Angels Rumors: Korean infielder has ties to LAA, 2 Rays pitchers on trade block

With the Angels looking to upgrade every position on their roster, a multitude of new names have cropped up as potential options to join the 2025 team. The Seattle Mariners have long-ties to Hye-seong Kim, the soon to be 26-year-old middle infielder from the KBO, but the Angels and Chicago White Sox are reportedly throwing their hats in the ring as well.

Kim was officially posted by the Kiwoom Heroes, and has until January 3rd, 2025 to sign with a club. His market should expand when infielders begin to drop in free agency, and other teams pivot to the remaining crop. ESPN's Kiley McDaniel predicted his salary in the range of 3 years, $16.5 million ($5.5M AAV), plus tagged Kim as his 39th best free agent in this year's class (ahead of position players like Michael Conforto, Joc Pederson, and Yoán Moncada). The additional posting fee sent to the Heroes would add an extra $3-$5 million on top of his negotiated salary figure.

Kim would fit the Angels nicely, given the team's needs. He is a left-handed hitter, although he does not have as much in-game power as some other available lefties, but he is known for elite defense at second base, an ability to play serviceable shortstop, his speed, base running savvy, and bat-to-ball skills. He did hit 11 home runs last season, which was his career high.

Given his age, the Angels could net some solid production out of Kim over the next few seasons. Is he a win-now move? Yes and no. There should be some growing pains as Kim adjusts to MLB pitching, but even if he struggles some at the plate he should still be able to contribute given his balanced, all-around skill-set. He would slot in well at leadoff or double leadoff next season if the Angels win his sweepstakes.

Kim could help supplement the Angels' infield depth while Zach Neto rehabs from shoulder surgery, therefore relieving the burden on Luis Rengifo, Kevin Newman, and Scott Kingery. Rengifo has injury concerns of his own, and Newman and Kingery are solely depth pieces. He could buy the Angels some time as they develop Christian Moore. Signing Kim to take the majority of second base duties could possibly mean...the end of Anthony Rendon's Angels tenure, as they could subsequently move Rengifo, Newman, and/or Kingery to third base on a more permanent basis.

The Angels' rotation over the course of the 2025 season will indisputably feature José Soriano, Kyle Hendricks, and Jack Kochanowicz (eventually, perhaps not in March or April), therefore creating a huge need for sure-handed infield defense. Those three starters create ground balls at incredible rates, and the Angels' defense needs to be up to snuff for them to be fully effective.

A Rays starter and closer are said to be on the trade block

The Rays are receiving an increasing amount of calls regarding Jeffrey Springs and Pete Fairbanks, especially after they dealt Jose Siri to the New York Mets and saw Tropicana Field get semi-destroyed by Hurricane Milton. The Trop will require millions-upon-millions of dollars to repair, and playing at the Yankees' Spring Training facilities full-time next season will severely cut into their revenue stream. They are also notorious for giving up on players a year-too-early rather than a year-too-late.

Springs, a 32-year-old left-handed pitcher, has a laundry list of past injuries, a not-insignificant salary figure, and a short track record of starting games. Springs tore his UCL after three fantastic 2023 starts. He returned in '24 and made seven starts, but his fastball velocity ranked only in the 4th percentile of MLB pitchers. The Rays previously made Springs a full-time starter during the 2022 season, and he had a career year. He has only been able to log 49 innings over the past two seasons, however. He is still due $21 million the next two seasons and has a club option for 2027.

Fairbanks is a reliever who sort of fits the Ben Joyce model: a dominant fireballer when healthy, although he struggles to stay available. The soon to be 31-year-old averages over 97mph on his four-seam, which cuts more than normal coming from his 6'6 frame and over-the-top release. He drops in a hard, depthy slider and has developed a changeup as well. Unfortunately, his K/9, chase%, and whiff% dropped drastically last season, plus his BB% has always been well below average (save for 2022). He is due $3,666,667 next year and has a club option for '26.

The two Rays' assets should be considered buy-low options for the Angels. While they are intriguing and could definitely help in 2025, the Angels should not give up highly-touted prospects for either pitcher under any circumstances. The Angels have a plethora of intriguing DSL and ACL players who have emerged over the past three seasons, and the Rays have a pension for jumping on trade packages revolving around such raw prospects. Ideally, the Angels could acquire one of these two pitchers for lower-level prospects while the Rays eat some of the incoming salary. How feasible is that? That remains to be seen.

Brandon Lowe, on the other hand, is a whole different story. If the Angels strike out on Hye-seong Kim, perhaps they go full-send after Lowe in a trade.

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