Angels whiff on ideal free agent target who they definitely were not serious about

A picture perfect fit that would've been affordable just went off the board.

World Series - Los Angeles Dodgers v New York Yankees - Game 5
World Series - Los Angeles Dodgers v New York Yankees - Game 5 | Jim McIsaac/GettyImages

The Angels' long winter slumber continues. After coming out the gates like a bat out of hell at the outset of the offseason -- making a flurry of additions, promising a return to contention, and a rise in payroll -- the Angels have gone into hibernation with much work still to do, all but assuring those promises will go unfulfilled.

With a tremendous need at the top of the rotation, the Halos just watched the best remaining free-agent option go off the board as Jack Flaherty signed a two-year $35 million deal with the Detroit Tigers. Flaherty will make $25 million this season, and has a player option for $10 million with the ability to get that figure up to $20 million if he makes 15 starts next year. Flaherty's non-Tigers suitors have yet to be revealed. It's unclear if the Angels were ever in the mix for Flaherty despite a cacophony of insiders and experts screaming that the fit was picture-perfect.

Sure, Flaherty isn't a true ace. He has injury concerns and despite an impressive 2024 campaign he seemed to run out of gas in the playoffs posting a 7.36 postseason ERA. However, players with perfect track records rarely are still sitting out there on the free-agent market in the first week of February. For a team that is gun-shy about shelling out big-time cash over many years, he was exactly the type of free agent they should have been in on.

After all, this is essentially a one-year deal with most of the cash front-loaded, which makes it seem likely that Flaherty will hit the open market again in the upcoming offseason.

It's looking more and more like the question marks in the Angels' rotation will go unanswered

Unless the Angels make a trade, they will roll into the season with a rotation that might be good but carries a lot of question marks with it. José Soriano personifies the good and the bad of next year's rotation as the 26-year-old has incredible stuff, but also had to be shut down before the end of the year with arm fatigue.

Yusei Kikuchi's contract looks worse in comparison to the bargain deal that Flaherty just signed, and while the lefty was impressive down the stretch with the Astros, his first half last year with the Blue Jays was anything but. At the end of the day, this is a starter with more seasons in his career with an ERA over 5.00 (three) than under 4.00, and he'll be called upon to lead the rotation.

Tyler Anderson and Kyle Hendricks are a pair of 35-year-olds who, while providing veteran experience, are tough to count on at this point in their careers. Anderson was solid with a 3.81 ERA in 179.1 innings last year, but 2023 was the other side of the coin with a 5.43 mark in 141 frames. Hendricks went the opposite way with a 5.92 ERA last season and a 3.74 mark in 2023.

At the back end, Reid Detmers, Jack Kochanowicz, and a plethora of unproven prospects will battle it out for the last remaining spot. Detmers, a former first-round pick, was demoted to AAA last year and struggled to find answers to turn his performance around. Kochanowicz has yet to establish himself as a major leaguer despite some impressive offseason workouts. The likes of Caden Dana, Sam Aldegheri, George Klassen, and other prospects are intriguing but unproven.

If all breaks right, this could be an above-average rotation. If all breaks wrong, it could be one of the worst in the league. More than likely, it will be somewhere in between – good enough to give you some hope, but not good enough to consistently win ball games.

Jack Flaherty might not have fixed all those ills, but he would have gone a long way toward helping. A team intent on competing would've pulled out all the stops to add a player of caliber and at his age (under 30) on a reasonable, below-market deal like the one he just signed. Instead, Arte Moreno and company's promises were just more empty words blurted out in the hopes of selling more tickets.

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