3 LA Angels players who should be non-tendered

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The Los Angeles Angels have a tough challenge ahead of them this offseason. They're going to try and improve from their 73-89 record which on the surface doesn't sound so hard, but if they're without Shohei Ohtani should prove to be quite the challenge.

The Angels won just 73 games this past season despite getting historic play from their superstar. Ohtani is going to win another MVP award despite missing most of the last month of the season. It shows just how dominant he was.

Part of how the Angels should go about improving is cutting bait with players who won't help. These three players should be non-tendered this offseason to open 40-man roster spots for better players.

1) Jose Suarez

After Jose Suarez's strong finish to the 2022 season, he was guaranteed a spot in the Angels rotation in 2023. This made sense with the lack of options the team had to choose from, but Suarez very early on showed he wasn't up to task.

The 25-year-old posted a 9.62 ERA in his first six starts of the season, immediately getting on the bad side of most Angels fans. He completed five innings just twice in those starts, and one of them saw him allow seven runs against the lowly A's. After allowing seven runs and recording just eight outs against the Rangers at home, Suarez landed on the IL with a shoulder injury. He'd remain there until September.

He'd return in relief and look a bit better, but he simply couldn't have looked worse than he did as a starter. Now the southpaw enters the 2024 season without any clear role on this Angels team. He's been jumped by many starters on the starting pitching depth chart, and isn't any threat as a late-game reliever.

The Angels could keep Suarez around in long relief, but his lack of options makes that unappealing as the Angels would have to just keep him in the majors even if he's unavailable for days after a long relief appearance. We saw how that worked with Tucker Davidson.

In a perfect world, the Angels find a trade for Suarez who is still young and has shown some promise in the majors before. If they can't, non-tendering him makes a lot of sense. The Angels can get similar or even better production from guys like Kenny Rosenberg and Davis Daniel who both have options.

2) Jose Quijada

The Angels have a difficult decision to make with Jose Quijada who is arbitration-eligible for the first time. The southpaw looked like he'd play a big role in this Angels bullpen and got off to a good start before undergoing Tommy John Surgery in early May. This was a pretty big blow to this Angels bullpen, and Quijada.

After undergoing Tommy John Surgery, Quijada will miss most if not the entire 2024 season depending on how his recovery goes. Normally the Angels would be fine just sticking him on the 60-day IL, but that doesn't exist in the offseason. This means Quijada will be occupying a 40-man roster spot that the Angels could need.

The Angels would have to pay more than the minimum to in all likelihood get nothing out of Quijada in 2024 and only hold him for two seasons after. He's shown some potential and has good stuff, but is there a real reason this team needs to hold Quijada?

It'd be unfortunate to see his Angels tenure end like this, but that's the business of baseball. 40-man spots are valuable, and the Angels shouldn't be wasting one on a guy who will make no impact in 2024. There's a good chance they keep him due to the team's lack of reliever depth, but I don't think they'd lose much by parting ways.

3) Jose Marte

It's easy to see why the Angels like Jose Marte as much as they do. He throws hard with a decent change-up and cutter. When he locates, there's definitely some potential. The problem is, he's shown no signs of ever having enough control to be successful in the majors.

Marte made ten appearances for the Angels in September and struggled mightily in most of them. His 8.68 ERA was inflated from one particularly awful outing when he allowed five runs in an inning of work against the Twins, but he issued a free pass in six of his ten appearances and gave up three home runs in just 9.1 innings pitched.

In 25 MLB appearances across the last three seasons for the Angels, the right-hander has posted an 8.14 ERA in 24.1 innings pitched, and has walked 28 batters. He has never looked close to a MLB-caliber pitcher, and hasn't given much of a reason for the team to keep him around on the 40-man roster.

There are reasons to believe Marte will stick around. The front office clearly likes him, he has options, and he's not arbitration-eligible yet. These are all fine reasons, but do you really ever envision yourself trusting this guy in games that matter? It's one thing to watch Marte struggle in September when the Angels are out of it, but it's another to watch him in April. Get a better arm in here to take his spot.

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