Angels' stunning return from Jose Soriano trade may have foreshadowed Zach Neto's exit

The Los Angeles Angels shocked pretty much everyone on Monday when they sent Jose Soriano to the Blue Jays. There was always a decent chance that Soriano would get traded, and LA was likely to get a nice haul for him. That said, few thought that the end result would be as fruitful as this trade appears to be, and no one thought Toronto would be the ones to give it to them.

There are a lot of ramifications here. It is now clear that John Mozeliak has the green light to make real moves at the deadline, which was a concern before. Moreover, the Angels' intentions with Zach Neto may have just become abundantly clear now that they received top shortstop prospect Arjun Nimmala in return for Soriano.

Angels' addition of top prospect Arjun Nimmala may mean Zach Neto's days as LA's shortstop are numbered

Nimmala has a real argument for being the Angels' top overall prospect now that he has joined the organization. He has some real raw pop, has shown a talent for drawing walks, and has a very strong arm at shortstop. As a consensus top-100 prospect, the Angels' farm system depth got a huge boost without even looking at the other prospects they received in the deal, OF Eddie Micheletti Jr., and RHP Angel Rivero.

However, the more pressing issue now is that with Nimmala in the fold, moving Neto becomes even more feasible. Nimmala is a surefire shortstop who is already at Double-A. If you are the Angels and are embracing a reset/rebuild/whatever they want to call it, Neto is a defensive liability at shortstop, and you now have his replacement at the ready. Why wouldn't you consider moving Neto for a fair return or, at minimum, move him off of shortstop?

We will find out very, very soon as to how aggressive the Angels want to be when it comes to Neto. The most recent rumors have been that Mozeliak's asking price for Neto is sky high, but adding Nimmala and committing to the sell-off could change things. One thing is absolutely certain: the Angels are open for business, and in this seller's market, this trade deadline could be a massive turning point for the entire franchise.

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