going to show fans whether that’s true or not. The first litmus test with be the MLB Draft which will be held this weekend. Will the Angels continue the same pattern of drafting cheaper college players who can be rushed up to the big leagues or will they take a more patient, long-sighted approach?

That could be a big tell as to how Mozeliak will operate ahead of the trade deadline. If the Angels throw out their usual draft formula then maybe that will be evidence that Mozeliak really does have free rein and can trade away players like Detmers and Soriano if they bring back a big haul.

If the Angels don’t trade them that does not necessarily mean Mozeliak is a puppet of Moreno just like Minasian or anything like that. Maybe it just means the market wasn’t what analysts thought it would be and the Halos determined they would rather have those guys in the rotation next season.

That would be completely fair, but so much of what happens during this next month is going to be viewed through the prism of Mozeliak vs. Moreno and who is really calling the shots for the Angels right now.

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