Are the Angels 2025 additions better than their 2024 counterparts?

Will 2025 Kyle Hendricks be better than 2024 Griffin Canning?

Griffin Canning 2024 stats: 31 starts, 171.2 innings, 5.19 ERA, 5.26 FIP, 0.2 fWAR

Kyle Hendricks 2024 stats: 24 starts, 130.2 innings, 5.92 ERA, 4.98 FIP, 0.4 fWAR

This one might be the closest call. Looking at those stat lines, there's not much to excite you about either player. On the one hand, saying goodbye to a player in Canning who had the dubious distinction of leading the American League in earned runs allowed in 2024 is not a bad thing, but given his performance last year it's possible Hendricks could do the same if given the same volume of innings.

Zooming out a bit, Hendricks looks like a slightly better bet. His 2023 season in which he posted a 3.74 ERA in 137 innings is better than any season of Canning's career, though the two seasons that preceded 2023 he pitched to about a 4.80 ERA mark.

The difference between these two hurlers is not so much what you're going to get on the field, but rather the intangible contributions you'll get off of it. Canning was a top prospect who had never realized his potential. Prior to last season, his career high in innings pitched in a single season was just 127 which came in 2023. Before that, he never managed to crack the 100-innings pitched threshold between his debut in 2019 and his lost season due to injury in 2022.

Poor performance and injuries have held him back, and now entering his age-29 season, his once-enticing potential has been significantly diminished. Hendricks, on the other hand, never had that elite potential, but he does have a track record of success earlier in his career.

The 35-year-old once led the league in ERA with a 2.13 mark in 2016. He has two top-ten Cy Young finishes on his resume including finishing third in the voting in 2016 and ninth in 2020. Hendricks never did it with overwhelming stuff. Instead, he specializes in location, changing speeds and eye levels, and setting up hitters from one pitch to the next to generate soft contact.

With young pitchers like Jose Soriano, Reid Detmers, and more on the roster, that experience and guidance can be valuable. Canning is a guy with all the tools who never put it together, whereas Hendricks never had elite tools but found success through the art of pitching. That makes him a valuable resource for the youngsters and essentially makes him an extension of the coaching staff.

You could say that isn't enough of an upgrade on the field considering the state of the Angels' rotation. You'd like to see someone added who is a surefire bet to be an improvement over Cannings, and while there's a chance Hendricks performs better, it's far from a guarantee.

Still, the intangibles he brings are enough to tip the scales in his favor. In the most marginal of ways, Hendricks is an upgrade over Canning.

Verdict - Hendricks