2 areas where the Angels need to invest this winter

Infield

Neto and Nolan Schanuel represent two core pieces in the infield, but they are not without flaws. They are young, up-and-coming players, but the Angels could use functional bench infielders to help alleviate their defensive woes. Of the 39 shortstops with at least 140 plate appearances, Neto's defensive fWAR of 1.4 ranks 28th. Of the 44 first basemen with at least 140 plate appearances, Schanuel's -10.1 defensive fWAR ranks 38th.

With Drury all but certainly casting off and Anthony Rendon being the most unreliable player in baseball, Minasian will surely round out the roster with versatile players who can play at least 2 infield positions.

Luis Rengifo is returning from a season-ending wrist injury, but he could be a trade chip. The utility man was improbably kept at the trade deadline, and his value subsequently dropped after going down for the season. The likely course of action will be Rengifo slotting in as the Angels' starting 2nd baseman, given his ability to slot in at 3 infield positions, bat lefty and righty, and his bat-to-ball skills. However, if Minasian can secure solid prospect depth this offseason, he could right the wrong of not trading Rengifo earlier.

Predicting who the Angels will target for infield depth is difficult, but Minasian has a penchant for acquiring veteran depth pieces. For example, Minasian has signed contracts or traded for players like Miguel Sanó, Gio Urshela, Ehire Adrianza, Jack López, Luis Guillorme, Keston Hiura, Niko Goodrum, Cole Tucker, Jake Lamb, Eduardo Escobar, Mike Moustakas, C.J. Cron, and Kevin Padlo.

It's a weak infield class of free agents comprised of a lot of players with mutual and club options. The semi-realistic marquee names, if they become available, at positions of interest are Gleyber Torres, Brandon Lowe, Ha-seong Kim, Justin Turner, Yoán Moncada, and J.D. Davis.

The Angels' second base fWAR currently ranks 29th, and at third base 27th. Minasian knows they need to bolster the infield, but a big splash is highly unlikely via free agency. Perhaps Christian Moore breaks camp with the big league team? Go ahead and pencil in Rendon, Neto, Rengifo, and Schanuel as the Opening Day infield for now, but Minasian has a lot of maneuvers at his disposal to either reshape or build around that core.

Starting Pitching

The Angels are comprised of a plethora of young arms who are over their skis at the big league level, and must develop further in the Minor Leagues.

Minasian rushes the development of promising pitchers, mostly out of desperation to piece together a functional rotation. Pitchers like Samuel Aldegheri, Jack Kochanowicz, Chase Silseth, Caden Dana, Victor Mederos, and Sam Bachman need to return to the Minor Leagues and find their niche. Minasian and his front office group need to allow these pitchers to prepare this off-season as either a starter or reliever and be deployed as such. Silseth, Mederos, and Bachman, most notably, have been back and forth between the rotation and bullpen. If any of those players are to appear in the Majors next year, it should not be a question whether it will be as a starter or reliever.

Pencil in Tyler Anderson, Patrick Sandoval, José Soriano, Reid Detmers, and Griffin Canning as the starters next year for now. The most logical drop-offs are Tyler Anderson via a trade (like Rengifo, he was another improbable non-trade), and Griffin Canning due to ineffectiveness despite becoming an effective innings-eater.

In the past, Minasian's targeted reliable starters in their 30s on cheap,1-year/expiring contracts as win-now moves to compliment Trout and Ohtani. Players like José Quintana, Alex Cobb, Noah Syndergaard, Michael Lorenzen, and Lucas Giolito.

Due to an absolutely loaded starting pitcher free agent class and a 27th ranked SP fWAR, it would be shocking if Minasian did not sign at least 1 starter. The question is whether Minasian bucks his past trend and attempts to lock up a starter long-term (like he started to do with Anderson).

Max Fried and Walker Buehler will be entering their age-31 seasons next year, but will likely garner 2 of the longer contracts on the market given how old the class is. Buehler could be a fun reclamation project, and he's a fiery competitor who could want to stay in Southern California. The Angels were in on Blake Snell last year, so if the soon to be 32-year-old opts out of his Giants contract, the Angels could be back in on him. Snell is the all-time leader in SO/9, just for the record.

Those 3 are the most realistic for the Angels' rotation re-tooling, given their age, Minasian's willingness to spend extravagantly on stud starting pitchers, and the allure of becoming a bona fide ace immediately. Most importantly, it would allow the priority prospects the chance to take their time before reappearing in the Show.