3 regrets the Angels should already have about the 2023-24 offseason
![Dec 14, 2023; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers player Shohei Ohtani is introduced at a](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_8496,h_4779,x_0,y_304/c_fill,w_752,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/107/01hhwvmms3h1m7cyp077.jpg)
Yes, the offseason is young. There's still time for Perry Minasian to make the meaningful moves he said he'd make to help this team improve. However, the way things have gone so far and appear to be going gives Los Angeles Angels fans many reasons to have their concerns.
So far this offseason the Angels have watched Shohei Ohtani join their crosstown rivals and have done just about nothing in response. They've made some bargain bin moves, but nothing that should move anyone. With that in mind, the poor start to this offseason has given three things that this Angels front office should already regret.
1) The LA Angels handled the Shohei Ohtani situation the worst way imaginable
You knew this would be here. The Angels should regret every single thing that transpired when it comes to the Shohei Ohtani situation.
The Angels made the choice three separate times to not trade Ohtani away and enter a rebuild. They could've set themselves up beautifully by biting the bullet and shipping Ohtani away in exchange for a slew of valuable assets. Arte Moreno just couldn't let go.
Moreno not letting go of Shohei gave the impression that he'd at least go all in when it came to trying to keep him. If Arte was willing to go the extra mile to re-sign Shohei, then at least the decision to keep him would've been somewhat defensible. Sure, it'd stink, but that'd just be Ohtani choosing to go elsewhere as opposed to him leaving because of Moreno's unwillingness to spend.
The Angels refused to match the Dodgers offer. Moreno reportedly did not like the deferrals, and was not willing to hit the $700 million number. It's unclear whether Ohtani comes back to the Angels if Arte does match the offer. In fact, I'd guess he still departs for the Dodgers. Still, it would've at least made some sense.
The Angels refused to trade him and then refused to pay him fairly. By refusing to do what it took to keep him, the Angels threw any sort of argument of them making sense with this process out of the window. They should've traded him, that's abundantly clear. What's also clear is if he couldn't be traded, they at least should've done whatever they could to try and keep him here. The Angels did neither, and will regret it if they don't already.
2) Not being aggressive in the starting pitching market
This free agency class is rather weak overall without much star power, but there were several high-end starters available for the Angels to consider when going about improving a lackluster rotation.
By not getting in early on guys like Aaron Nola, Sonny Gray, and Eduardo Rodriguez, the Angels have not many options and a whole lot of competition. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is the best arm available, but the chances of the Angels actually landing him are practically non-existent. the next best option would be the Angels getting in a very expensive bidding war with guys like Jordan Montgomery and Blake Snell.
The longer the Angels wait to seriously pursue frontline starting pitching, the more likely it is that we see what we saw last season as the Opening Day rotation just without Ohtani. Going from six starters to five is an improvement, but having guys like Patrick Sandoval and Reid Detmers be the best starters can't be a good recipe.
It's concerning to see the Angels lose the aggressiveness they once had, and they'll come to regret that, especially if we see the same rotation with no improvements.
3) The bullpen doesn't look much better at all
It's been a very quiet offseason for the Angels as they haven't signed many recognizable names thus far. While that's destined to change, what they've done with the bullpen is uninspiring at best.
The bullpen is the one area in which the Angels have brought in players on MLB deals. They've given three different relievers MLB contracts, inking Adam Kolarek, Luis Garcia, and Adam Cimber to one-year deals. There's a similarity between all three of these relievers. They have all been good in the past and are all coming off down years.
Betting on bounce-back seasons for relievers with a good track record is a solid bet, especially with how volatile relievers can be. Doing only that and not inking any relievers you can be more confident in pitching well is the issue.
These three relievers occupy three spots and come without options. They're essentially locked into the Opening Day bullpen. Are they really better than guys like Andrew Wantz or Jimmy Herget?
Signing these relievers to minor league deals later in the offseason would've made sense. Guaranteeing them MLB deals early on while the rest of the bullpen is still in rough shape does not make sense. The Angels bullpen has consistently been bad, and counting on these types of bargain bin arms to make it suddenly better just lacks any sort of common sense.
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