Early offseason moves signal a new direction for the Los Angeles Angels

This offseason hasn’t even begun to hit its stride, but, as has become the norm, the Angels have already made their first big move. However, even before the Taylor Ward trade there were indications that something different could be happening this year.

It began with the manager. Many observers had Albert Pujols on their bingo card to lead the Halos into 2026, with Torii Hunter as Plan B, and the front office did indeed go with an ex-player with zero coaching experience... just not one that most people had predicted. Kurt Suzuki may turn out to be exactly what he felt like on first glance - a cheaper, more malleable choice, less likely to butt heads with Perry Minasian and Arte Moreno. Certainly, his one-year contract was no vote of confidence, and it leaves the door open for yet another U-turn in a year’s time.

Viewed from another angle, though, Suzuki is more interesting for who he isn’t, rather than who he is. He is not a playoff-hardened veteran boss expected to make an immediate impact, a la Joe Maddon or Ron Washington. He is not a legend of the game, a marquee name or a long-standing fan favorite, like Pujols, Hunter or Darin Erstad. Instead, he’s a recently retired catcher, known for his baseball brain. Some surface similarities to Mike Scioscia are obvious, but crucially Suzuki played in the analytics era, and has been a fly on the wall in the current Angels front office.

Just as intriguing are the coaches that are coming in to support him. Worried about Suzuki’s lack of experience? Here’s John Gibbons, former manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, to sit next to him in the dugout, and Mike Maddux, arguably the most respected pitching coach in the game, to handle the glut of young arms in the system. Concerned that Suzuki will feel isolated as a lone modern voice in an outdated organization? Welcome back Max Stassi, your old catching partner, and Adam Eaton, that guy you won a world series with in 2019. The last major missing piece at this point is a hitting coach, and it’s a huge one – that hire could make or break the entire offence, depending on what other moves the Angels make on the free agent and trade market.   

Early offseason moves signal a new direction for the Los Angeles Angels

The first move in that regard marks another significant shift in recent thinking. Taylor Ward’s name has been front and center in trade rumors for at least two seasons, yet deadlines have come and gone without a move. Pessimists would have been justified in expecting him to join the long list of Angels who have moved on with nothing more than a draft pick in return. Instead, he’s going to Baltimore in return for Grayson Rodriguez, a young, controllable arm with legitimate top of the rotation potential. G-Rod’s injury history is a real concern, but in terms of his ceiling, he’s as good as anyone they could have ever imagined getting in return for Ward. Taylor Ward deserves a world of thanks and respect for becoming a leader on this team almost by default, capably filling the role left open by injury to other contenders, but looking ahead his final, and most lasting, contribution to the Angels may lie in this trade.

That, in a two-word headline, is what the Angels are doing differently this off-season: Looking Ahead. Trading Ward not only brings in Rodriguez and his four years of team control, but it frees up the estimated $14-plus million that Ward should get in arbitration. With Rendon’s contract finally into its dying days, the possibility of the Angels making a (dare we even whisper it?) big, multi-year free agent move is suddenly more than a fan fantasy. Unlike, say, the Yusei Kikuchi signing, this does not feel like the first, last and only big move the Angels will make before Spring Training.

Even if it is, suddenly there is a lot more clarity around how this team will look over the next few years. If the corner outfield spots can be handed over to Jo Adell and a platoon of Mike Trout and Jorge Soler, having Bryce Teodosio, Kyren Paris and Nelson Rada compete for centre field, depending on whose bat matures fastest, is a pretty good problem to have. A starting rotation of Kikuchi, Rodriguez, Jose Soriano and Reid Detmers means that the Angels modus operandi of signing one-year deals for a Kyle Hendricks-type veteran makes perfect sense for once, while Maddux works out which of the pitching prospects can reliably level up. In a miracle fever dream where Robert Stevenson and Ben Joyce are healthy, Brock Burke repeats what he did last year, and one or more of the young arms find their niche, even the bullpen starts to take on some solid shape.  

To say, in 2025, that this is “surprising” would be an enormous understatement. With Minasian and Suzuki on one-year deals, the gathering storm cloud of a 2027 lockout, and the Tyler Skaggs trial hanging over the team like a guillotine, it would have been more predictable, even understandable, for this year to follow the season itself, and end with a whimper. Instead, it may not yet be a roar, but the noises coming from the Angels are at least rising to the volume of a low growl.