Jo Adell’s big swing with Guardians does not mean the Angels were wrong to move on

The Los Angeles Angels were not afraid to be aggressive at the trade deadline and they made a move they might have been reluctant to make in the past by trading outfielder Jo Adell to the Cleveland Guardians.

It was not a move without risk as Adell has shown flashes in the past of being a premium slugger and he is not set to hit free agency until after the 2027 season. He blasted 37 homers with the Angels in 2025 and while he probably won’t hit that mark this season, he gave everyone a reminder of just how much power he has in that bat on Tuesday night.

Adell hit an absolute moonshot in Cleveland against the San Francisco Giants. The three-run homer looked like it was going to hit the scoreboard for a second and it finally came down some 455 feet from home plate. 

Not only did Adell hit that massive three-run shot, he also had two more hits and six runs batted in on the night although he did have to leave the game after fouling a ball off his knee.

When Adell has a game like that, it’s only natural for Angels fans to feel a slight twinge of regret for letting him go. Guys who can hit the ball that far don’t come around all that often, but the Halos should still feel more than justified for moving on from him.

Angels were still justified in trading Jo Adell

While Tuesday night’s swing of the bat was very impressive, prior to that game Adell hadn’t been all that great since joining the Guardians. He’s now hitting .217/.315/.500 with three home runs and 11 runs batted in which is not awful, but that comes after a huge game and he also may have to miss time due to that knee injury.

Keep in mind he was hitting .239/.287/.395 with the Angels before the trade and it would not come as a shock to anyone if that’s roughly what his numbers look like with Cleveland by the end of the season.

Really, the Angels might feel lucky they were able to get anything for him because the raw power is certainly there, but the consistency has always been a major question mark when it comes to Adell.

They were able to acquire catching prospect Jacob Cozart from the Guardians in the deal. While Cozart is not a top prospect by any stretch, he could at least turn into a solid catcher for the Angels down the road and the team was targeting catcher help at the deadline so a need was filled.

It will be tempting to romanticize Adell each time he hits a bomb with Cleveland, but Angels fans just need to remember all those strikeouts and that low on-base percentage as a reminder that he really wasn’t all that valuable of a player even if he did some pretty cool things while in an Angels uniform.

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