Angels Rumors: the Rockies willing to part with 2 players who fit well with LAA

The Angels have a ways to go to fill out their roster, and the Colorado Rockies could be willing to part with players who could immediately help round out the team. ESPN's Jeff Passan reported that the Rockies could entertain offers on INF Brendan Rodgers and RHP Justin Lawrence.

The Rockies are spending a lot of money on a team that has less hope for contention than the Angels. Rodgers is in line for a shade under $6 million in his final year of arbitration, so it stands to reason that the Rockies would want to move off that money. Lawrence is under team-control for another four years, but the Rockies might want to cash in on the soon-to-be 30-year-old before he loses all trade value. Both players severely under-performed relative to expectations last season.

Justin Lawrence and Brendan Rodgers could be worth a look as buy-low trade candidates for the Angels

Lawrence has much more potential than he has shown with Colorado. His pitching metrics are off the charts, despite Coors Field's altitude actively detracting from his pitch movement. He gets 40" of horizontal separation on his sinker and sweeper. He generates incredible depth and arm-side run on his mid-90s sinker, plus he throws his frisbee sweeper hard given how far it breaks. Lawrence pitched in only four more home games than road games in 2024, but gave up 23 more hits in Denver. In his career, Lawrence's batting average against is just about .100 points higher at home than on the road. The Panama-native is such a typical change of scenery guy, and fits the profile of a pitcher the Angels do well with. He would not require a tremendous haul in a trade, and the Angels' bullpen has a lot of holes in it right now.

Rodgers is also a change of scenery candidate (honestly, who isn't on the Rockies?), who is more of a fit for the Angels solely because he plays second base. The Angels need middle infield depth, and might require Luis Rengifo to pick up full-time third base duties next season. Rodgers was the 3rd overall pick in the 2015 MLB Draft, won a Gold Glove in 2022, and is still only 28-years-old with ample big league experience. Like Lawrence, the home-road splits for Rodgers are staggering, to the tune of a huge disparity in performance while away from Coors Field. Rodgers also has an injury history with both of his hamstrings (his sprint speed has sharply declined over the years), and a shoulder surgery that caused him to miss four months of games in 2023 (his arm strength has also decreased every year).

The Angels and Rockies have recent trade history -- in two separate trades, the Angels ended up acquiring Mike Moustakas, Randal Grichuk and C.J. Cron (and $2 million) in 2023 for Mason Albright, Jake Madden, and Connor Van Scoyoc. The Angels have built up their farm system a lot since depleting it in '23, and Perry Minasian made it clear that he is willing to trade anybody at anytime.

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