3 LA Angels nightmare scenarios after MLB lockout finally ends

No. 2 LA Angels nightmare scenario after MLB lockout ends: Nobody wants our trade bait

CBS Sports MLB Analyst and former MLB GM Jim Bowden reported that the LA Angels are in on trading for Luis Castillo, Chris Bassitt, and Frankie Montas.

The issue is that these talks have reportedly not made very much progress. The speculation is of course that these teams are going to want Brandon Marsh from us in return for one of these starting pitchers.

And it's going to be tough to trade Marsh, as the Angels have been developing Marsh since 2016 now. He just came up to the Big Leagues, and didn't have to get sent back down. He played really good defense, and showed off his athleticism in stretching three doubles into triples in just 70 games.

The hope, however, will intrigue many potential trade partners. If they can pull off the right deal, the Halos may try to deal him.

If teams decide to pass on Marsh, or another young up-and-coming outfield star in Jo Adell, or an oft-injured Justin Upton, then we won't have much trade bait left.

Adell hit 26 RBIs in just 35 Big League games last season, so he theoretically carries lots of trade value.

Even Upton, who has seen injuries take their toll on his performance these past few years, still plays well when he's fully healthy. In the month before Upton got hurt this year, he hit .326/.420/.600 (1.020 OPS) with six home runs and 25 R in 25 games.

Teams could be scared of paying him the $28 million left on his contract, however. And they also could just not be interested in trying to finish developing Marsh or Adell right now.

If we want to acquire good starting pitching this offseason, the trade market could be most important. If teams don't like the assets we have to utilize it, we could be in a bad spot.

No. 1 LA Angels nightmare scenario after MLB lockout ends: Arte Moreno goes cheap again

Arte Moreno has unfortunately not spent as much money as he possibly could have in the past for the LA Angels. He's worth $3.6 billion, and we're in the second-biggest market in the country, but over the past five years the Angels' average ranking for the highest payrolls in the league has been 9.4.

We're currently eighth in the Majors for 2022, and have spent just over $161 million on 2022. Moreno has the chance to get up to $200 million very easily this year, but hasn't always spent as much as he could in the past.

If Moreno chooses to go cheap again this offseason, we won't have the chance to grab a massive free agent starting pitcher. We won't be able to take on contracts of big starting pitchers we want to trade for. We won't have the chance to make upgrades in the bullpen, or at shortstop.

Moreno better not be done. He has shown that he was willing to spend on Syndergaard, and give Raisel Iglesias a good payday.

We need more of that if we want to have a successful offseason. If one or more of these nightmare scenarios happens, however, we may not be able to recover during the season.