LA Angels changed their entire trade deadline fate in two games

The 2025 Los Angeles Angels pulled off a rare feat -- the organization's decision maker, owner Arte Moreno, wanted the team to keep their team together and added three players for spots that needed upgrades...and fans did not like that! A baseball team's owner wanting to bolster the roster is 99.9% of the time met with resounding applause from the fanbase, but this is the Los Angeles Angels and this is the Arte Moreno effect. Oswald Peraza is taking Kevin Newman's spot on the roster, Luis García is back to take over for Sam Bachman and Andrew Chafin is in for José Quijada. All three of those players are, in theory, better than the previous iterations (Bachman was really struggling before his demotion).

Moreno's decision to buy without really buying has come under fire. What's even worse is why he actually decided to buy.

LA Angels changed their entire trade deadline fate in two games

Right before the Angels' series against the Texas Rangers that preceded the trade deadline, Moreno had no clue what he wanted to do. That's not necessarily uncommon, several other middle of the pack teams wanted to wait and see before making a decision. It's entirely different for the Angels compared to the Guardians or Rangers, because Moreno changes his mind daily...and those two wins against Texas probably affected his mood.

First and foremost, it's despicable that Moreno still runs the Angels. Moreno has crippled the franchise over-and-over again due to flawed reasoning. He is an impatient, meddling presence who has constantly shown he is ill-equipped to run a professional baseball team's day-to-day. Moreno rarely makes adjustments to his operation style, and when he does they the Angels are playing catch up. The industry has passed him by.

That is shown so clearly by Moreno holding on to Taylor Ward, Kenley Jansen, Yoán Moncada, Luis Rengifo and Tyler Anderson (with Rengifo and Anderson this is two straight years of them improbably surviving a deadline trade), and demanding that Perry Minasian buys players. Moreno chose to buy based on two wins in late-July, and the optics on that are just so bad for this franchise that constantly flies by the seat of its pants. In a way, Moreno and Minasian are perfect for each other in that their managerial style is aligned -- do things based on vibes. The solid vibes from the clubhouse and back-to-back wins against Texas made the Angels acquire the players they did.

Moreno running the show and his poor execution on his buyers stance reflect poorly on the Angels. They took a half measure, as they did last season as sellers, and tepidly approached their trades. They gave up nothing and did not really bring in much value, despite the three additions technically being upgrades.

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