Angels Rumors: LAA interested in controversial outfielder; Taylor Ward trade close?

If there is something that the Los Angeles Angels' owner, Arte Moreno, loves to do, it's bargain-bin shop. The remaining big-name free agents who the Angels are reportedly interested in -- Anthony Santander and Pete Alonso -- would cost Moreno a whole lot of money that he historically does not like to spend on players who are not marquee names. The always-meddling Moreno might be forcing his front office to consider a backup plan like Alex Verdugo. You guys wanted a left-handed outfielder? Well, here's Santander-lite!

It's not like the former Yankee, Red Sox, or Dodger is without merit, he did show an elite ability at squaring balls up, not whiffing, not chasing, and not striking out last season. Verdugo is a guy who knows his strike zone, and makes the pitcher come to him. Also, unlike Santander, Verdugo covers the outfield well (despite a slow sprint speed) and has a fantastic arm. The Red Sox acquired Richard Fitts and Greg Weissert from the Yankees in exchange for Verdugo, and Fitts is their no. 10 prospect and Weissert turned in 63 innings of solid relief last season.

Angels' GM, Perry Minasian, values a player's makeup over everything. If a player is hard to deal with in the locker room, he is hard out on that guy. Verdugo is a slightly vexing player: a guy who has a history of disparaging remarks about past managers, not run hard to first base on ground balls, and general inconsistency as a ballplayer. On the surface, he does not seem like a Minasian-type of player. However, Moreno is the one calling the shots here and he loves to interfere with his GM's vision. If Moreno wants Verdugo instead of Santander, he'll make it happen.

The long-rumored Taylor Ward trade could be closer to materializing

The Angels and Taylor Ward settled on a $7.825 million contract figure avoiding an arbitration hearing. The outfielder is entering his penultimate season of arbitration eligibility before becoming an unrestricted free agent after the 2026 season. For Ward, an arbitration hearing might have been worthwhile, as he was projected to make $9.2 million.

If a club was interested in trading for the 31-year-old left fielder before, seeing him make $1.375 million less than his projection might make him all the more enticing. It might not seem like much, but every dollar counts for these penny-pinching, corporate-run baseball organizations. After all, if you took Ward's 2.7 fWAR and converted to a dollar scale, he would be worth $21.8 million according to FanGraphs. He posted a higher fWAR last season than fellow left fielders Tyler O'Neill (who's making $16.5 million in 2025), and Randy Arozarena (who's making $11.3 million).

The New York Post's Jon Heyman speculated that Ward's trade market is not necessarily buzzing, but did say that there is a path where the Angels trade Ward and sign Santander. That path is much clearer now with his new salary, and it theoretically boosted his value on the open market. It seems fairly obvious that Santander>Ward>Verdugo, but perhaps Moreno wants to bring cheaply acquire Verdugo and trade Ward to help boost the infield, rotation, or bullpen. The Angels are dangerously close to surpassing their 2023 payroll that Moreno vowed he would not do, so he likely wants to navigate the bargain-bin free agents and explore trades instead of splurging on Santander.

Perhaps, after it was reported a month ago by MLB.com's Mark Feinsand, the Angels could be a close to trading an outfielder.

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